Tag: hilo

July 11, 2014 Ag Tourism Post a Comment

Hilo Muni Improvements Topic of Meeting

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Renovations to the Hilo Municipal Golf Course will be the subject of a public meeting later this month.

The county Department of Parks and Recreation said the meeting is being held to explain the project’s scope and gather public input.

It is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 22, at the Hawaii County Council chambers on Aupuni Street.

Aging buildings at the Hilo Muni suffer from termite damage and other problems. The back side of the restaurant is shown.

The proposed project includes replacement of the pro shop, restaurant and two on-course bathrooms, and reconstruction of four greens. It will also involve various maintenance and repair work, including replacement of water lines.

Jason Armstrong, spokesman for the Department of Parks and Recreation, said the work will also bring the golf course and adjacent driving range into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

He said work on the design phase, which is expected to cost $1.5 million, has already begun.

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January 7, 2011 General Ag News and Notes 1 Comment

Hawaii County Prosecutors Quit

Friends for Justice learned today that 5 employees in the Hawaii county prosecutors office resigned on or around January 4th.

East Hawaii has 24 prosecutors.

Information is scarce, and no one is talking, but we have reason to believe the majority of resignations may have all been out of the East Hawaii office in Hilo. This corresponds with Hawaii county prosecutor Jay Kimura’s brother Lloyd Kimura pleading guilty to nine counts of bank and mail fraud and theft in a 24 year ponzi scheme involving 50 clients and the theft of over 20 million dollars. That story like this one got no coverage in the local Hawaii county newspapers.

Friends for Justice was in court in Hilo Thursday January 6th in Judge Hara’s court supporting Reverend Nancy Harris’s religious marijuana case. The prosecutor in that case Rick Damerville made reference to an event in the prosecutors office on January 4th in response to the judges inquiry about scheduling a trial date for Reverend Harris. The defendant in the case made inquiries, because her trial was delayed until July and was told Damerville was staying because of an unexpected mass exodus from Jay Kimura’s office. The prosecutor in Rev. Harris’s case (Damerville) had been scheduled to retire in the near future but said he would be staying on indefinitely.

The widespread corruption in Hawaii county government and Mr. Kimura’s refusal to pursue those cases as well as the dead ends in other high profile murder cases like Peter “boy” Kema Jr, and Clayton Larry Alani, may have been too much for some of the employees in the office.

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October 24, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Sustainability — reviewing our progress

by Diana Duff
Special To West Hawaii Today

Sunday, October 24, 2010 7:19 AM HST
Sustainability has become a kind of tired buzzword. Businesses are clambering to be labeled “green.” Political pressure to be Earth-friendly has caused changes that sometimes result in increased effort and higher prices, but most of us are still participating in endeavors toward zero waste.

Every little step toward a more sustainable lifestyle is good, but with all the buzz it’s easy to lose the impetus to continue reducing your ecological footprint. It may be time to check your progress.

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October 19, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Golf subsidy begins at 2 West Hawaii courses

HILO — A county subsidy allowing Big Island golfers to pay just $25 greens fees at two West Hawaii golf courses began Friday, but it could be the last year for the popular program.

The county started providing subsidies in 2006 in an attempt to make recreational opportunities more equitable for West Hawaii residents, who pay more than 76 percent of property taxes, but have just a fraction of the parks and other recreational amenities enjoyed by East Hawaii residents.

Mayor Billy Kenoi said in early 2009 that although the economic slowdown is tightening the county’s spending for new projects, West Hawaii should see a more equal share of the Parks and Recreation budget. He appointed West Hawaii resident Bob Fitzgerald to head the sprawling agency.

But Fitzgerald told West Hawaii Today last week that trying to make the two sides of the island more equitable is hindered by history itself. East Hawaii has more facilities, he said, because the county received most of them from the former plantations. Large landowners in West Hawaii, in contrast, have been less generous with contributions of park land, gymnasiums and other amenities, he said.

The West Hawaii golf subsidy is meant to offset subsidies at the only county-owned golf course, Hilo Municipal Golf Course.

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October 16, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Dems to honor ‘Ag Country Roots’ today

Everyone invited to free afternoon event in Honokaa

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye will bring his entourage and several other politicians to Honokaa High School from 3-6 p.m. today to join North Hawaii residents in celebrating their community’s “Ag Country Roots.”

The event is paid for and authorized by the Democratic Party of Hawaii.

The community is invited to this free celebration that will spotlight many of the hard-working food producers of the region and include samplings of grilled grass-fed beef and a new sausage of Kahua mutton, Hamakua mushrooms and other foods grown or produced in Hamakua, Waimea and Kohala.

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Informational exhibits also will feature in-school programs to grow the next generation of farmers and introduce the benefits of fresh, locally grown foods from farms and ranches in the region as well as backyard gardens.

The program also will acknowledge the 40-year contribution to Hawaii Island agriculture by Milton Yamasaki, who has managed the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources’s Mealani Research Station, which includes two sites in Waimea, one in Hamakua and two in Kona.

Yamasaki, who was born and raised in Waimea and graduated from Honokaa High School, formally retired from CTAHR’s Mealani Research Station Sept. 30.

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August 8, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Seed money – Hawaii Business – Staradvertiser.com

On a former cattle ranch north of Hilo, about 20,000 koa trees are no more than 4 feet tall, but they represent high hopes for a company with a new model for renewable forestry in Hawaii.

The endeavor by Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods is based on attracting wealthy investors to finance a koa farm. As trees mature over eight to 25 years, they theoretically will generate returns to investors and fees to the company for cultivation and the harvesting process.

Hawaiian Legacy’s plan is ambitious, with a goal of planting as many as 1.3 million trees by 2016.

The company began selling blocks of 100 seedlings to investors about a year ago. This year the price for 100 seedlings is $6,808. The company projects that those 100 trees could return nearly $300,000 to an investor as the trees are gradually harvested over 25 years.

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