Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 9, 2013

After several thefts of Ka`u Coffee, growers are considering security for their fields and drying pads.
Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

COUNTY PROSECUTOR MITCH ROTH said last night that he is looking forward to helping stop agricultural theft in Ka`u. He and community members plan to look at requirements for all those selling coffee to keep records showing the origin of all coffee on the market. These records and tags to follow coffee through distribution channels will allow both state Department of Agriculture and county police officials to track stolen coffee back to the farm or facility where it was taken. A recent increase in theft has been reported by numerous Ka`u Coffee farmers as the price for parchment tops $9 a pound.

County Prosecuting Attorney  Mitch Roth

      With Kona coffee production down due to the coffee berry borer pest and drought over the last few years, there may be an opportunity for thieves to steal from Ka`u and sell to Kona. 

      Ka`u Coffee Growers Cooperative president Gloria Camba said she urges Ka`u Coffee farms to sell Ka`u Coffee only to Ka`u Coffee wholesalers, retailers and their own customers to maintain brand integrity. She also urged farmers to keep records on where their coffee is going when they sell it. Farmers are also talking about security systems for their fields and drying pads.
      Hawai`i Police Department announced it is looking for the public’s help in finding the culprits who stole coffee from a coffee farm on Wood Valley Road. The police report states 1,300 pounds of Ka`u Coffee parchment were stolen during the last two weeks. Another 1,000 pounds were reported stolen off the Kaalaiki Cane Haul Road between Pahala and Na`alehu. The police estimate the value of the stolen coffee that was reported as $21,700. Call officer Dane Shibuya at 939-2520 with any information on the thefts. Anonymous calls can be made to Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 or 329-8181. A reward of $1,000 is being offered.

      A meeting about ag theft is sponsored by Ka`u Farm Bureau and open to the public Monday at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie, seen here at Pahala
Plantation House Dec. 2010, proposes to
raise transient accommodations tax.

RAISING STATE TAXES ON HOTELS, B&Bs and vacation rentals is meeting resistance from Hawai`i Tourism Authority. Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s proposal, which would hike the Transient Accommodations Tax to 11.25 percent and take the total tax on accommodations to more than 15 percent, could hurt the visitor industry, which is still recovering from the recession, said Hawai`i Tourism Authority chief Mike McCartney. He testified this week that this year’s TAT revenues are estimated to generate $350 million, with $153 million going into the general fund of the state. The visitor industry also creates more money for the state, some 38 percent of the General Excise Tax coming from non-resident purchases. “Based on this information, the visitor industry is already bearing a sizeable portion of Hawai`i’s revenue-generating burden,” says the tourism chief. “Putting an additional tax on our visitors will diminish Hawai`i’s ability to compete in a price-sensitive market…. Any increase could drive a traveler to a competing destination.” 

      According to Civil Beat, “approximately 32.6 percent of the Transient Accommodations Tax goes to the tourism special fund, 17.3 percent goes to the convention center enterprise special fund, 5.3 percent goes to the TAT trust fund that usually ends up in the state’s general fund, and 44.8 percent is given to the four counties. Of that amount, 44.1 percent goes to City and County of Honolulu, 22.8 percent to Maui County, 18.6 percent to Hawai`i County, and 14.5 percent to Kaua`i County. There are statutory provisions that modify TAT allocations should revenue collections exceed or fall below projections.”
      Civil Beat also reports that the TAT “ was increased from six percent, a level set in 1990, to 7.25 percent in 1998. Seeking to offset declining tax revenues due to the recession, state lawmakers approved increasing the TAT to 8.25 percent in July 2009 and to 9.25 percent effective July 1, 2010. The increase was opposed by many hotel operators.”

State Budget Director Kalbert Young

      An opinion piece in this morning’s Maui News reports that the last time TAT increased, lawmakers promised it was temporary because of the recession and that the two-percent hike would sunset on June 30, 2015. “However, lawmakers have become used to receiving this additional income and want to eliminate the sunset provision in Senate Bills 1194 and 1202, heard Monday by the Senate’s Tourism and Hawaiian Affairs Committee,” writes Pamela Tumpap. “While that is bad and may not surprise you, it gets worse. SB 1202 also seeks to further increase the TAT to 11.25 percent beginning July 1, 2013. This is unfathomable and would hurt Hawai`i’s No. 1 industry at a time when the visitor industry and all who benefit from it are still trying to recover from the recession.”
      Kalbert Young, director of the state Department of Budget and Finance, submitted testimony supporting the increase in TAT, saying that “the last Council on Revenues forecast predicts the state tax revenue growth to be only about 1.2 percent in Fiscal Year 2016.”
      He writes that the state anticipates that the fiscal and revenue condition of the state beginning in 2016 “will be in distress.”

CAPPING THE COUNTY’S SHARE of the Transient Accommodations Tax is opposed by Mayor Billy Kenoi. In testimony to the state Senate Committee on Tourism and Hawaiian Affairs, he wrote that “permanently capping the amount of TAT funding distributed to the counties will leave the counties without the necessary resources to provide essential services to our residents or support for the visitor industry in the years ahead.”

Mayor Billy Kenoi

      “From the time of the establishment of the TAT in 1986, the Legislature planned to make the counties beneficiaries of the hotel room tax because lawmakers recognized the importance of county facilities and services to support and enhance the visitor experience. It was always understood that the costs of mass tourism are mostly carried by the counties,” writes the mayor.
      “When a visitor calls for law enforcement help, a county police officer responds. When the visitor gets into trouble in the ocean, county lifeguards or firefighters respond. When the visitor uses sewer and water service, those are county services. The visitors drive on county roads and use county parks. As the visitor count grows, the visitors’ demands on county resources also grow,” testifies Kenoi.
      “We now have more than one million tourists a year visiting the County of Hawai `i, and the cost of delivering service rises each year. TAT collections are our second largest source of revenue, and it is critically important that TAT revenues to the counties increase as the visitor count increases. The counties need these resources to deliver the services that our residents and visitors require and expect,” the mayor states.
      “The cap in TAT revenues to the counties that was imposed in 2011 was always understood to be a temporary measure, and the cap is scheduled to end in 2015. We respectfully ask that your committee remove the cap on the counties’ share of TAT revenues,” Kenoi concludes.

Grants to clean up tsunami debris, which may include small pieces of
plastic like these along the Ka`u Coast, are being offered.
Photo from Hawai`i Wildlife Fund

TSUNAMI DEBRIS CLEANUP GRANTS are being offered by the state Department of Health, and the deadline is March 8 for community groups to sign up. The total to be given out is $100,000, and the health department notes that much of the debris has been pulverized and comes ashore in small pieces – mostly plastics. The money is provided through the state Department of Land & Natural resources and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. DLNR chief William Aila said the tsunami debris will be coming here for years, and the state wants to clean up and record whatever washes ashore. Grant applications are available at www.hawaii.gov/health/epo.

PALM TRAIL HIKE at Kahuku Unit of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park takes place tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This relatively easy, guided 2.6-mile loop crosses scenic pasture along an ancient cinder cone with some of the best panoramic views Kahuku has to offer.

Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park explore Pu`u
Huluhulu tomorrow. Photo by Jay Robinson/NPS

ANOTHER HIKE IN HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK tomorrow is a two-hour, three-mile round-trip hike to Pu`u Huluhulu beginning at 10 a.m. Geologist Cheryl Gansecki leads this moderate, fairly flat hike over pahoehoe lava at an elevation of 3,200 feet. Sponsored by Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, the hike is free for Friends members, and non-members are welcome to join in order to attend. Annual memberships are $30 for individuals and $45 for families. Sign up at 985-7373 or admin@fhvnp.org. 

FRIENDS OF HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK also sponsor a forest restoration project Friday, Feb. 15 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Volunteers plant native tree seedlings in the Kilauea section of the park. Register by Monday at 352-1402 or forest@fhvnp.org.

VOLCANO ART CENTER’S Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village presents a free screening of Surfing the Sonic Sky Monday at 6 p.m. This 2012 REMI Award-winning film by Stephen James Taylor presents a new kind of musical experience.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 8, 2013

An $8,000 contribution from Subaru Hawai`i to Hawai`i Wildlife Fund will support the nonprofit's Ka`u Coast Cleanups and sea turtle recovery projects. Photo from HWF

STATE SENATOR JOSH GREEN, chair of the Senate Committee on Health and an emergency room physician on Big Island, has proposed what he describes as the strongest mental health screening in the country, not only for purchasing firearms, but for using them.

Sen. Josh Green

      Today at 1:35 p.m., the Senate Committee on Health will hear SB 932, which would prohibit anyone diagnosed by a mental health professional as a danger to themselves or others, or who makes deadly threats toward specific persons, from possessing or purchasing firearms. It would also create a reporting system and list to be accessed by law enforcement, mental health professionals and gun dealers.
      “After the nightmares at Newtown and Aurora, Virginia Tech and Columbine, we have come to a point where we must do everything possible to prevent future tragedies,” Green said. “There are more than 13,000 homicides by guns every year in our country and 17,000 suicides by guns. If we can prevent even a fraction of these tragedies by requiring better mental health screening and reporting and by providing law enforcement, health professionals and gun dealers with better information, we will have taken an important step toward making Hawai`i safer for our children and more free from deadly gun violence.”
      Several states including California and New York have passed similar measures, but Green said he believes SB 932 goes even further to ensure guns are kept out of the hands of those diagnosed as a danger to themselves or others.

Sen. Malama Solomon

AIR FARES COULD BE REGULATED by the Public Utilities Commission if Bill 451 passes the state Senate and House of Representatives. The Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection is hearing the bill today in the state Capitol. 

      The idea of the bill is to make airfare more affordable for local consumers, since going from one place to another in this state, whether for commerce or pleasure, usually requires an airplane. Air service in Hawai`i provides the same service as interstate highways on the mainland. Currently, air carriers are exempt from regulation by the PUC.
      Big Island Sen. Malama Solomon introduced the bill and encourages residents to submit testimony. “Local residents have limited options when it comes to interisland travel. Due to the fact that Hawai`i’s residents have very few options, the state needs to assure that local families have affordable airfare rates for family visits and emergencies,” said Solomon, who represents District 4, Hilo, Hamakua, Kohala, Waimea, Waikoloa, Kona. Testimony may be emailed, indicating SB451, if less than five pages in length, to the Committee at CPNTestimony@Capitol.hawaii.gov.

SCIENCE CAMPS OF AMERICA has announced that its inaugural science camp for teens will take place in Ka`u this summer, and some scholarships will be available for Hawai`i students. 

      The first session, Land and Sea, is June 22 - July 1. Campers will examine volcanoes, geology, beaches, reefs and the ocean. The second session, Air and Space, is July 1-10. Topics include the atmosphere, weather systems, climate change and innovative technologies being developed to address the ever-changing world.
      Students will stay at Pahala Plantation House & Cottages. Founder Michael Richards, of O`ahu, explained: “Science Camp of America’s mission is to provide fun, intense science experiences to inspire future generations to better understand our universe.

      “The idea is to get the kids outside and into the field to experience science. Each day we will jump into the vans and head out to learn about our world. One day we might be examining lava flows, the next we might be helping reforest former ranch land, the next we might be stargazing from Mauna Kea. Being in the field, accompanied by science teachers and scientists, campers will not only absorb a tremendous amount of knowledge, they will also have an idea of what it’s like to be a scientist.”

      Science Camps of America chose the Big Island “for its unique and incredible environment, climate, geology, and people,” said Richards. He described this island as “a science lab unto itself, with active volcanoes, one of the tallest mountains in the world, home to incredibly sophisticated astronomy facilities and natural energy laboratories, eleven of thirteen global climate zones and a native cultural heritage of discovery and innovation. This thriving scientific community is a great resource. One of the goals stated in the Hawai`i County General Plan is to ‘Promote and develop the island of Hawai`i into a unique scientific and cultural model.’ I look forward to making Science Camps of America a contributor to that goal,” he said.

     Dr. Floyd McCoy, the organization’s director for education, was raised on the Big Island. A Harvard Ph.D. and Fulbright Scholar, he is professor of geology and oceanography at the University of Hawai`i’s Windward campus on O`ahu.

      Richards founded a software business in Hawai`i in 1983 and sold it in 2010. “That opened up a great opportunity for me to start this camp. I love science, and I love watching kids learn science. I am so encouraged by the excitement young people show for science and technology. With Science Camp, we hope to help science teachers everywhere deepen that excitement by putting teens in the field to experience great science first-hand.”

      Science Camps of America is a Hawai`i-based non-profit corporation, currently awaiting 501(c)3 approval. Richards said that his organization is hosting “one of only a very few new summer camps opening in the U.S. and is one of only a handful of camps for high school students interested in experiencing science and nature.”
      Richards also announced the Fred Hendy Memorial Scholarship Fund, which will allow qualified students from Hawai`i to attend one of the camp’s 2013 camp sessions. Details about applying for this and other scholarships may be found on the camp’s website (http://ScienceCampsAmerica.com). Details about making a donation to the scholarship fund, or to the camp fund, may also be found online. 

Subaru Hawai`i officials present a check to Hawai`i Wildlife Fund
representatives, including president Hannah Bernard,
 second from right. Photo from HWF

FOR THE SECOND YEAR, Subaru Hawai`i donated a percentage of its profits in 2012 to Hawai`i Wildlife Fund through its Share The Love event, which ended Dec. 31. For every new or demo 2013 vehicle purchased during the promotion period, Subaru Hawai`i donated $250 to HWF and four other local charities.
 As a result of the 2012 Share the Love event, Subaru Hawai`i donated a total of $8,000 to Hawai`i Wildlife Fund. HWF will use the funds from Subaru for projects like its Marine Debris Removal and Sea Turtle Recovery projects. “Hawai`i Wildlife Fund's multiple, ongoing conservation projects will benefit from Subaru Hawai`i’s generosity and the publicity of the Share the Love campaign,” said HWF president Hannah Bernard. “We hope that other businesses recognize the importance of giving back to the community, so we can all work together to protect our natural resources and make Hawai`i a better place to live.”

ST. JUDE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH in Ocean View holds its Mardi Gras celebration tonight, Friday at 6:30 p.m. with food, music and dancing. Tickets are $12 for one or $20 for two, with proceeds going to renew the Philippines Mission. Call 939-7555 for more information and tickets.

FUNDRAISING FOR KA`U HOSPITAL’S emergency room by the Red Hat Ladies of Ka`u and Ka Lae Quilters continues tomorrow at 8 a.m. at Punalu`u Beach Park pavilion. Contributions are welcome. Call Barbara Beatty at 929-9072.

PEOPLE AND LAND OF KAHUKU, a guided hike, takes place tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Kahuku Unit of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The 2.5-mile, moderately difficult hike over rugged terrain focuses on the area’s human history. Call 985-6011 for more information.

IN SPORTS, KA`U HIGH takes on Waiakea in wrestling tomorrow at 10 a.m. For all high school athletes, free physicals can be taken on Mondays and Wednesdays at the medical mobile van located near the band room on the Ka`u campus. 

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 7, 2013

The corner of Meyer Camp and Wood Valley Road, looking toward proposed site of the `Aina Koa Pono diesel refinery.
Photo by Julia Neal

“IS HECO SERIOUSLY DAMAGING ITS CREDIBILITY?” This is the headline of a recent Civil Beat story written by farmer Richard Ha, a student of renewable energies and a member of the state Board of Agriculture. He notes that Hawai`i Electric Co. “supports the `Aina Koa Pono biofuels project that is going through the PUC approval process right now.”
      Writes Ha: “HECO’s public relations people say that as a result of this new project going through, the average Hawai`i rate payer’s electricity bill would increase by only about $1 a month. But let’s look at that in a little more depth. HECO is seeking approval to pay `Aina Koa Pono $200/barrel for the biofuel it produces on the Big Island at Ka`u, and would pass on any extra cost (beyond what oil actually costs at the time) to its ratepayers, both on the Big Island and on O`ahu.

 “HECO has kept that $200/barrel price secret – they are still keeping it secret – but the Big Island Community Coalition folks figured out the price, and how the ‘$1/month rate increase’ was determined. Using the Energy Information Agency’s Annual Energy Outlook, one can see that HECO is using the highest price scenario, which projects an oil price close to $180/barrel in 2015. In the AKP discussion, it was said that the price of oil would exceed the actual price projected at the end of the period. “We can see that the line hits $200/barrel in 2035. Since they assume that oil will be $180 in 2015, they can therefore say that the difference (between the actual and projected price) would be very small: Hence, an increase of only perhaps $1/month for the average ratepayer.

      “However, it follows that if the actual price of oil is much lower than $180/barrel, rate payers will be paying the difference between that amount and $200. What if the actual cost of oil in 2015 is $120/barrel? That would cause rates to go up much more than $1/month – especially for high-power users. 

`Aina Koa Pono says it will use existing pasture and unused land to grow biofuel crops. Photo from www.ainakoapono.com

      “I cannot help but think that HECO is damaging its credibility immensely by pushing this project. HECO is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on public relations to convince us that it is trying to lower people’s rates – when, in secret, it appears to be doing exactly the opposite.
      “By the way, HECO says the hundreds of thousands of dollars it spends on PR comes from its shareholders. How can ratepayers tell when HECO is speaking on behalf of its shareholders, and when it's speaking on behalf of its customers?
      “This `Aina Koa Pono project needs to be rejected because it will make our electricity rates rise. Rising electricity rates act like a giant regressive tax, because as folks who are able to leave get off the grid, those who cannot afford to are left to pay for the grid.

Richard Ha farms tomatoes and bananas
and comments on biofuel plan for Ka`u.

    “This results in farmers and other business folks having higher operating costs. For everyone else, it takes away discretionary income. And we know that two-thirds of our economy is made up of consumer spending.      “There are also problems with the project itself. Fuel has never actually been produced using the process and feedstock that `Aina Koa Pono proposes. AKP does not know what it is going to grow. So far, the feedstock it is testing experimentally is white pine. The Micro Dee technology that AKP wants to use is still experimental.
      “There is also a risk that this process might use more energy than it generates. Generating electricity is generally about boiling water and making steam that turns a turbine. It is cheapest to burn the stuff, boil water and make steam.
      “But Aina Koa Pono’s proposed process is extremely energy-intensive and expensive: It would make electricity to make microwaves to vaporize the cellulose to get the liquid and then take the pyrolysis oil, refine it to make it burnable, and then haul it down to Keahole in tanker trucks to make steam. Why should the ratepayer pay for all that?
      “Cellulosic biofuels are not yet a cost-effective technology. On the mainland, in the middle of last year, the Environmental Protection Agency drastically decreased its 2011 estimate for cellulosic biofuel from 250 million gallons to a paltry 6 million gallons.
      “In 2010, cellulosic biofuel companies on the mainland needed to buy their feedstock for $45/ton. But because farmers were earning $100/ton for hay, the biofuel firms received a $45/ton subsidy.

`Aina Koa Pono and its partner Sustainable Biofuels Solutions claim they will use a microwave process that will compress "to about an hour what in nature takes thousands, even millions of years." Image from www.biofuels-solutions.com

      “I asked how much AKP expected to pay for feedstock, and the AECOM Technology Corporation consultant said between $55 and $65/ton. The problem there is that Hawai`i farmers have been earning $200/ton for hay for 10 years now.
      “There is an agricultural production risk, as well. Palm oil is the only industrial-scale biofuel that can compete with petroleum oil. AKP has 12,000 acres and it says it will produce 18 million gallons of biofuel annually, and another 6 million gallons of drop-in diesel. So it will produce 24 million gallons using 12,000 acres. That is 2,000 gallons per acre, and that is four times the production of palm oil. More likely they would need at least four times as much land, or 48,000 acres. But where?
      “Consider too that Ka`u Sugar relied on natural rainfall, and it was one of the least productive of the sugar companies. There is a drought right now. And at 22 degrees N latitude, the area has less sun energy than the palm oil producers located on the equator.
      "According to Energy Expert Robert Hirsch, in his book The Impending World Energy Mess, the best model for biofuel production is a circular one, where processing is done in the center of a field (which does not exceed a radius of 50 miles) consisting of flat land and deep fertile soil with irrigation and lots of sun energy. This situation exists in Central Maui, where Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S) is located. It explains exactly why HC&S is the sole surviving Hawaii sugar plantation.

      “To compete heads up in the world market would require the best possible combination of production factors. These are not them.
      “It’s also important to consider that locking ourselves into a 20-year contract now would preclude lower cost alternatives. Geothermal, for example, is the equivalent of oil at $57/barrel. Ocean thermal has the possibility of being significantly lower in price than $200/barrel oil. LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) is on the radar and so is biomass gasification. Who knows what else would come up in 20 years?
Paul Brewbaker and Carl Bonham, both highly respected Council of Revenue members, have said, very emphatically and for awhile now, that low energy cost is critical. We should listen to them.
      "The International Monetary Fund team modeled different oil supply scenarios and did a presentation at the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) conference a month and a half ago. They could not model a constant $200/barrel oil. Those would be uncharted waters; and ones, by the way, that would devastate Hawai`i’s tourist industry. Why should we start paying $200/barrel for oil in 2015 if we don’t have to? 

`Aina Koa Pono says it will bring an experimental unit to Hawai`i within within three months and start making biofuel to prove its process.
Photo from www.ainakoapono.com

      "Five people from Hawai’i attended this year’s ASPO conference. Notably, Kamehameha Schools sent two high-level people. Next year, Hawai`i should send 20 people to learn what’s happening with oil prices and energy.
      “In the meantime, the amount of risk involved in the AKP biofuels proposal is just far too great. In the investment world, reward is generally commensurate with risk. Except for protection from $200/barrel oil in later years, the AKP project would provide little reward for all the risk we rate payers would assume.
      “This is a very, very bad deal for consumers. Big Island electricity rates have been 25 percent higher than O`ahu’s for as long as anyone can remember. This probably adds to the reason why the Big Island has the lowest median family income in the state, as well as the social ills that go with it. We need lower rates, not higher rates!
      “Although this is not an official Big Island Community Coalition communication, I would like to point out that the BICC has been very instrumental in getting lots of people to stand up and say, “Enough is enough.”
      “The BICC is a bare-bones, grass roots citizen group with some of the most recognizable names on the Big Island on its steering committee: Dave DeLuz Jr., John E K Dill, Rockne Freitas, Michelle Galimba, Richard Ha, Wallace Ishibashi Sr., Kuulei Kealoha Cooper, D. Noelani Kalipi, Kaiu Kimura, Robert Lindsey, H M Monty Richards, Marcia Sakai, Kumu Lehua Veincent and William Walter,” Ha reports.
      `Aina Koa Pono has declined answering questions about its time line to cut trees and brush and begin planting in Ka`u. However, the company announced it will bring the first unit to Hawai`i within three months and could be operational next year. A PR statement by `Aina Koa Pono lauds that its new microwave depolymerization unit called a Micro Dee “can convert biomass into a crude oil using modular units of a microwave process, compressing to about an hour what in nature takes thousands, even millions of years.” The county has asked for proof of process, financing details and plans for the use of the ag land in Ka`u. Answers are due at the Public Utilities Commission by Feb. 15. 

Theft from orchards and drying pads will be discussed at Monday's meeting.

AGRICULTURAL THEFT will be discussed by County Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth at the Ka`u Farm Bureau meeting next Monday at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Theft of coffee from orchards and drying pads is reported to be on the rise as the demand outstrips the market. Some farmers are setting up camera and alarm systems in their locations and talking about a neighborhood watch for farms in order to catch the culprits. Roth has helped communities with crime sprees to help police monitor activities and break theft rings. 

VOLCANO SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES holds a public meeting this evening at 6:30 p.m. at Cooper Center in Volcano Village. Architects will present renderings of the new campus buildings at Keakealani. Fundraising efforts will be discussed.

FUNDRAISING FOR KA`U HOSPITAL’S emergency room by the Red Hat Ladies of Ka`u and Ka Lae Quilters takes place a bake and craft sale Friday and Saturday at 8 a.m. at Punalu`u Beach Park pavilion. Contributions are welcome. Call Barbara Beatty at 929-9072.

ST. JUDE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH in Ocean View holds its Mardi Gras celebration tomorrow, Friday at 6:30 p.m. with food, music and dancing. Tickets are $12 for one or $20 for two, with proceeds going to renew the Philippines Mission. Call 939-7555 for more information and tickets.

IN SPORTS, KA`U HIGH won its JV boys basketball game last night at home with a score of 49 to 41 over Kamehameha High School. Standout players were Chance Emmsley Ah Yee with 18 points and Kaimanu Medeiros Dancel with 12 points. Varsity fought hard against Kamehameha earning 53 points with Royden Esperon scoring 15 and Alexis Alejo and Donald Gar, Jr. each scoring ten. However, Kamehameha Warriors topped the Trojans with 68 points to win, reports Ka`u Athletic Director D. Kalei Namohala.