(Media release) — Parker School is hosting their Annual Gingerbread Bazaar from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010  (on the main campus at Lindsey Rd.).  Parker School groups will provide food and games for the whole family.  Activities and booths will include: free face painting, Parker Bull bean bag toss, and an alumni hospitality booth with Santa Bull.

Cookie and gingerbread house decorating, spam musubis, burgers and dogs on the grill, Portuguese bean soup, hot cocoa, cookies in a jar gift mix, and logowear will be available for purchase.  Join Santa Bull and his elves at Parker School’s Gingerbread Bazaar for an afternoon of food and fun.  All proceeds benefit Parker School groups including, the 7^th, 8^th, freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior classes, Debate, Athletics, PTSO and Alumni Club.  For more information call (808) 885-7933 or  visit www.parkerschool.net.

(Submitted by Jennifer Schack.)

(Media release) — Christmas comes to Kona with the culinary gala of the holiday season: Christmas at Kona Village, Dining with the Chefs on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010.

Not only will attendees be wowed by tantalizing cuisine prepared by the isle’s top chefs, but also by a standout gingerbread display hand-crafted by local culinary students attending Hawai‘i Community College (HawCC)-West Hawai‘i.

Culinary students are the beneficiaries of the 22^nd annual fundraiser, which is presented by the American Culinary Federation (ACF) Kona Kohala Chefs Association. Time is 5:30-8 p.m. at the Kona Village Resort.

‘Tis the season to enjoy savory dishes, elegant desserts, mouthwatering confections, 100 percent Kona coffee, handcrafted ales and fine wines. Under the stars, get jazzed by the tunes of the Bill Noble Trio.

The event’s gingerbread display showcases authentic-looking Polynesian hale (houses) patterned after those at the Kona Village Resort. During a silent auction, attendees can bid on each of the unique hale to take home. Read the rest of this entry »

(Submitted by Nita Pilago.)

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

Ah, life’s ironies. Today I photographed an illegally dumped refrigerator. Tonight I was pulled aside right near it.
Remember that police officer I told you has been camping out at the top of Ainaloa lately? I met him tonight. His name is Officer Kim. He gave me a $142 speeding ticket for going 42 miles per hour in a 25 mile per hour zone. I vowed I would be challenging my ticket, and would be seeing him again in court. I don’t deny I was going 42 miles per hour — I’ve said here that I believe that area is a speed trap being 25 miles per hour on a stretch of houses with no homes and otherwise left for drug-dealing and illegal dumping. It’s that section of road that I prefer to speed past.
Anyway, tonight, I came up over the hill to this stretch of highway and the officer’s unmarked car was right there, flashing it’s blue lights indicating I needed to pull over BEFORE I even passed the car!
I pulled over, with that damn discarded refrigerator right there in front of my vehicle.
The officer approached my vehicle, and I handed him my driver’s license, registration and insurance card.
“Why did you put on your blue lights before I even passed your vehicle?” I asked him, totally annoyed.
“To give you time to slow down and pull over,” he said, very politely.
“How did you know how fast I was going before I even passed you?” I said, accusatorially.
“My radar,” he said, matter-of-factly.
“I want to see the radar,” I said.
I went off on a diatribe about how I feel like it is entrapment for him to be sitting there like that, pulling me over after I have been working all day long, in an area that is a wasteland for drug dealers, illegal dumpers and drag racers. Read the rest of this entry »

By Hunter Bishop

Those who suggest we run for the bunker in tough economic times fail to see the opportunities that we have to make our island a better place to live. Lost in the anxiety many are feeling over the County budget is a practical application of sound economic principles.

We need to recognize and take advantage of the opportunities that tough times provide by funding capital improvement projects that will benefit our island now and in the future.

This administration proposes a $56 million bond authorization to take advantage of these opportunities. With these funds the County will build important roads, parks, housing and waste disposal projects that our communities desperately need. The bond authorization will position us to take advantage of near-record low interest rates and any additional federal stimulus programs that offer interest rebates. Construction companies desperate for the work are submitting low bids, so we save more money while employing workers to keep our families strong and dollars flowing throughout our local economy.

Even while our economy is struggling, our island is still growing with a resulting increase in demands for service. We cannot afford to sit on our hands and say “no can” to our critical needs when we have the capacity to address them. Read the rest of this entry »

By Walter Moe

Please be aware that our current lame-duck County Council is preparing to ram through a $56 million bond issue (i.e.: a promise to extract this in taxes from us in the future) at the request of Mayor Kenoi, to finance various construction projects that are not fully specified. This is promoted during an economic quagmire where the County is projecting a $40 million budget shortfall next year, and where the County is already in debt for $291.4 million.

The Conservative Forum for Hawaii finds this extraordinarily irresponsible, financially dangerous, and an outrageous taking of the citizens hard earned efforts. If citizens do not demand respect, they will not get it.

It is not the government’s money, it is ours. It is not their efforts that produce it, we did. Read the rest of this entry »

Refrigerator dumped at the top of Puna's Ainaloa subdivision

The top of Ainaloa subdivision is quickly becoming a wasteland for old televisions and, now, refrigerators.  Weeks since two televisions have sat on the side of the road on Ainaloa Boulevard near the intersection with Hawaiian Acres’ Nine Road, a refrigerator has been dumped there.  Peer inside and you will see that those who dumped the refrigerator there didn’t even bother to clean it out.  It’s one thing to dispose of a television — there is some confusion amongst the public has to the proper disposal of electronic waste, and the County Department of Environmental Management seemingly isn’t proactive enough in educating the public on the responsible means of disposal.  But a refrigerator?  Most transfer stations, including those in Puna, offer white goods disposal.  I’m sorry, but there is something very wrong with people who cannot haul their trash into transfer stations. I also have a problem with the fact that these televisions and now this refrigerator are in the County right of way, being alongside Ainaloa Boulevard, and they are not being picked up.  What’s happening is that people, whoever they are that don’t really have a conscience about dumping their trash along the side of the road, see the televisions and the refrigerator and rationalize that it is okay for their old televisions and refrigerators to be dumped there.

We just had Black Friday in which Home Depot and Sears were offering ludicrously low prices on electronics and appliances.  I fear, as people start cleaning house, more refrigerators and televisions are going to be dumped onto the side of the road.

I also want to point out that a refrigerator dumped on the side of the road like this is a major safety hazard.  Imagine a child in the surrounding subdivision walking by.  I don’t know about you, but as a child I was very much into imaginative play.  I’ve actually heard true stories of children playing with trashed refrigerators and actually getting trapped inside them.  Needless to say, the County should be proactive about sending a message to people regarding the proper means of disposal of these sort of items.

By RJ Kaleohano Mendoza

I openly admit that I have trolled and lurked Big Island Chronicle since it’s inception in December of 2008. I was still relatively new to the island, so I thought I found something that would be useful to learn about how things run around here.

But seriously, where is the aloha?

I didn’t even read the comments on the Veteran’s Day post that resulted in an apparent re-evaluation of this site by the editor and publisher, Tiffany Edwards-Hunt. But I did pick up on how she alludes that some people feel entitled to comment on this blog, about any given issue, relevant or not to the topic at hand.

And to that, I must say, get a life.

I admit I had my doubts about this blog because of it’s generous stance on allowing random people to comment. And also, it got increasingly irritating to see how people would bring up the injustice of the marijuana laws, or how people would slam each other, criticize Tiff for this layout or taking this direction (with regards to layout, sponsors, staff, etc.), pimping their own website in an outrageous display of shameless self-promotion- all this happens on a post that may have absolutely nothing to do with some of this stuff. Read the rest of this entry »

By Delia Montgomery
We may not be bundling up like main-landers, but as the winter season sets in, head accessories grow more desirable. Of course fashion and design is a big part of the attraction for women, and so I introduce you to producers with respect for ecology and our environment. Read the rest of this entry »

I had a very compelling email from a friend suggesting I turn comments off on my blog.
“I read Big Island Chronicle every (working) day but I rarely read the reader comments and I think a lot of other people do the same,” my friend emailed. “If you eliminated reader comments, you would get to keep doing what makes you happy without all the humbug that now goes along with it.”
 
“It makes me sad and angry when those Bozos get you down and it seems to me there’s no need for it. People could still submit commentary for your regular section but you should eliminate the ‘masked men in the night’ who tarnish you work.”
Sometimes the virtual conversationscan be interesting, but oftentimes they devolve into personal conflicts and feuding.
Now that I’m doing comment moderation and not allowing a free-for-all, it has become difficult to decide what passes muster. I don’t want to protect people from themselves, and yet I also want to preserve the integrity of this blog.
This morning I approved a comment on another thread that I just found to be so ignorant and distasteful, yet I thought to myself, I can’t protect his person from himself. This person is expressing himself and looking like a total idiot, and it is not my job to control how people think. Yet, I fear by approving that man’s comment, the conversation is going to reach a point where I have to, once again, step in and play referee, maybe even turn the comments off on that thread if the dialogue gets too volatile. And so this is yet another day in the blogging life.
Before, I decide anything finally, I pose this question to readers willing to comment: Should I turn off the blog comments entirely? Feel free to email me at newswoman(at)mac.com if you aren’t comfortable publicly commenting.

By Tom Burnett
To bail out the county by obligating another $50+ million in debt that we can’t pay off (or we wouldn’t need it in the first place) is being universally panned by both the Democrats and Republicans as well as fiscally akamai Independents.

To demonstrate the level of discontent, I am going to appear at the County Council hearing on November 30th. WITH the Chairman of the Conservative Forum of
Hawaii, of which I am not a member and have no affiliation.  (Full disclosure – I was the speaker at one of their meetings – but I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat, liberal nor conservative;  I am a Moderate Independent Anarchist.)

I can safely state as a fact that the Conservative Forum of Hawaii (with which I have had frequent disagreements in the past) is vehemently opposed to this newest fiscal outrage.  As a moderate Independent I, too, call ‘bullshit’ on Billy Kenoi.

I am not a political activist in any sense of the word and I have never attended a Council meeting. But this shit has to stop somewhere.  We can’t expect the state and Federal government to balance their budgets if we can’t balance ours.

Council chambers – November 30 -9am.  Be there.  You can hear me speak politely.  Seriously – it may be the first and last time you may ever hear that sort of speech from me.

Tom Burnett lives in Puna.

Officers Donovan Kohara and Malia Bohol (in blue) pose with the winning families at the Pāhoa site of Tutu and Me preschool.

Officers Collin Pacheco, Donovan Kohara, Corey Hasegawa, Keith Simeona and Malia Bohol pose with the winning families at the preschool's Kea'au site. Images courtesy of the Hawaii Police Department.

(Media release) — Officers from the South Hilo Patrol “A” Watch gave four families Thanksgiving dinners as part of a series of community service projects.

The officers contributed personal funds for the Thanksgiving dinners for the four families that have students attending the Tutu and Me traveling preschool, which has sites in Pāhoa and Kea’au.

Earlier this month, the officers drew names for two families at the Pāhoa site. The next day, they drew names for two families at the Kea’au site. Each of the lucky families won gift certificates for pre-cooked holiday meals. Read the rest of this entry »

Image courtesy of Art Projects for Kids

I am thankful for the kicks I feel in my belly and the sound of the healthy heartbeat of my boy in utero.   I am thankful for my adorable and precocious girl, my hard-working and loving husband, our home, our business, our life together as a family and our lives individually.  I’m thankful for deep and lasting friendships, and for girlfriends here and afar who are so close, they are like sisters to me.  I’m thankful for my personal and professional success and for my health. For what are you thankful?