Ka`u News Briefs March 7, 2013

Filipino World War II heroes would be able to bring their families to the U.S. under Sen. Mazie Hirono's legislation.
Photo from the American Coalition of Filipino Verterans 

SUPPORTING FILIPINO WAR HEROES, Sen. Mazie K. Hirono introduced her first bill as United States Senator this week. The legislation would allow immigration for Filipino World War II veteran families. A statement from her office says, “The long-overdue legislation, which has been the priority of Hawai`i’s congressional delegation for many years, could gain new life as the Senate drafts and marks up immigration reform legislation. This legislation underscores Hirono’s immigration reform approach of bringing families together and assisting communities whose voices aren’t often heard in

Sen. Mazie K. Hirono

     Hirono stated: “Immigration reform should reflect our values and these are the types of ideas I will be working to include in the final legislation,” said Hirono. “Our nation can never fully repay the debt we owe the Filipino World War II veterans who bravely served and sacrificed alongside Americans in the critical South West Pacific Theatre. The brave servicemen who are still with us, now in their 80s and 90s, should not have to wait any longer in order to be reunited with their children.” Thousands of Filipino veterans were granted citizenship in recognition of their service to the United States in World War II. Their children, however, were not granted citizenship. As a result, the veterans who came to the United States could only sponsor their children by filing a petition and “getting in line,” Hirono noted. The backlogs affecting Filipino immigration applications date back more than 20 years in some cases.
       The statement says that Hirono has “a key perch to influence immigration reform legislation” as she sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration.
      The American Coalition of Filipino Veterans estimates that 20,000 sons and daughters of U.S. Filipino World War II veterans will directly benefit from Hirono’s legislation. “We applaud Sen. Hirono's great decision in reintroducing the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification bill,” said Eric Lachica, Executive Director, American Coalition of Filipino Veterans. "Salamat po! Mabuhay Senator Hirono,” he proclaimed.
      Rep. Colleen Hanabusa will introduce the bill in the House of Representatives.

FRESHMAN CONGRESSWOMAN TULSI GABBARD voted with Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday when they passed their budget. Gabbard was among 53 Democrats who said yes to the measure, noting that it would restore some military funding cut by the sequester.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

      Hawai`i is considered one of the states most dependent on infusion of military money. While protecting some military funding, however, the bill would preserve the overall $85 million in budget cuts, meaning that funding restored to the military would come from reduced funding for social services, education and other federal services, including furloughing some air traffic controllers and airport security staff – as many as 21 air traffic controllers in Hilo. Democrats warn that this could mean long waits for air travelers.
     Hawai`i’s senior House member Colleen Hanabusa voted against the Republican budget, which received 267 votes in favor and 151 in opposition. “This measure not only reaffirms sequestration, it does nothing to remove sequestration," said Hanabusa. A member of the House Armed Services Committee, she called for flexibility for the military in the use of its funding – a measure that was included in the Republican budget. Hanabusa also called for congress to give agencies beyond the Defense Department more flexibility in the use of their reduced budgets.
The proposal before congress is called the Continuing Resolution and would prevent a government shutdown at the end of March when the current resolution expires. 

Sen Colleen Hanabusa

     Hanabusa said: “While I support in principle extending funding and also making full-year appropriations for Defense spending and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, this bill does not accomplish what we need to get done.” 

      Gabbard called the bill she voted for “far from perfect” and said she supported it “because it provides important funds for our men and women serving overseas, our military-related jobs in Hawai`i, and it works to avert a government shutdown, protecting our economy from yet another self-manufactured crisis… I’m hopeful the Senate will improve upon this bill and a final bipartisan compromise can be reached to ensure the government remains open at the end of the month.”

VISITOR INDUSTRY SPENDING is expected to total $15.8 billion in Hawai`i this year with a half million more tourists coming to the islands. The Hawai`i Tourism Authority adjusted its projection yesterday and pointed to the increased number of airline seats coming to Hawai`i. The Tourism Authority predicted that 8.5 million visitors will come to the Islands in 2013.

THE USE OF THE CHEMICAL ATRAZINE is the subject of a Civil Beat investigative story published yesterday. The Sophie Cocke article states that “For decades, Hawai`i sugarcane and pineapple farmers, and increasingly seed corn growers, have sprayed the weed killer atrazine on their fields. Atrazine is the second most used weed control chemical in the country, first registered with the federal government in 1958. Civil Beat reports that “When it rains, the popular herbicide is swept into rivers and streams, threatening plant and aquatic life. Atrazine has been shown to reduce reproduction in fish and amphibians, cause birth defects, and according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is toxic to algae and plant life.”

Atrazine is a popular herbicide in the U.S. and is found in streams and oceans.
Photo from agritrue.com

    According to Civil Beat, its “review of state records and interviews with local regulators shows Hawai`i’s rivers, streams and coastal waters are not being tested for the chemical even though the EPA established water safety levels a decade ago and last year required states to regulate pesticides under the Clean Water Act. The state doesn't track where the chemical is being sprayed and in what quantities,” Civil Beat reports.
      Cocke writes that “atrazine users are largely left to police themselves when it comes to complying with strict EPA guidelines that limit spraying and require setbacks from water resources.”
      She quotes Thomas Matsuda, manager of the pesticides program at the state Department of Agriculture, saying, “We don’t test.” Matsuda told Civil Beat: “Basically, the label is the law. So basically whoever is the applicator is supposed to comply with whatever the label states.”
     The Civil Beat story also quotes Matsuda saying he is concerned about pesticide levels in Hawai`i, but monitoring is difficult with only six inspectors statewide. He said state agriculture inspectors must initiate formal investigations to gain specific information on atrazine use. Civil Beat followed the paper trail of sales records of atrazine at the Department of Agriculture and reported they “indicate that some of the largest buyers of atrazine include Hawai`i seed corn companies, Monsanto and Mycogen, and some of the state’s biggest farming operations.” 

Scientist and ocean researcher Joy Shih says that atrazine
should be banned to protect groundwater and marine life
 in Hawai`i.  Photo from SOEST

      The Natural Resources Defense Council sued the Enviornmental Protection Agency in 2003, “arguing that lax regulations failed to protect endangered species from atrazine in waterways throughout the mainland. In recent years, the EPA has required testing of 40 waterways in agricultural areas in the Midwest and southern U.S. but not in Hawai`i. The tests revealed widespread atrazine contamination, according to a report by the NRDC. In one-third of the waterways, tests came back with atrazine levels five to 10 times higher than the EPA’s safety limit,” Civil Beat reported. “The European Union has prohibited the use of atrazine since 2003 out of concern that the herbicide can easily contaminate groundwater,” according to the Civil Beat story. 

      Atrazine “has shown up repeatedly in drinking water in Hawai`i — something that the state does monitor. Much of the contamination is in Hilo on the Big Island, according to data from the Hawai`i Department of Health. The levels are within the EPA's safe standards for drinking water, and state officials say they don't warrant concern,” reports Civil Beat.
      According to the Civil Beat story, researcher Joy Shih, a doctoral candidate at the University of Hawai`i’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, believes that atrazine should be banned. “I think of Hawai`i as one giant watershed,” she told Civil Beat. “There is no inland, from the tops of the mountains, everything flows into the ocean. So anything that you apply that is water soluble ends up in the ocean. Fish are definitely affected and coral is affected.”
      Shih told Civil Beat that studies link atrazine to coral bleaching and that the chemical harms the phytoplankton at the bottom of the aquatic food chain. Phytoplankton is “like grass in a prairie. It’s analogous to that,” Shih told Civil Beat. See more at www.civilbeat.com

KA `OHANA O HONU`APO hosts Tutu & Keiki, its first 2013 Sunday in the Park family event, this Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Whittington Beach Park. Co-hosts are Tutu & Me Traveling Preschool and Hawaiian Civic Club of Ka`u. The event features Hawaiian activities, games and prizes. For more information and to volunteer, call 929-9891.

Ka`u News Briefs March 6, 2013

The Nature Conservancy sponsors prizes for pig-hunting contests in Ka`u, including this annual event to
honor the late Chaz Moses. Photo by Julia Neal

PIGS AND HAWAIIAN CULTURE became a topic of discussion among attendees at The Nature Conservancy’s presentation at After Dark in the Park last night at Kilauea Visitor Center Theater. When did native Hawaiians start hunting pigs in the forest? John Replogle, of The Nature Conservancy, who grew up in Ka`u, said he figures that pigs brought to Hawai`i with the early Polynesians were kept close to home as they were important food – like farm animals, living around the hale and venturing out and coming back to be near the human community and the food provided to them. It is likely that very few people hunted them during ancient Hawaiian times as pigs belonged to families and community.
      Field biologist Rick Warshauer, during discussions after the presentation, said domestic Polynesian pigs brought to Hawai`i on voyaging canoes were small and probably unable to live in the native forest as their jaws weren’t strong enough to break into hapu`u fern stalks for nutrition. He also noted that the main sources of protein for piglets are earthworms, which didn’t live on the island before western contact.

Pigs brought by western explorers were likley
better able to survive in the wild than those brought
by Polynesians. Photo by Julia Neal

      However, western explorers and trading vessels shipped in the larger European pigs with ability to survive in the wild with their bigger jaws and tusks. Westerners also brought in the earthworms that help piglets to flourish.
       During sugar days, pigs lived in the cane fields, eating the cane stalks, and immigrant sugar workers built the tradition of hunting pigs with dogs. With hunters in the sugar fields, wild pigs began retreating into the forest and living there part-time. The sugar fields also provided a barrier between imported, invasive plants being brought to the islands and spreading toward the native forests, which are not only home to native species but the watershed that creates drinking water for people.
      When sugar companies closed down – the last one in Ka`u in 1996 – pigs made further inroads into the native forest, as abandoned sugar fields provided less and less sustenance with much of the land turned into pasture, Replogle ventured.
      Replogle said that The Nature Conservancy works with hunters in educating them on the reasons for excluding wild pigs from portions of the forests to allow native plants and the animals they support to recover - the watershed better preserved. Replogle described the dense forest as creating water with its many layers of vegetation. The pigs, as well as sheep, goats and cattle, can destroy the understory of the forest, and the native plants and animal populations as well as watershed decline, sometimes rapidly when invasive plants like kahili ginger, the purple-flowered tibouchina, strawberry guava, common guava, lilikoi and Christmas berry move into land disturbed by the ungulates. The ungulates spread the seeds of many invasives into the forest through their droppings and on their coats and hooves, he said.
      Ka`u, Replogle explained, has a particular advantage in protecting and restoring native species as it already has the largest pristine native forest in all of the Hawaiian Islands. With hunters helping to keep down the pig population, there is a chance that the Hawaiian forest can survive, he said. The Nature Conservancy helps sponsor local pig tournaments with prizes such as global positioning systems for hunters. The Nature Conservancy office in Na`alehu is also a location where hunting licenses can be retrieved online between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays.
      The Nature Conservancy’s 3,548-acre Ka`u Preserve is located at altitudes between 2,600 and 5,770 feet and includes four separate parcels of forested land with mountainous ridgelines and narrow plateaus broken by alternating steep valleys. The forest includes a closed-canopy of koa and `ohi`a with a lush understory of uluhe and hapu`u. Rare nuku `i`iwi as well as `io, apapane, i`iwi, `elepaio, `amakihi and `akepa native birds survive there. Monthly volunteer opportunities are open to the public. Call 443-5413.

Ka`u Scenic Byway Task Force hopes to save Na`alehu Theater.
Photo from historichawaii.org

KA`U SCENIC BYWAY TASK FORCE is working to save Na`alehu Theater. At its meeting on Monday, members of the task force and the public discussed how best to draw attention to the plight of the theater. Marge Elwell said she will try to get articles published in O`ahu newspapers and magazines including pointing out that the theater could be viable, since popular artists have attracted full house attendances in the fairly recent past. Letters will be also sent to elected representatives asking for their help. Stephanie Donoho suggested contacting the group of theater managers on the island who meet regularly.

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC CO. has published Locational Value Maps online that show where and how much customer-sited generation of electricity, also called Distributed Generation, is in place. The maps provide an indication of the percentage of DG on the utilities’ distribution circuits. DG may include solar, wind, hydro or biomass renewable generation for Net Energy Metering, Feed-In Tariff or a Standard Interconnection Agreement, or Conventional generation for a Standard Interconnection Agreement.

Map from HECO shows amounts of customer-sited generation of
electricity that are going onto the utility's grid.

      DG percentages on the Locational Value Maps are based on installed systems and accepted interconnections. The maps are rough guides, updated regularly, but can quickly get out of date, the utility stated. 

      It also said that, in almost all cases, small home or business systems will not require an interconnection requirements study.
 For larger systems, a Locational Value Map address search or a preliminary circuit check from your utility does not guarantee that an interconnection requirements study will not be needed when submitting an application for utility review.
      HECO stated, “Our goal is to help get as much customer-sited generation, especially renewable energy, as possible while maintaining reliable service to all customers. Reliable service may be impacted if a circuit has too much DG interconnected without proper protection equipment.”
      According to HECO, no limits are set on the amount of DG on a circuit. However, all interconnection applications go through an initial review process. Generally, if DG penetration on a circuit is less than 15 percent of peak load, systems may qualify for Simplified Interconnection. If penetration is 15 percent or greater, further review may be needed.
      For more information, contact HELCO’s Solar Support Specialist at c-nmcint@heco.com or 808-543-4721.

      The maps are available at heco.com.

Kumu hula Raylene Kawai`ea Photo by Dave Boyle

VOLCANO ART CENTER PRESENTS a hula kahiko performance in honor of late kumu hula Raylene Kawai`ea on Saturday, March 9. The event features Halau Hula Manaolana `O Kohala, visiting Hula Halau Pi`o O Ke Anuenue of Ashland, Oregon and Halau Hula Keao `O Kala of Pahoa under the direction of kumu hula Roy Leabig. 

      The 50-minute narrated presentation demonstrates the preparation, protocol and offering of traditional hula and chant at the hula platform in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. A hands-on cultural demonstration takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the gallery porch. All events are free (donations welcome), and park entrance fees apply.
      For more information, call 967-8222 or visit www.volcanohula.com.

Lou Cooperhouse

FOOD BUSINESS BASICS: Getting Started and Finding Your Niche in the Specialty Foods Business takes place a week from today, next Wednesday, at Pahala Community Center. Farmers who want to sell a product to the public can learn from value-added and specialty foods consultant Lou Cooperhouse when he presents the workshop from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
      Following lunch (included with pre-registration), Nicole Milne, Agricultural Business Development specialist for The Laulima Center, will present two one-hour trainings on Financial Resources Available for Hawai`i Farmers and Marketing Agricultural Products on Hawai`i Island.
     Cooperhouse will also conduct 30-minute one-on-one consulting sessions each afternoon with pre-selected workshop participants. Registrants interested in the one-on-one consultations must complete and submit a brief application.
      For more information and to register, visit http://laulimacenter.org/foodbasics.html or call 443-2755.

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

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Ka`u News Briefs March 5, 2013

As part of the Ka`u Scenic Byways program, signs may be placed on Hwy 11 near mile-marker 75 to identify Ka Lae, South Point.
 Photo by Sean Dunckel, LYON Engineer

THE TEACHERS UNION, the Hawai`i State Teachers Association representing approximately 11,000 members educating nearly 200,000 students, is calling for a settlement. The 19-month-old employment contract dispute is with the state of Hawai`i and its single school board for public education across the Islands. The union says the dispute must be settled in order for the 2013 Hawai`i Legislature to have time to fund increased pay for the instructors. Money bills, including the state budget, House Bill 200, are due at the Legislature by “the final decking” at midnight April 26. The teachers would need to tentatively agree to a new contract by the deadline. The Department of Education has proposed rescinding 2011-2013 cuts that docked teacher pay by five percent and also would return teacher share of health insurance payments to 50 percent.

Some Ka`u teachers have held signs supporting the union next to
Pahala and Na`alehu campuses.

      The teachers union is calling for members to join a rally at the state Capitol in Honolulu on March 14. Ka`u members who cannot attend are asked to participate with “a mass email, letter, phone and fax activity.” The union issued an announcement saying the rally will “clearly demonstrate teachers’ collective desire to end this destructive conflict through a fair and equitable contract settlement now.”
      Some Ka`u teachers have held signs supporting the union and its efforts before and after school next to the Na`alehu and Pahala campuses.
      The union statement says the rally will be “our best and possibly last opportunity to achieve a settlement prior to the beginning of next school year without undertaking extraordinary measures.”
      According to the union, the state “must accept its responsibility to provide professional salaries that will recruit the best, brightest and most committed teachers to classrooms in Hawai`i.”

      HSTA also sent in testimony to the state House of Representatives supporting House Bill 151, which would require the Hawai`i Labor Relations Board to resolve complaints. “HSTA is the exclusive representative of more than 13,500 public and charter school teachers statewide. As the state affiliate of the 2.2-million-member National Education Association, HSTA has been adversely affected by the ineffectiveness of the HLRB.”
      The testimony pointed out that the HLRB has had a problem for over 15 years with approximately 100 cases standing idle “instead of seeking ways to hear them…. We are hopeful that the Legislature will consider the harm caused to teachers and potentially all state employees by the HLRB delays.”
      According to Teacher Portal, (www.teacherportal.com) Hawai`i is the eleventh highest ranked state for teachers when taking into consideration average teacher salary, cost of living and starting salaries. The average starting salary in Hawai`i is $45,380. The average salary is $55,063.

The sperm whale found between Honu`apo and South Point last week is
not the first to wash up in the last year. Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

THE SPERM WHALE found between Honu`apo and South Point last week is not the first to wash up in the last year. In August of 2012, a 50-foot sperm whale washed up in Puna and became the feeding trough for tiger sharks.
      While there are estimated to be about 66 sperm whales in waters of the inhabited Hawaiian Islands, there could be many more around the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, according to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.
      The giant mammals are assumed to have been more plentiful before major whaling expeditions in the 1800s and early 1900s, when Hawai`i offered ports for the whaling ships. In 1988, whaling was banned internationally. The sperm whale is listed as Endangered and is protected under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.

THE SCENIC BYWAYS COMMITTEE of Ka`u Chamber of Commerce met yesterday with Stephanie Donoho from Research and Development Department of Hawai`i County. She said this spring, there will be a decision on the proposal to put two signs at mile marker 75 looking from Ocean View to Ka Lae pali. A management plan is being finalized for presentation to the community before sending it to the state Department of Transportation. It includes a proposal for more educational signage and turnouts at scenic viewpoints. Proposals are also being made for funding, said Dennis Elwell, for the Scenic Byways committee. See more at www.hawaiiscenicbyways.org/index.php/byway/kau-scenic-byway-the-slopes-of-mauna-loa.

Sammi Fo, here with her late husband Buddy, is offering adult
Hula `Auana classes every Tuesday.

SAMMI FO OFFERS ADULT Hula `Auana Classes for beginners and experienced dancers this evening and every Tuesday in Ocean View at the corner of Tiki Lane and Princess Kaiulani Boulevard. Fo danced hula with her late husband, the well-known Hawaiian musician, Buddy Fo. Her dances are to classic, romantic music from Waikiki and all Hawaiian Islands. Beginning and first-year students meet at 6 p.m., and those with more experience meet at 4:15 p.m. Call 990-3292 for more information.

A GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING of Hawaiian Affairs Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai`i takes place tomorrow from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at its headquarters in Honolulu. Ka`u residents are welcome to attend via teleconference by calling 605-477-2100. Participant access code is 697371 #.
      Dante Carpenter, chair of Democratic Party of Hawai`i, conducts the meeting. Agenda items include a motion to ratify reorganization of HACDPH steering committee and an open election of all HACDPH steering committee members. For more information, visit hawaiianaffairscaucus.weebly.com.

Ka `Ohana O Honu`apo hosts its first 2013 Sunday in the Park event
March 10. Photo from honupopark.org

KA `OHANA O HONU`APO hosts Tutu and Keiki, its first 2013 Sunday in the Park family event, this Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Whittington Beach Park. Co-hosts are Tutu and Me Traveling Preschool and Hawaiian Civic Club of Ka`u. The event features Hawaiian activities, games and prizes. For more information and to volunteer, call Lehua Lopez-Mau at 929-9891 or email ka_ohana@honuapopark.org. 

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK invites volunteers to join Stewardship at the Summit led by Paul and Jane Field. Loppers and gloves are provided for participants to cut invasive Kahili ginger along park trails. Work is often in the shade of the forest with sounds of native honeycreepers like `apapane, `amakihi and `oma`o above. Water, snacks, rain gear and sun protection are recommended.
      No reservations are required. Stop by Kilauea Visitor Center to get directions and more information. The hike is a moderate one-mile round trip down Halema`uma`u Trail into Kilauea caldera, leaving from Kilauea Visitor Center. It involves walking over rough, uneven terrain on a dirt and rock path, with up to a 400-foot elevation change.
      The program takes place on different days each week. This month, the dates are this Thursday, March 7; Friday, March 15; Saturday, March 23 and Thursday, March 28.
      Call 985-6017 for more information.

`Ohi`a tree growing along a crack in lava flow.
Photo by Tim Tunison

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES INSTITUTE, part of Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, presents Life on Recent Lava Flows with botanist Tim Tunison on Saturday, March 23 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. According to Tunison, the park, with two active volcanoes, may be one of the world’s best outdoor classrooms for learning about the colonization of new geological surfaces, a process that ecologists label primary succession.
      “The lava flows along Chain of Craters Road, resulting from Mauna Ulu flows and other eruptions in the 1970s, are highly accessible and informative,” said Tunison. “Life has noticeably recolonized these 30- to 40-year-old flows and deposits, but the simplicity and sparseness of life make species identification manageable—and ecological patterns readily apparent.”
      Participants investigate the characteristic small suite of plant and animal species found on recent lava flows; how succession on lava in Hawai‘i differs from that on rock surfaces; how rates of colonization differ on `a`a versus pahoehoe and from dry to wet areas; and why there are few alien, invasive plants on recent lava flows.
      The day involves short walks in three or four sites on pahoehoe or deep cinder totaling about one mile.
      Program cost is $50 for Friends members and $65 for non-members. Student fees (K-12 and college with valid ID) are $25 for members and $35 for non-members. Non-members are welcome to join the Friends in order to get the member discount. Tuition includes a pictorial species identification handout and a PDF mini-book.
      To register, email institute@fhnvp.org or call 985-7373.

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.