Dear editor:

My name is Debbie Hecht; I am the campaign coordinator for the 2% Land Fund for the Save Our Lands Citizens Committee .  If this amendment had passed it would have meant that there would be two amendments on the ballot- a 2% Land fund charter amendment ($4 million per year) and a 1% charter amendment ($2 million per year) – to once again, let the people decide.  The 1% Land Fund will be placed on the ballot by the charter commission and if passed, this would mean $2 million per year.  I hope you will vote for this measure.  ALL of the other counties in Hawaii have a charter amendment for a land fund.

I believe in representative government, where the people tell the elected officials what they want.  I believe in separation of powers, where the Mayor and the administration are separate from the council and Legislative branch. The debate between the two branches makes for better representation of the people and should guarantee debate to result in better law.   I think that is what was intended by our founding fathers when they wrote the US constitution. This did not happen this year — only $40,000.00 was cut from the budget. Read the rest of this entry »

(Media release) — Sixty-one-year-old Vera Matsuda-Brownlea, who was reported missing, returned home Friday morning.

She got lost when she wandered off her usual path during an afternoon walk on Wednesday and became disoriented. She spent two nights outdoors before she found a fence that helped her find her way back to her Volcano neighborhood.

Matsuda-Brownlea suffered minor scrapes but was otherwise unharmed.

(Submitted by Hawaii Police Department via Nixle.)

By Tiffany Edwards Hunt. All rights reserved. Use with permission only.

Notice the pair of trash and recycle bins spotted in Downtown Hilo.  I came across these today, when I was traveling with a few high school students I am mentoring through the Kea’au Youth Business Center youth news service.  We had just shared a couple of bottles of soda from Sugar Coast Candy (details to follow), and tossed the bottles into the recycle bin on our way to the parked car. “Why aren’t there recycle bins next to all the trash bins?” one of the students asked.  Good question.  I suggested she call Department of Environmental Management and inquire why there aren’t more pairs of trash and recycle bins around the County.

“Oh, I’ve got way too much on my plate already,” she responded.  Well, so do I.  But I had time to snap a photo. Read the rest of this entry »

(Media release) — Big Island police are searching for a 31-year-old Puna woman who was reported missing.

Sarah Morlock was last seen at her Kapoho home around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 23, 2010. It is believed that she found a ride to Pahoa Village.

She is described as 5-foot-5, 135 pounds with dyed brown shoulder-length hair and greenish-gray eyes. She was last seen wearing a white floral print sundress.

Police ask that anyone with information on her whereabouts call Officer Ronald Paro at (808) 966-5835 or the Police Department’s non-emergency line at (808) 935-3311. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 in Hilo or (808) 329-8181 in Kona. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.

Photos by Tiffany Edwards Hunt. All rights reserved. Use with permission only.

The 9th Annual International Student ROV Competition commences today, June 25, 2010, at the University of Hawaii-Hilo.

There are two types of teams in the 2010 International ROV competition: Explorers and Rangers. The Explorers are more advanced. The only Hawaii team in the Explorer class is Kapiolani Community College. Pictured are Mishkat Rahman (R), Cyrus Legg, Mark Anthony Baptista, Max Lindsey.

Organized by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center, 58 teams from around the world are participating, including five from Hawaii.

Represented are Kapiolani Community College, Kealakehe Intermediate School, Moanalua High School, Highlands Intermediate School in Pearl City and Hilo High School.

The teams spent Thursday preparing their ROVs for the competition and completing their poster board presentations on their team’s mission.  The poster boards are to be on display in the UH-Hilo gym through the duration of the competition.

ROVs are remotely operated vehicles, also known as underwater robots or robot submersibles. They have had plenty of ink lately, since they are key in the attempts to manage the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Read the rest of this entry »

Embroidery Library image

(Media release) — Firefighters at the Honokaa Fire Station will move back into their quarters today, Friday, June 25, 2010, following a one-and-a-half-month long relocation due to repairs and renovations at their station.

The renovations were necessary to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as to address the removal and abatement of hazardous materials repairs.

Fire Chief Darryl Oliveira would like to thank everyone involved in this project for their assistance in assuring a seamless relocation and renovation process.  He also acknowledged and appreciated the public’s patience and understanding during the transition period.

(Submitted by the County of Hawaii Mayor’s Office.)

James Weatherford

By James Weatherford

In this political campaign, I am committed to avoiding attacks against other candidates. More than a few of my increasing number of supporters, while being sympathetic to my desire to avoid ‘stink talk’, have nevertheless insisted that I do need to differentiate myself. A few have put it elegantly straightforward: “What would be different?” Questions for another candidate recently posted on Big Island Chronicle are also pretty much along this line.

Accordingly, this commentary is not about attacking anyone. It is simply a discussion of how, as an elected Council member, I will (and will not) decide how to vote on an issue, with specific examples given. The reference point, aptly, is the performance of the District 5 incumbent on the Council.

Reasons for votes cited by the incumbent that I find particularly inappropriate for any Council member are: (1) supporting the Mayor because he is a cousin; (2) opposing legislation by another Council member because that member had previously done the same with the incumbent’s legislation; and (3) using the pretext of divine intervention.

A vote is just one word (‘yes’ or ‘no’). That is necessary, but not sufficient. Read the rest of this entry »

Vera Matsuda-Brownlea

(Media release) — Big Island police are searching for a 61-year-old woman reported as missing from Volcano.  Vera Matsuda-Brownlea was last seen at Cooper Center around 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 23, 2010.

She is described as Asian, 4-foot-10, 100 pounds with long black hair, brown eyes and a black spot on her right forehead.

She was last seen wearing a white blouse, a blue denim jacket, denim jeans cut slightly blow the knees, black stockings and black shoes.

Police ask that anyone with information on her whereabouts call Detective Wendall Carter at (808) 961-2378 or the Police Department’s non-emergency line at (808) 935-3311. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 in Hilo or (808) 329-8181 in Kona. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.

Image courtesy of Andrew Boal

By RJ Mendoza

The whole purpose of this contributory column is to accurately document my re-falling in love with this island. And I would have done this on my previous Big Island based-blog, but it wasn’t the appropriate place. And I’m happy to say that after about a year and a half of trolling this website, the lovely editor and publisher has taken a chance on me.

Of course, in order to re-fall in love with this island, it would make sense to say why I fell out of love in this island. That will not be so easy, as it heavily involves my partner at the time. Suffice to say, without publicly humiliating him, we want different things for our lives. And nothing would change how I feel, or how he feels about these things for ourselves.

Regardless of your opinions on same-sex intimate relationships, it all boils down to the same human emotion, the desire to be loved, the desire to give love, and the side effect of picking up characteristics — both good and bad of the person one is in a relationship with.

Sadly, I think my ex-partner resented this island. Which is odd, because this is the island he was born and raised on, for the most part. Read the rest of this entry »

By Russell Ruderman

The Hawaii County Council failed to pass the 2% Land Fund bill that would have placed the question on the ballot for a Charter Amendment.

The voters of this County already approved the 2% Land Fund in the last election, but the fund has been abused and the will of the voters ignored.

So Pete Hoffmann introduced this bill to make it a Charter Amendment, which if passed by voters, would have greater force than the simple law enacted by direct referendum.

Even though five of our nine Council members supported this bill, it was not enough because a 2/3 super majority was needed. Voting against this bill were J Yoshimoto, Dennis Onishi, and Guy Enriques. Absent from the vote was Donald Ikeda. His absence counts as a “No” vote in this case.

I’m not surprised by Mr. Onishi’s and Mr. Enriques’s votes against this bill. Disgusted, but not surprised. Mr. Enriques was quoted as saying he supports 2% for the Land Fund (Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation Fund), but voted against it because the existing law is sufficient. Obviously that is not true or we wouldn’t be here. How convenient to say he’s in favor of the idea, but voted against the law that would realize the intent. A true politician in the very worst sense of the word.

I’m very disappointed in Mr. Yoshimoto’s vote against this bill. Often I optimistically expect more of him, but was disappointed once again. Bear in mind, this bill would simply have given the voters the chance to approve the amendment or not. Democracy, it’s called.

But the absence of Donald Ikeda, who was not even present to vote, is intolerable. This is not the first time he has avoided controversy by his absence. Read the rest of this entry »

By Rick Gaffney

The Hawaii Fishing & Boating Association (HF&BA) drew over 350 people to its first community meeting at Kona’s Honokohau Harbor, on June 10.  By the end of that week over 600 people in the Kona community had signed a petition asking for a legislative investigation into the management of Honokohau.  Within a week, over 850 new members had joined the Hawaii Fishing & Boating Association (HF&BA).

What precipitated this boating tea party?

Following on the heels of one rate increase after another, the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) decided to implement parking fees at Honokohau Small Boat Harbor.  It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Read the rest of this entry »

By Rod Thompson

Something very unusual happened this week, on June 22, in Hawaiian Paradise Park. The people won.

The nine-member board of directors of the Hawaiian Paradise Park Owner’s Association had called a special board meeting, the second one this month  besides the regular monthly meeting, with the purpose of selecting a contractor for a fourth round of street paving in the subdivision.

During the public statements part of the meeting, angry homeowners told board members they were railroading selection of a contractor, despite the fact that questions were still pending about quality of work of the contractor who did the previous three rounds of paving. Read the rest of this entry »

(Media release) — The draft environmental asssessment (EA) for the release of a natural predator (Tectococcus ovatus, a Brazilian scale insect) opened for public comment yesterday.  Comments will be accepted through July 23, 2010.

Strawberry guava is well-known as an ornamental plant that was introduced to Hawaiʻi from Brazil in 1825. Its fruit are a tangy trailside snack for some, and the wood is free and plentiful. However, strawberry guava is also a fast-growing tree from Brazil that is spreading in forests statewide, forming dense thickets, outcompeting and replacing virtually all other native and non-native plants, and reducing surface and drinking water.

University of Hawaiʻi researcher Thomas Giambelluca compared forests dominated by native ʻōhiʻa (Metrosideros polymorpha) with strawberry guava-infested forests, and found that the infested forests lose 27% more water, with the difference rising to 53% during dry periods. Read the rest of this entry »

Joseph Pacheco Jr.

(Media release) — Big Island police have initiated a missing person case in connection with a 41-year-old man who failed to return from a day of picking opihi.

Joseph Pacheco Jr. of Hilo left to pick opihi along the King’s Landing coast around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 22, 2010, but failed to return home. Fire Department personnel conducted a search and located the man’s dog and backpack about one mile south of Shipman Estates Beach. Read the rest of this entry »