The Ka`u Calendar, Thurday, August 15, 2013

An All-State Eight-Man Football Championship Game on the Mainland. Ka`u is the trend-setter, launching eight-man for the Big Island. Photo from www.magicvalley.com

EIGHT-MAN FOOTBALL scheduling is being finalized, Ka`u High School Athletic Director Kalei Namohala said this morning. She said that Ka`u Trojans are now “the trend-setters” by launching eight-man football on Hawai`i Island. The game is faster paced and higher scoring with fewer injuries and fewer team members playing tackle. Eight-man football is played on fields the same length as regulation high school football - 100 yards long. However, the field is narrowed to 40 yards wide, about 13 yards narrower than 11-man high school football field.   Eight-man football is played by high schools in some 23 states across the country.

      Namohala said that just this morning she was able to overcome one of the last hurdles - landing an insurance policy required for participation. The confirmed scheduled game, for which community members are raising travel money for the Trojans, is at Moloka`i High, Oct. 5.  The Trojans will take on the Farmers. Namohala said that Kahua Ranch has donated beef to help with a fundraiser. Another group called Friends of Ka`u Softball Tournament is raising money through food sales at a softball tournament in Na`alehu for six days next week and weekend.
      Other tentative Trojan games will be on Friday, Sept. 20 and 27 at home. The two teams that will be coming to Ka`u are Kealakehe and Kamehameha. Another away game is possible on Hawai`i Island on Oct. 25.
      Namohala said that “With the enrollment we have, this is the course we can take,” since regular 11-man football requires 30 players to field a team. At Ka`u,  “We normally have a solid 20 or 21.”  Eight-man football requires 18 players to field a team.
      The Athletic Director said: “I saw the steam go out of the players when we cancelled the regular football season. I am happy that with all of their hard training this summer that the Trojans will be able to move forward.”

HAWAI`I PUBLIC RADIO is the new owner of the KAHU FM radio license and plans to start broadcasting from its location in Pahala within a few weeks. Michael Titterton, manager of HPR, said this morning that the plan is to broadcast from the original KAHU Radio location, from the pole next to the KAHU Radio station building on Maile Street. He said that the property ownership group, represented by Al Kam, has offered to provide the location at no cost to HPR. Ka`u Community Radio manager Christine Ka`ahuea has offered to lease the pole and broadcast equipment for a small price to HPR, Titterton said.
      In years to come, Titterton said, he hopes that HPR will be able to sponsor local programming from Ka`u. Programming from such remote places as Hana and Ka`u are in the longterm plan for HPR.
      The transfer of the KAHU radio station license to HPR was recently approved by the FCC. It is HPR’s intention to rebuild the facility so that broadcasting covers south and east Hawai`i; HPR-2 will restore Civil Defense messaging as soon as HPR takes KAHU back on the air, said Titterton.
      Programming on HPR-2 includes a Hawaiian music show from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. every Sunday, called Kanikapila Sunday.
      During weekdays the schedule is: BBC Worldwide Service from midnight to to 6 a.m., followed by Performance Today with Fred Child from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.; a Hawai`i talk show called The Conversation with Beth-Ann Kozlovich and Chris Vandercook from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.; The Takeaway with John Hockenberry from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.; Tell Me More with Michel Martin from 10 a.m. To 11 a.m.; The World with Lisa Mullins from 11 a.m. to noon, All Things Considered with Terry Gross from noon until 2 p.m.; and BBC World Service from 2 p .m. to 3 p.m.
 
  A show called Fresh Air with Tery Gross comes on at 3 p.m.. Various national shows from 4 p.m to 5 p.m. are followed by shows from Honolulu like The Body Show on Monday, Bytemarks Café on Wednesday and Town Square on Thursday, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. After an hour of more nationally originating shows comes BBC’s World Today from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., then on Mondays through Thursdays a show originating in Hawai`i from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. called Jazz With Charles Husson, followed by Jazz After Hours with Jim Wilkie from 10 p.m. until midnight.
     On Friday and Saturday evenings, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. is The Real Deal hosted by Seth Markow. From 10 p.m. to midnight on Friday is Jazz with John Alan– broadcast from Honolulu and on Saturday evenings Blues from the Basement from 10 p.m. to midnight, also from Honolulu and hosted by John Alan.  For more, see www.hawaiipublicradio.org.

Wendell Kaehuaea launched KAHU Radio. Photo by Julia Neal

KAHU COMMUNITY RADIO manager Christine Kaehuaea flew to Honolulu to accept a $20,000 check on Monday from Hawai`i Public Radio in exchange for turning over the license for the station. KAHU founder Wendell Kaehuaea said this morning that he hopes she will use the money to pay off debt. He said that more than $10,000 is owed to the owners of the radio station building for rent and to Hawai`i Electric Light Co., which turned off the electricity earlier this year, ending years of local radio programming from Pahala by community volunteers. The radio signal was earlier taken off a communications tower between Pahala and Na`alehu for failing to pay the monthly fees, reducing KAHU's reach in Ka`u.
      A number of Ka`u business provided underwriting for the radio station, including one sponsor contributing $750 a month to underwrite a news program and another giving the radio station more than $40,000. The radio station also received a state Civil Defense grant of more than $70,000 and money from Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Haola, Inc.
     Wendell Kaehuaea said that if he were still on the bank account, he would use the income from selling the license and other assets of the station and from leasing any equipment to HPR to pay off the debt to the landlord, utility and others owed money in Ka`u. Christine Kaehuaea has said in numerous emails to community members that she was the owner of the radio station. Before receiving the $20,000 this week, she sent some payments toward debt to some creditors in Ka`u.
     According to several Pahala residents, Christine Kaehuaea has been asking landowners in Pahala village if they would be open to the radio tower (a wooden pole) being moved from the old KAHU building to their land. However, according to Hawai`i Public Radio, HPR expects to use the old radio building on Maile Street and existing pole to broadcast, until it can arrange relocating the equipment onto one or more communications towers to give HPR-2 a broad reach in Ka`u and into east Hawai`i.

KA`U PLANTATION DAYS ORGANIZERS met yesterday evening to plan this year’s Saturday, Oct. 16 event, beginning with a parade through the old commercial district of Pahala. Organizer Darlene Vierra said that along the way, she envisions large photos of old buildings – placed on their locations – even if they have been torn down, so that younger people and visitors can learn more about the community’s history. Giant photos will be placed on the sites of such places as Chong Store; the old Ka`u Hospital; Pahala Theatre; the old hotel; the old Bank of Hawai`i, before it became a dental office, pool hall, employment training center, Pahala Plantation Store and KAHU Radio; and the Ka`u Meat Market, before it became Ka`u Market House, Vierra envisioned.  The parade will include pa'u riders, an old cane truck, classic cars and representatives of old sugar camps, ranches, dairies and families. Horses and riders will also represent the islands with colorful lei.

An old sugar truck will drive the parade route during Plantation Days on Satruday, Oct. 12. Photo by Julia Neal