Ka`u News Briefs Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015

Forecasters so far are confident that Hurricane Olaf will stay east of Hawai`i as it travels north. Map from NOAA

EAST HAWAI`I REGIONAL BOARD of Hawai`i Health Systems Corp., which manages Ka`u Hospital, has signed a non-disclosure and confidentiality agreement with Adventist Health. “We are in the very early stages of exchanging information in terms of finance and operations,” Board Chair Kurt Corbin told members of the state House of Representatives’ Committee on Finance yesterday, Colin M. Stewart reported in Hawai`i Tribune-Herald.

Richard Creagan

      HHSC’s East Hawai`i administrators in June began talks with the California-based company that operates Castle Medical Center on O`ahu. East Hawai`i Region laid off 87 employees this year to eliminate a $7 million budget deficit, and Regional CEO Dan Brinkman told the committee that it could face another $7 million shortfall and more budget cuts.
      Ka`u’s state Rep. Richard Creagan attended the meeting and told The Ka`u Calendar that he was happy to learn that Dan Brinkman has moved from acting CEO to permanent CEO for the East Hawai`i region. “He is doing a great job supporting hospital workers and doesn’t demonize the unions. The hospital system is faced with funding union-negotiated employee raises approved by the Legislature,” Creagan said. The Legislature will be called on to help fund the raises.
      Creagan said, “East Hawai`i is doing a good job of cutting costs while maintaining quality patient care.” He also suggested that any private-public partnerships between East Hawai`i hospitals and private or nonprofit health care entities be delayed at least a year, until “we see how the new partnership on Maui (with Kaiser Permanente) works out.”
      See hawaiitribune-herald.com.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

COUNTY ACQUISITION OF KAHUA `OLOHU Makahiki Grounds in Na`alehu is on hold. Hawai`i County Council considered Ka`u council member Maile David’s Resolution 287-15 this morning. According to the resolution, the property is listed as a key priority for purchase in Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Committee’s 2014 Annual Report for its historical significance and cultural importance.

Maile David

      Jerry Warren, of Na`alehu, testified that the site is actually low on PONC’s priority list; it was listed as number 11. He said the PONC process has become “a welfare program for grant seekers,” who apply for stewardships of preserved land. He also referred to the property as “an albatross” that the owners want to get rid of.
      Property owner James Weatherford said he bought the 13-acre parcel in 2008 for agriculture and learned of its “great historic significance” in 2011, when Hawai`i County surveyed the property as a possible site for a sewage treatment plant.
      He praised the PONC staff for their quality help. He said he is willing to sell at an appraised value or his original purchase price, whichever is less, and that he is not interested in making money.
      Weatherford also said he has another interested, unnamed buyer who would use the site for ecotourism, but he prefers to sell to the county.
      After hearing Warren’s testimony, council member Danny Paleka asked Weatherford to respond to Warren’s statements. Weatherford told the council, “Everything Warren said is false.”
      Council member Aaron Chung asked David to investigate Warren’s statements further, “for the sake of transparency.” He asked if Weatherford has a vested interest in the property and if Weatherford was involved in creating the PONC process during his time working for former Ka`u Council member Bob Jacobson. He also questioned nonprofits’ use of county funds for stewardship “to generate money.”
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

Improvement to The Cooper Center are on the way.
Photo from Volcano Community Associaton

THE COOPER CENTER in Volcano Village will make improvements with $15,000 appropriated by Hawai`i County Council. Council member Maile David’s Resolution 308-15 passed unanimously this morning. Funds will be used to purchase building materials. 

       The center is the hub of the Volcano community and used by hundreds of people weekly. In her testimony, the organization’s president Linda Ugalde said the funds go toward a new roof and a new water tank “to support all of the activities” at the center.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

FORECASTERS ARE CONFIDENT that Hurricane Olaf will stay well east of Hawai`i as it travels north. The category-four storm was 1,065 miles east-southeast of South Point at 11 a.m.
      High surf is expected on east-facing shores, intensifying over the next several days until the storm passes beyond Hawai`i Island on Saturday morning.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

Sean "Olanui" Robbins Photo from NPS

SEAN “OLANUI” ROBBINS PRESENTS a free Hawaiian music concert tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Robbins is quickly earning a reputation as a ki ho`alu (slack-key) rising star and a haku mele (Hawaiian songwriter). The 21-year old local boy is often described as an old soul contained in a young body, and the protégé of slack key master and legendary musician Cyril Pahinui.

      With a great respect for the “old style” of Hawaiian music playing taught by kupuna, Robbins was also taken under the wings of the famous musical Keli`iho`omalu `ohana in Kaimu, Kalapana. Robbins’ first CD, Olanui, is a Hoku award winner and a taste of what is to come. 

      Olanui will be available for purchase.
      Park entrance fees apply.
      Call 985-6011 for more information.

RESIDENTS CAN LEARN about Social Security this week. Workshops take place tomorrow at Na`alehu Community Center, Thursday at The Cooper Center in Volcano Village and Friday at Ocean View Community Center. All sessions are from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. See ad below for topics covered. Reserve at 327-5410.

WRITTEN TESTIMONY: THE BARE BASICS is one of the topics at free workshops in Ka`u on Friday about the state Legislature. Keanu Young, of the state Legislature’s Public Access Room, will explain how to properly submit testimony for consideration.

Keanu Young

      According to the Public Access Room, testimony should be addressed to the appropriate committee and chair. It needs to include the bill number and the hearing date, time and place. After introducing yourself, state the measure you are testifying on and whether you support or oppose it. Explain the reasons for your positions, including facts or experiences. In closing, clearly re-state your position. Also, include name and contact information. 

      Friday’s workshops are at 11 a.m. at Ocean View Community Center and 2:30 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. 

      See par@capitol.hawaii.gov or 974-4000 x7-0478 for more information.

KEAHI CONJUGACION and Volcano Art Center’s Jazz Ensemble present Jazz in the Forest Saturday.
      Two shows are offered, with a matinee at 4:30 p.m. and an evening performance at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the matinee are $15 for VAC members ($20 non-members) and for the evening show are $20 for VAC members ($25 non-members).
      Tickets are available at VAC’s Administration Office in Volcano Village, VAC Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and online at volcanoartcenter.org through Friday. After that, tickets will be sold at the door if not sold out.

Ka`u Coffee growers can learn how to operate more efficiently from Fernando
Augusto Vicentini next month. Photos from UH-CTAHR

IMPROVEMENT OF COFFEE FARM and Mill Efficiency is the topic at Ka`u Coffee Cooperative’s meeting two weeks from today, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. UH-CTAH’s Cooperative Extension Service, in cooperation with USDA and the Hawai`i Coffee Growers Association, is bringing Fernando Augusto Vicentini, a mechanical engineer from Brazil, to provide information for better efficiency of coffee cultural control and production.

      Vicentini has expertise in field and mill equipment modifications that potentially reduce costs, improve efficiency and assist with CBB control and management of other coffee pests and diseases. All growers and processors are welcome.
      Seating is limited. Call 808-322-4892 to RSVP or email ginab@hawaii.edu at least one day before the event.

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

FOR AFFORDABLE COMPUTER HELP, call John Derry at 936-1872.

See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_October2015.pdf.

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.swf
and kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.pdf.

Ka`u News Briefs Monday, Oct. 19, 2015

Here comes Major Hurricane Olaf, 1,280 miles east-southeast of Hilo at 11 a.m.  Olaf, a category 4, is expected to turn north and
pass well east of Hawai`i late this week. Map from NOAA. See more below.

LAWFUL HAWAIIAN GOVERNMENT, organized to reinstate Hawaiian government from March 1999,  today released results of its elections held Saturday, Sept. 12. Elected were its Ka`u Representative, Noble, and Prime Minister of the Hawaiian Islands. Two polling places were set up in Ka`u, at Pahala and Ocean View, for all kanaka 18 years and older to vote. 

Image from The Lawful Hawaiian Government

      John Kalua`u is the elected Noble of Ka`u district, and Eli Whitney is District Representative. Henry Noa is Prime Minister. “Congratulations to these men who stepped up to represent all kanaka, keiki and kupunas for a four-year term,” said Hope Cermelj, of LHG. 

      LHG is not affiliated with Office of Hawaiian affairs, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands or the Hawai`i State government and departments.
      For more information about the elections and the Lawful Hawaiian Government, see thelawfulhawaiiangovernment.org, or call Alohalani (last name not provided) at 808-896-9201.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

HAWAI`I’S MARSHALLESE COMMUNITY is the topic of a series of articles in Civil Beat. Today, reporter Chad Blair focused on Jonithen Jackson and the community he leads in Ocean View. Blair, who visited with Jackson and Ka`u state Rep. Richard Creagan, a physician who served in the Peace Corps in the Marshall Islands,  reported that about 300 Marshallese “live in the houses at Jackson’s makeshift commune or frequent the worship hall and recreational area that he has built there.” Jackson also starred in The Land of Eb, a film about the plight of Marshallese in Ocean View. 

      According to Blair, Jackson’s hope is to return to the Marshall Islands as mayor of Enewetak, a series of atolls where he has not lived for nearly 25 years.

Marshallese leader Jonithen Jackson is the topic of a Civil Beat story today
on Marshallese in Ocean View.. Photo by Julia Neal

      The United States contaminated the area by testing nuclear devices at Enewetak nearly 60 years ago. Hawai`i’s Marshallese community consists of what Blair refers to as “nuclear nomads,” people exiled due to unsafe radiation levels found in people, fish and coconut crabs.
      Jackson first went to Majuro, then Washington state before arriving in Ka`u. He was an auto mechanic here before electronic systems replaced his skills. He now “works with the Big Island coffee industry, which has frequently hired Marshallese to pick coffee beans,” Blair reported.
      Blair explained that land “is at the very core of identity for Marshallese and all Micronesians, a primordial bond that cannot be broken even by nuclear devastation and removal from their ancestral lands. The Enewetakese, for example, organize their society based on land ownership, and traditional rituals involve the land.”
      “What you have, in my home, on my island, when I sit and look around, I feel like … comfortable,” Jackson told Blair. “You feel like you are not in Hawai`i. I live here and worry what people are going to say. But in home, back home, well, it’s nothing like that. I am just relaxed. We bring everybody; we talk story. It’s nothing like here.”
      See civilbeat.com.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

Hurricane Olaf is strengthening and heading into the Central Pacific.
Map from NOAA

HURRICANE OLAF HAS CONTINUED to rapidly intensify into a category-four storm. At 11 a.m., Olaf was 1,280 miles east-southeast of Hilo. It is expected to cross longitude 140 west into the Central Pacific basin tonight, but is still forecast to turn north and pass several hundred miles to the east of Hawai`i on Saturday.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

RISING TEMPERATURES COULD SPREAD MOSQUITOS and avian malaria, which has devastated native bird populations. However, some species are apparently developing a resistance to the disease. A story by Ivy Ashe in Hawai`i Tribune-Herald said that some populations of amakihi are increasing despite the birds being infected by malaria.
      “Apapane and amakihi are the two that seem to adapt,” USGS research biologist Carter Atkinson told Ashe. However, birds with chronic avian malaria hold the disease.
      Research to be published next month compares disease prevalence between 2011 and 2013 with that done at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge in the 1990s. According to Ashe, bird populations have increased in the refuge, while disease prevalence has fallen.
      See hawaiitribune-herald.com.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

Sen. Brian Schatz

U.S. SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ has introduced legislation to explore the viability of creating a National Museum of the American People in Washington, D.C. The proposed museum would be the first of its kind to tell the immigration stories of every American and celebrate the contributions of every ethnic and cultural group in the country. It would provide a venue to unite the diverse stories that connect us as Americans. The museum will offer a unique narrative regarding the people and communities that have helped forge who we are today and highlight the links that bind together past, present and future generations.
      “The story of America is a story about immigration,” Schatz said. “ For generations, people from around the world and from all walks of life have come to the United States to build better lives for themselves and for their families. From the sugar cane plantations on Maui to the shipping ports in Maine, immigrants throughout our history have made tremendous contributions to America. But many of their stories are left untold. Building the National Museum of the American People would help tell the story of every immigrant of every ethnic group and would be a great way to celebrate the patriotism, contributions and achievements of all Americans.”

      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

Ka`u High Trojan wahine won their Senior
Night match. Photo from KHPES

KA`U HIGH GIRLS VOLLEYBALL TEAMS won their final two match-ups of regular-season play last week.
      The Trojans met Christian Liberty Academy on Senior Night last Tuesday, Oct. 13. Both Ka`u teams won in two sets. Varsity’s scores were 25-19 and 25-20; Junior Varsity, 25-16 and 25-18.
      On Friday, Oct. 17, Ka`u wahine hosted Hawai`i Academy of Arts & Sciences. Varsity overcame HAAS 25-23 and 25-13, and JV overpowered their opponents 25-9 and 25-7.
      “Great way to end the season,” Ka`u Athletic Director Kalei Namohala said.
      Big Island Interscholastic Federation championship play for the Trojans begins tomorrow at 6 p.m. at home.

      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

SEAN “OLANUI” ROBBINS PRESENTS a Hawaiian music concert Wednesday at 6:30 p.m at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Robbins’ recently released debut CD, Olanui, will be available for purchase.
      Free; park entrance fees apply.
      Call 985-6011 for more information.

HOW TO INFLUENCE STATE LAWS is the topic at free workshops this Friday. Keanu Young, of the state Legislature’s Public Access Room, provides the public with tools and resources to help them become active participants in the legislative process. Workshops are at 11 a.m. at Ocean View Community Center and 2:30 p.m. at Pahala Community Center.
      See par@capitol.hawaii.gov or 974-4000 x7-0478 for more information.

RESIDENTS CAN LEARN about Social Security this week. Workshops take place Wednesday at Na`alehu Community Center, Thursday at Cooper Center in Volcano Village and Friday at Ocean View Community Center. All sessions are from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. See ad at left for topics covered. Reserve at 327-5410. 

JAZZ IN THE FOREST CONTINUES with two performances this Saturday, featuring Keahi Conjugacion with Volcano Art Center’s Jazz Ensemble.
      The Wine and Beer Room will be open before and after the concert. Also, an area has been set aside for dancing.
      Two shows are offered, with a matinee at 4:30 p.m. and an evening performance at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the matinee are $15 for VAC members ($20 non-members) and for the evening show are $20 for VAC members ($25 non-members).
      Tickets are available at VAC’s Administration Office in Volcano Village, VAC Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and online at volcanoartcenter.org. The last day to purchase tickets in advance is Friday, Oct. 23. After that, tickets will be sold at the door if they are not sold out.

What will Ka`u residents vote for to grace
the cover of The Directory 2016?

BEAUTY OF KA`U ART SHOW opens two weeks from today. The annual show generates the cover for The Directory, Ka`u Chamber of Commerce’s business and community guide for Ka`u. The Chamber raises scholarship money for higher education for Ka`u students through memberships and Directory participation.
      Registration is $5 per adult entry, $2.50 per youth entry and $1 per keiki entry.
      Hours for public viewing at CU Hawai`i Federal Credit Union in Na`alehu are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2 through Thursday, Nov. 5.
      Each day, the public may sign in and receive a ballot to vote for their favorite entry. Each ballot, a numbered ticket, will also be entered into a drawing for door prizes to be held each hour, and the winner does not need to be present. Prizes are being donated by various Ka`u merchants.
      The overall winner, chosen by judges, will be featured on the cover of The Directory 2016 and receive $100 and an article inside The Directory.
      A reception to view the winners and greet the artists will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7, with light refreshments.

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

FOR AFFORDABLE COMPUTER HELP, call John Derry at 936-1872.

See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_October2015.pdf.

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.swf
and kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.pdf.

Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015

Palaka cloths draped the veranda at Pahala Plantation Manager's House for Ka`u Plantation Days yesterday, signaling a passage to "before time." Photo by Ron Johnson

THE FIFTH ANNUAL KA`U PLANTATION DAYS saw residents and visitors learning and sharing their experiences of “before time.” Following a pa`u parade led by a decorated cane truck, Ka`u residents and visitors headed to Pahala Plantation Manager’s House. Palaka cloth draped the veranda, where residents shared artifacts and children’s activities from a bygone era. Attendees watched films of the past, including Ka`u Sugar: A Town Remembers, Canefield Songs: Hole Hole Bushi and The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai`i.

Traditional Ka`u Plantation Days games, with homemade toys. Photo by Julia Neal

      In the dining room, residents looked through collections of various camp photos, identifying homes of families and friends.
      Food, entertainment and arts and crafts filled the front and side lawns. Attendees could choose from Portuguese, Hawaiian, Chinese and more ethnic foods. Entertainment ranged from hula to country music.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

DELAYS IN CONSTRUCTION of Ka`u Gym & Shelter are examined in today’s issue of West Hawai`i Today. Nancy Cook Lauer noted that a sign on the Ka`u High & Pahala Elementary School campus bears a completion date of Nov. 15, 2014.
      After the county found that the new concrete floor didn’t meet specifications, Summit Construction had it removed. Department of Public Works Director Warren Lee told Cook Lauer that the contractor is paying to replace the floor. “The county does not pay for this. We already paid for it once,” Lee told Cook Lauer.

Darlyne Vierra and Liz Kuluwaimaka hosted Ka`u Plantation Days yesterday,
sponsored by Ka`u Multicultural Society. Photo by Julia Neal

      Summit Construction has, however, been paid an extra $166,069 in a change order that was added to the original contract. The change order was for “unanticipated changes not included in original design,” according to a July communication to Hawai`i County Council.
      Previous delays include additional time needed for State Historic Preservation burial treatment permits, grading, drainage, sidewalk and driveway location changes and rerouting of telephone lines.
      Cook Lauer said the facility should open sometime next year.
      See westhawaiitoday.com.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

HURRICANE OLAF CONTINUES to strengthen as it heads west toward the Central Pacific. After it crosses longitude 140 and out of the Eastern Pacific early Tuesday morning, Olaf is forecast turn north and pass Hawai`i to the east.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

Hannah's Makana `Ohana dance on the grounds of Pahala Plantation House.
Photo by Julia Neal

SCOTT GLENN IS HAWAI`I’S NEW director of the Office of Environmental Quality Control. Glenn will officially take up his duties in November. His appointment by Gov. David Ige is subject to confirmation by the Senate.
      Glenn is leaving his position as an environmental planner that he has held since 2010. He focused on the intersection of planning, asset management and risk analysis in clients’ strategic decision making. He has managed project budgets and held key roles on many multi-million dollar projects for clients in public and private sectors. Recently, his focus has been on integrating climate change adaptation into federal asset decision-making tools.
      As a volunteer, Glenn serves as vice chair and past chair of Sierra Club Hawai`i and holds the same positions on the state Environmental Council. He is also co-founder and president of Better Block Hawai`i, a nonprofit dedicated to exploring collaborative, innovative approaches to improving urban livability.

Clyde Silva emceed the pa`u parade and Ka`u
Plantation Days event. Photo by Julia Neal

      Glenn earned a B.A. in philosophy and classical archaeology from the University of Evansville and a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Hawai`i. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
      “Scott is passionate about working with diverse stakeholders to plan together for a better shared future,” Ige said. “His education, work experience and volunteer service have prepared him to make a difference in this position.”
      “I am humbled to serve as the director and thankful to the governor for the opportunity,” Glenn said. “The office has a key role in the stewardship of our environment and economy. I look forward to bringing a collaborative approach grounded in technical expertise to the office and working with my fellow board members on the Environmental Council to reach out to the public and all stakeholders.”
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY scientists use geologic mapping to look to the past to reveal the future.
      “Geologic mapping is considered by some to be old school science,” scientists explain in the current issue of Volcano Watch. “By current standards, there’s certainly nothing glitzy or high tech about walking miles across seemingly barren rock or through dense forests to map lava flows.
      “The motivation for mapping ‘old’ lava flows is based on the geologic principle of Uniformitarianism, which fundamentally says that the key to understanding the future is to look at the past. By definition, Uniformitarianism is the theory that natural processes behave more or less the same today as they have throughout the past, and will continue to do so in the future.
      “As an example, if we are assigned the task of figuring out future threats posed by an unknown or poorly understood volcano, we start by examining its eruptive products or deposits. By looking at these old deposits, we can establish if the volcano is predominantly effusive (eruptions characterized by lava flows) or explosive in character. Then, by systematically mapping the spatial distribution of the deposits and age-dating them through various techniques, we can identify the areas affected by volcanic activity and how frequently it takes place.

Collections of photos and memorabilia from ranches, farms, dairies and sugar
camp life filled the carriage house and the old plantation manager's house.
Photo by Julia Neal

      “Our mapping tools are basic: a hand lens, notebook, topographic map, hammer and compass (or handheld GPS for some geologists!). Our ‘computer’ sits on our shoulders: head, brain and eyes. Field geologists must also be in tune with the natural environment in order to derive clues on the character, origin and age of the substrate. These clues can include subtle changes in vegetation, ground surface roughness, rock color and other characteristics.
      “Geologic mapping requires extensive field work in which we walk the contacts between old lava flows to distinguish individual flow units and intraflow boundaries, including gradational transitions between pahoehoe and `a`a flows. This field work relies on aerial imagery and paper topographic maps to plot the flows.
      “Where terrain or jungle obscures the contacts between different lava flows, we create a grid pattern of transects to examine sparse outcrops of rock. The resulting boundaries between distinct lava flows are then extrapolated between transects from aerial photo interpretation and geological and botanical inferences. …
      “Sleuthing out the eruptive history of a volcano is challenging, time consuming, and tedious. But there’s no better way to figure out a volcano’s future behavior than to examine its past – and geologic mapping shows us the way!”

Filipino, Japanese, Portuguese and Hawaiian foods celebrated the multi-ethnic
community of Ka`u. Photo by Julia Neal

      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
      See hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch.
      Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.

NATIVE DRYLAND PLANTS WORKSHOP is a week from today on Sunday, Oct. 25 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Kahuku Park Pavilion in Ocean View. Sponsored by Ho`omalu Ka`u, a nonprofit working to build a cultural center north of Ocean View, presenters showcase plants well suited to Ka`u’s climate and environment and that can be used to great effect as landscape features. Sign up at hoomalukau@gmail.com or 929-8526.

JAZZ IN THE FOREST CONTINUES with two performances this Saturday, Oct. 24, featuring Keahi Conjugacion with Volcano Art Center’s Jazz Ensemble. The concert series offers an extraordinary opportunity to hear the highest caliber jazz – anywhere – up close and personal.

Hawaiian kupuna Jeanette Howard, of Punalu`u, represented Hawaiian
Civic Club of Ka`u. Photo by Julia Neal

      Conjugacion is a Hoku and Grammy nominated vocalist who has performed throughout the mainland, Asia and Europe. Considered one of Hawai`i’s finest jazz and blues singers, Conjugacion is the eldest sister of the famous musical family (Brother Noland & Tony C). She has played Carnegie Hall in New York, Jazz Alley in Seattle and at jazz festivals in Sicily. She returns by popular demand, as she delivered an emotional and inspiring performance to an SRO audience in her previous appearance at Jazz in the Forest.
      The Wine and Beer Room will be open to enjoy before and after the concert. Also, an area has been set aside for dancing.
      Two shows are offered, with a matinee at 4:30 p.m. and an evening performance at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the matinee are $15 for VAC members ($20 non-members) and for the evening show are $20 for VAC members ($25 non-members).

      Tickets are available at VAC’s Administration Office in Volcano Village, VAC Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and at Basically Books in Hilo. The last day to purchase tickets online, at VAC Gallery, or Basically Books is Friday, Oct. 23. After that, tickets will be sold at the door if they are not sold out.

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

FOR AFFORDABLE COMPUTER HELP, call John Derry at 936-1872.

See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_October2015.pdf.

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.swf
and kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.pdf.