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| Panoramas of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument are now live on Google Maps after operators used Google Street View Trekker equipment to record them. Photo from PMNM |
HAWAI`I FARM BUREAU HAS ANNOUNCED its 2014 legislative priority list for lobbying the state Legislature. According to Chris Manfredi, acting Hawai`i Farm Bureau Federation president, Government Affairs Committee chair and Ka`u Farm Bureau president, the list was “developed and confirmed through a rigorous democratic process that is representative of Farm Bureau Counties from across the state.” Proposals on the list include:
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| HFBF wants to create a farmers market vendor policy within the state Department of Health. Photo from hfbf.org |
- Strengthen Hawai`i’s agricultural policy to support and promote its agricultural industry.
- Continue the appropriation for the Hawai`i Association of Conservation Districts. Each of the Districts receives $2,360 annually to cover expenses for administering duties of the volunteer directors.
- Appropriate funding for capital improvement projects to various irrigation systems statewide.
- Seek funding for mitigation of the coffee berry borer.
- Continue to fund the livestock revitalization program to administer and disburse funds to qualified sheep, goat, cattle, dairy, hog, and poultry, fish and crustacean farms.
- Seek funding for research and mitigation of the macadamia felted coccid, which HFBF says could devastate the macadamia nut industry.
- Seek funding for research into alternative, less burdensome methods by which Hawai`i’s farmers can satisfy the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act, and to demonstrate to the FDA that such methods are acceptably safe.
- Seek additional resources that HFBF says are needed to carry out the duties and responsibilities of the Department of Agriculture in controlling invasive species.
- Seek dedicated resources for better enforcement of crimes against agriculture.
- Request for state budget allocation of $150,000 to help fund 4H and FFA programs.
- Provide agricultural rates for electricity, which HFB says are needed for farmers to be competitive and self-sustaining.
- Appropriate $8 million for infrastructure improvements and other agricultural development of Galbraith Estate lands.
- Create a farmers market vendor policy within Department of Health.
- Convene a task force to explore mobile slaughterhouses.
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| Chris Manfredi is known in Ka`u for promoting Ka`u Coffee and is a broker who sells Ka`u Coffee to Starbucks and other buyers. |
HAWAI`I WILL BE REPRESENTED by Chris Manfredi at the American Farm Bureau annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas. He is serving as acting president of Hawai`i Farm Bureau Federation since Dean Okimoto’s recent resignation. AFBF aims to help shape agricultural policy at a national level.
AFBF’s convention has many workshops scheduled. Topics include Viewing Ag from a Media Perspective, Drones: Turning Technological Controversy into Profit, Ensuring our Access to Biotechnology, Creative Leadership, Apps for Agriculture: Technology that Helps Your Bottom Line and Building Consumer Trust.
Keynote speakers are Alan Robertson, of Duck Dynasty, and Gen. Stan McChrystal, former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan.
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RIMPAC IS SAILING INTO NEW WATERS this summer, with China participating for the first time. China’s People’s Liberation Army accepted an invitation from former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to join the Rim of the Pacific war games scheduled for Hawaiian waters this summer. According to a Reuters story by Phil Stewart, U.S. law prohibits the Pentagon from any military contacts with the PLA if it could “create a national security risk due to an inappropriate exposure” to activities including joint combat operations.
“U.S.-China military-to-military engagements can include a range of activities in areas of mutual interest including maritime security, military medicine and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief,” Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Catherine Wilkinson told Stewart. “The U.S. Navy has operational security safeguards to protect U.S. technology and tactics, techniques and procedures from disclosure.”
Dean Cheng, of Washington’s conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, told Stewart, “If they (China) have a frigate, or even a hospital ship, in the middle of that exercise, the hospital ship is going to be staffed by intelligence officers.” He noted that if the drills were designed in a way that was unhelpful to the Chinese, they would also be unhelpful to allies, according to Stewart.
Keynote speakers are Alan Robertson, of Duck Dynasty, and Gen. Stan McChrystal, former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan.
To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
RIMPAC IS SAILING INTO NEW WATERS this summer, with China participating for the first time. China’s People’s Liberation Army accepted an invitation from former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to join the Rim of the Pacific war games scheduled for Hawaiian waters this summer. According to a Reuters story by Phil Stewart, U.S. law prohibits the Pentagon from any military contacts with the PLA if it could “create a national security risk due to an inappropriate exposure” to activities including joint combat operations.
“U.S.-China military-to-military engagements can include a range of activities in areas of mutual interest including maritime security, military medicine and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief,” Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Catherine Wilkinson told Stewart. “The U.S. Navy has operational security safeguards to protect U.S. technology and tactics, techniques and procedures from disclosure.”
Dean Cheng, of Washington’s conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, told Stewart, “If they (China) have a frigate, or even a hospital ship, in the middle of that exercise, the hospital ship is going to be staffed by intelligence officers.” He noted that if the drills were designed in a way that was unhelpful to the Chinese, they would also be unhelpful to allies, according to Stewart.
To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
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| A view of Pearl and Hermes Atoll captured using Google Street View Trekker. Image from maps.google.com |
THE FIRST 360-DEGREE PANORAMIC IMAGES from five new locations within Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument are now live on Google Maps. Internet users can virtually visit Tern Island and East Island at French Frigate Shoals, Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, and Pearl and Hermes Atoll.
During July 2013, PMNM staff from NOAA and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service spent a week capturing thousands of new panoramas of features in the monument, covering 20 miles on foot using the Google Street View Trekker. This effort focused on five of the primary emergent land masses in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which are also part of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge.
PMNM has collaborated with Google to use digital imagery and Web technology to bring Papahanaumokuakea to a broader audience and expand PMNM’s efforts to “bring the place to the people.” In 2012, Google Street View went live with imagery of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. In total, more than ten thousand images across 41 miles have been captured from within the monument.
“The goal of collecting this imagery was to show the world how special and important the remote islands and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are, in turn inspiring the next generation of conservationists and supporters,” said Kalewa Correa, NOAA’s Mokupapapa Discovery Center manager and project leader. “We hope that bringing the monument to the people through Google Street View will reach a larger audience but with minimal environmental impact, helping to preserve this amazing place for the future.”
Monument managers also plan to use the imagery as an assessment tool to capture the present conditions and health of the NWHI. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Specialist Ty J. Benally, who took part in this year’s mapping expedition, said, “This imagery enables resource managers to initiate discussion and planning, without actual access to the islands, and helps locate conservation sites where efforts are most needed. In fact, turtle biologists have already utilized Google Street View imagery of Midway Atoll to determine where to look for turtles and see which beaches were closed in preparation for their research.”
For more information, see papahanaumokuakea.gov.
During July 2013, PMNM staff from NOAA and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service spent a week capturing thousands of new panoramas of features in the monument, covering 20 miles on foot using the Google Street View Trekker. This effort focused on five of the primary emergent land masses in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which are also part of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge.
PMNM has collaborated with Google to use digital imagery and Web technology to bring Papahanaumokuakea to a broader audience and expand PMNM’s efforts to “bring the place to the people.” In 2012, Google Street View went live with imagery of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. In total, more than ten thousand images across 41 miles have been captured from within the monument.
“The goal of collecting this imagery was to show the world how special and important the remote islands and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are, in turn inspiring the next generation of conservationists and supporters,” said Kalewa Correa, NOAA’s Mokupapapa Discovery Center manager and project leader. “We hope that bringing the monument to the people through Google Street View will reach a larger audience but with minimal environmental impact, helping to preserve this amazing place for the future.”
Monument managers also plan to use the imagery as an assessment tool to capture the present conditions and health of the NWHI. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Specialist Ty J. Benally, who took part in this year’s mapping expedition, said, “This imagery enables resource managers to initiate discussion and planning, without actual access to the islands, and helps locate conservation sites where efforts are most needed. In fact, turtle biologists have already utilized Google Street View imagery of Midway Atoll to determine where to look for turtles and see which beaches were closed in preparation for their research.”
For more information, see papahanaumokuakea.gov.
To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
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| Ka`u Plantation Days is featured on Na Leo O Hawai`i Channel 54 today and throughout the month. Ka`u's Sen. Russell Ruderman and the band El Leo performed there in October. Photo by Julia Neal |
KA`U IS FEATURED on Na Leo O Hawai`i Channel 54 this month.
One show covers Keoki Kahumoku’s music concert at the end of his annual Hawaiian Music and Lifestyles workshop in November 2013 for local students and people from afar.
Air dates are: Friday, Jan. 10, 1 p.m.; Monday, Jan. 13, 9 p.m.; and Tuesday, Jan. 14, 3:50 p.m.
The next Kahumoku workshop is set for November of this year.
A show about Ka`u Plantation Days, held in Oct. 2013, can be seen today, Thursday, Jan. 9, 6 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 11, 3 p.m.; Monday, Jan. 13, 4 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 18, 12:30 p.m.; Sunday, Jan. 19, 12 p.m.; and Tuesday, Jan. 21, 6:30 p.m.
Ka`u Class Reunion/Gathering of Class of 1958 airs Friday, Jan. 10, 6:30 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 11, 6 p.m.; Monday, Jan. 13, 7 p.m.; Wednesday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m.; Thursday, Jan. 23, 5:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Jan. 25, 6:30 p.m.
KA`U HIGH GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAMS hosted Kohala yesterday. Junior varsity lost 18 – 28, with Deisha Gascon scoring 7 points. Varsity also lost, 64 – 77. Denisha Navarro was high scorer with 35 points.
ITEMS FOR VOLCANO ART CENTER’S Colossal Rummage yART Sale are being accepted at the Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village today for the event this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Call 967-8222 for more information.
Air dates are: Friday, Jan. 10, 1 p.m.; Monday, Jan. 13, 9 p.m.; and Tuesday, Jan. 14, 3:50 p.m.
The next Kahumoku workshop is set for November of this year.
A show about Ka`u Plantation Days, held in Oct. 2013, can be seen today, Thursday, Jan. 9, 6 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 11, 3 p.m.; Monday, Jan. 13, 4 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 18, 12:30 p.m.; Sunday, Jan. 19, 12 p.m.; and Tuesday, Jan. 21, 6:30 p.m.
Ka`u Class Reunion/Gathering of Class of 1958 airs Friday, Jan. 10, 6:30 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 11, 6 p.m.; Monday, Jan. 13, 7 p.m.; Wednesday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m.; Thursday, Jan. 23, 5:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Jan. 25, 6:30 p.m.
KA`U HIGH GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAMS hosted Kohala yesterday. Junior varsity lost 18 – 28, with Deisha Gascon scoring 7 points. Varsity also lost, 64 – 77. Denisha Navarro was high scorer with 35 points.
ITEMS FOR VOLCANO ART CENTER’S Colossal Rummage yART Sale are being accepted at the Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village today for the event this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Call 967-8222 for more information.
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| Appointments are still available for Tuesday's spay and neuter clinic. |
A CONCERT BENEFITING UNITED WAY takes place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Entertainment includes Just in Case, JR Band, Keaiwa, Boni Narito, Honokua, Hui Okinawa Kobudo Taiko, Ka`u High School ensemble class and more. There will be vendors, games, raffle tickets and prizes. For more information, call producer Kamrie Koi at 430-4964 or Jolene Koi at 936-6249.
KARES (Kohala Animal Relocation and Education Service) is having a Spay/Neuter Clinic on Tuesday, Jan. 14. The free clinic will be held at St. Jude's church in Ocean View. There are still some available slots. Anyone interested in bringing their dogs can call 328-8455 to schedule a time.
KA`U HOSPITAL URGES RESIDENTS to complete its Community Health Needs Assessment atsurveymonkey.com/s/93HQ5MX. The deadline has been extended to Jan. 31.
SEE THE DIRECTORY from the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce at http://snack.to/fzpfg59c.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
SEE THE DIRECTORY from the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce at http://snack.to/fzpfg59c.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
