Ka`u Calendar News Briefs Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016

Ka`u's state lawmakers are heading to Honolulu for tomorrow's opening of the Hawai`i State Legislature. See more below.

WENDELL KA`EHU`AE`A IS RUNNING for mayor of Hawai`i County Council for a third time, Nancy Cook Lauer reported in West Hawai`i Today. Ka`ehu`ae`a founded KAHU-FM 91.7 in Pahala. Hawai`i Public Radio bought KAHU’s license after the station closed.

Wendell Ka`ehu`ae`a with HPR's Michael Titterton.

      “I can’t stand anyone running unopposed,” Ka`ehu`ae`a told Cook Lauer.
      Ka`ehu`ae`a said current department heads and appointees would be welcome to stay in their positions if they want to under his administration.
      Kawika Crowley, who won the 2012 Republican primary for Hawai`i’s Second Congressional District, also told Cook Lauer he is running for mayor.
      Crowley said he would work to create two counties on the island, East Hawai`i and West Hawai`i. “We’re really two worlds apart,” Crowley said. “The Hilo side and the Kona side are two different economies. The people are different; the expectations are different.”
      Crowley said he also wants to reestablish East Hawai`i’s agricultural economy with food crops and hemp.
      Others who told Cook Lauer they are considering running are county Managing Director Wally Lau, former Mayor Harry Kim and Hilo Councilman Aaron Chung.
      They would face Pete Hoffmann, the only candidate who has announced.
      “I’m not waiting for other people to decide,” Hoffmann told Cook Lauer. “I want to be out there. I want to be early. I think we owe it to the people to have the discussion.”
      See westhawaiitoday.com.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

HAWAI`I STATE LEGISLATURE opens tomorrow. Ka`u’s State Sen. Josh Green and state Rep. Richard Creagan discussed their priorities for this session with Nancy Cook Lauer, of West Hawai`i Today.

Sen. Josh Green

Rep. Richard Creagan

      Green told Cook Lauer that reducing homelessness is his top priority. He wants to raise the minimum wage from $8.50 per hour to at least $16 an hour to help people afford housing. He also wants to build homeless shelters and institute a tax on luxury developments to pay for rental housing initiatives and to build affordable homes.
      Green told Cook Lauer that he also hopes to strengthen the state hospital system, improving access to mental health care and drug and alcohol treatment. Green also wants to ban pesticide applications near schools and hospitals.
      “I intend to press the governor’s administration to be much more responsive to neighbor island needs, especially in areas like health care, housing, education and a clean environment,” Green told Cook Lauer.
      Creagan told Cook Lauer, “We need to enhance our ability to stop the current dengue epidemic and use this event as informatively and constructively as possible in shaping our future response to dengue and other mosquito borne illnesses. We have eradicated Aedes aegypti, the principal vector for dengue, on every other island, and I believe it is time we do it on Hawai`i Island.”
      Creagan told The Ka`u Calendar and Cook Lauer that he is against proposed rule changes that would prohibit new cesspools. “With our current homeless crisis, the need for affordable housing is paramount, and with a septic system costing 10 times what a cesspool would, we need to evaluate the cost-benefit and risk-benefit balance in areas away from the coast and at higher elevations,” he told Cook Lauer.
      See westhawaiitoday.com.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

WINTER SPORTS CONTINUE for Ka`u High School Trojans.  The soccer team has been on the road, traveling to Parker Jan. 9, where they lost 0-2. At Honoka`a on Jan. 16, they also lost 0-5. Tomorrow, the head to Christian Liberty.
      Girls basketball teams had victories at HPA on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Junior Varsity won 27-24, and Varsity won 36-33, leading at the end of each quarter. At Hilo on Friday, Jan. 15, both teams lost, with scores of 25-47 for JV and 9-79 for Varsity. They host Wai`akea today at 6 p.m. for Senior Night.
      Boys basketball teams also lost at HPA on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Tomorrow, they travel to Hilo.
      Wrestling and swimming teams are also attending meets this month.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY scientists continue their geologic tour or the Hawaiian Islands in this week’s issue of Volcano Watch focusing on O`ahu.
      “The island of O`ahu is composed of two volcanoes,” the article states. “Wai`anae, the western and older of the two, started growing from the sea floor around four million years ago. The birth of Ko`olau, which forms the east side of the island, probably occurred a few hundred thousand years later.
      “At Wai`anae, shield-building volcanism – the most active time of a Hawaiian volcano’s life – ended by about three million years ago and was followed by a brief, about 200,000-year-long, period of post-shield volcanism. Since then, erosion has carved steep cliffs and valleys on the volcano. While some of this erosion has been caused by water, catastrophic collapses of the island have also occurred, some of which shed debris north onto the ocean floor across a distance of 110 kilometers (70 miles)!

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory offers a geologic tour of O`ahu this week. Map from USGS/HVO

      “Ko`olau, on the other hand, was vigorously active until about 1.8 million years ago. Like Wai`anae, Ko`olau has also been extensively eroded and has been the source of multiple huge landslides. In fact, Nu`uanu Pali may be the erosional trace of the scarp that marks one of the largest landslides in the world. The gigantic Nu`uanu slide extends across the ocean floor about 200 km (120 mi) northeast from O`ahu, and one of the blocks of debris in the submarine landslide measures over 29 km (18 mi) long and 1.6 km (one mi) thick!
      “The extensive erosion of Ko`olau has afforded geologists an unparalleled opportunity to view the interior of a Hawaiian volcano. For example, investigations of ancient lava flows reveal that Ko`olau’s caldera is located in the Kailua area, and that the caldera continued to subside even after eruptions had ended (perhaps pulled downward by the weight of the solidified magma chamber).
      “Even more spectacular are the swarms of dikes – solidified sheet-like or tabular intrusions of magma – that define the volcano’s rift zones, parallel to the crest of the current Ko`olau Range. In some places, over half the rock is made up of these dikes. The exposures of Ko`olau’s rift zone provide a sense of what Kilauea's current East Rift Zone must look like about one km (0.6 mi) beneath the surface. Studying Ko`olau therefore provides insights into how active Hawaiian volcanoes work.
      “Ko`olau also hosts extensive rejuvenated volcanism, which marks the final stage of a Hawaiian volcano’s eruptive life – essentially a weak sputtering before the volcano goes extinct.
      “Rejuvenated eruptions on Ko`olau followed a pause of about one million years after shield-building ended. About 40 discrete eruption sites are preserved across the east side of O`ahu, including several extinct cinder cones that are now famous landmarks: Punchbowl, Tantalus, and Le`ahi (Diamond Head). The youngest of these rejuvenated eruption sites include Koko Crater, Hanauma Bay and Tantalus, which formed about 70,000 - 100,000 years ago. Le`ahi and Punchbowl are about 400,000 - 500,000 years old.
      “As on Kaua`i (the focus of last week's Volcano Watch), future rejuvenated eruptions on O`ahu are a possibility. Such eruptions could be hazardous, given that they would probably be at least mildly explosive, especially if they occur near the coast where magma and seawater can interact. The odds are remote, however, of such eruptions occurring during our lifetimes, or even those of many future generations.”
      See hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch.
      To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Ka`u's Pau Queen Lorilee Lorenzo hopes to be queen at Pana`ewa Stampede Rodeo. Photo by Ron Johnson

KA`U PA`U QUEEN LORILEE LEE LORENZO hopes to become queen of next month’s Pana`ewa Stampede Rodeo. Lorenzo is selling tickets for the event that takes place Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 13 and 14.
      This large and diverse rodeo features Team Roping, Barrel Racing, Bronc Riding and Bull Riding. In addition, there are special events done only in Hawai`i. Cowboys and cowgirls will compete in Double Mugging and Pu`u Wai U just like their forefathers did in the early paniolo days of old Hawai`i.
      Pre-sale tickets are available for $6 each. Call Lorenzo at 896-5964.

KA`U RESIDENTS CAN LEARN about Kilauea’s lethal eruptions at this evening’s After Dark in the Park program beginning at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.
      As a Volcano Awareness Month event, the program offers a companion hike Saturday at 10 a.m. Participants meet at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium.
      Free; park entrance fees apply.

Keiki will again line the coast at Punalu`u Saturday for the annual fishing tournament sponsored by `O Ka`u Kakou. Photo from Fred and Mary Ramsdell

REGISTRATION FOR SATURDAY’S Keiki Fishing Tournament is due tomorrow at noon. `O Ka`u Kakou asks participants to fill out forms available at local schools and businesses and online at okaukakou.org.