Ka`u Calendar News Briefs Friday, Aug. 5, 2016

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE offers a new web tool designed to connect farm entrepreneurs with programs and resources available to help them get started. The site features advice and guidance on everything a new farm business owner will need to know and includes a personalized Discovery Tool that builds a customized set of recommendations of USDA programs and services based on your needs.

      See usda.gov/newfarmers.
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INCREASING OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN, minorities and other underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and math fields was the topic of a Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee hearing chaired by Sen. Mazie Hirono yesterday.

      Hirono heard from national experts at the National Science Foundation, the Small Business Administration and the Office of Naval Research about programs in Hawai`i that introduce students to STEM careers. She also heard testimony from two successful students from Hawai`i who participated in these programs.
      “Hawai`i and the country have a great opportunity to build a 21st-century economy that will create hundreds of thousands of high paying jobs,” Hirono said. “But we will not succeed in harnessing the talents of all Americans without addressing the barriers women and minorities face in pursuing STEM careers, including in the small business sector. Today’s hearing was a great opportunity to examine how we can continue to grow Hawai`i’s STEM pipeline and to ensure small businesses and entrepreneurs have the resources they need to succeed.”

      “I applaud Sen. Hirono and the committee for holding a hearing on this very important topic and for her appreciation for the need for Hawai`i and our nation to continue to invest in long-term, fundamental and game changing research to keep us competitive,” said Dr. Sylvia James, National Science Foundation Directorate for Education and Human Resources Division of Human Resource Development Director. “With robust, sustained support for research and education in both the executive and legislative branches, as well as partnerships such as those on display here in Hawai`i, NSF contributes to the protection of our national security, the continued development of our workforce and the enhancement of our economic prosperity.”
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A THREE-HOUR EXTRAVAGANZA of music and hula celebrated the many contributions by the late Cynthia “Cinnie” Decker to Ka`u’s musical world last Saturday.

      Many of the musicians who today embody her legacy came together to worship, play and reminisce on Decker’s outstanding contributions to the community and how she touched their lives. 

      Decker taught numerous music students, founded and played with two bands and conducted the large Ka`u `Ohana Band. Her enthusiasm for music and musicians was infectious, encouraging many to take up musical careers, so that her legacy lived on after she left Ka`u for health reasons.
      Decker was a public school teacher in New Mexico and then New York before retiring to Hawai`i about eight years ago, making her home in Ocean View with her husband Dallas.
      She passed away in January while living in Southern California. An earlier memorial service was held for her at Long Island, New York.
      Saturday’s memorial service was held at Ocean View Community Center and began with an Episcopalian mass led by Dallas Decker, followed by a copious potluck lunch.
      Decker’s former students provided lunchtime entertainment. First, Nina Lloyd and Susan Oliver played duets on the French horn and cello. This was followed by Ben Houghton playing the clarinet, Eugene Watson on the trumpet and Nina Lloyd on the French horn.

     After lunch came three hula dances by Hannah’s Makana `Ohana to I Can Only Imagine, a prayer and How Great Thou Art.

      Among the dancers were Barbara McDonough, Mary Ramsdell, Cyndi Napper, Sandy Shelton, Wendy Baier, Kepi Davis, Vera Stevens, Thom White, Susan Fine and Lora Akase-Nagle. Hannah Uribes, the group’s kumu,

was unable to attend.
      Jym Duncan, a former student of Decker, held the audience spellbound as she performed Beethoven’s Pathetique on the grand piano. Ben Houghton and David Matson had arranged their electronic pianos back to back on the stage, and with the help of an amplifier wowed the audience with their duet and then with solos from the classics.
      Decker’s protégé’s then changed the tune and tempo with light-hearted, folksy numbers performed by The Blue Rock Mountaineers. Dick Hershberger pointed out that this band had won the Senior Stars Talent Contest about three years ago in Hilo. With great gusto and enthusiasm, the band belted out Jambalaya and Wabash Cannonball, while the audience tapped toes, swung hips and joined in with This Land is Your Land.
      Among the musicians in this band were Dick Hershberger, Zachary De Bernardi, Arlene Araki, Lucy Rogge, Joe Ooka and Dallas Decker.
      Cinnie Decker was a member of the second featured band. The Last Fling Band played some classic dance music, including the Beer Barrel Polka, the Lichtensteiner Polka, the Hofbrauhaus, and Have I Told You Lately that I Love You.
      Most of the Blue Rock Mountaineers were also in this band, as were Nina Lloyd, Richard Yohn Sigrid Jeauneux, Eugene Watson, Susan Oliver and Ben Houghton.
      The grand finale was offered by the largest band – the fifteen-member Ka`u `Ohana Band – which Decker founded and conducted before leaving the island. Her successor, Steve Moon, picked seven of the band’s favorite pieces, six of which Decker had rehearsed with the band and conducted herself. 

      Among the musicians in this band were Arlene Araki, Jym Duncan and Eugene Watson, who played trumpets; Susan Brown-Bauman and Zachary DeBernardi, who both played percussion; and Peter Bosted, who played the oboe. Laurie Boyle and Ben Houghton played clarinets; Noa Caiserman, flute; Nina Lloyd, French horn; and David Mattson, trombone; Mike Sherline, tuba; Clair Underwood, violin; and Fred Strehler, bass clarinet.
      The celebration of life concluded with shared remembrances by those whose lives Cinnie Decker touched.

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PARTY ON THE CRATER’S EDGE tomorrow from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Volcano House. The Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park fundraiser celebrating the park’s centennial includes champagne, light pupus and entertainment for $50 per person. Proceeds support park programs and projects sponsored by FHVNP.

      A silent auction from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. is open to all.
      See fhvnp.org.

KAHUKU UNIT OF HAWAI`I VOLCANOES National Park offers free programs this weekend. Tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., a hike on Pu`u Kahuku Trail explores realms and divisions of the traditional Hawaiian classification system at Kahuku.
      Birth of Kahuku on Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. explores the area’s rich geologic history. See nps.gov/havo.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.