Kaʻū News Briefs Dec.18, 2024

Marlene Freitas and her Ku'ui Ihi Flowers & Gifts invited keiki to receive gifts through Letters to Santa on Wednesday. Photo by Julia Neal

LETTERS TO SANTA gift giving drew more than 130 keiki and their families to receive gifts from Santa on Wednesday. The program organized by Marlene Freitas invites keiki to drop letters into her mock post 
office box with signage North Pole in front of her Ku'ui Ihi Flowers & Gifts shop in Pāhala Center. The keiki ask for specific affordable gifts of their liking.
    Freitas and friends buy them and wrap them for each keiki by name and invite keiki to meet Santa and receive their Christmas gifts and candy caned ahead of the holiday. Cosponsors included R&G Minimart, 'O Ka'ū Kākou and The Kaʻū Calendar newspaper. Letters tp Santa is a continuation of the program over the years that was organized by Janna Kaniho at Pāhala Post Office. Behind the white beard, Santa is Brad Villanueva. To donate for next year, contact Freitas at her store or call 808-987-2578.

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Above Top: Number of earthquakes per day during the past week (blue bars). The red line is the cumulative moment (energy) release. Bottom: Depth of earthquakes during the past week in the area shown on the map above. Depth is reported relative to sea level, which is equal to a depth of zero on the above plot. On both figures, circle-size represents magnitude, and color indicates depth. Graphs from USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

POLICE ARRESTED 18 FOR DUI during the week of Dec. 9, through 15. Hawai`i Island police arrested 18 motorists for driving under the influence of an intoxicant. Seven of the drivers were involved in a traffic accident. Two were under the age of 21.
    So far this year, there have been 923 DUI arrests compared with 902 during the same period last year, an increase of 2.33 percent.
    Hawai'i Police Department’s Traffic Services Section reviewed all updated crashes and found 943 major crashes so far this year, compared with 811 during the same time last year, an increase of 16.3 percent.
    To date, there have been 26 fatal crashes, resulting in 28 fatalities, compared with 14 fatal crashes, resulting in 15 fatalities for the same time last year. This represents an increase of 85.7 percent for fatal crashes and 86.7 percent for fatalities.

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