Ka`u News Briefs Monday, Jan. 30

Great Crack lands between Hwy 11 and the coast between Pahala and Volcano are still tied up in foreclosure suits, after the National Park Service received funding for its purchase last year. Photo from Zillow

THE POSSIBILITY OF THE GREAT CRACK acquisition by the federal government to extend Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park toward Pahala from Volcano is hung up, in part, on a foreclosure suit between a bank and current owner Ken Fujiyama and partners. The National  Park Service listed the Great Crack as one of its top properties for purchase, with funding in its 2016 budget.

The Great Crack is treasured by geologists and cavers. Photo from USGS

    Recent reports in West Hawai`i Today and Hawai`i Tribune Herald state that "Hilo businessman Ken Fujiyama and his company (Ken Direction Corp.) still owe about $6.1 million to a North Carolina bank that held mortgage on the then-Naniloa Volcanoes Resort, according to a complaint filed in Hilo Circuit Court. ....The bank also alleges Fujiyama, Ken Direction Corp and associates - who no longer have leasehold ownership of the hotel on Hilo's Banyan Drive - fraudulently transferred ownership of a (The Great Crack) 1,952-acre oceanfront property in Ka`u to prevent the bank from obtaining the land through a lien."
     Writer John Burnett reports that the complaint states the Great Crack Property was transferred to a Florida real estate investor "the day before a court hearing on the bank's motion to appoint a receiver to take control of Ken Direction Corp.'s assets."
    Writes Burnett, "The bank’s filing claims Gillespie paid no money for the land and the deed acknowledges only 'consideration paid of $10 and assumption of certain alleged mortgages against the parcels comprising the Great Crack Property.' The filing claims the mortgages are bogus encumbrances on the property by defendants.
     "The document claims the defendants transferred the land to Gillespie because he lives in Florida, 'beyond easy reach of the Hawai`i state,'" reports Hawai`i Tribune Herald. The bank seeks a court order to nullify the sale and allow a receiver to take possession of the land for the bank. Should the bank gain title to the land, the National Park Service may be in a position to buy it.
     Fujiyama is suing the bank, claiming it made false promises and owes money for damages to his hui.
     The Great Crack lands have been of interest to the National Park Service since the days when the property was owned by C. Brewer, before the former sugar company sold it to Fujiyama.
     It is noted for its archaeological sites, lava tube system - a favorite of cavers -  and uninhabited coast.
     After several unsuccessful attempts by the National Park Service to forge a successful negotiation with Fujiyama, he put the land up for sale on Zillow and other real estate sales sites. The lands are located between Pahala and Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park makai of Hwy 11. See the Ka`u News Briefs for Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016 and for Saturday, March 26, 2016.
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Sen. Mazie Hirono, herself an immigrant, speaks on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court today, demanding that Pres. Donald Trump rescind his order against travel to the U.S. from seven majority-Muslim countries. Photo from Office of Sen. Mazie Hirono

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TRUTH IN TRUTH IN LABELING OF HAWAIIAN COFFEE passed the state House of Representatives Agriculture Committee last week. It would require declaration in the labeling of the amount of locally grown coffee, like Ka`u or Kona, and the amount of imported coffee in the coffee bag. HB256 would require coffee blend labels to disclose regional origins and percent by weight of the blended coffees and would prohibit using geographic origins of coffee in labeling or advertising for roasted or instant coffee that contains less than 51 percent of coffee by weight from the geographic area described on the label.
     During a public hearing on the issue and opposing the bill, Roger Kaiwi, of Royal Kona Coffee, represented the Kona Coffee Council, which he said is 200 farmers-strong. He said the industry is thriving with farm-gate values as high or higher than ever. He said that new rules would hurt the industry. "We cannot police what we have already." He said that the coffee industry could end up like eggs and dairy "and we are going to put enough rules on ourselves to put us out of business."

Alexander Calumpit's AC Ka1`u Coffee with its award winning 100 percent Ka`u Coffee. Photo by Julia Neal

      Kaiwi said that blended coffee is needed to make Hawaiian coffees affordable to sell to a large segment of the market, including visitors.  "If we are looking for omiyages and makanas, most people want to take a piece of Hawai`i coffee back with them at affordable prices." He said that if farmers are prohibited from using the Kona name on their coffees that are less than 51 percent Kona, "we'll lose McDonalds (using 10 percent Kona blend), all the hotels and all the restaurants (using 10 percent Kona blend). These people would no longer be able to sell their product."
     Rep. Richard Creagan, from Ka`u, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, said that the Hawai`i County Council supports the truth in labeling bill and that it is also supported by the Hawai`i Democratic Party. The Kona Coffee Farmers Organization, with more than 400 members, has started a petition supporting the bill and states on its website: "Our petition asks that the Hawai`i County Council’s request for truth-coffee-labeling be enacted into State Law. The appreciators of genuine Kona coffee are our most enthusiastic supporters. Voices from the Mainland and from around the world will help remind our State Legislators that deceiving visitors is not a good way to generate goodwill and tourism for Hawai`i."
     Carol Weaver, of Pau Hana Estate LLC in Captain Cook, sent written testimony saying local coffee farmers "have suffered economic losses and the reputations of Hawai`i coffee have been damaged because State law permits the use of Hawai`i coffee names on packages containing 90 percent foreign-grown coffee....Hawai`i need to protect the economic interests of its farmers and the reputation and integrity of their crops." See more at www.bigislandvideonews.com.
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HOKULE`A IS MAKING HER WAY HOME TO HAWAI`I, with a stop in the Galapagos Islands, after a week and a half of voyaging from the Panama Canal. The Hawaiian voyaging canoe and its crew will soon host a contingent of students and teachers from Hawai`i schools, according to the Polynesian Voyaging Society. The Hawai`i students will fly to the Galapagos, which are famous for inspiring Darwin's 1835 theory of evolution.

A Giant Tortoise is oblivious to the photographer from Ka'u, Ric Elhard,  as it slowly munches on guava fruit. Photo by Ann Bosted

     The islands’ unusual creatures such as marine iguanas, sea lion, giant tortoises, and a plethora of birds can go anywhere they want. They are regularly seen sunning themselves on the docks or park benches and even in hotel swimming pools. They are so unafraid of humans, it is hard to consider them “wildlife.”