Ka‘ū News Brief Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Billy Kenoi, who is known in Kaʻū for bringing department heads out to the country to meet the people when he served two  terms as mayor, is receiving many messages from those wishing him well with his cancer challenge. Photo by Julia Neal

A GET WELL CARD TO BILLY KENOI came from performers and many others who gathered at the opening of the Merrie Monarch Festival on Sunday in Hilo. The former mayor, who left office after serving the maximum two terms ending December of 2016, is 49 years old. Kenoi is battling a rare leukemia, myelofibrosis. Until recent days, Kenoi kept his challenge private, having fought the disease since 2015, while still serving as mayor. Kenoi is receiving treatment at City of Hope in Duarte, Southern California.

     On Easter Sunday, participants at Merrie Monarch opening festivities signed a giant card to send to Kenoi, who is Hawaiian and has long supported the festival.
     Kenoi is known in Kaʻū for bringing the heads of county departments - from water to police and planning - out to the country to meet the people. He is known for taking up the cause against building a biofuel refinery in Wood Valley. A beachboy in his youth, who grew up surfing, Kenoi supported the transition of Kāwā and other strands of Kaʻū Coast from private ownership to county and local stewardship.

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BRING IN MEDICATIONS FOR THE NATIONAL PRESCRIPTION DRUG TAKE-BACK DAY, Saturday, April 28, urges the Hawaiʻi Police Department, Hawaiʻi Attorney General, County Dept. of Environmental Management, and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. The event legally accepts controlled substances like opioid pain medications. However, no illicit drugs nor needles will be accepted. "With the rise of prescription drug abuse, this is one effort to combat that problem. Spring Clean your Medicine Cabinet," says a statement from Chris Chin-Chance, Recycling Specialist, with the county.
     The Take-Back locations to receive the drugs will be in Kona at Hawaiʻi Police Department, 74-0611 Hale Makai Place, and in Hilo at Ka Waena Lapaʻau Medical Complex, upper parrking lot at the corner of Ponahawai and Komohana Streets, 670 Ponahawai St.

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POLICE CHIEF PAUL FERREIRA WANTS MORE POLICE OFFICERS FOR KAʻŪ. While Mayor Harry Kim's budget doesn't call for more officers, Ferreira plans to appeal to the County Council as it goes through the proposed 2018-2019 budget. Kaʻū, for many years, has been asking for more and more police officers, due to the long distances between Pāhala, Nāʻālehu, and Ocean View communities, and the growing population.

Ocean View residents want more than a Mini-Station and the police chief asked for it. Photo by Ann Bosted

     Ferreira told Hawaiʻi Tribune Herald reporter John Burnett that one of HPD's most pressing priorities and toughest challenges is acquiring those additional officer positions and recruiting to fill existing officer vacancies. The budget proposal submitted by the mayor to the council would increase by $2 million over the 2017-18 budget of $65,529.60. In contrast, the 2017-18 budget rose by about $3.3 million over the 2016-2017 budget.

     The Police Chief told the Tribune Herald, "We've been operating for years with a status quo budget. People can promise us, 'Oh, we're going to give you 60 more officers,' but sPhoto by Ann Bostedomebody's gotta pay for it." Ferreira pointed out that 450 sworn officers serve in the HPD. At the end of 2017 there were 34 vacancies. They will be filled mostly by 30 new recruits and another eight to 10 officers to be hired in April, said the chief, noting the nine month training time before they can "hit the streets."

Police Chief Paul Ferreira joined police officers in Ka`u  last October to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the police  station on the edge of Na`alehu. Photo by Patti Mlarkar

     The police chief also told the Tribune Herald that the improving economy is providing jobs that pay as well as policing. "As the economy gets better, nobody wants to be a police officer. They'd rather be in construction or other jobs that pay just as much and don't have the challenges that being an officer does. So when the economy gets good, recruitment falls. When the private sector economy is good, the public sector suffers."

     The KPD budget proposed to the mayor asked for seven new supervisory positions and five additional officers for each of the growing Puna and Ka‘ū districts. It also asked for a new police station in Ocean View, but the mayor's budget was unable to accommodate the requests, leaving Ocean View its "mini station" that is used only for its bathroom, said the chief.

     The mayor wrote to the County Council, saying he asked every department in county to cut their budgets and "we're still $7 million short." Kim said the budge cuts are motivated largely by forces beyond his control.

     Salaries and benefits to employees are adding $12.7 million. County contributions to the employee pension plan total $4.4 million, with other post-retirement benefits adding an additional $5.9 million. An additional $1.5 million in raises recently were awarded to top officials by the Salary Commission. Debt payments by the county will total $49 million.

Mayor Harry Kim talks to Ocean View residents about the need for more police officers.  Photo by Ann Bosted

  Kim said he is sympathetic to the plight of rural district residents: "Ka‘ū is one of the fastest growing districts on the island; the fastest is Puna," Kim said. "Ka‘ū is growing because of Hawaiian Ocean View Estates and that area becoming the bedroom community of Kona, which is very surprising to people."
      The mayor emphasized that the budget cuts were done by department heads, under his orders. "When you tell them 'no' and you tell them why - and the responsibility is mine - you're the one that's saying 'no,' not the chief of police. Because I made a policy (of) no increase in personnel. And it's not easy. But that's the blanket that went to every district, not just Ka‘ū."

     The County Council scheduled reviews of the Kim budget, department by department, April 17 through 19. Department heads, including the police chief, will present their priorities to the County Council.

     Ferreira told the Tribune Herald that in smaller districts - Ka‘ū, North Hilo, Hamakua, North Kohala - adding on supervisors is important: "by adding another sergeant, we're adding another body on the watch. It's a supervisory position but it's another officer on the road."

     Kim's final proposed budget will be released by May 5, to go into effect July 1, once amended and passed by the council.

SPRING FUND DRIVE FOR HAWAIʻI PUBLIC RADIO, with stations 89.1 FM and 91.3 FM serving Kaʻū, begins its ten-day run this Wednesday, April 4. The goal of $865,000 marks the station's seventh consecutive semi-annual campaign of raising less money than the preceding year, despite steadily rising costs. The downward trending goals are offset by a growing number of Sustaining Members whose monthly contributions provide the station a steady income stream. Nearly half of HPR's 14,200 donor-members are Sustainers, says an HPR statement.
     HPR's mission is to serve the entire population of Hawaiʻiwith FM radio. HPR-1, found in Kaʻū at 89.1 FM KANO radio, features news, talk, entertainment, jazz, blues, and world music. HPR-2, heard in Kaʻū at 91.3 FM KAHU radio, broadcasts classical music.

     HPR's President and General Manager José A. Fajardo describes the station's on-air fund drives as "a time for us to celebrate our Sustainers and those who gave early, but primarily an opportunity to reach listeners who are ready to become new members with our message that 'you are HPR.'"
     HPR is a private, nonprofit organization which broadcasts classical, jazz, and international music; and in-depth news and informational programming from National Public Radio, American Public Media, Public Radio International, and other local, national, and international program sources, as well as programs produced by Hawaiʻi Public Radio.

HPR pledge drive scene, President & General Manager José A. Fajardo (foreground on phone), with  Executive Producer, Talk Programs Beth-Ann Kozlovich and News Director Bill Dorman. Photo from HPR

     In August 2017, Charity Navigator, the premier charity evaluator, awarded HPR its sixth consecutive four-star rating for exceptional fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency. HPR was named one of the 2015 Best Places to Work in Hawaiʻi by Hawaiʻi Business magazine and Best Places Group. In the same year, it was awarded the Cades Schutte - The Cades Foundation Nonprofit Leadership Award, administered by Pacific Business News. The station won two National Edward R. Murrow Awards for its news coverage of the 2014 Pāhoa lava flow, and most recently won a third National Murrow Award for its series on the Thirty Meter Telescope.
     During the fundraiser, the live pledge-table conversations are enriched by visits from community guests representing groups such as Sustainable Coastlines, the Hawaiʻi State Public Library, and Planned Parenthood Young Leaders, as well as numerous local businesses and arts organizations. Many of these community partners also contribute unique thank you gifts for those donating or grand prizes for one-day sweepstakes. HPR's classical music stream, HPR-2, also features a day-by-day countdown of the Top Ten Magical Maestros, favorite conductors who were selected in a listener poll.

     Contributions to HPR may be made online at hawaiipublicradio.org or through the HPR mobile app. Volunteers will staff phones starting at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning, when the fund drive goes on the air. Call in the day to (808) 944-8800, toll-free (888) 970-8800; after 8 p.m. at (808) 941-3689, toll-free (877) 941-3689. HPR is online and streaming at hawaiipublicradio.org; as well as on Facebook (FB/hawaiipublicradio), Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms (@WeAreHPR™). Free iOS and Android™ apps for Hawaii Public Radio are available from the App Store or Google Play™. HPR-1 and HPR-2 may also be heard via cable broadcasts from Spectrum (channels 864 and 865) or Hawaiian Telcom TV (channels 661 and 662). Recently, Hawaiʻi Public Radio became an Amazon Echo skill.

Photo from St. Jude's

MONDAY AFTERNOON HANDBELL CHOIR performs at St Jude's Episcopal Church, Thursday, April 12, 1:30 p.m."We are looking forward to entertaining with a variety of music that will include selections written specifically for handbells, as well as familiar tunes. We are also pleased to welcome a quartet of guest musicians, who will entertain with selections of Baroque music. Come and help us celebrate as we end our handbell season!" states the announcement. Free.

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DIRTY CELLO IN CONCERT takes place on Tuesday, April 10, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., announces VolcanoArtCenter. Tickets are $20 per Volcano Art Center Member, $25 per non-member.

     From Chinato Italy, and all over the U.S., Dirty Cello brings the world a high energy and unique spin on blues and bluegrass. "Led by vivacious cross-over cellist, Rebecca Roudman, Dirty Cello is cello like you've never heard before. From down home blues with a wailing cello to virtuosic stompin' bluegrass, Dirty Cello is a band that gets your heart thumping and your toes tapping!" states the event description.

     Lou Fancher, Oakland Magazine, says, "Dirty Cello's music is all over the map: funky, carnival, romantic, sexy, tangled, electric, fiercely rhythmic, and textured, and only occasionally classical."

     Good Times Santa Cruz writes, "The band plays every style imaginable, and does some fantastic covers. (Their rendition of "Purple Haze" is incredible.) But what is most spectacular about them is hearing the depth of soul in Roudman's playing - it goes beyond what most people would expect from the instrument. She plays it with so much heart, you’ll wonder why more bands don’t have a cellist."

     LA Times adds, "The group seamlessly careens from blues to bluegrass and rock in a way that really shouldn’t make sense but somehow does."

     See video examples of their work on YouTube: Devil Went Down to Georgia; House is a Rockin'; and Don't Call Me Honey.

     For more about the concert or to buy tickets, visit volcanoartcenter.org or call 967-8222.