Management of Mauna ʻAla, the burial place for many of Hawaiʻi’s monarchs, is at a crossroads.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources picked a new curator for the burial grounds in Nuʻuanu without consulting with key Native Hawaiian organizations or the family that has cared for the remains for the last 200 hundred years.

That set off a fierce debate that will spill out into the Legislature next year. Lawmakers will propose that the state lands department step aside and transfer management of the grounds to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Meanwhile, descendants of the customary caretakers — who say the lands department broke with decades of tradition in picking the new curator — are trying to build support to hand over management to a private nonprofit.

Burials in Hawaiian culture — and those of royal lineages in particular — are considered highly sacred. The debate over which entity gets to manage Mauna ʻAla is intertwined with who should be responsible for caring for those remains.

Amid the debate, one thing has become clear: keeping Mauna ʻAla under the state lands department is unpopular to many involved.

“I don’t think it being housed in DLNR is a good fit,” Sen. Tim Richards, who chairs the Senate Hawaiian Affairs Committee, said.

Proposals to transfer management authority come with many unanswered questions, including who pays for the upkeep and what would happen to the current curator, Doni Chong.

Kai Kahele, newly elected to chair the board of trustees of OHA, said his agency, established to represent the interests of Hawaiians, is the right pick to oversee the burial grounds.

“We have the talent here to do it, we just have to work with the administration to bring that to fruition,” Kahele said.

Sen. Lorraine Inouye, who chairs the Senate Water and Land Committee, said she plans to introduce a bill transferring management of the grounds to OHA.

Inouye is worried that keeping Mauna ʻAla under the land department, whose director is a political appointee of the governor, means that policies could change with each new administration every four years.

“If we leave it with OHA, that would be continuous,” Inouye said.

While Inouye supports transferring management authority, she’s not sure that lawmakers would approve of giving OHA additional funds for Mauna ʻAla.

Inouye thinks the office, which oversees vast trust resources worth $600 million, should be able to cover the costs for Mauna ʻAla itself.

OHA has some experience managing historical sites. In 2012, the office acquired the land in Wahiawā that houses the Kūkaniloko birthing stones, the birthplace for many of Oʻahu’s high-ranking chiefs.

But Inouye also acknowledged that OHA comes with some baggage. The office and its trustees have previously been criticized for mismanaging the office’s finances. An audit two years ago found possible instances of waste, fraud and abuse in OHA contracts within the last decade, which prompted the office’s leadership to tighten its internal controls.

In addition to the state, the Aliʻi Trusts, whose namesakes are buried at Mauna ʻAla, have also contributed to improvements at the site under an agreement with DLNR from 2013.

Three of the largest trusts — Lunalilo Home, Liliʻuokalani Trust and The Queen’s Health System — either declined to comment or didn’t respond to requests for comment on the future of Mauna ʻAla.

In a written statement, Kamehameha Schools said that the care and guardianship of Mauna ʻAla “demands the highest standards from all who are entrusted with this sacred responsibility.”

“We trust that OHA and DLNR will continue to work together, alongside the community, to malama this special place.”

After Chong was appointed earlier this year, DLNR Director Dawn Chang said that she met with the Aliʻi trusts, royal societies, Hawaiian civic clubs and members of the family that have traditionally cared for the burials, but there was no consensus among them regarding the proposed transfer of Mauna ʻAla to OHA.

There was also a proposal at one point to create a new position to deal with the cultural aspects of Mauna ʻAla. Chang said there also wasn’t consensus from those groups on what exactly that position would entail.

At recent land board meetings, testifiers and board members have raised concerns that the land department planned to turn parts of Mauna ʻAla, including the curator’s house, into a sort of museum.

While the department is undertaking a $325,000 renovation project of the curator’s house, Chang said the goal isn’t to turn it into a commercial enterprise. After the renovations are complete, Chong and future curators would still live on site.

Chang said she believes Chong has been doing a good job. She said that Chong has been getting assistance from Kahu Kordell Kekoa on cultural protocols and recently hosted a graduating class of Honolulu firefighters.

“I have not received any concerns or complaints,” Chang said. “If anything, we’ve been receiving positive comments about her work there.”

Prior to Chong, a family that traced its lineage to chief Hoʻolulu had served as caretakers of Mauna ʻAla for decades. Hoʻolulu, along with his brother, hid the remains of Kamehameha I.

In Hawaiian tradition, iwi, or bones, contain a person’s mana, or spiritual power. In ancient times, high-ranking chiefs would often have their remains hidden from people who sought to steal that power.

Hoʻolulu and his descendants were entrusted with protecting the remains of Hawaiʻi’s aliʻi into the afterlife.

Mauna ʻAla was established in 1864 to house the remains of Kamehameha’s descendants and their close advisers. It later became the resting place for relatives of David Kalākaua and other royal lineages.

Now, the descendants hope to see a nonprofit established that could manage Mauna ʻAla in partnership with the Aliʻi trusts — removing the site from state government management entirely.

“The OHA solution is just too political,” Mary ‘Amaikalani Beckley Lawrence Gallagher, one of the Hoʻolulu descendants, said.

James Maioho, who comes from a branch of that family, is trying to get support from the Alii trusts and other royal societies to eventually transfer management to a nonprofit run by the family.

“You’re giving that 3.3 acres back to Kanaka control, back as sovereign land,” Maioho said.

Gallagher said that family members have already been discussing who could be the next caretaker and who should be trained to succeed them should the family take over management of Mauna ʻAla.

She said the family has weathered through numerous regime changes over the years as management passed from the Hawaiian Kingdom, to the territory and now to the state.

“We’ll keep our chins up,” Gallagher said, “and keep ourselves out of the monkey business.”

Civil Beat’s coverage of Native Hawaiian issues and initiatives is supported by a grant from the Abigail Kawananakoa Foundation.

Unlike the state House, leadership at the state Senate will remain relatively familiar for the upcoming legislative session, with some tweaks to Senate committees and chairs.

Three of the Senate’s 17 committees have been refocused:

>> The former Energy, Economic Development and Tourism Committee now becomes the Economic Development and Tourism Committee with Sen. Lynn DeCoite as its chair.

>> Responsibility for energy now falls under a new Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee chaired by Sen. Glenn Wakai.

Wakai previously chaired the Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee.

>> It now becomes the Public Safety and Military Affairs Committee chaired by Sen. Brandon Elefante.

The new chair of the Hawaiian Affairs Committee will be Sen. Tim Richards III, after former Chair Maile Shimabukuro left the Senate at the end of the last legislative session.

Otherwise, leadership of the Senate continues under Senate President Ron Kouchi.

Continuing in their Senate leadership roles are Michelle Kidani (vice president), Dru Mamo Kanuha (majority leader), Wakai (majority floor leader), DeCoite (assistant majority floor leader), Les Ihara (majority policy leader) and Lorraine Inouye (majority whip).

Sens. Henry J.C. Aquino, Troy Hashimoto, Jarrett Keohokalole, Chris Lee and Richards all will serve as assistant majority whips.

In the three-member, minority Republican Senate caucus, the election of Sen. Samantha DeCorte enabled a tie-breaking vote that settled a leadership standoff over the past two legislative sessions between Sens. Kurt Fevella and Brenton Awa.

Awa now becomes minority leader, DeCorte is the new minority floor leader and Fevella will serve as assistant minority floor leader.

The changes in the Senate were far less dramatic compared with the House because of several factors.

Only 13 of the 25 Senate seats were up for election this year.

But all 51 House seats were up, resulting in new faces and a leadership change when Speaker Scott Saiki lost his primary election.

New House Speaker Nadine Nakamura then reshuffled House leadership.

Other factors in the House included resignations, retirements, other election losses, the death of Rep. Mark Nakashima and several other chairs moving up into House leadership, which prevents them from chairing committees, although some will serve as vice chairs.

Nakamura also renamed several of the 18 House committees, and 12 of them will have new chairs.

Six newly elected House freshmen also will serve as vice chairs.

Boaters are in deep water at last after a months-long dredging project at Wailoa Small Boat Harbor in Hilo wrapped up last week.

The harbor, one of East Hawaii’s last functioning boat launches after the Pohoiki Boat Ramp in Puna was cut off during the 2018 Kilauea eruption, has not been dredged for more than seven years and sediment had accumulated at the harbor mouth.

Boats repeatedly went aground attempting to pass the mouth of the Wailoa River, and boaters quickly learned the harbor only was usable at the highest tides.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation began a project to dredge the river in July, using $3.2 million in capital improvement funds. That work ended on Nov. 27, the DLNR announced Tuesday, although construction equipment including a barge will remain on site until Saturday.

The total cost of the project swelled to $4.8 million, according to a DLNR news release, but the cost overrun was covered through DOBOR’s Boating Special Fund, which is replenished from statewide harbor and boating facility use fees.

“We appreciate the public’s patience, understanding and advocacy as DOBOR navigated the permitting and funding hurdles to get this project completed before the end of the year,” DOBOR Administrator Meghan Statts said in a statement. ”We also appreciate the Legislature for recognizing the importance of this project and providing funding.”

“It’s definitely better, it’s deeper,” said boater Antoine Debarge on Tuesday, mooring his boat directly across the river mouth from Suisan Fish Market. “This was completely dry land here a few months ago.”

Hilo Sen. Lorraine Inouye, who advocated for the initial $3.2 million allocation, said she was happy East Hawaii boaters can finally safely access the ocean again from the harbor, but lamented that the problem persisted for years.

“When I became District 1 senator in 2022, that was already a problem, and we embarked on making sure it got fixed,” Inouye said. “I’m happy we were able to do this, but the boaters had to deal with it for so long.”

Inouye said she will continue to monitor conditions at the the harbor and will listen to boaters’ concerns to identify other potential issues that need to be addressed. She added she is working on a project to determine the accumulation rates of sediment at the harbor so future dredging operations are more timely.

Inouye went on to say that she will try to make additional funds available for additional maintenance projects at the harbor during the 2025 legislative session, which begins in January.

Hawaiʻi officials are looking to New Zealand to help shore up its own biosecurity efforts.

A group of key state lawmakers and staff, including those from the state Department of Agriculture, visited New Zealand in September to learn more about how the island nation prevents and manages invasive species.

At a recent Hawaiʻi Board of Agriculture meeting, Jonathan Ho, the manager for the department’s Plant Quarantine Branch, noted some of the ways New Zealand prevents pests from entering and becoming established.

“To compare to New Zealand, I think per capita they spend about 10 times what we do,” he said. “They focus very heavily on pre-entry, so trying to force as much of the inspections, the treatments, compliance agreements — all of that stuff outside the border prior to entry."

State Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz was one of the lawmakers who made the September trip, and in a newsletter, he noted that New Zealand has what is “widely considered to be the best biosecurity system in the world.”

His newsletter said that New Zealand has a three-tiered biosecurity system that starts with cleanliness requirements for the goods — and the ships carrying the goods — before they enter the country.

Detector dogs, physical inspections and disposal techniques also filter out pests and unwanted species at the border before they can spread. After that, the country has rigorous surveillance and response mechanisms in place.

Ho said that additional funding would help invasive species management, but that Hawaiʻi’s dependence on imports, one of the primary ways invasive species end up in the islands, coupled with its lack of resources and inadequate regulations makes pest introduction always a possibility.

“We import 90% of our goods, and I don't see that changing any time soon. And as long as there is imported goods, there is going to be risks,” Ho said.

The state agriculture department only has 89 inspectors to check goods imported into Hawaiʻi, and they only check about 10% to 15% of the goods, Ho said.

Pre-border requirements on goods and vessels to ensure that pests don’t even make it to Hawaiʻi would be helpful, but Ho said it’s more difficult for a state to make those rules than it is for a country like New Zealand.

Requests for more biosecurity funding and policy changes are likely to come in the upcoming state legislative session.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism says an estimated 85% to 90% percent of the state’s food is grown, processed and imported from the U.S. mainland, which is then delivered to school kitchens.

It’s a costly, less fresh and far less sustinable food model for the Hawaiʻi Department of Education, which serves 100,000-plus students a day — or about 18 million meals per school year — through its meals program.

What if there was a way to change that?

The Hawaiʻi Agricultural Foundation recently hosted its “Eat, Think, Drink 27: Regional Kitchens — Transforming Ag Through Strategic Investments” event on O‘ahu to discuss that issue and more.

State House Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems Chairwoman Rep. Kirstin Kahaloa of Kona, state Senate Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz of Oʻahu and state Senate Committee on Education Chairwoman Sen. Michelle Kidani of Oʻahu attended.

Kahaloa and Dela Cruz were also part of a panel of state and industry leaders in local food production to talk about the significance of the role of regional kitchens in sustainably feeding Hawaiʻi and its students.

Keynote speaker Dela Cruz presented about the state’s Nourishing Hawaiʻi’s Future initiative, aimed at increasing local food production and creating locally sourced meals for students through regional kitchens.

State Superintendent of Schools Keith Hayashi also was part of the discussion.

“The answer to both reducing our dependence on imported food and feeding our students locally is the concept of a regional kitchen,” said Dela Cruz. “Building a future based on resources already in place and using them to create a tangible system of local agriculture, regional kitchens and [Hawai‘i] Department of Education schools is a feasible solution that will create food security and contribute to economic development.”

Regional kitchens are facilities used to produce meals or individual ingredients before they are sent to different locations to serve to consumers.

This model has been successfully adopted through school districts in Washington state and California and already similarly implemented in the centralized kitchen of Zippy’s Restaurants in Waipiʻo, Oʻahu.

Strategic investments in regional kitchens have shown to help local farmers scale production by increasing market access and leveraging the power of public procurement.

Regional kitchens use local farm products to prepare meals at public schools, said Kahaloa.

“This model moves locally grown and raised products from our farms, to processing facilities, to the regional kitchens and lastly to our public schools that incorporate these ʻono grinds on our keiki’s plates,” said the Big Island lawmaker. “Students will be nourished when they can eat food grown from their communities.”

Hayashi said his department continues to work toward the state’s goal of incorporating at least 30% locally sourced foods in school meals by 2030 and 50% by 2050.

A highlight of the event included a menu created by four state Department of Education alumni, who are now chefs, and current students using locally sourced ingredients.

Hayashi said the state Department of Education is grateful for the opportunities the event provided Hawaiʻi students to learn from alumni and professionals in the food and agriculture industry.

“Including [Hawaiʻi Department of Education] in the process provides nutritious school meals for our keiki while securing local food production,” said Kidani. “It was wonderful to see alumni now as skilled chefs contributing their creations and showcasing locally grown ingredients alongside our current culinary students. Working with alumni to serve healthy, local meals will fuel our students’ success in the classroom and have a lasting impact.”

Cranston Pia came across intruders on the land on Oahu’s Leeward Coast where he raised his cattle. Their dogs, trained to hunt pigs, were attacking Pia’s calf in a pen.

Ranchers like Pia know that hunters might kill their cattle to steal meat or sometimes lose control of their dogs. Pia grabbed his rifle and fired a single shot. A 17-year-old boy emerged from the bushes with a pistol and claimed the dogs were his, touching off an argument.

Such a stand-off is nightmarish but common in Hawaii’s agricultural community. Farmers and ranchers are in constant battle with trespassers, would-be cattle rustlers, vandals and thieves who largely escape punishment with law enforcement often miles away. If offenders are caught, prosecutions are rare and the penalties are feeble.

The confrontation at Ohikilolo Ranch on Feb. 17 ended with another gunshot — a fatal shot to Pia’s temple. Honolulu’s prosecuting attorney called it an “execution-style killing,” and charged 17-year-old Chantston Pila Kokawa.

Pia’s death has brought the low-simmering issue of agricultural crime to a boil.

After years of inaction and neglect, a handful of lawmakers and state officials now say they want to address it this legislative session. Potential responses include an agriculture-specific stand-your-ground law, allowing ranchers and farmers to defend themselves with lethal force.

By one estimate, agricultural theft and vandalism cost farmers and ranchers more than $14 million, both for the cost of crime and preventing it.

But that may be a serious undercount. In a 2019 U.S. Department of Agriculture survey, Hawaii farmers and ranchers reported almost 15,000 cases of trespass — yet just 970 cases of vandalism, theft and trespass were reported to the police. Only 8% of those reports led to an arrest.

Hawaii’s agriculture industry, worth about $670 million, with about 12,000 producers, faces a host of challenges, including the oldest workforce in the nation and challenging economic conditions.

And now farmers and ranchers say crime is on the rise, with reports of pilfered produce, rustled livestock, broken gates or fences and stolen vehicles among them. Trespassing is not as well publicized.

“You can’t talk to one rancher that hasn’t been in the same situation as Cranston,” Big Island rancher Lani Cran Petrie said. “They just didn’t get shot.”

Petrie has regularly faced off with trespassers on her land, and just over a year before Pia’s killing, she faced a remarkable scenario: She had the police with her when she caught trespassing hunters.

The officers, flanking Petrie and husband Bill, responded to the rancher’s call in the early evening with AR-15s and kevlar vests. As the sun set, they surrounded two hunters — armed with a crossbow and rifle — deep in the ranch’s brushy thicket.

This time, with the cops present, Petrie thought it was an open-and-shut case. The hunters – poachers as Petrie calls them – were caught in the act.

But one year later, the day before Pia’s killing, just one of the hunters was charged with a suspended sentence for five hours of community service. Petrie says it’s scant punishment for someone she alleges is a repeat offender. She is “sure we’re going to catch him again.”

Before Pia’s death, ranchers would typically confront trespassers. In Petrie’s case on the Big Island, she says she had encountered one of the hunters before and let them off with a warning.

“Now our farmers and ranchers are thinking twice about confrontations,” Hawaii Cattlemen’s Council director Nicole Galase said.

Part of the problem, according to both ranchers and law enforcement, is that the laws and enforcement are weak and the logistics of fighting crime in farther-flung agricultural areas are difficult.

Trespassing on agricultural land is also classified as a petty misdemeanor that comes with a maximum of 30 days in prison and a $1,000 fine, for example, which officials told lawmakers had never been imposed fully in a hearing following Piaʻs death.

That, according to Petrie, means many poachers will treat the fine like a payment to hunt.

“You’re playing with fire. The only thing you can get these guys on is trespass. But it’s like a spark around gasoline. It escalates. Fast,” Petrie said. “Cattle are spooked – boom – they’re through a fence. Somebody says ‘F you,’ then suddenly everybody’s looking for their weapon.”

Within two weeks of Pia’s killing, ranchers and farmers arrived at the State Capitol building in droves, cramming into a conference room alongside industry advocates, to share stories with lawmakers and officials about the realities of crime in the state’s agriculture.

Farmer-friendly lawmakers grilled officials over why they were not paying enough attention to the issue. Pia’s death was at the top of their minds.

“Hunting and trespassing in that area have just become normal,”  Dustin Griffith, rancher and friend of Pia, told lawmakers on Feb. 29. “We call to get help, the police come out and say ‘Ah, it’s just trespassers, ah it’s just hunters.’ I guarantee it’s a big deal to me and I guarantee it’s a big deal to the Pia family.”

Attorney General Anne Lopez told lawmakers that “we clearly have work to do” and that the new Department of Law Enforcement, formed in January, would play an integral role in that work.

“Certainly the judges play a huge role in what actually happens … but that doesn’t mean that we can’t, as a group, reassess how assertive or maybe aggressive we are,” Lopez said.

Since Pia’s death, senators Tim Richards of Big Island and Lynn DeCoite of Molokai have maintained pressure on those agencies to muscle up, which the Department of Law Enforcement has since said it is serious about.

The department has responded positively to the call, despite not having funding for agricultural crime, because the current situation is what department deputy director Jared Redulla has called a “recipe for disaster.”

Agricultural crime is more than just ranchers taking issue with trespassers. Farmers are subject to trespassers, vandals and thieves, who often case farms for expensive equipment and prize specialty crops.

Less than two weeks ago, Big Island fruit farmer Ken Love once again found his trees stripped of valuable malama avocados, jackfruit and mamey sapote, despite the 6,000-volt fence surrounding them.

The fence is tall enough for typical Big Island pests – feral goats or hogs – which means he now needs “a fence for two-legged pigs rather than four,” Love says.

Fruit thieves arrive with the harvest of Hawaii’s seasonal fruits statewide, particularly for high-value crops like lychee or mangosteen — often found later in the state’s farmers markets. One thief was caught twice in June 2022, once with 150 pounds of lychee worth $1,200 and again with about $260 worth of mangosteen. He was sentenced to four years probation this year.

But tracing stolen fruit once it makes it into the market is difficult, given they will likely be sold on as part of larger bunches. Love routinely reports thefts so that the police have agricultural crime on their minds.

Has any one of those reports resulted in anything?

“No. Never,” said Love, president of Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers. “There are people who have caught thieves and nothing happened.”

Piecemeal state and county initiatives have focused on the farmers markets, through the vendors who knowingly or unknowingly buy the purloined fruit.

But with deep skepticism about law enforcement’s interest in ag crime, Hawaii farmers and ranchers are spending on their own security, up from $7.4 million in 2004 to $11.2 million in 2019, according to surveys.

While the cost of security takes up much of the cost of agricultural crime, most farmers and ranchers think those numbers are very low and do not paint a full picture, partly due to a lack of reporting. In 2004, 17% of farms and ranches reported thefts or vandalism on their land — reported or not to police. That fell to 14% in 2019.

“Those numbers are grossly underrepresented,” Hawaii Farm Bureau director Brian Miyamoto said.

The lack of reporting and enforcement sparked disagreement between the authorities and farmers, with law enforcement claiming theft is either a non-issue or their hands are tied because there’s no tangible data, while farmers and ranchers say they don’t report it because nothing will come of it.

Authorities have toyed with tracing produce with invisible ink, detectable with ultraviolet light, akin to how ranchers brand cattle. On the Big Island, the county hired a specialized agricultural inspector to monitor the supply chain between farms and the farmers markets as part of a state pilot study into the issue.

But the initiatives tend to be pilot projects with temporary funding, and fade quickly, fueling farmers and ranchers’ frustrations.

Richards, the senator and a generational rancher from Kohala on the Big Island, has faced trespassers, poachers, had horses stolen, and, less than two months ago, had one of his cowboys catch three armed hunters within a few hundred yards from his home, where his children were feeding the family’s horses.

That poses a safety risk, as an errant bullet or arrow shot towards the house could have devastating consequences — as it did with Cranston Pia.

Richards wants to figure out more appropriate trespass statutes for agriculture, laws that do not require fencing and “No Trespassing” signs, which are required to explicitly state that land is private.

While Love’s fruit farm has a 6,000-volt fence to deter thieves, it doesn’t have placards to keep them out. “Everybody stole my no-trespassing signs. Four in the last year,” fruit grower Love said. “It’s sad but it’s funny.”

Legislation has nevertheless been introduced for at least eight years, aimed at resolving longstanding issues between trespassers, poachers, hunters and ranchers.

Fellow senator DeCoite pointed to each of them as a failed opportunity, saying they died because most of the Legislature’s city-dwelling lawmakers did not take it seriously.

A 2016 bill would have made it easier to prosecute trespassing on agricultural land by removing a requirement for fencing or trespass warning signs. It failed in the Legislature after opposition from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which feared it would impinge on Native Hawaiian gathering rights.

Those rights are enshrined in the State of Hawaii’s constitution, allowing Native Hawaiians to gather certain goods on private lands.

“Most of you believe that’s a crock of bull,” DeCoite said last month. “As a Native Hawaiian, I don’t have a problem with anyone gathering. Just ask first.”

A 2018 pilot program report on the Big Island found that — in addition to providing better education for producers and law enforcement — a longstanding system for certifying ownership and movement forms of agriculture products was particularly effective in clamping down on the crimes, but only if there was enough enforcement of them.

Love, the farmer on the Big Island, said the forms are still being used, though they are not very effective, despite authorities banking on them to help stem the flow of stolen produce.

Now with the 2025 legislative session looming, Richards is mulling the creation of an agricultural crime commission, and is working with the Attorney General’s Office on a comprehensive bill to centralize and demystify laws that apply to agricultural theft, vandalism and trespass.

The most controversial of Richards’ ideas may include a stand-your-ground law, which would allow the use of force in self defense when threatened with death. “Allow agriculture to protect itself,” he said. Stand-your-ground laws exist in about 28 states.

Richards said he understands he will face significant pushback and does not want vigilantism to ensue.

But Pia’s death lays the issue bare, which Richards believes his fellow lawmakers and the authorities need to take seriously.

“You’re forcing it by not enforcing the current law,” Richards said. “What is agriculture supposed to do?”

“Hawaii Grown” is funded in part by grants from the Stupski Foundation, Ulupono Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.

At the 2024 Annual Recognition Dinner & Auction on Nov. 17, Jennifer Zelko-Schlueter was awarded the “Peacemaker Award” by Ku‘ikahi Mediation Center, and Judge M. Kanani Laubach was awarded the “Meritorious Service Award” by the Hawaii County Bar Association.

“What a great evening celebrating two very deserving wahine,” Ku‘kahi Executive Director Julie Mitchell said in a press release. “Mahalo to all who contributed of their time, talents and treasures to make this fundraiser the most successful ever!”

The event raised $50,000 for the center.

“We truly appreciate our honorees, sponsors, ticket buyers, auction bidders, guests, cash and in-kind event donors, auction donors, emcee, introducers, musician, sound operator, special event committee, event volunteers, board and staff,” Mitchell said.

The annual dinner and auction provides a significant portion of the funds that Ku‘ikahi needs to provide free and low-cost dispute prevention and resolution services in East Hawaii and beyond.

To make a year-end charitable gift to support this local non-profit community mediation center, please visit: https://hawaiimediation.org/donate/.

Boaters are in deep water at last after a months-long dredging project at Wailoa Small Boat Harbor in Hilo wrapped up last week.

The harbor, one of East Hawaii’s last functioning boat launches after the Pohoiki Boat Ramp in Puna was cut off during the 2018 Kilauea eruption, has not been dredged for more than seven years and sediment had accumulated at the harbor mouth.

Boats repeatedly went aground attempting to pass the mouth of the Wailoa River, and boaters quickly learned the harbor only was usable at the highest tides.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation began a project to dredge the river in July, using $3.2 million in capital improvement funds. That work ended on Nov. 27, the DLNR announced Tuesday, although construction equipment including a barge will remain on site until Saturday.

The total cost of the project swelled to $4.8 million, according to a DLNR news release, but the cost overrun was covered through DOBOR’s Boating Special Fund, which is replenished from statewide harbor and boating facility use fees.

“We appreciate the public’s patience, understanding and advocacy as DOBOR navigated the permitting and funding hurdles to get this project completed before the end of the year,” DOBOR Administrator Meghan Statts said in a statement. ”We also appreciate the Legislature for recognizing the importance of this project and providing funding.”

“It’s definitely better, it’s deeper,” said boater Antoine Debarge on Tuesday, mooring his boat directly across the river mouth from Suisan Fish Market. “This was completely dry land here a few months ago.”

Hilo Sen. Lorraine Inouye, who advocated for the initial $3.2 million allocation, said she was happy East Hawaii boaters can finally safely access the ocean again from the harbor, but lamented that the problem persisted for years.

“When I became District 1 senator in 2022, that was already a problem, and we embarked on making sure it got fixed,” Inouye said. “I’m happy we were able to do this, but the boaters had to deal with it for so long.”

Inouye said she will continue to monitor conditions at the the harbor and will listen to boaters’ concerns to identify other potential issues that need to be addressed. She added she is working on a project to determine the accumulation rates of sediment at the harbor so future dredging operations are more timely.

Inouye went on to say that she will try to make additional funds available for additional maintenance projects at the harbor during the 2025 legislative session, which begins in January.

Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.

If you live in Waikōloa or the surrounding area and noticed a helicopter flying low overhead today, you might have wondered why.

Hawai‘i state Sen. Tim Richards, who represents the Big Island’s Senate District 4 (North Hilo, Hāmākua, Kohala, Waimea, Waikōloa, North Kona), explained in a Facebook post that the Spatial Data Analysis and Visualization Labs at University of Hawai‘i at Hilo is conducting a low-altitude helicopter flight over Waikōloa until noon today.

The flight, which started at 10 a.m., is part of an effort to collect aerial imagery of palm trees in the Waikōloa area to identify potential damage caused by the invasive coconut rhinoceros beetle.

It’s in partnership with the Big Island Invasive Species Committee.

The data gathered will help the committee improve its palm surveys and target trees that might need further inspection.

What this means for Waikōloa area residents:

• The helicopter is flying low to capture detailed imagery.

• If a tree on your property needs further inspection, the Big Island Invasive Species Committee will contact you.

• Trees found to have coconut rhinoceros beetle damage could qualify for free treatment by the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Response Hawai‘i team and Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture.

“Thank you for your cooperation in protecting Hawai‘i’s palms!” said Richards in his post.

For more information or to get on the list for a free property survey, call/text the Big Island Invasive Species Committee at 808-731-9232 or email to biisc@hawaii.edu.

Question: Are the Christmas ship-by dates in the Postal Service mailer correct? I thought Hawaii was earlier.

Answer: You are referring to the fold-out card titled “Delivering infinite moments of joy all season long,” which was produced at U.S. Postal Serv­ice headquarters with mainland customers in mind but also mailed to Hawaii customers.

“In this case, the Priority Express Mail suggested mailing date is actually the same for mainland and Hawaii customers—Dec. 20. But our suggested mailing date for First-Class and Priority Mail for our Hawaii customers, which are the services that most local folks use, is Dec. 18 rather than the Dec. 19 date suggested in the mail piece,” Duke Gonzales, a postal service spokesperson, said Monday in an email.

The mail-by dates aren’t hard deadlines for shipping to the mainland, “just suggested dates to give Christmas mail and packages the best chances of reaching their destinations before Dec. 25,” he said.

Gonzales issued a news release Monday with other information about holiday shipping:

>> Self-service ship and mail centers: Customers can use these kiosks to ship packages, buy stamps and handle other tasks without seeing a mail clerk. They generally are open 24/7 at all locations except for Mili­lani and Waipahu. Kiosks are available at the Kapahulu Safeway and at these 16 Hawaii post offices: Aina Haina, Downtown, Hawaii Kai, Hilo Main, Honolulu Main/Airport, Kailua, Kailua-Kona, Kaneohe, Kihei, Lahaina, Makiki, Mililani, Waialae- Kahala, Waikiki, Wailuku and Waipahu.

>> Priority Mail flat-rate shipping: The box itself is free, while shipping up to 70 pounds to a domestic location costs $19.30 in a medium box and $22.80 in a large box. The large box holds 50% more (with the same 70-pound weight limit).

>> Overseas military: Up to 70 pounds can be shipped in the military large flat-rate box to most APO and FPO locations for $26.

>> Online service: Use usps.com, where you can create an online account to order free boxes, buy stamps, pay for and print shipping labels (Click-N-Ship) and participate in Operation Santa, the annual program that has donors fulfill children’s Christmas wishes. With Click-N-Ship you can have the post office come pick up your outgoing packages at no extra charge, or drop off the prepaid packages at a post office counter without standing in line.

>> Peak days: “We expect customer traffic at our post offices to accelerate beginning the week of Dec. 9, and that the week of Dec. 16 will be our busiest week of the season,” the news release said.

Q: How long is the new Leeward bike path?

A: The 3.5-mile Leeward Bikeway follows the previous Oahu Railway and Land Co. path and “extends the Pearl Harbor Historic Trail, connecting through the West Loch Community Shoreline Path, to create an 11-mile path that wraps around Pearl Harbor and into Ewa Beach, culminating at the Hawaiian Railway Society’s train yard,” according to the Hawaii Bicycling League.

Q: Regarding bird flu, can that spread to feral cats?

A: Yes, and to pet cats, too, and to many other mammals, wild, stray (feral) or domesticated. “Although bird flu viruses mainly infect and spread among wild migratory water birds and domestic poultry, some bird flu viruses can infect and spread to other animals as well. Bird flu viruses have in the past been known to sometimes infect mammals that eat (presumably infected) birds or poultry,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In North America, H5N1 bird flu viruses have been detected in cats, dogs, goat kids (juvenile goats) and dairy cows, the agency says.

It’s rare for people to catch bird flu from an infected animal, but it is possible, “especially if there is prolonged and unprotected exposure to the animal,” the CDC says.

Read more at 808ne.ws/3ZhX9X1 Opens in a new tab (on the CDC website) and 808ne.ws/4fS9k3u Opens in a new tab (on the state Department of Health website).

As the calendar year comes to an end, the latest iteration of Kaua‘i County government formally began Monday with the inauguration of its county council and prosecuting attorney at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall in Līhu‘e.

Longtime Kaua‘i County councilmember Mel Rapozo was confirmed as chair, and KipuKai Kuali‘i was named as vice chair, in a public hearing prior to the 1 p.m. ceremony.

Rapozo promised “to tackle critical issues facing our community with boldness and with resolve.”

He identified wastewater and clean water initiatives, homelessness, housing and the county’s ongoing search for a new landfill site as top priorities.

“We will work aggressively — and I mean aggressively — to address the needs and challenges that matter most to our residents,” Rapozo said.

Rapozo and Kuali‘i will lead a council filled with familiar faces, including Addison Bulosan, Bernard Carvalho, Felicia Cowden and Arryl Kaneshiro, who won reelection to the council in November after terming out in 2022.

Fern Holland, who defeated incumbent Ross Kagawa by 108 votes in the November general election, is the sole newcomer to the Kaua‘i County Council. She received applause and cheers on Monday when Rapozo, speaking from the convention hall stage, welcomed her aboard.

Kaua‘i County’s prosecuting attorney, Rebecca Like, successfully maintained her position after winning an uncontested primary election in August.

Like claimed her office must not only prosecute crimes, but work to prevent them. She vowed “to address the root causes of crime” through continued collaboration with local law enforcement, agencies and community organizations.

“Justice is not a privilege for the few, but a right for all,” Like said. “It is the duty of those who hold the scales to ensure fairness, protect the innocent and hold the guilty accountable, regardless of their power or position.”

Oaths of office were administered by Judge Randal Valenciano. Jade K. Fountain-Tanigawa and Lyndon M. Yoshioka, who was absent due to illness, were appointed county clerk and deputy county clerk.

Pastor Matt Higa of the New Hope Kaua‘i church led the inauguration’s invocation and closing word of prayer, in which he called for unity and respect.

“You and I, all of us, we will never see eye to eye on every political issue,” Higa said. “But we must see heart to heart.”

Jan TenBruggencate, vice chair of the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative and member of the Kaua‘i County Charter Review Commission, served as master of ceremonies. Members of the Waimea High School JROTC served as color guard.

Kumu Troy Lazaro and Sabra Kauka were present as pū kāne (conch shell blower) and mea ‘oli (chanter). Nalani K. Ka‘auwai Brun performed the U.S. national anthem and the state anthem, “Hawai‘i Pono‘ī.”

Officials in attendance Monday also included Kaua‘i Mayor Derek Kawakami, Maui County councilmembers Keani Rawlins-Fernandez and Gabe Johnson, State Senate President Ron Kouchi and state House representatives Dee Morikawa and Luke Evslin.

Others present included former county and state government officials, Capt. Brett Stevenson of the Pacific Missile Range Facility, William Arakaki of the Hawai‘i State Board of Education and representatives of Gov. Josh Green, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz and U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda.

Beginning January 1, Hawaii’s network of medical cannabis caregivers will be outlawed under “sunset” provisions included in the state’s medical cannabis law, HawaiiNewsNow reports. House Public Safety Chair Rep. Della Belatti (D) indicated that the sunset provision is a mistake that lawmakers will try to address, but for now the state’s registered caregivers will be forced to stop serving patients by the start of the new year.

Registered caregivers are allowed to raise up to 10 medical cannabis plants for patients who cannot cultivate the plants. The system is an alternative to dispensaries, which some say are too expensive or inconvenient.

Belatti told HawaiiNewsNow that the impending shut down of the caregiver program is “a failure” that lawmakers did not address which has led to a “crisis.”

State Sen. Joy San Buenaventura (D), who chairs the chamber’s Health and Human Services committee, said the deadline would impact thousands of the state’s medical cannabis patients.

“Especially for Oahu patients who live in condos where they are dependent upon caregivers to grow their medical cannabis for them,” she told HawaiiNewsNow, “they won’t be able to have that access and that’s huge.”