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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Ka`u News Briefs Tuesday, June 17, 2014


Volunteers from Southside Volleyball team, Pacific Quest and `O Ka`u Kakou removed invasive plants from the pond at Punalu`u Black Sand Beach Sunday. Photo by Katherine Okamura 
BAY CLINIC’S KA`U FAMILY HEALTH & DENTAL CENTER will benefit from a grant of $4,000 from the Friends of Hawai`i Charities, Inc. Funds will be used for preventive health care outreach and education activities. Bay Clinic’s Pediatric Care Management Program provides childhood immunizations, developmental screening, preventive dental care, as well as non-emergency primary medical care for all children regardless of insurance status living in East and South Hawai`i Island.
      According to Bay Clinic CEO Harold Wallace, poor nutrition and limited access to health care are known to cause mental and other developmental delays that affect a child’s ability to learn and develop good social skills, and untreated medical and dental diseases are major factors in excessive absences from school.
      “As a patient-centered medical home, our services are designed to provide coordinated and comprehensive primary medical and dental care for our patients from birth and throughout their lives,” Wallace said.
      The goal of the Pediatric Care Management Program is to increase access to primary medical and dental health prevention, screening, treatment and education services for all children, and most especially the children who would otherwise not have timely access to healthcare.
      To make an appointment for keiki, call the Bay Clinic’s Ka`u Family Health & Dental Center at 929-7311.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

THE BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY ORGANIZATION, which lobbies at the national level, is joining the lawsuit to overturn Bill 113, Hawai`i Island’s ban on genetically modified crops. Anita Hofschneider reports in Civil Beat that the global trade group spent almost $8 million lobbying federal officials last year.
      Karen Batra, of BIO, told Hofschneider the group joined the lawsuit “to show its support for local farmers, including one of its members, the Hawai`i Papaya Industry Association,” also a plaintiff in the case. “Bill 113 is a direct assault on the technology and on the local farmers and growers that utilize that technology to increase their productivity,” she said. “Biology is something that evolves, so you’re going to have evolving pests and evolving plant diseases. You shouldn’t prevent the use of science and technology coming to the aid of this industry.”
Here the giant camera is carried out to sea from New Bedford, Mass. on the
Kathie Marie, also transporting the Hawaiians to document the scallop
population on the floor of the Atlantic. Photo by Richard Taylor
      Hawai`i County Council member Margaret Wille, who introduced Bill 113, said BIO’s decision to join in the lawsuit is a sign of the industry’s influence on local farmers. “It’s just another indication of how these multinationals are sort of using the local organizations,” she said.
      Hawai`i Agriculture Board member Richard Ha, one if the plaintiffs in the suit, told Hofschneider, “It’s good that they’re involved and we have a common interest. But they’re not running us by any stretch of the imagination.”
      See civilbeat.com.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

TWO YOUNG KA`U MEN are in New England this summer, doing what Hawaiians often did in the late 1700s and 1800s, join a ship from New England to explore and work at sea. Isaac Davis and Preston Kana`i Tamura Kuahiwinui are working with Ka Lae resident Richard Taylor, photographing the sea floor to document scallop beds from the boat the Kathie Marie
      Recording of scallop bed locations and estimation of the population helps regulate the industry. Davis also worked in New England last summer with Portuguese fishing crews and with Taylor’s scallop project. The crew operates a large camera with a joystick, guiding it along the ocean floor with its ups and downs. The documentation is funded by the scallop industry and helps determine how many and from where scallops are to be harvested each season.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Volunteers move from a cleared area of Punalu`u pond to continue removing
invasive plants. Photo by Katherine Okamura
`O KA`U KAKOU SPONSORED A CLEANUP at Punalu`u Pond Sunday. Participating were volunteers from OKK, Southside Volleyball Club and Pacific Quest. 
      Southside boys are staying at Pahala Plantation Cottages while they train for the Boys Junior Nationals Championship being held in Houston, Texas from June 28 through July 5. Players from Ka`u are Emmett Enriques, Kai Enriques, Brian Gascon, Addie Enriques, Avery Enriques, Nai`a Makuakane and Kameron Moses.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI`I IS RECEIVING A $3 MILLION grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for energy research. This grant comes as part of the DOE’s nationwide initiative to advance hydrogen production and delivery technologies to produce, deliver and dispense hydrogen at a cost equivalent of less than $4 per gallon. Expanding use of hydrogen in transportation can help to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, save drivers and families money over the long-run and reduce carbon emissions.


      “This federal investment recognizes Hawai`i’s continued leadership in the field of renewable energy research,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono. “As part of the DOE’s initiative to advance cost-competitive hydrogen-based energy, the University of Hawai`i is contributing to efforts that could lead to significant advances in renewable technologies and create a stronger, more sustainable Hawai`i.”

      This grant will fund ongoing research at the University of Hawai`i that examines use of specialized cells, known as photoelectrodes, to harness solar radiation and use it as an energy source to split water molecules into their original building blocks of hydrogen and oxygen. Once separated from the oxygen, the hydrogen will then be utilized for fuel purposes.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Ka`u residents can help The Nature Conservancy identify weed locations in
Hawaiian rainforests by studying high-resolution images online.
Photo from The Nature Conservancy
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY IS LAUNCHING the Hawai`i Challenge, a crowdsourcing campaign to help save the islands’ remaining native forests, including, in the future, those in Ka`u. 
      Less than 50 percent of Hawai`i’s native forests still thrive in high-elevation, remote areas of the islands, but they are threatened by invasive weeds and other human impacts. The Hawai`i Challenge targets two plants that started as ornamentals, but have become invasive: the Australian tree fern and the African tulip tree.
      Through DigitalGlobe’s online crowdsourcing platform, Tomnod, anyone can contribute to saving native Hawai`i’s forests by tagging the locations of invasive weeds in high-resolution aerial images. Visit nature.ly/1vw5voZ to start.
      “Crowd participation to identify weed locations in remote, dense Hawaiian rainforest will help us do our job to protect perhaps the most precious resource the forest provides – our fresh water,” said Jason Sumiye, director of Landscape Science for The Nature Conservancy of Hawai`i.
      By crowdsourcing the project, staff in Hawai`i are hoping to identify the number and location of these invasive plants much more quickly than they could on their own, as well as provide a quality check to the individual currently during the image analysis.
      “The crowd can take our analysis ability from one person to thousands of people by sharing the images online through DigitalGlobe’s Tomnod platform,” Sumiye said. “We look forward to the help of armchair conservationists everywhere.”
      DigitalGlobe is best known for its work with rescue and response crises like the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. They have never worked on an environmental project before.
      “DigitalGlobe’s purpose is “Seeing a Better World™. Using all of our tools to make the world better lines up with The Nature Conservancy’s goal to protect nature and preserve life,” explained Luke Barrington, senior manager of Geospatial Big Data with DigitalGlobe. “We’ve had a huge response to global problems in the past, and we’re eager to engage our volunteers to solve new types of problems,” he said.
      This project is beginning with Conservancy-provided high-resolution aerial photography of Kaua`i’s remote rainforests. If it is successful, the Conservancy has thousands more acres – and images – to analyze from across the state.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Ka`u residents can meet County Council District Six
candidate Jim Wilson Sunday.
HALAU ULUMAMO O HILO PALIKU under the direction of kumu hula Mamo Brown presents a hula performance tomorrow from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Free; park entrance fees apply.

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS SPONSORS a Candidate Forum 
this Saturday, June 21. Doors open at 12:30 p.m. at Christ Church,
 81-1004 Konawaena School Road
 in Kealakekua.
      County Council District 6 candidates are featured from 1 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. State Representative District 5 candidates meet the public from 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
      The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan organization established to promote political responsibility through informed and active participation of citizens in government.
      For more information, call 933-VOTE (933-8683).

JIM WILSON, HAWAI`I COUNTY COUNCIL District Six candidate, offers a talk story this Sunday, June 22 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village. Refreshments will be served.
      For more information, email jimwilsoncouncil@gmail.com.

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




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Monday, June 16, 2014

Ka`u News Briefs Monday, June 16, 2014

Roofing and siding for the new Kau Gym & Disaster Shelter are in progress on the Pahala school campus. An annual Southside Volleyball Camp to send local youth to a national tournament where they are seen by college recruiters is all week at the old gym, led by Kamehameha Schools volleyball coach Guy Enriques. Photo by Julia Neal
SOUTHSIDE VOLLEYBALL CAMP takes place this week and last at the old Ka`u High Gym, with coach Guy Enriques preparing local youth for Junior Boys National Championship at the George Brown Convention Center in Houston, June 28 – July 5. The team of 17-year-olds comprised of nine players is coached by Enriques. The team of 15-year-olds, with 11 players and coached by Enriques and Sam Thomas, will defend its national championship from last year. Enriques is also head coach for Kamehameha Schools, and Thomas is assistant coach.
Home of the Trojans since the 1930s, the old gym serves as a base for volleyball
camp this week to send Southside Volleyball teams to a national competition. The
new gym is scheduled to be available for next summer, creating two practice and
tournament locations on the campus. Photo by Julia Neal
      Families of the teams are still raising funds for the event. Call Guy Enriques at 217-2253. Accommodations for the camp are provided by Pahala Plantation Cottages. Enriques said he hopes that by next summer the camp and volleyball tournaments in Ka`u can be held in the new $18 million gym being built on the school campus, as well as the old gym.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

KA`U RESIDENTS CAN PARTICIPATE in this week’s Hawai`i County Council committee and regular meeting via videoconferencing at Ocean View Community Center. Committee meetings tomorrow are Public Works and Parks & Recreation at 9 a.m.; Finance Committee, 9:15 a.m.; Planning Committee, 9:45 a.m.; and Agriculture, Water & Energy Sustainability, 10:15 a.m.
      The council’s regular meeting is Wednesday at 9 a.m. All meetings take place at West Hawai`i Civic Center in Kona.
      On the County Council meeting agenda is the second of three required readings of a bill calling for the term of the County Clerk to be extended to six years. If the measure passes County Council, it will be on November’s general election ballot as a charter amendment.
      Agendas of all meetings are available at hawaiicounty.gov.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

AFTER ANALYZING BILLS PASSED BY THE U.S. SENATE and House of Representatives last week in response to reports of long wait times for appointments with Veterans Affairs physicians and possible related deaths, the Congressional Budget Office says federal government spending on veterans’ health care could double, reports Matthew Dal for Associated Press.
      Dal said that, according to the budget office, the Senate bill would open up VA health care to as many as eight million veterans who now qualify for VA health care but have not enrolled. By making it easier to get outside care, the Senate bill and a companion measure in the House also would encourage veterans to seek VA coverage for a bigger portion of their health care, the report says.
      Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee of which Ka`u’s U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono is a member, told Dal the bill was expensive, but so were the wars that veterans have served in. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan alone will have cost at least $3 trillion, he said.
      “If we can spend that kind of money to go to war … surely we can spend (less than) one percent of that amount to take care of the men and women who fought those wars,” Sanders said.
      The Center for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan policy group devoted to cutting federal deficits, raises concerns about the legislation, saying it “includes an unprecedented open-ended mandatory appropriation that basically gives the VA a blank check to spend as it wishes. Given recent reports, one would think Congress would want more accountability at the VA, not less.”
      The two chambers now work toward reconciling differences in their bills.
      See hawaiitribune-herald.com and crfb.org.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Hawai`i Ag Board member Richard Ha
HAWAI`I AGRICULTURAL BOARD MEMBER RICHARD HA explains the rationale behind a lawsuit brought against Hawai`i County on his blog hahaha.hamakuasprings.com. Ha is one of several plaintiffs suing the county over its ban on open-air use of genetically modified crops.
      Ha says the lawsuit seeks clarity and equal treatment for farmers. “Farmers are law-abiding citizens, and we play by the rules. We thought that the Feds and the state had jurisdiction. We want clarity about the rules of the game.
      Ha also says, “Only Big Island farmers are prohibited from using biotech solutions that all our competitors can use. How is that equal? It’s discriminatory against local farmers.
      “Like almost all the farmers, (I) have never sued anyone. But there comes a time when you have to stand up for what is right.
      “The group we formed, Hawai`i Farmers and Ranchers United, grows more than 90 percent of the farm value on the Big Island.
      “This is about food security. The GMO portion of food security is small. This is not about large corporations. It is about local farmers. It is not about organics; we need everybody. But organics only supply four percent of the national food supply and maybe one percent of Hawai`i’s. Our organic farmers are not threatened by modern farming. Hawai`i organic farmers are threatened by mainland, industrial-scale organic farms. That is why there are hardly any locally grown organics in the retail stores. It’s about cost of production. Also, on the mainland winter kills off the bad bugs and weeds, and the organic farmers can outrun the bugs through the early part of summer. Hawai`i farmers don’t have winter to help us.
      “Most importantly, this is about pro-science and anti-science. That is why farmers are stepping up. We know that science is self-correcting. It gives us a solid frame of reference. You don’t end up fooling yourself. In all of Hawai`i’s history, now is no time to be fooling ourselves.”
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Pahala Senior Center sponsored an outing to see Ka`u resident Dick Hershberger
portray Hawaiian Volcano Observatory founder Thomas Jaggar in A Walk into
the Past
. Photo from Julie Pasquale
LOOKING FOR A FUN VOLUNTEER ACTIVITY that can include a healthy meal? The Pahala Senior Nutrition Center provides recreation, education and on-site lunches for independent seniors aged 60 and beyond. Age is the only qualification to join, and a healthy lunch is served daily. 
      While the center is affiliated with Hawai`i County Parks & Recreation Department and has a part-time staff person who coordinates the meals and activities, it is primarily run by a group of senior volunteers who help with set-up and clean-up, lunch service, activities and transportation. 
      “Volunteers can help as much or as little as they want, so this is a great opportunity for those looking to have fun while doing good,” said coordinator Julie Pasquale. 
      Pahala Senior Center is located at the Senior Housing complex on Holei Street. Hours are weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with lunch service at 10:30 a.m. Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to stop by or call Pasquale at 928-3101 for more information.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.  

VOLUNTEERS CAN SIGN UP THROUGH TODAY for Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park Forest Restoration Project on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Participants cut invasive Kahili ginger in an area of `ohi`a forest in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park that recovers well once the ginger is removed.
      Call 352-1402 or email forest@fhvnp.org.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

EVOLUTION OF DANCE AS A SOCIAL JUSTICE and social change tool is the topic at Volcano Art Center’s Dancing at the Source, Dancing on the Edge: Branching Out tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at its Niaulani campus in Volcano Village.
      For more information, call 967-8222 or see volcanoartcenter.org.

Ka`u Auto Repair won Most Patriotic at last year's Na`alehu Independence Day
Parade. Photo by Julia Neal
HALAU ULUMAMO O HILO PALIKU under the direction of kumu hula Mamo Brown presents a hula performance Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Free; park entrance fees apply.

NA`ALEHU INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE sponsored by `O Ka`u Kakou is less than two weeks away on Saturday, June 28, starting at 11 a.m. Businesses, organizations and individuals who wish to participate, volunteer or donate should call Debra McIntosh at 929-9872 or see okaukakou.org/4th-of-july-parade and click on the volunteer button.
      Prizes are awarded for the most colorful entry and the most patriotic entry. The parade route begins at Na`alehu Elementary School and ends at Na`alehu Hongwanji Mission.
      After the parade, OKK provides fun times at the park for all ages with free shaved ice, hot dogs, games for keiki and Bingo for seniors.
      “Let’s meet, after the parade, at 12 noontime at Na`alehu Park to celebrate our nation’s birth with family and friends,” said organizer Lee McIntosh.

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Sunday, June 15, 2014

Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, June 15, 2014

Mauna Loa Volcano may be stirring to life after a 30-year repose, reports Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
 Photo from HVO
MAUNA LOA MAY BE SLOWLY STIRRING TO LIFE after a 30-year repose, reports Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in the current issue of Volcano Watch. While there are no signs of impending eruption, HVO has recorded an increased level of seismic activity on the flanks and summit of Mauna Loa over the past 13 months. 
      The issue compares recent seismic activity with activity prior to the mountain’s 1984 eruption.
      “Four distinct earthquake swarms — clusters of earthquakes occurring closely in time and location — have occurred since March 2013. Each swarm began with earthquakes northwest of the summit (Moku`aweoweo Crater) at 2.5 – nine miles deep, followed by shallow earthquakes at the summit from several days to one month later,” according to HVO.
HVO maps compare recent earthquake swarms with those
prior to Mauna Loa's 1984 eruption.
      “The recent swarms have not been associated with deformation of the ground surface we would expect from intrusion of significant amounts of magma into shallow levels beneath Mauna Loa. However, ground deformation indicating shallow magma accumulation has been measured during many of the past 30 years, including two episodes of very rapid inflation immediately following the most recent eruption in 1984.
      “Prior to the 1984 eruption, seismicity was elevated for at least three years, with 28 earthquakes greater than magnitude three, and two earthquakes greater than magnitude four. The magnitude-6.7 earthquake on Nov. 16, 1983 may also have been triggered by the pressurizing magma system of Mauna Loa. Earthquakes prior to the 1984 eruption were typically located northwest of the summit at depths greater than three miles and on the upper Southwest Rift Zone at depths less than three miles.
      “Though the size and number of earthquakes observed over the past 13 months have been significantly smaller than those observed in the three years prior to the 1984 eruption, they have been occurring in the same general areas of the volcano. The swarm in Sept. – Oct. 2013 occurred on the northwest flank, the same location as one of the swarms that occurred prior to the 1984 eruption. The May 9, 2014 magnitude-3.5 earthquake occurred in the same area of the upper Southwest Rift Zone as many magnitude three or greater earthquakes prior to the 1984 eruption.
      “The likelihood of detecting a short-term change in activity that would lead to a successful eruption forecast is enhanced with a quality geophysical network that can monitor changes in earthquake occurrence, ground deformation and gas chemistry both in the summit and rift zones of Mauna Loa.”
      For more information, see hvo.wr.usgs.gov.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Ka`u's public school teachers will see changes to the state's Educator
Effectiveness System beginning in August. Photo by Julia Neal
HAWAI`I DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION IS REDUCING the requirements in its teacher evaluation system. Based on feedback from five working groups and lessons learned during the previous school year, the department is implementing 18 changes for the school year beginning in August. According to DOE, these changes are designed to simplify the system to make it clearer and easier to understand, streamline its components to eliminate redundancies and differentiate the approach for teachers based on performance and need to ensure administrators can spend more time with teachers who need and want it most. 
      “These changes will serve to improve the quality of the feedback and coaching teachers receive and reduce burden on teachers and administrators,” says a DOE statement. 
      The DOE states that teachers at different performance levels “deserve and require different types of feedback, support and opportunities to grow as professionals. The Educator Effectiveness System implemented in SY 2013-14 is too complicated in some areas and too one-size-fits-all in others. Certain components need to be adjusted to provide more flexibility and options to reflect different teachers’ job duties. And the system of support for all educators needs to be improved.”
Kathryn Matayoshi
      Among the changes for SY2014-15 are:
  • Differentiating the number of required classroom observations based on need from twice annually to zero for highly effective teachers; one or more for effective teachers; and two or more for marginal, unsatisfactory or beginning teachers. 
  • Overall this amounts to about 9,000 fewer classroom observations, reducing observation workload by almost 50 percent. 
  • Providing the approximately 1,800 teachers rated highly effective in SY13-14 the option to carryover their rating. 
  • Reducing administration of student surveys from twice to once annually, eliminating the survey for grades K-2, and eliminating the demographic questions from the survey. Overall this means approximately 11,700 fewer surveys, a 63 percent reduction. 
  • Reducing, for most teachers, the number of required Student Learning Objectives from two to one annually. Overall, this means approximately 12,400 fewer required SLOs. 
  • Removing the student survey as an independent component with a stand-alone rating and embedding it as subcomponent under Core Professionalism. 
  • Providing flexibility within Working Portfolio and SLOs, particularly for non-classroom teachers, to reflect job duties. 
  • Improving Student Growth Percentiles to replace a percentile ranking of teachers with anchors in criterion and building in a margin of error. 
      “These changes are just the beginning to refining this system and ultimately, elevating student achievement,” Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said. Providing support to teachers who fared poorly on the rating system is the next step, she said.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO, A MEMBER of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has co-introduced the Veterans Emergency Health Safety Net Expansion Act of 2014. This legislation expands access to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs emergency safety net to all VA-enrolled veterans who rely solely on the VA for their medical care. The bill cuts red tape and eliminates the 24-month rule that can prevent veterans from being reimbursed for emergency medical expenses. 
      

“The recent scandal at the VA has shown that we must do all we can to help our veterans, even after the spotlight on this issue has faded,” said Hirono. “Sen. (Jerry) Moran and I are joining together again to push a permanent fix to the VA system that helps make sure our veterans can access the care that they need.”
      Raymond C. Kelley, Director of National Legislative Service at Veterans of Foreign Wars, said, “This important legislation would ensure that veterans who seek emergency care will no longer be responsible for financially devastating medical bills, simply because they have not received VA care in the previous 24 months. It would also close a loophole that allows veterans’ insurance companies to withhold reimbursements from VA.”
      The Veterans Emergency Health Safety Net Expansion Act is fully paid for and includes a provision that prevents insurance companies from denying or limiting reimbursements to the VA for medical care provided to insured veterans on the basis that the VA is not an in-network provider.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Miss Ka`u Coffee 2013  Tiare-Lee Shibuya greeted last year's
half marathon winner Billy Barnett at the finish line.
Photo from Sharron Faff
VOLCANO ART CENTER PRESENTS Dancing at the Source, Dancing on the Edge: Branching Out, Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at its Niaulani campus in Volcano Village. This event addresses the evolution of dance as a social justice and social change tool through the choreography of Trina Nahm-Mijo, former co-coordinator of Volcano Dance Retreats. Nahm-Mijo is collaborating with Eric Kupers, a Bay Area dancer and director of Dandelion Dance Theater. Collaborators on dance performances in Hawai`i and the Bay Area for 15 years, Nahm-Mijo and Kupers share excerpts of a new work entitled Lele/Tongues/Gather, which explores themes of birth, death and spirit.
      Fees are $10 for VAC members and $12 for non-members. See volcanoartcenter.org for more information.

KA`U RESIDENTS AND ATHLETES can register for Volcano Rain Forest Runs coming up in two months on Saturday, Aug. 16.
      Entry fee for the 5K is $30 or $20 for ages 19 and under; 10K, $45; half marathon, $75; Keiki Fun Run; free.
      All runs start and finish at Cooper Center on Wright Road in Volcano Village. The Half Marathon begins at 7 a.m. followed by the 10K at 7:45 a.m. and the 5K at 8 a.m.
      10K and 5K participants can also register race morning at Cooper Center Start Line from 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. There is no race day registration for the Half Marathon.
      Keiki ages one to seven can register for the free 100- or 200-yard dashes on race morning until 9:30 a.m. The Keiki runs begin at 10 a.m. All entrants receive a ribbon and other goodies after coming through the finish line.
      For more information, maps, FAQs and registration information, see volcanorainforestruns.com or call race director Sharron Faff at 967-8240.

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






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