Ka`u News Briefs March 21, 2011

Wildfire in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, smoldering in forests of ohia and ferns,

slowed with rains. Photo courtesy of Whiskeytown Firefighters.

FIRE CREWS removed brush from locations of seismic sensors and installed a water tank to fight the Napau wildfire in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park over the weekend. With rain dousing the blaze and slowing its wind-pumped progress beyond the 1,800 acres already burned, the fire failed to capture much more land.
     Set by the March 5 Kamoamoa fissure eruption, the fire burned trees and ferns as its march was guided by old lava flows and wind. Fire information officer Gary Wuscher said the remaining high heat is located on the front and flanks of the fire. The firefighters from the park and from Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in California are strategizing their next move to put out the fire.

Al Galimba's beef from Kuahiwi Ranch is certified as a
Hawai`i Seal of Quality product. Photo by Chris Manfredi

THE HAWAI`I SEAL OF QUALITY branding program came to Ka`u over the weekend as Dr. Matthew Loke spoke to farmers in Pahala about Hawai`i being the most well known place name brand in the world. When a product says Hawai`i, people want to buy it, he told agriculturalists, offering them a way to join the promotion. Several Ka`u products are already branded by the Hawai`i Seal of Quality, including Aikane Coffee and the Al Galimba family beef from Kuahiwi Ranch. In promotional materials produced for the Hawai`i Seal of Quality, Michelle Galimba says that “agriculture is the first and most daring art, the art of taking up the materials of nature and making something out of it. Making gardens out of wild earth. Taming the beasts of the plains. And yes, turning the natural fecundity of living things to our purposes. Ranching is large-scale landscape art, among other things. And being part of the constant conversation between the soil, the grasses, the sky, the weeds, the animals, the very stones in the fields, and the people.” 

     Loke said that the Seal of Quality also helps producers to become food-safety qualified. For more information, see www.sealofquality.hawaii.gov.

POSSIBILITIES FOR KA`U HOSPITAL include constructing additional facilities beneath the building. The hospital sits on high posts with thousands of square footage of open area beneath it. Additional clinics, housing for temporary employees, and room for additional services like a CAT scan could be created by building out the space, said administrator Merilyn Harris during a community meeting on Saturday. More than $4 million was recently released by the state to replace louver windows and doors and for air conditioning and air cleaning infrastructure to improve Ka`u Hospital.

Ka`u Federal Credit Union has more than 3,000 members,
including keiki. Photo by Rollie Litteral

A NEW DEBIT CARD is in the works for the Ka`u Federal Credit Union, which made its report to the community over the weekend at its annual meeting. Manager Cheryl Weaver talked about the Kids Savings Project, which has helped 61 children at Pahala Elementary School to save more than $2,500 during the last six months. Children can open keiki savings accounts at all the credit union branches. The credit union’s new website has loan request forms that can be completed online, scam alerts, and updates on credit union activities. There are over 3,000 members of the local credit union.

Ko Ueno

JAPANESE NATIONALS with homes in Ka`u are predicting that Japan’s economy will come back from some of the worst disasters ever with the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant crises that began ten days ago. Ko Ueno, president of Yoku Moku America, Inc., has a home in Pahala and visited over the weekend. He said the area affected by the tsunami is fishing and farming country with smaller populations than the rest of Japan. He described the area as a cold part of Japan with fjords like in Scandinavia. Ueno’s Yoko Moku cookie business was unaffected at its factory and at its offices in Tokyo, he said. Orders for the product from such establishments as Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Shirokiya are on time and increasing, said Ueno. Minako and Kayo Yamazaki, who run the international tourism promotion company The Contact, Inc. in Tokyo also said their business continues, with Japanese people planning to travel abroad. Minako and Kayo also own a home in Pahala.

Parent Nikki Fontanilla and make-up professional Myra Sumida help
  contestants Dayse Andrade Malia Corpuz mix up their own blush.
Photo by Nalani Parlin

MISS KA`U COFFEE CANDIDATES received help from Myra Sumida, of Motives Cosmetics, who volunteered to give young pageant candidates and parents make-up tips yesterday. Candidates had the opportunity to have make-up applied, foundation mixed to match their specific skin tones and mix their very own blush. The pageant is Saturday, April 23 at 5:30 p.m. at Ka`u High School Gym. 

TUTU & ME BRINGS ITS preschool program to Pahala beginning tomorrow. The free program is open to children age 5 or younger and their caregivers. Call 929-8571 for more information.