Ka`u News Briefs July 2, 2011

The Endoso family comes to Na`alehu to give back to Ka`u.

NEW BIDS TO OPERATE VOLCANO HOUSE will be accepted by the National Park Service after it revises and finalizes a new prospectus for re-solicitation. The Park Service has announced that the prospectus will become available sometime in July with a timeline for new proposals. This opportunity will be posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, www.fbo.gov, as well as the NPS Commercial Services website, www.concessions.nps.gov. 

Volcano House will stay closed until a
new concessionaire is found.
Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

     According a press release from the Park, the National Park Service director “must, by law, reject proposals where the concessionaire is not qualified or the proposal is non-responsive to the requirements of the Volcano House Prospectus.” 

     A prospectus for the Volcano House operation was issued on Dec. 10, 2009, requesting proposals for visitor services that included overnight accommodations, food, beverage, retail, campground and related services. Due to several amendments, the closing date was extended to Sept. 1, 2010. All proposals were reviewed by the National Park Service Pacific West Regional Office in Oakland, CA and subsequently sent to the director of the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. for final review and action.
     For further information contact Walt Poole at 985-6027 or walt_poole@nps.gov. 

KENNY ENDOSO, a former Pahala resident and an award-winning Hollywood stuntman, was remembered this week when his family donated $1,000 to the Na`alehu Cardinals Little League team. Endoso battled bone cancer for over six years before succumbing to the disease last August. Na`alehu Parks & Recreation Coordinator Richard Karasuda said that Endoso was a member of the first Little League team in Ka`u. Endoso’s wife Laureen said Endoso was a talented catcher and that Little League and Ka`u were so important to Endoso, the family wanted to give something back in his memory. She also said that Endoso, who also became a Little League coach in California, credited his stuntman athleticism to his Little League experience as a youth. 

     “Kenny’s life was pool halls and baseball,” said Laureen, relating that Endoso’s grandfather owned the pool hall in Pahala. Endoso was a stuntman on several productions, including the original Hawai`i Five-0, Magnum P.I., Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and Big Trouble in Little China to name a few.
     The Na`alehu Cardinals is the first official Little League team to emerge in Ka`u after a hiatus of several years. 

Big Yellow Taxi and other classic cars come to Na`alehu
and Volcano parades.  Photo by Julia Neal

TODAY IS THE BIG INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION and rodeo in Na`alehu. Miss Ka`u Coffee and her court and the princesses will ride on floats and in decorated cars. Many community organizations, businesses, classic cars, paniolo on horseback and the County Band will march along with public officials. The parade start time was set for 11 a.m. along Hwy 11, with the rodeo taking place right after the parade and continuing tomorrow. 

VOLCANO’S INDEPENDENCE DAY parade takes place on Monday, July 4 at 9 a.m. with floats, the Volcano school, community groups and classic cars winding up at Cooper Center for food, entertainment and arts and crafts sales. 

Pauline Wilson

PAULINE WILSON PRESENTS A NIGHT of hot, sultry jazz tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village. Tickets are $15 and are available by calling 967-8222 and at the door.

     Wilson is an American jazz/pop singer best known as lead vocalist with the jazz/fusion group Seawind in the 1970s and early 80s. Born and raised in Hilo, she won a Grammy Award in 1979 for her duet Friends with George Benson, part of the album In Harmony/A Sesame Street Record and voiced The Fairy on the track My Fairy In The Crystal Reeds (And Other Frogs) from Michel Colombier’s album Old Fool Back On Earth. During most of Seawind's main period of activity, Pauline was married to Bob Wilson, the drummer/main songwriter of the group. As a duo, they released a contemporary Christian album, Somebody Loves You, in 1981. She has also released several solo albums.