Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 28, 2011

Taro growing in front of the Kailiawa farm cottage in upper Moa`ula.

PA`I AI, THE HAND-POUNDED taro prepared in a traditional manner, would be exempt from state Department of Health regulations if a new measure passes the state House of Representatives after already passing the Senate. The taro produced would be labeled with a warning. Pa`i ai is already sold from family to family without the health department’s blessing. Many organizations, such as Papa Ola Lokahi, Ho`okipa Network, the Kokua Hawai`i and Living Life Foundations, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party support the exemption. The Sierra Club testified that it is important for the state to find ways to protect and encourage traditional and cultural practices so as to ensure the unique elements that form the basis for modern Hawai`i are preserved. “This measure follows other states in allowing small cottage industries to be exempt from the strict construction of health regulations,” the testimony said. 

The corm of the taro is pounded
by hand.

Bull Kailiawa harvesting
taro above Pahala.

     One taro farmer testified that pounding pa`i ai and poi has been a means of making and preserving taro for at least 1,200 years and fed a nation of hundreds of thousands of people and kept them well in the past.
     Taro, also called kalo, is the state plant, and the state seal includes eight taro leaves. Another proposal at the legislature would require schools to put taro on the lunch line at least once a week. Another calls for incentivizing farmers to grow more taro.
     Dryland taro was grown traditionally in Ka`u and traded for fish from Miloli`i.

THE PRICE OF SCHOOL BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHES rises tomorrow, with breakfasts going up from 90 cents to $1 and lunches from $2.20 to $2.35 for the students. More than half the students are eligible for free or reduced prices for breakfasts and lunches at the Na`alehu, Pahala and Ka`u High School campuses.

THERE COULD BE A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN UNLESS the budget passes by March 4. Pres. Barack Obama says it would stall the economic recovery. House Republicans are trying to cut government spending and are at a standstill with the Democrats.

GASOLINE MAY SOON COST OVER $4 a gallon. Unrest in the Middle East is blamed on the quick rise in prices. The average cost throughout the state is $3.77 a gallon, according to AAA. On the mainland, the average price at the pump is over $3. In Ka`u this morning the cost for regular gas was $3.89 in Pahala, $3.93 in Na`alehu, $3.81 at Kahuku Country Market in Ocean View, $3.91 at Kahala Gas in Ocean View and $3.86 at the Ocean View Market gas station.

MEETINGS ON proposed projects for Ka`u are coming up on this Wednesday, March 2. A county council committee will hear a presentation by `Aina Koa Pono, which plans to build a biofuels refinery and establish an energy farm in Ka`u. That takes place in Council chambers at the County Building in Hilo at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Public testimony is welcomed.
     Also, the owners of 16,000 acres between South Point and Ocean View present their plans to the community at Na`alehu Community Center on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Their plan is for an oceanfront resort with golf course, estates, hotel rooms, condominiums and single-family homes. The area would be near Pohue Bay, which would be protected.

Miss Peaberry contestant
Bernadette Ladia.

BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS have an opportunity to participate in the Miss Ka`u Coffee, Miss Peaberry and Young Miss Ka`u Coffee pageants this year by supporting publication of the four-color printed program. The winners of the pageants will be selected on April 23 at Ka`u High School Gym, before the Ka`u Coffee Festival on May 14 and 15 at Pahala Community Center. 

THE BAY CLINIC DENTAL VAN will be in Na`alehu tomorrow through Friday. Call 965-3073 for an appointment.

FAT TUESDAY MALASADA day and St. Patrick’s Day crafts registration starts tomorrow at Pahala Community Center for keiki in kindergarten through eighth grade. Call Nona Makuakane at 938-3102.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 27, 2011

Internment camp at KMC during World War II, by George Hoshida in 1942.

THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE is looking for oral histories on all the places in the islands where Japanese-American citizens were interned during World War II. Meetings will be held this Tuesday at Kona Outdoor Circle from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Kilauea Military Camp briefly served as an internment camp and later as a prisoner of war camp during World War II. It is the only internment camp in Hawai`i where some of the buildings still remain. Six of them are now used for vacation rentals. The State Historic Preservation Division recommended that a small visitor center be created to honor the internees and their life in the internment camp. A report describes the KMC location as one of the best in the state since there is already an original building and infrastructure there and since visitors are already coming to the nearby volcano. Anyone interested in this project can go online to the nps.gov/pwro/honouliuli.

KA`U HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS who hope to go to college can go online for free help in preparing for the SAT and ACT tests through the Princeton Review program. Hawai`i is the only place where students in the entire state have free access to the program. Under 60 percent of eligible Hawai`i students took the SAT last year, and the Board of Education is hoping to increase the number of young people seeking a college education. The free program is funded by the National Military Impacted School Association, which is helping school districts where many military families live. Since Hawai`i has the only statewide school district, everyone in the Islands gets the help. Ask teachers for instruction to sign up for the Princeton Review online program to study for the SAT and ACT.

GOV. NEIL ABERCROMBIE is promising to put people back to work with new capital improvements under his New Day Work Projects throughout the state. Among them could be a new $20 million gym in Pahala, which would also serve as an emergency disaster shelter. The facility would be owned by the county and be available to Ka`u High School for physical education and sports. The county is challenged with coming up with a timeline that would get the project done in two years. The state would issue bonds for CIP projects, and this could be one of them.
     Both County Council member Brittany Smart and her predecessor Guy Enriques have been working on the project.

Ka`u Hospital nursing director
Nona Wilson leads the ensemble
to support the ER.

Quilts and spaghetti dinner support
ER fundraising last night in Na`alehu.

A FUNDRAISER LAST NIGHT at Na`alehu Community Center took in money to support the Ka`u Hospital Emergency Room. Supporters enjoyed a spaghetti dinner and music by a band comprised of nursing director Nona Wilson, clerk Ty Chun and supporters of the hospital. 

TWO PUBLIC MEETINGS about proposed economic development projects in Ka`u are being held this week. One before the county council on Wednesday at 2 p.m. will be a presentation on `Aina Koa Pono’s proposal to build a biofuels refinery above Pahala and establish a biofuels farm between Pahala and Na`alehu. Another proposal would establish a golf resort with oceanfront estates, condominiums, hotels and shopping centers along the shore between Ocean View and South Point. That meeting on the Nani Kahuku `Aina/ Kahuku Villages project will be held this Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. 

Miss Ka`u Coffee contestant
Kayla Nishimura

MISS KA`U COFFEE, Miss Peaberry and Young Miss Ka`u Coffee will ride in the Merrie Monarch Parade on April 30th in Hilo. It will be the third year that the Ka`u Coffee Festival has entered a float in the pageant. The winners of the pageant will be selected on April 23rd at Ka`u High School Gym before the Ka`u Coffee Festival on May 14th and 15th at Pahala Community Center. The candidates are seeking community support, and residents can become a Friend of the Miss Ka`u Coffee pageant. 

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 26, 2011

Kona Nightingales wait for homes, away from development in Kohala and Waikoloa.

THE FUEL TAX BILL that would have allowed such communities as Ocean View to apply for money collected in gasoline tax at the pump in order to help maintain roads is recommended for deferral by the state House of Representatives finance committee. The measure supported in the County Council needed permission from the state Legislature. The idea is that residents of communities that maintain their own roads, like in Ocean View, also pay fuel taxes and deserve some of the tax income. It was also argued that the county allowed approval of substandard subdivisions without public roads and should share the fuel tax income to help them. One of the challenges of such a bill was that it singled out the Big Island to allow the fuel taxes to go to communities with private roads. However, the communities would have to apply for the funding, like applying for a grant. There would be a committee and oversight, said Ka`u councilwoman Brittany Smart.

Mauna Kea from the view of Kahea: The Hawai`i Environmental Alliance.

THE THIRTY METER TELESCOPE proposed for Mauna Key was approved by the state Board of Land & Natural Resources yesterday, at a meeting held on O`ahu, with a unanimous vote to issue a Conservation District Use Permit. However, the panel also granted a contested case hearing, which could take another six months and involve further mediation with the community. The telescope would be built some 500 feet below the existing 13 telescopes. Its campus would not only include the 184-foot-tall Thirty Meter Telescope but also a 14,000-square-foot building. The $1.3 billion investment would bring $26 million a year to the local economy, testified Randy Kurohara, the county director of the Department of Research and Development. It would also provide $1 million a year for local education. According to a report in this morning’s Honolulu Star Advertiser, Kurohara described Mayor Billy Kenoi referring to the Thirty Meter Telescope as “sacred science on a sacred mountain.”
     Kahea: The Hawaiian Environmental Alliance objected. Marti Townsend, Kahea’s staff attorney and program director, said, “This basically is a pay-to-degrade policy. There is no pay-to-degrade policy in the state rules. We don't have the option to let somebody pay in order to destroy the conservation district,” the Advertiser newspaper reported.
     Without further delays, construction could be finished in about 11 years.

THE PRICE OF SHIPPING TO AND FROM THE MAINLAND THROUGH MATSON will be hit with a 35 percent fuel surcharge. An earlier increase of 4.75 percent announced last month hits the bill of lading starting tomorrow. The total surcharge will rise to 39.45 percent. Matson told its regular customers that the rise in the fuel charge is due to higher oil prices stemming from turmoil in the Middle East. When Matson first starting using the surcharge to raise rates, it added on 3.25 percent. The 35 percent marks a new high. Horizon and Pasha ocean cargo companies are expected to follow suit.

Bird and Colin McIver rescue
horses and donkeys.

HOMES ARE BEING SOUGHT for Kona Nightingale donkeys that are considered a nuisance around Waikoloa and The Four Seasons hotel where they have run wild since they were no longer needed to work the Kona coffee farms and in sugar plantations. They also compete with cattle and horses for water and grass at ranches. Veterinarian Brady Bergin is fixing up the donkeys and neutering the males before making them available to the public. CB Horse Rescue in Puna is hauling them to this side of the island and is taking applications for adoption. Anyone interested has to prove they will provide a good home and commit to veterinary care. Those interested can call Bird or Colin McIver at 987-9064. Donations are also being accepted at CB Horse Rescue. Visit its website at hawaiihorserescue.com. 

Red Hatters and Kalae Quilters raise thousands for the Ka`u Hospital ER.

A SPAGHETTI DINNER is being held tonight at Na`alehu Community Center to raise money for the Ka`u Hospital Emergency Room. Sponsored by the Red Hats, Kalae Quilters and the Ka`u Hospital Foundation, the event will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. A golf tournament is also planned for Friday, March 18 at Volcano Golf Club. Find out more at the spaghetti dinner tonight. 

REPRESENTATIVES OF `AINA KOA PONO, who propose to develop a new biofuel processing facility near Pahala, are scheduled to make a presentation to the Hawai`i County Council Committee on Agriculture, Water & Energy Sustainability on Wednesday, March 2 at 2 p.m. The meeting will be held at Council Chambers in Hilo.

AT 6 P.M. ON THE SAME DAY, Wednesday, March 2, a public meeting about the Nani Kahuku `Aina development between South Point and Ocean View will be held at Na`alehu Community Center. That development includes a Heritage Park around Pohue Bay, hotels, condominiums, oceanfront estates, golf course and commercial centers.

Kathline Diane Pataray

CANDIDATES for Miss Ka`u Coffee, Young Miss Ka`u Coffee and Miss Peaberry are being welcomed in the community as they raise support for their pageant by accepting $5 donations for Friends of Miss Ka`u Coffee Pageant. The pageant is scheduled for Saturday, April 23 at 5:30 p.m. at Ka`u High School Gym. The girls are practicing at both Na`alehu Community Center and the Old Pahala Clubhouse. The pageant director is Gloria Camba, and Pageant choreographer is Nalani Parlin.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 25, 2011

Join Ka`u residents for a whale count tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 26 and again, Saturday, March 26.

THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU has released numbers on the Big Island showing 185,079 people with 82,324 housing units. Most people are Asian, Native Hawaiian or Latino, while about one third are white. There are a many vacant housing units on the island, reflecting second homes of snowbirds and people working away from here. Vacant houses total 15,228.
     Because the Big Island’s population has grown more than the rest of the state, some political district lines may be changed, and there is a possibility that this island may get an additional state House of Representatives district. The reapportionment commission will come up with proposals.

     The Big Island’s population growth during the last decade was 24.5 percent, more than in Maui County's, which grew 21 percent, and more than Kaua`i County's, which grew 15 percent. O`ahu’s population grew 9 percent, reaching more than 950,000 residents. Ten years ago O`ahu was home to 72.3 percent of the state's popoulation. With slower growth than the Neighbor Islands, O`ahu's population dipped to 70.1 percent of the state total.
     Earlier U.S. Census taking showed that Hawai`i County lost 10.3 percent of its population between 1950 and 1960 during the days when sugar was the big employer, gained 3.5 percent between 1960 and 1970, 45 percent between 1970 and 1980, 30.7 percent between 1980 and 1990, 23.6 percent between 1990 and 2000.

LETTERS OF SUPPORT FOR A RESORT development between South Point and Ocean View, along the Ka`u Coast, have been received by the developers of Nani Kahuku `Aina, also known as Kahuku Villages, according to spokesman Aaron Eberhardt. He said the developers will soon be submitting an Environmental Impact Statement for the 16,000-acre property. He said that support letters have been received from residents in Pahala, Na`alehu, Discovery Harbour, Ranchos, Ocean View and Miloli`i after a lot of interaction with the people. He said the developers are “taking into consideration how they want the land to be treated.” The plans include a 300-acre Heritage Village around Pohu`e Bay, a nesting place for hawksbill turtles.
     The owners of the property will need state Land Use Commission classification changes for conservation and agricultural lands plus county zoning changes to implement their plan. They are holding a public meeting next Wednesday, March 2 at Na`alehu Community Center at 6 p.m.

Johnette Llanes-Masters
is a contestant for
Miss Peaberry 2011.

CANDIDATES FOR Miss Ka`u Coffee, Miss Peaberry and Young Miss Ka`u Coffee have started to practice for the pageant coming up on April 23rd at Ka`u High School Gym. Miss Ka`u Coffee contenders are Jaeneise Cuison, Brandy Nicole Eder, Kayla Nishimura, Brandy Shibuya, Diane Pataray and Alina Jerilong. Miss Peaberry contestants are Taylor Kekoa Burgos, Bernadette Ladia, Jayme Kaneshiro, Tatiana Ka`awa, Cherrisse Althea Calumpit, Johnette Llanes-Masters and Rebecca Lynn Kailiawa-Escobar. Young Miss Ka`u Coffee contestants are Aiyana Galletes-Alapai, Dacy Davis Andrade, Dayse Andrade, Malia Nicole Corpuz, Shailei Marie Penera and Alyssa Bivings. 

     They are selling $12 tickets, advertising for the pageant program and an opportunity to donate $5 to the pageant and become a Friend of Miss Ka`u Coffee.

A WHALE COUNT will be held along the coast of Ka`u tomorrow, Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. See sanctuaryoceancount.org or call 888-559-4253, ext. 253. Another whale count will be held on Saturday, March 26.

THE RED HATS, KALAE QUILTERS AND THE KA`U GOLF GROUP are making their final push for this year’s fundraising for Ka`u Hospital’s Emergency Room. They have brought in more than $4,000 so far this year, with baked goods and crafts at the hospital and Punalu`u beach park. Their fourth annual golf tournament will be held at Volcano Golf Club on Friday, March 18. Last year’s tourney brought in over $9,000. A spaghetti dinner fundraiser to support the ER will be held tomorrow night from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 24, 2011

Plans for land surrounding Pohue Bay will be explained at a meeting sponsored by the developers.

ELEMENTS OF A COMMUNITY BENEFITS PACKAGE are being promised to community groups in Ka`u at small meetings throughout the district. Aaron Eberhardt, spokesman for the Kahuku Villages, Nani Kahuku `Aina project, has suggested the restoration of Na‘alehu Theatre, building a veterans center, a civic center, a heritage park around Pohue Bay and a rodeo grounds along Hwy 11 near Ocean View. The development group, led by Val Peroff and his daughter, are seeking to build an oceanfront resort with 400 to 600 hotel rooms, 35 to 50 oceanfront condominiums, 250 to 300 golf villas, 75 to 80 one-acre oceanfront, single-family estate lots, 145 to 160 golf estates and another 160 to 200 estates of one acre or larger. There would be a golf course and commercial centers. The development site is between South Point and Ocean View on the 16,000 aces owned by the Peroffs.
     The developers are hosting a communitywide meeting to discuss their plans at Na`alehu Community Center next Wednesday, March 2 at 6 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend.

THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE has approved the use of a fungus on coffee trees to fend off infestation by the coffee borer. The fungus, which is already approved in all states on the mainland, is expected to become available within a week at Crop Production Services and BEI in Hilo and will cost between $70 and $130 a quart. The fungus, called Beauveria Bassiana, is naturally occurring in the soils in Hawai`i but may have died back during the recent drought allowing the coffee borers, which are killed by the fungus, to infest coffee farms in Kona. Some of the farms were devastated. Ka`u coffee farms were largely spared of coffee borer infestation, but having the fungus available to fight the borer is seen as a way to protect the precious new Ka`u Coffee industry. 

     The fungus is sold under brand names called BotaniGard ES and Mycotrol O.

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES, which owns Hawaiian Electric Light Co. here on the Big Island, is facing a strike that has been approved by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260. The union and management met yesterday but with no result. Electric workers are waiting for instructions from the union. The call to strike follows a vote last week in which union members voted against a proposed contract. 

STATE BOARD OF LAND & NATURAL RESOURCES chair William Aila, Jr. is expected to be confirmed in his new position sometime next week. The Senate delayed the confirmation yesterday in reference to examining Aila’s testimony against laws that would ban tropical fish collecting. He held a commercial aquarium fish permit, and his wife has held a commercial fishing license. In respect to remaining fair in his new position, he said, they have both given up their licenses, which have been idle for several years. Sen. Clayton Hee predicted that the former harbormaster on O`ahu will be confirmed when the Senate goes back into session next Thursday, according to a report in the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

TUTU & ME IS COMING TO PAHALA. Registration is now open for enrollment in the traveling preschool’s new program that begins in March at Pahala Community Center. The program, open to grandparents and caregivers of children up to five years old, aims to help children improve on measures of school readiness and literacy and promotes appropriate learning activities and successful caregiving practices at home.
     For more information and to register, call 929-8571.

THE KOHALA CENTER IS OFFERING a Residential Energy Efficiency workshop today from 10 a.m. to noon at Na`alehu Community Center. Workshop participants learn how to understand their HELCO bill, how to use their electric meter to track down energy waste, how to determine the amount of electricity their electrical appliances and devices use, and how to make smart financial decisions to reduce their home energy usage.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 23, 2011

Guy Enriques

GUY ENRIQUES is calling for more community input and negotiations with ‘Aina Koa Pono, the company planning a refinery above Pahala and a 13,000-acre energy farm between Pahala and Na`alehu. The former county councilman and founder of the community group `O Ka`u Kakou is calling for a Memorandum of Agreement between the biofuels company and the community and said more local people should be involved. “For a big change as this is, the people of Pahala should be over here making a decision. My first concern is for people who have deep roots in this place that’s going to be here when you do this, that’s going to be here after you’re done and for whatever is coming,” he told representatives of `Aina Koa Pono at the community meeting on Monday. “Too many times I’ve seen other people make decisions for the people who live here. Those guys come and go, but the guys who's got roots deep in this ground are not going to go anywhere. Those are the people who are not being heard,” said Enriques. He also stated that he appreciates the jobs that would be brought to the community.

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC LIGHT CO. wrote about its agreement to purchase biofuels from ‘Aina Koa Pono in its February newsletter to all its customers. It said the effort “is an important step in reaching Hawai`i’s clean energy goal of supplying 70 percent of the energy needed for electricity and transportation from clean resources by 2030. Under the contract, `Aina Koa Pono would provide 14 million gallons of biofuel per year in 2014, increasing to 16 million gallons per year in 2015, for a total of 20 years.
     While the biofuel would be used primarily at the Keahole Power Plant near the airport in Kona, the contract provides for flexibility in delivery of the biofuel to other generation stations on the Big Island, Maui County and on O`ahu.
     To fund the purchase of the biofuel, electric bills would go up less than one third of a cent per kilowatt-hour to a typical residential customer’s bill. “Because fossil fuel oil prices are expected to continue their erratic climb, in time the cost of ‘Aina Koa Ono biofuel is expected to be less than the oil it displaces,” the newsletter states.
     According to HELCO, the biofuel will comply with sustainable sourcing standards developed by the Hawaiian Electric companies in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Puna Geothermal is a site visit for the governor's cabinet
and state legislators this weekend.

A TOUR OF BIG ISLAND BUSINESSES AND COMMUNITY PROJECTS is on the agenda for public officials this weekend. Sen. Gil Kahele, Department of Agriculture Chair Russell Kokubun and Department of Land & Natural Resources Deputy Chair Guy Kaulukukui are expected to join other members of the governor’s cabinet and legislators on the two-day tour. They plan to visit Puna Geothermal Venture’s power plant to hear a presentation by the Hawai`i Island Geothermal Working Group’s chairs Wally Ishibashi and Richard Ha. They will also visit Ha’s Hamakua Springs Farm, north of Hilo, Greenpoint Nursery and the proposed Hu Honua bioenergy power plant in Pepeekeo. They also plan to visit the Kamuela Vacuum Cooling plant to discuss its role in the future of diversified agriculture and will head up Mauna Kea to look at the site for the proposed Thirty-Meter Telescope. 

Artist's rendering of the proposed
Thirty-Meter Telescope
for Mauna Kea.

THE THIRTY-METER TELESCOPE is on the agenda this Friday for the meeting of the state Board of Land & Natural Resources, which decides whether to approve a conservation use permit to allow the construction of the $1 billion, 184-foot-tall telescope, with its 18,000 square-foot support building. The BLNR will also decide whether to allow a contested case hearing on the issue, which has been called for by some environmental and Hawaiian cultural groups. Mayor Billy Kenoi, the University of Hawai`i, and numerous scientific and business organizations are calling for approval, stating that the project will generate 300 construction jobs for eight years and 140 permanent jobs. The observatory would also put $1 million a year into local education programs as part of its community benefits package. 

HOW IMPACT FEES AFFECT ME is the title of County Council member Brittany Smart’s talk story session tonight at Na`alehu Community Center at 7 p.m. Smart and council member Pete Hoffmann will talk about an alternative to the current Fair Share money contributions imposed on developers during zoning changes and subdivision approvals.

THE COMMUNITY BOOKSTORE at the Kauaha`ao Church in Wai`ohinu is open today and every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 22, 2011

More than 150 people attended the meeting on the refinery and biofuel farm
planned for lands near Pahala.

MORE THAN 150 COMMUNITY MEMBERS listened to the latest plans for a biofuels refinery and energy farm in Ka`u at a community meeting sponsored by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce last night at Pahala Community Center.
      According to the principals of the company `Aina Koa Pono, the refinery would produce 200 permanent farm, factory and office jobs. For each of these jobs, the enterprise would indirectly support four additional jobs in the community– at stores, restaurants and other businesses, company spokesmen said.
     `Aina Koa Pono would manufacture 16 million gallons of biofuel a year to be used as a substitute for fossil fuels being burned in Hawaiian Electric’s power plants.
     The company already has an agreement to sell the biofuel to Hawaiian Electric for a fixed price for 20 years, which would fend off steep increases in electric rates in the future, they said. To get started, however, the electric company plans a small increase in electric bills to pay for the biofuel.
     Hawai`i Electric Light Co. president Jay Ignacio, who attended the meeting, said the biofuels are part of a plan for a more diversified source of energy.

VEHICULAR FUEL 
     At the `Aina Koa plant, an additional eight million gallons of fuel would be manufactured for cars and trucks. Another possibility is to manufacture jet fuel, but that would be later since it takes years to have it certified for use in aviation. Markets could include local gas stations to the military. The military, Hawai`i’s largest fuel consumer, has vowed to wean itself from fossil fuels and is looking to buy biofuel. 

Alexander Causey

     Engineer Alexander Causey described a new site proposed for the refinery, which would be located on an eight-acre campus that can be seen by traveling 1.7 miles up Wood Valley Road, turning left and heading four-tenths of a mile along Meyer Camp Road. The refinery site would be buffered from Pahala town by the 1.5-mile wide macadamia orchard. It would be separated from Wood Valley and its Buddhist Temple by 2.5 miles of pastures and farms. Diversified agriculture and windbreaks could screen the factory from Wood Valley Road.

CALL FOR AN EIS 
     Several residents called for an Environmental Impact Statement to answer questions of concern in the community. Noa Caiserman, whose house is 1.9 miles up Wood Valley Road from the site, called for a vote on who wants an EIS. A number of  those attending the meeting raised their hands, Sophia Hanoa, Stephanie Tabada, Trinie Marques, Sara Witt, Earl Louis, and Andy Andrade among them. One woman called for an EIS, saying she was concerned for the safety of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. “Do this for us,” she proclaimed.
     Trini Marques, a coffee farmer, said she was concerned that feedstock and the trucks going in and out of Ka`u could bring in coqui frogs and other invasive species. Stephanie Tabada said there are a lot of unanswered questions from the people.
     `Aina Koa Pono co-founder Melvin Chiogioji said that an EIS could delay the project and the new jobs that would come to town. He said it could also open a “Pandora’s box,” causing further delays and promised to abide by all government regulations when building the refinery and farm.

TRUCK TRAFFIC

     Several residents asked about truck traffic through Pahala town. After the meeting, the engineer pointed to a map showing a route along the old sugar cane haul road from lands between Na`alehu and Pahala where, according to `Aina Koa Pono, fast-growing sugar cane and grasses would be cultivated to feed the new mill. They would be cut, bailed and carried toward Pahala in trucks that would turn mauka by the domestic water tank for Pahala, and up to Meyer Camp Road by the Hester vegetable farm. Trucks would turn right and travel along an improved Meyer Camp Road to the mill site, avoiding Wood Valley Road altogether.
     At the refinery, feedstock would be shredded and mixed with a catalyst and placed into a microwave reactor and refined into diesel. The finished liquid fuel would be loaded into tanker trucks that would travel back up Meyer Camp Road, turn makai to the cane haul road and head toward Pahala, skirting the back of the houses on Ilima Street down to Maile Street. The trucks would turn right on Maile Street and head out the Norfolk pine lane to Hwy 11 and on to Kona to the power plant near Keahole Airport. About eight trucks a day would travel to Kona, Causey said.

CHANGE IN LOCATION
     Siting the refinery on Meyer Camp Road represents a change in location, with `Aina Koa Pono responding to an earlier proposal to put the mill at the industrial yard now used for ML Macadamia’s equipment – the old truck shed just off Maile Street near the Pahala Preschool, Methodist Church and homes at the bottom of Ilima Street. There was also concern about creating additional truck traffic in a town where keiki find it safe and easy to walk to school, the swimming pool, the community center and playground, to stores and to the homes of friends and relatives. In Ka`u Community Development Plan meetings and documents, Pahala village has been noted for being a safe and walkable community.
     In pointing out the change in location of the mill site, Chiogioji said to the community, “We want to become a good neighbor, listen to your concerns and try the best we can to alleviate them.”

Meyer Camp Road at the refinery site. The road would be improved for trucking.

DAILY PRODUCTION 
     Nine hundred tons of feedstock a day processed in microwave ovens would generate 72,000  gallons of synthetic diesel, plus 600 to 1,000 pounds of biochar, said engineer Causey. The rate of production would be 80 gallons of biofuel per ton of feedstock. Ten pounds of feedstock would create 3 lbs. of fuel, 4 lbs. of char and 1.5 lbs of non-condensible material, he said. He claimed that biochar could be used as a soil amendment for agriculture.
     

HOW ABOUT FERTILIZERS AND PESTICIDES? `Aina Koa Pono representatives said they hoped to work with ranchers on an integrated program of grazing the cattle in the fields where the feedstock would be grown. They said little other fertilizer would be needed, and pesticides would probably be unnecessary.
     

HOW ABOUT WASTE AND THE CATALYST? They claimed there would be little waste at the mill. The catalyst that would be mixed with the feedstock in the biofuels processing, said Causey, would be zeolite, imported from such places as Arkansas and Australia, where they are mined and synthetically manufactured. Zeolites are commonly used in laundry detergents, for water purification and softening and in the petrochemical industry. The zeolite’s alumino-silica properties would help change the structure of the molecules of the feedstock to make the biofuel, he said.
     

HOW ABOUT WATER? Would the farming and manufacturing take water away from diversified agriculture? Causey said the microwave process would use very little water and could wind up being a net water producer, as the crops being refined contain water. When asked about water needed for growing crops, representatives of `Aina Koa Pono said their crops would take a lot less water than sugar cane, which was grown around Pahala for generations without irrigation.
     

HOW ABOUT NOISE? Would the refinery be 24/7? The community was told that the refinery would operate 24 hours a day, but the trucking would be confined to daylight hours. The process of grinding the feedstock, a noisy operation, would take place in a concrete building. Causey said the operation would be subject to noise regulations.
     

HOW ABOUT THE LAND? Grasses or cane would be grown and cut with a large mechanical sickle, unlike the former sugar plantation practice of digging up the cane and carrying the crop to the mill along with lots of soil. Causey claimed that the entire operation would be carbon positive, as fuel for the trucks and machinery could be manufactured onsite.

UNION SHOP
     Factory and farm jobs would be union jobs, said `Aina Koa Pono representatives. They said they would initiate training in the community for prospective workers.
     They promised more meetings with the community to address concerns and report on their progress.

Ka`iminana Rapoza

KA`U BOXERS JOHN FLORES AND TITAN AULT secured victories at a boxing tournament held Feb. 19 at the Yeshua SURE Foundation in Pahoa. Flores, of Olson Galiza Boxing Club, won by a referee stop contest versus Paul Leblanc, of AP Boxing. Titan Ault, of Ocean View Boxing Club, earned more points than Isaac Kailiawa, also of OGBC, to gain the victory. Ault was recognized for his outstanding ring behavior and received the Best Sportsmanship Award of the night. 

     Also participating was Ka`iminani Rapoza, of OVBC, who took on Kairey Bermoy, of Up & Up Boxing Club, in the only female bout of the night. Rapoza lost by decision, but it was a non-stop blow for blow bout, with continuous punches from bell to bell. “The girls left all they had in the ring,” said Coach Norman Santiago. Rapoza was awarded Best Bout of the Night, which is given to the most intense and exciting tourney match. Rapoza is the first female from Ka`u to receive this honor.
     Other Ka`u boxers included Fresno Eder, of YWHW Boxing Club, who was knocked out by Johnny Tarin, of Up & Up, and Justin Wirtz and Thor Soder, both of OVBC. Wirtz lost to Troy Nakamura, of Yeshua, by Referee Stop Contest, and Soder lost by points versus Thomas Grimmel, also of Yeshua.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 21, 2011

Manuel Marques explains coffee farming practices at Cloud Rest to
Ka`u Coffee Pageant contestants and their families.

THE BIOFUEL FARM AND FACTORY proposed for Pahala and the lands between Pahala and Na`alehu is the subject of a public meeting at Pahala Community Center this evening at 6 p.m. `Aina Koa Pono, the company proposing the 1300-acre fuel farm and refinery, will present its latest plans and answer community questions.
     According to project engineer Alexander Causey, the project will create 300 jobs for union construction workers to build the factory with its microwave reactors, power plants to operate the mill, and fuel storage yard for 1.28 million gallons of biodiesel.
     The first refinery site considered was at the macadamia nut company truck and equipment yard in Pahala. After community members expressed concern about its closeness to houses, the preschool and Methodist Church, a site near the trash transfer station was considered. Another location under consideration is 1.7 miles up Wood Valley Road, turning left and traveling four-tenths of a mile down Meyer Camp Road to an open pasture area. The refinery would be buffered from Pahala town by a 1.7-mile block of macadamia orchard and be more than two miles from Wood Valley and the Buddhist Temple. 

     Once the refinery is built, up to 150 permanent union factory and field as well as administrative jobs could be created, according to `Aina Koa Pono. Questions remain on how the trucks would travel to Hwy 11 to haul the biofuel manufactured here to the electric plant near the airport in Kona. Another question is determining the route trucks would travel from the farms and trees harvested for the feedstock between Pahala and Na`alehu to the mill. The route of trucks bringing in feedstock for the refinery from other parts of the island and from offshore is also in question.
     Also being explained are the level of noise and emissions to be created by the chipping and operation of the refinery, and the new large microwave process to be used, as well as the nature of any catalysts and other chemicals used or produced by the refinery. Other concerns brought up at the first meeting on the project include the number of jobs that would go to local people and the possibility of training programs, and the fate of farmers and ranchers who are currently leasing the lands that would be used to grow such feedstocks as sweet sorghum and bana grass, or other crops that could grow here. 

     During the last meeting, former County Council member Guy Enriques asked for an analysis and presentation of a community benefits package. Council member Brittany Smart said her support for the project will be in line with the desires of the community.
     The meeting tonight, again, is at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. It is sponsored by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce.

A community meeting regarding the Nani Kahuku `Aina
development is scheduled for Wednesday, March 2
at Na`alehu Community Center.

THE NANI KAHUKU `AINA RESORT DEVELOPMENT, also known as Kahuku Villages, will be the subject of a community meeting at Na`alehu Community Center on Wednesday, March 2 at 6 p.m. The resort includes hotels, condominiums, golf course, commercial areas as well as land preserved around Pohue Bay where the turtles nest. Aaron Eberhardt, representing the owners; Herb Lee of the American Foundation and Dean Minikami of the PBR planning firm will be on hand to go over the natural and cultural resources, a Hawaiian Heritage Center and public benefits. The development is on 1,650 acres makai of Highway 11 between Ocean View and South Point.

COMMUNITY MEMBERS can support the Miss Ka`u Coffee, Miss Peaberry and Young Miss Ka`u Coffee candidates by becoming a Friend of the Miss Ka`u Coffee Pageant for a $5 donation. The pageant will be held Saturday, April 23rd at 5:30 p.m. at the Ka`u High School Gym. Candidates are also selling $12 tickets for the event and space in their program.

A PROGRAM COVERING Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s confirmation ceremony at Pahala Plantation House in December airs tomorrow night at 9 p.m. on Channel 54. It was filmed by Wendell Ka`ehu`ae`a, general manager of KAHU-FM 91.7, Ka`u’s Community Radio station.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 20, 2011

Hawai`i BioEnergy, LLC, with partner Kamehameha Schools, says it plans
biofuels factories in Hawai`i. One farm of eucalyptus trees stands on
Kamehameha lands above Pahala.

BIOFUELS PRODUCTION COMPANIES may not only receive tax credits for starting up their enterprise to make an alternative liquid fuel for Hawaiian Electric Industries and for transportation, they are also set to receive fast tracking of permits for siting and construction of their refineries. Bills to this end have passed committees in the state House of Representatives and Senate. Testimony from the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism says, “To support a robust biofuels industry in Hawai`i, adequate infrastructure will be necessary to transport, distribute and store significant quantities of biofuels. Pilot scale facilities will also be necessary.” The bill would allow fast tracking not only for the larger companies that produce more than a million gallons a year, like the `Aina Koa Pono project planned for Pahala, it would include smaller companies that produce 100,000 gallons or more.
     Hawai`i BioEnergy, LLC, comprised of three of Hawai`i’s largest landowners: Kamehameha Schools – with large holdings in Ka`u; Grove Farm Co. on Kaua`i; and Maui Land & Pineapple on Maui, also supports the fast tracking. The testimony from Chief Operating Officer Joel K. Matsunaga said the partners “would like to use significant portions of their land to address Hawai`i’s existing and growing energy needs.”
     Kamehameha Schools and its partners would produce high density fuels from sweet sorghum, eucalyptus and other dedicated energy crops, the testimony said. The eucalyptus stands above Pahala are on Kamehameha Schools land.

A PUBLIC MEETING ON THE BIOFUELS FARM AND PROCESSING FACILITY planned by `Aina Koa Pono for Pahala and lands between Na`alehu and Pahala will be held tomorrow, Monday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. The proposed site is 1.7 miles up Wood Valley Road from Pahala and .4 miles down Meyer Camp Road. It would be buffered from the town by a large orchard of macadamia trees.
     The public is invited to the meeting, where `Aina Koa Pono engineer Alexander Causey will make a presentation and answer questions. The public meeting is sponsored by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce.

Miss Ka`u Coffee contestants in three age categories learn about coffee growing
and harvesting at the farms of Manuel Marques and Berta and Jose Miranda.

CONTENDERS FOR MISS KA`U COFFEE, Miss Peaberry and Young Miss Ka`u Coffee visited the coffee farms of Berta and Jose Miranda and Manuel Marques at Moa`ula yesterday for a photo and educational session. Farmers Gloria Camba and Manuel Marques explained coffee farming and harvesting practices. Candidates for Miss Ka`u Coffee include Jaeneise Cuison, Brandy Nicole Eder, Kayla Nishimura, Brandy Shibuya and Diane Pataray and Alina Jerilong.
     Miss Peaberry contestants are Taylor Kekoa Burgos, Bernadette Ladia, Jayme Kaneshiro, Tatiana Ka`awa, Cherrisse Aletha Calumpit, Johnette Llanes-Masters and Rebecca Lynn Kailiawa-Escobar.
    Young Miss Ka`u Coffee contestants are Aiyana Galletes-Alapai, Dacy Davis Andrade, Dayse Andrade, Malia Nicole Corpuz, Shailei-Marie Penera and Alyssa Bivings.
     The contestants are selling $12 tickets for the event which will be held on Saturday, April 23 at Ka`u High School gym at 5:30 p.m. They are also soliciting support through advertising in the pageant program.

A PLANT AND SEED EXCHANGE takes place at the Naohulelua Garden today from noon to 3 p.m. The garden of native and canoe plants is on Kama`oa Road in Wai`ohinu.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 19, 2011

The $4 million Visitor Emergency Operations Center at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park
  was built with federal stimulus money in 18 months.            Photo by Stephen Geiger

THE BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS of the Big Island have received a $60,000 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation. This should help offset a $90,000 cut recently announced by the state. The Ka`u Boys & Girls Clubs are some of the best attended on the island.

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK used $5.8 million in federal stimulus money to construct a new building within an 18-month time limit. It represents the first major construction at the park since the 1980s and opened yesterday as the new Visitor Emergency Operations Center.
     It is located down the road of ranger cabins and offices on the Hilo side of Volcano House and incorporates part of the old rangers’ headquarters.
     The 4,896 square foot working space is now headquarters and dispatch for the Pacific Area Communication Center, serving the parks in American Samoa, Saipan and Guam as well as the eight national parks in Hawai`i.

     It is also headquarters for Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park’s law enforcement team, as well as for rangers who manage logistics during earthquakes, explosive eruptions, lava flows, the rise of fumes from volcanic vents and craters, and fires, which can pose a danger to the public and wildlife. It features an interview room and holding cell for law enforcement. For emergency operations, there is a modern command theater with many modes of visual and audio communications for personnel of many specialties to coordinate operations. It is home for a staff of 25.
     County Civil Defense Chief Quince Mento attended to offer the county’s complete cooperation in coordinating county and federal resources for the safety of the public.

`Ohia trees from the grounds were incorporated into the structure, which
qualifies for a platinum LEED rating.   Photo by Stephen Geiger

     The building was designed to receive a platinum rating from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design board. LEED gives points for using materials that are recycled and do not off-gas chemicals. It gives points for water and energy efficiency and using natural light, such as columns that lead to skylights on the roof. Project manager Andrea Vaughn and architect Katie Slocumb were on hand to explain.
     The architecture incorporates ohia trees that were cleared from the site, park Superintendent Cindy Orlando pointed out. A chunk of lava from the construction site was also incorporated, a remnant from an eruption in the 1790s.

Steven Makuakane-Jarrell was honored at the
dedication of the new command center.
Photo by Stephen Geiger

A FALLEN RANGER was honored with ceremony and prayer yesterday at the dedication of the new Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park Visitor Emergency Operations Center. Steve Makuakane–Jarrell was shot and killed on Dec. 12, 1999 while working alone at Koloko-Honokohau National Historic Park. His mother-in-law and other family members participated as the new Operations Center was dedicated in his honor. A prayer was offered by the Rev. Violet Makuakane, a mele by Kenneth Makuakane, an oli by Ab Valencia and a pu by Greg Herbst.

THE VOLCANO SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES hosts a big music festival fundraiser this afternoon at Kilauea Military Camp Theater. It features the Kuahiwis, Wendell Ing & Friends, the Bump City Funk Band, Halau Ke `Olu Makani O Mauna Loa and more. Tickets are $12 at the door.

RECYCLE your HI-5 at Na`alehu School today, with the public receiving 5 cents per container and an additional 20 cents per pound for all aluminum until 1 p.m. Atlas Recycling will donate 20 cents per pound to the school for all aluminum. 

A PLANT AND SEED EXCHANGE takes place at the historic Naohulelua Church tomorrow from noon to 3 p.m. The church and garden of native and canoe plants are on Kama`oa Road in Wai`ohinu.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 18, 2011w

Wendell Ing brings his entertaining style to the Volcano School of Arts & Sciences
fundraiser tomorrow.

HOW WOULD IMPACT FEES HELP IMPROVE COMMUNITY infrastructure like roads and parks when housing, industrial and commercial developments come to town? This was explained by County Council member Pete Hoffmann last night at a Brittany Smart talk story session in Pahala. The councilman said an impact fee formula could replace Fair Share practices that have the county charging more than $12,000 for each house built.
     Hoffmann said an impact fee could reduce that amount for affordable houses and could allow owner-builders of affordable houses to pay the impact fee over time. He said that impact fees could also be charged for commercial and industrial development.
     Many of those who attended were concerned that impact fees would add on too much cost to housing, while Hoffmann said they could wind up costing less and be financed by the county for lower-income people.
     The next talk story meeting hosted by council member Brittany Smart will be held at Na`alehu Community Center next Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. The subject, again, will be impact fees.

Mazie Hirono

CONGRESSWOMAN MAZIE HIRONO launched a bipartisan effort to save education programs for indigenous people. She and Republican Don Young, of Alaska, created the Young-Hirono amendment. It cleared the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday with a vote of 313 yeas to 117 nays. “Working across the aisle, Rep. Young and I were able to join forces to counteract those who strongly oppose any programs benefitting Native Hawaiians or Alaska Natives," she said. The amendment restores eligibility of Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native education programs for federal funding. 

THE BIOFUELS TAX BREAK has been refined at the Legislature to guarantee use of local resources and support of local agriculture. In order for developers to receive tax breaks of 30 cents a gallon, amendments to Bill 772 would require the feedstock to be at least 75 percent locally sourced. It also tags the tax break to actual production of biofuel and allows tax breaks for use of many waste materials, such as fats, oils and grease. Tax breaks had been based on capacity rather than actual production. A meeting on the biofuels refinery and farm planned for Ka`u will be held Monday at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center, with a presentation by the developers of the project, `Aina Koa Pono. 

`Aina Koa Pono's depiction of its
proposed Ka`u Energy Farm

A PROPOSED SITE FOR THE BIOFUELS REFINERY would be along on Meyer Camp Road, off Wood Valley Road. The location would be buffered from Pahala by a 1.7-mile wide block of existing macadamia orchard just above Pahala and would be set off of Wood Valley Road - .4 miles up Meyer Camp Road. 

THE KAʻŪ HIGH JV SOFTBALL TEAM did not allow a little rain to get in the way of victory over the Hilo Vikings on Wednesday. The girls defeated the Vikings 14-6 at the Pahala ball field. Shaylin Navarro went four for four and scored three times along with Shylee Tamura and Chazlyn Fuerte. Pili Kailiawa and Jadelyn Kekoa-Jara went two for four and scored twice each. Kamalani Fujikawa went one for four and scored once to help the lady Trojans win in the seventh inning. Winning pitcher was Shaylin Navarro.
     Earlier this week on Valentine's Day the Trojans killed Keaʻau 23-13. Navarro served as winning pitcher again and went three for five, scoring three runs along with Fuerte. Kailiawa went four for five and also scored three times, as did Toni Beck and Casey Koi. Kekoa-Jara went four for five and scored twice, along with Tamura. Fujikawa was five for five, scoring three runs to help secure this fifth-inning T.K.O. victory and Valentine's gift for Coach Donald Garo via the lady Trojans. The two wins were the first of the JV season, which will end this coming Tuesday.

TICKETS ARE ON SALE for the Ka`u Federal Credit Union annual membership meeting and steak fry which will be held on Saturday, March 19th. They are available at credit union locations in Pahala, Na`alehu and Ocean View.

A POETRY SLAM will be held tonight at 7 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village. Kimberly Dark emcees the poetry competition.

THE OCEAN VIEW COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION PANCAKE BREAKFAST is tomorrow, Saturday, from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Ocean View Community Center.

RECYCLE your HI-5 and receive 5 cents per container and an additional 20 cents per pound for all aluminum tomorrow at Na`alehu School from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Atlas Recycling will also donate 20 cents per pound to the school for all aluminum.

THE VOLCANO SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES hosts a big music festival fundraiser tomorrow at Kilauea Military Camp Theater. It features the Kuahiwis, Wendell Ing & Friends, the Bump City Funk Band, Halau Ke `Olu Makani O Mauna Loa and more. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 17, 2011

Proposed `Aina Koa Pono site is on Meyer Camp Road just off Wood Valley Road,
mauka of Pahala. It would be set back against the hillside.

THE `AINA KOA PONO hui, which plans to build a refinery to produce fuel for Hawai`i Electric Company, is looking at a site above Pahala. The most recent site being considered is on the old Meyer Camp Road, mauka of Wood Valley Road. The refinery would be shielded from the town by a macadamia nut orchard and set back off Wood Valley Road at the base of the mountain. Earlier sites considered included the old truck shed from sugar plantation days now used by ML Macadamia inside Pahala Village and a parcel owned by Kamehameha Schools near the trash transfer station on the road to lower Moa`ula, just outside of town. A public meeting, sponsored by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce, on the project will be held Monday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Everyone is invited to listen to the `Aina Koa Pono presentation and to ask questions.

Pete Hoffmann

HOW IMPACT FEES AFFECT ME is the title of County Council member Brittany Smart’s talk story session tonight at Pahala Community Center at 7 p.m. Smart and council member Pete Hoffman will talk about an alternative to the current Fair Share money contributions imposed on developers during zoning changes and subdivision approvals. The new impact fees would be attached to building permits. The problem with Fair Share, says Hoffman, is that developers don’t always pay. They already owe the county more than $100 million in money pledged for impact fees. If an impact fee had been attached to each building permit, the county would have taken in more than $60 million, according to engineer Bob Hunter, who studied the issue. The impact fees are supposed to help the county pay for the roads, parks, water and other infrastructure expansion required by development.
     Opponents fear that impact fees would be a hardship to owner-builders and to small contractors building affordable homes.

Mazie Hirono

CONGRESSWOMAN MAZIE HIRONO has been appointed to the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. She said her legislative priorities include helping to create jobs and to promote renewable energy use.
     She also serves on the Committee on Education and Workforce and said she works to improve student achievement. Her assignments for the 112th Congress include serving on the Subcommittees on Aviation; the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation; Highways and Transit; Water Resources and Environment; Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education; and Workforce Protections. She also serves on the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and House Democracy Partnership Commission.
     The Democrat recently opposed hefty cuts in health care that were proposed by the Republican majority in the U.S. House. She said they “target the most vulnerable among us – the poor, children, young adults and women.” She particularly opposed an effort to end Planned Parenthood, noting that the federal government does not fund abortions and that Planned Parenthood offers many health services to women.
     She said the funding cuts could result in Planned Parenthood closing in Kona.


GOVERNOR NEIL ABERCROMBIE is expected to sign the civil union bill in the next ten days. It passed the state Llegislature yesterday, allowing same-sex couples who get a license and make their vows to enjoy many of the privileges of married couples beginning on Jan. 1, 2012. The civil unions measure passed the Legislature last year but was vetoed by Gov. Linda Lingle. It was one of the issues put forward in Abercrombie’s campaign. The governor said that civil unions “respect our diversity, protect people’s privacy and reinforce our core values of equality and aloha.”

Sabrina McKenna with
Gov. Neil Abercrombie

HAWAI`I’S FIRST OPENLY GAY Hawai`i Supreme Court Justice was confirmed yesterday by the state Senate. She is also the first graduate of the U.H. Richardson Law School to serve on the Supreme Court. Sabrina McKenna, 53, has been a district and circuit court judge for nearly two decades. She is known for her expertise in native Hawaiian rights. The Japanese American was born in Japan and moved to Hawai`i at nine years of age. This is the first time that two women have served simultaneously on Hawai`i’s Supreme Court.