Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015

      Also voting on behalf of the Ka`u Farm Bureau members at the statewide meeting, held last week at Sheraton Kona, was Ka`u Farm Bureau President Brenda Iokepa-Moses.
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IT’S COUNT WEEK AT PAHALA Public & School Library. Library staff and Friends of the Ka`u Library will take statistics of everyone who comes into the library all day long this week, counting materials that were looked at and used, as well as questions asked.

Pahala Public & School Library

      “This is very important to the library,” Manager Debbie Wong Yuen said. “The stats show how busy we are, and are a contributing factor for our staffing needs and budget. Please encourage people to use the library throughout next week.”
      Also this week, the library is looking for judges for its food decorating contest on Thursday at 4 p.m. Volunteers are also needed to help with the Halloween bash on Friday from 2:15 p.m. to 5 p.m.
      Hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday; and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday.
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IN ONE WEEK, HAWAI`I IS MOVING enrollments from its Health Connector insurance exchange to healthcare.gov, the federal exchange. 

      According to a story by Kristen Consillio in Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Jeff Kissel, the head of the state exchange, said taxpayers lost $300 million by not using the federal exchange from the start.
      “Hawai`i should never have had to build its own exchange,” Kissel told Consillio. “It was a costly event, and mistakes were made. If this had never happened, Medicaid would have saved hundres of millions, and the Connector would have saved hundreds of millions, and we still would’ve been able to bring the tax benefits … to the state for our population.
      “Hawai`i relied on the judgement of the federal government in selection its contractors, and it proved to be a disaster for both the federal government and (the state).”
      Kissel told Consillio the root of the problem was lack of oversight and planning. “There were serious errors on the part of the people who ran the business” … and “the people who made policy at the federal and state levels, and that cost the taxpayer a lot of money nationwide,” Kissel said.
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DISTRICT FAMILY COURT JUDGE Melvin H. Fujino has been appointed to the Third Circuit Court of Hawai`i Island.

Judge Melvin H. Fujino Photo from Margaret Wille

      Fujino, 55, has served as a judge with the District Family Court of the Third Circuit since 2008. Previously, he worked as deputy attorney general and was a team leader responsible for the Statewide Wiretap Review Unit and Asset Forfeiture program. Fujino was also a deputy prosecuting attorney and supervisor, as well as a community-oriented prosecutor for the West Hawai`i branch of Hawai`i County’s Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Fujino is a 1981 graduate of the University of Washington and 1985 graduate of the Gonzaga School of Law.
      Gov. David Ige selected Fujino from a list of nominees provided by the Judicial Selection Commission.
      “We were fortunate to have a highly qualified pool of nominees,” Ige said. “We appreciate their time and the effort that this process required. I extend my warmest congratulations to Judge Fujino.”
      The appointment is subject to state Senate confirmation.
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“IT HAPPENED AGAIN. DID YOU NOTICE?” Hawaiian Volcano Observatory researchers ask in the current issue of Volcano Watch. “Last week, a portion of Kilauea Volcano’s south flank slowly slipped seaward. Its movement is part of a recurring phenomenon called a ‘slow earthquake,’ which last occurred on Memorial Day 2012.
      “Beginning in the early morning hours of Oct. 14, 2015, a tiltmeter near Ka`ena Point on Hawai`i Island’s coastline south of Kilauea’s summit began to tilt away from the coast in a direction that is diagnostic of a slow earthquake event. A combination of tiltmeter and GPS networks continued to detect slip for the next two to three days. In total, the south flank slipped about three centimeters (1.2 inches) southeastward.
      “Earthquakes typically occur along faults – places where rocks slip past each other. To generate the seismic waves that travel through the earth and shake our houses, roads and buildings, the slip has to be fast, typically seconds to minutes long, depending on the size of the earthquake.

      “By contrast, slow earthquakes occur over the course of several days, and in Hawai`i, happen along a fault at the boundary between Kilauea Volcano and the old ocean floor. The slip associated with last week’s slow earthquake was so gradual that it did not generate seismic waves. But, had all the slip that took place during this slow earthquake occurred rapidly, it would have resulted in an earthquake of around magnitude six. The slip along the fault did, however, redistribute stresses and triggered earthquakes on adjacent segments of the fault and in the overlying crust.

      “Slow earthquakes on the south flank of Hawai`i are periodic, typically occurring about every 26 months. The previous one was on May 28, 2012, so scientists at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory had been expecting another one to occur since July 2015. Interestingly, Hawai`i Island’s slow earthquakes tend to occur in the same part of south flank over and over again, so instruments have been strategically placed to capture them when they happen.
      “The occurrence of ‘typical’ earthquakes in the central part of Kilauea’s south flank is often the most conspicuous indicator that a slow slip earthquake is happening. During the slow earthquake last week, there were over 110 ‘aftershocks.’ These earthquakes began on Oct. 15, after the slow earthquake had begun, and high earthquake rates continued through Oct. 17.
      “Most of these aftershocks were small – less than magnitude three. However, on the evening of Oct. 15, there was a larger, magnitude-3.9 earthquake located northeast of the main cluster of seismicity. The epicenter of this earthquake was in the same region as the 1989 magnitude-6.2 earthquake. This part of Kilauea’s south flank is one of three areas on the volcano that generate magnitude-4 or greater earthquakes.
      “The timing of the magnitude-3.9 earthquake suggests that it may have been triggered by the slow earthquake. This is not particularly common during slow earthquakes that have been observed since 1998, except for one instance of a magnitude-3.4 earthquake triggered during a slow earthquake in late 1998.
      “Another interesting effect of last week’s slow earthquake was the additional seismic activity within Kilauea Volcano’s rift zones. Since the slow earthquake, both the East Rift Zone and the Southwest Rift Zone have experienced an increase in the number of small earthquakes, including a magnitude-three earthquake near Pu`ukou, an area of the Southwest Rift Zone that has had enhanced seismic activity since March 2015. The exact process that might tie the slow earthquake to increased seismic activity in the rift zones is the topic of ongoing research.
      “Despite having no clear impact on our daily lives, understanding more about slow earthquakes may answer questions that do have societal impacts. In particular, we’d like to know what effect slow earthquakes have on the volcanic hazard and if larger, more destructive earthquakes are more likely during a slow earthquake. Finding the answers to these and other questions about the slow and unsteady movement on Kilauea’s south flank will keep researchers busy in the coming years.”
      See hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch.
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NA`ALEHU LIBRARY PRESENTS a Feng Shui Lecture Tuesday at 4 p.m. Speaker Clear Englebert is the author of Feng Sui For Love & Money. 

      For more information, call 939-2442.

KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN Steering Committee meets Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. The committee is scheduled to make final CDP recommendations to the county during the meeting.
      The public is invited, and testimony on agenda items is welcomed.
      See kaucdp.info for more.

THE LAST VOLCANO IS THE TITLE of a book and Tuesday’s After Dark in the Park program. Author John Dvorak, a former staff member of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, presents a special program and book signing. Dvorak’s book tells how Thomas Jaggar and his wife Isabel Maydwell solved the mystery of why volcanoes erupt and found something else – enduring love.
      The free program begins at 7 p.m at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Park entrance fees apply.

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

FOR AFFORDABLE COMPUTER HELP, call John Derry at 936-1872.

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS for Retail Sales Associate: Full-Time, Competitive Wages, Medical & Dental Plans. Apply at Ka`u Coffee Mill. Call 928-0550 for an appointment.

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.swf and kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.pdf.

See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_October2015.pdf.