Ka`u News Briefs Saturday, July 4, 2015

Classic Cars are a regular in the Volcano Fourth of July Parade held this morning. Photo by Ron Johnson

Hare Krishna followers pull their wagon at Volcano Parade.
Photo by Ron Johnson

FOURTH OF JULY KICKED OFF this morning with the annual Volcano Parade, with may community groups, businesses and government representatives participating, followed by a morning of music, theater, food, games and arts and crafts sales at Cooper Center on Wright Road. Fourth of July events include a ceremony at Kilauea Military Camp, a parade in Na`alehu and two days of rodeo at Na`alehu rodeo grounds. See more in tomorrow's Ka`u News Briefs.
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NO STEWARDSHIP GRANTS were approved by the County Council’s Finance Committee this week, although more than $1.1 million funded by .25 percent of property taxes sits in a county fund. It is earmarked for nonprofits that help the county care for lands bought with open space funds generated from two percent of property taxes.

Management of Kawa could involve a county and community
partnership in the future. Photo by Julia Neal

In Ka`u, a partnership with the county exists with the nonprofit group Ka `Ohana O Honu`apo. However, the Honu`apo land around Whittington Beach Park was purchased before two percent funding became available, making the organization ineligible to use the .25 percent stewardship funds at Honu`apo. The Ka `Ohana organization has a crew of volunteers and raises money on its own, receiving grants and donations from other sources.
At Kawa, Ka `Ohana has a project to cut back invasive plants. Another organization, Na Mamo O Kawa, led by Kai McGuire and Kaui Felder, has been helping to clean the access and other areas used by surfers and other community members and is still working on its formal organization as a 501C3.
Uhane Pohaku Na Moku O Hawai`i, which is a registered nonprofit with its founders living in Pahala, applied to help steward Kawa. However, the finance committee declined to recommend funding for any project around the island including two in Waipi’o and two in Kohala.
According to a story in this morning’s Hawai`i Tribune Herald, some members of the County Council this week “quizzed the administration on why grants haven’t been awarded” for the stewardship programs. Reporter Nancy Cook Lauer quoted Puna council member Greggor Ilagan saying, “There’s plenty of money, and the longer we wait, the longer there’s money just sitting there. That’s not what I want to see government become.”

Kawa is a popular fishing and beach-going place for Ka`u residents, now under county stewardship with community members helping. Photo by Julia Neal

During the meeting, Department of Parks and Recreation Director Clayton Honma presented an analysis of five applications for stewardships around the island, including the one for Kawa. However, “because no council member has sponsored a resolution awarding any money, no action was taken,” the story said. Hawai`i Tribune-Herald reported Honma saying, “We’re Parks and Recreation. We don’t give out grants to begin with. This is our first go-round. When this program fell into our laps, as far as the funding goes and overseeing the funding, there was no person in a position then to review the grants or administer and oversee the applications.”
Council member Maile David said this morning that a process is needed to better handle the proposals and that perhaps the groups applying for stewardship will be able to reapply.
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UHANE POHAKU NA MOKU O HAWAI`I, Inc. has received a $2,300 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for its annual Ho`okupu Hula No Ka`u Cultural Festival in Pahala. The free event will be held on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2 and 3, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the grounds of Pahala Plantation House.

Intercultural exchange with dancers from Lana`i, Japan and Pahala with
music from South Side Serenaders. Photo by Julia Neal

For opening ceremonies, Uhane invites Ho`okupu from halau, Hawaiian organizations, practitioners and the Hawaiian community in the district of Ka'u.
Kumu Hula Debbie Ryder, who organizes the event, said, “To follow we have a lineup of great musicians featuring Keaiwa with Demetrius Oliveira, Darlene Ahuna, Wailau Ryder and friends, South Side Serenaders and many more. Halau from O`ahu, Hawai`i Island, Lana`i, Japan and Okinawa will share their styles of hula. Our mistress of ceremonies for the two day event will be Skylark Rossetti.
“Cultural practitioners will demonstrate skills in lauhala weaving, coconut weaving, poi pounding, la`au lapa`au, lomi lomi and more, interacting with the community and with our visitors from the island and afar,” she said.
Workshops will be scheduled on Saturday, Oct. 3 at Old Pahala Clubhouse to begin at 8 a.m. with hula, lauhala weaving, `ukulele, slack key and kalo demonstrations.
“This cultural event will bring the Ka`u community closer and help share their mana`o with others, furthering a sense of place and pride for Pahala,” Ryder said.
For further information, contact Debbie Ryder, founder and festival coordinator, at 808-649-9334. Festival website is hookupukau.com.
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IT'S ABOUT SAVING ENERGY, NOT ABOUT THE AVIATION, Solar Impulse pilot Andre Borschberg told state officials yesterday in Hawai`i after landing the ultra-light plane that broke records flying from Nagoya, Japan only on solar power. He said that engineers working on designing the plane came up with the lightest materials possible to save fuel. He also talked about going beyond the idea of renewable energy to perpetuating clean energy. The body of the plane carries the message #futureisclean.


Bertrand Piccard will fly Solar Impulse to Phoenix after Andre Borschberg's successful flight to Hawai`i. Photo from solarimpulse.com.

Gov. David Ige told the Solar Impulse crew from Switzerland when he met them yesterday that Hawai`i plans for 100 percent renewable energy. The next flight of Solar Impulse is from Hawai`i to Phoenix. The plane flies a maximum of 50 miles an hour and must plan to go around or jump over weather fronts. It flies high during the day to take in the most energy for its solar panels and flies lower near the surface at night as its solar batteries are depleted. Should the solar panels be unable to recharge from the sun the next day, the plane would have to land and be recovered, making ocean crossings the most risky.
The flight to Phoenix will begin when the weather outlook is suitable. Pilot will be Bertrand Piccard. The two pilots - only one flies at a time - call Solar Impulse, "the first airplane of perpetual endurance, able to fly day and night without a drop of fuel." Its around-the-world flight began in Abu Dhabi on March 9. From Hawai`i it will fly across the U.S., over the Atlantic and Europe and back to Abu Dhabi. See more at solarimpulse.com.
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PARTICIPANTS DISCOVER HAWAIIAN GODDESSES Pele and Hi`iaka and the natural phenomena the sisters represent during a program tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park’s Kahuku Unit. Visitors experience the sisters coming alive through epic stories depicted in the natural landscape of Kahuku on this moderate one-mile walk. To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

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