Ka`u News Briefs August 17, 2013

Miss Ka`u Coffee Tiare-Lee Shibuya gets ready to say "go" for the Volcano Rain Forest Runs this morning in Volcano Village. Photo by Julia Neal

THE FOURTH ANNUAL VOLCANO RAIN FOREST RUNS saw a record 719 participants this morning. The event, which includes a half marathon, 10K and 5K, has been growing at a rate of 20 percent each year, said organizer Sharron Faff. It is one of Volcano Art Center’s major annual fundraisers. It takes participants through Volcano Village with a celebration at Cooper Center.

Billy Barnett, a cross country coach, won the half marathon at Volcano Rain Forest Runs this morning.

     Billy Barnett won the half marathon with a time of 1:18:03. Rani Henderson won the women’s half marathon with a time of 1:28:58.
      10K-winner Joe Garcia posted a time of 39:16, and Kim Pierce won the women’s 10K with a time of 40:51.
      Stephen Hunter won the 5K with a time of 18:36. In the women’s 5K, Carmen Garson-Shumway won with a time of 22:27.
      Among the many Ka`u residents who participated were Aikido instructor Alan Moores and his son, teacher Angie Miyashiro, land planner Pueo McGuire and Hawai`i Wildlife Fund representative Megan Lamson.
      Miss Ka`u Coffee Tiare-Lee Shibuya fired off the starting yell for two of the races, with Mayor Billy Kenoi doing the honors for the 10K in which he participated.
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Greg Javar said he wants to become a civil engineer and come back home to serve Hawai`i Island and Ka`u. He receives the scholarship check from Ka`u Chamber president Dallas Decker, Scholarship chair Lee McIntosh and Miss Ka`u Coffee Tiare-Lee Shibuya.

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS and their families from Ka`u gathered last night to receive educational funding from the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce. Meeting at Pahala Plantation House, with Chamber board members and Miss Ka`u Coffee, Tiare-Lee Shibuya, they answered the question from Chamber president Dallas Decker, “What do you expect to be doing in ten years?” Overall winner is Tyler Amaral, with his essay entitled A World Without Computers? Not in My Community. Amaral said he hopes to be working in computers in Ka`u a decade from now. Service to the Ka`u community has already included voluntarily providing nine families with computers and training at no cost. The Na`alehu resident said that one of the families lives in a bus and all represent different age groups and ethnicities. He will attend Hawai`i Community College in Hilo this fall.
He read his winning essay to those who attended the scholarship presentations.

Ben Houghton jams on piano with Keoki Kahumoku. Houghton says he plans to become a music teacher. Photos by Julia Neal

     Other winners include Benjamin Houghton, of Ocean View, a Ka`u High graduate who will take the bus three days a week to HCC-West Hawai`i this fall. A classical pianist who learned from the Internet and now has a piano teacher, Houghton entertained families of the winners and jammed with Keoki Kahumoku, who chanted, led a prayer and played guitar for the dinner held last night. Houghton said he hopes to be a music teacher.    
      Greg Javar, of Pahala - his mother Na`alehu School principal Darlene Javar also attended - said he hopes to become a civil engineer and work on the Big Island and serve Ka`u. Tiana Pascubillo, of Na`alehu, a graduate of Ka`u High who will attend HCC - Hilo this fall, said she plans to become a teacher. Leah Carriaga, of Na`ahelu, said she plans to use her college education here in Ka`u.

Tyler Amaral read his winning essay.

      Other winners are Kayla Andrade, of Na`alehu, a sophmore at University of Hawai`i at Manoa; Radhika Dockstader, of Na`alehu, a sophmore at UH-Hilo; Donald Garo, Jr., of Pahala, a Ka`u High graduate who will be a freshman at HCC-Hilo this fall; Amber Leigh V. Hondonero, of Na`alehu, a graduate of Ka`u High, who will begin studies at HCC and UH-Hilo this fall.
      The Ka`u Chamber president encouraged the scholarship winners to come back each year for additional funding as long as their education continues - including graduate school. The scholarship chair noted that the fundraising comes from Ka`u residents joining the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce and supporting its annual Ka`u business and community publication called The Directory. The more the community supports The Directory, the more money will be available for scholarships, McIntosh noted, saying that the fundraising begins right away for next year’s scholarships.
     Miss Ka`u Coffee said she was proud of all the students and encouraged them to keep striving toward their educational goals. She also described here dream - becoming a nurse here in Ka`u.

“THE LEGACY OF OUR FOSSIL FUEL BURNING TODAY is a hangover that could last for tens of thousands of years, if not hundreds of thousands of years to come,” concludes oceanographer Richard Zeebe in a new study by University of Hawai`i at Manoa published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Richard Zeebe, of U.H., is an expert on climate.