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Author Archives: layout@themolokaidispatch.com

Youth Photography and Puni Ke Ola

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

Youth Photography and Puni Ke Ola

By Susana Helm, Jackie Ng-Osorio, Becka Adolpho – UH Manoa; Kanoelani Davis, Honeygirl English, Shaye Lauifi – Ahupuaʻa O Molokai

Puni Ke Ola (PiKO) uses photography to engage youth in learning more about how traditional Hawaiian beliefs and practices promote health and can eliminate substance use in their own lives, as well as among their families and communities. Led by Molokai Kumu Kanoelani Davis and University of Hawaii at Manoa professor Susana Helm since 2015, the photo strategy has been aligned with Hawaiian culture. In PiKO, haumana take pictures while they participate in culturally immersive huakaʻi.

This year due to the pandemic, huakaʻi will be conducted virtually until it is safe to go live again, so youth may take photos around their own homes and communities.…

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Molokai Inspired Art by MAC’s Artist in Residence

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

Molokai Inspired Art by MAC’s Artist in Residence

MAC News Release

The Molokai Arts Center would like to invite you to review the release of Jamie Allen’s original artwork that she created during her three-week Artist in Residence program through the Molokai Arts Center. Allen carried out her residency in May of 2019 and is now sharing her diaristic works of paper. Her goals for her residency was to document native plants and experience the island of Molokai. She worked closely with the Molokai Land Trust, spent a night at Kalaupapa, hiked Kamakou, and drew at Mo’omomi and the gardens at the Hui Ho’olana. For Jamie, Molokai has been the example of peace and pausing these days.…

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Marge Carol Leeks

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

Marge Carol Leeks

Marge Carol Leeks, 89 years old, passed away on Aug. 2, 2020. She was born on Nov. 18, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. She is survived by Irwin (Cookie) Pawlak, Richard Pawlack, Arlen Cohen and Tedd Palek, as well as her extended ohana on Molokai.

Marge worked from the time she was 13 years old, and lived through the Great Depression. In Chicago, she owned a beauty store and a bar. On Molokai, she worked at many places, including Wines and Spirits, Pau Hana Inn, Hotel Molokai, and cleaning the American Savings building. Many people remember her driving around in a red Cadillac and delivering baked goods to everyone she appreciated, including the post office employees, bank tellers, grocery store employees, doctor’s office staff, and friends and neighbors.…

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Mahalo for School Cooperation

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

Kaunakakai Elementary School would like to give a big mahalo to all of our parents, guardians, grandparents, aunties and uncles for all their support in this distance learning situation. It’s awesome to see so many adults helping their keiki with online learning; logging into virtual meetings, helping students follow daily schedules, contacting teachers for tech support, picking up meals at our grab-n-go, bringing students into school for assessments, picking up supplies and learning packets, and much, much more. Our families are doing a tremendous job at home and we are so grateful for the level of involvement, commitment, and patience from our families in this ordeal.…

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Hawaii Sustainability Plan Update

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

HI Office of Planning News Release

Molokai residents wanting to participate in the State of Hawaii Office of Planning (OP) Statewide Sustainability Program will be able to do so in a series of virtual statewide Information Sharing Sessions to inform everyone about the Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Plan (the Plan). The Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Plan is being updated and revised to serve as the State’s climate and sustainability strategic action plan.

“The people of the State of Hawaii have long understood the challenges of our finite resources and the importance of co-existing with our ʻaina,” said Gov. David Ige. “We are witnessing rising sea levels, temperature rise, and a decrease in precipitation; these climate change hazards require long-term sustainability planning to guide strategic implementation.”…

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Keeping Up Appearances

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

By Father Pat Killilea, St. Francis Church, Kalaupapa

The phone rings. There is a clattering of high heeled shoes on the tile floor. Then a rather high pitch voice is heard saying, “Good afternoon! This is Mrs. Bouquet, mistress of the housing, speaking.” After a slight pause, the voice resumes, “Oh, it’s you Sheridan dear. How nice of you to call your mother.” We are tuning in to the voice of Mrs. Bucket, a lower middle-class housewife who is intent on climbing the ladder of society and wishes to be addressed as Mrs. Bouquet. She is the star of the 1990s British sitcom, “Keeping Up Appearances” and she acts as though she belongs to the upper class of society.…

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Join a County Board or Commission

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

County of Maui News Release

Applicants are being sought for 46 vacancies on Maui County boards, commissions, councils and committees, including on the Molokai Planning Commission.

Vacancies include five on the Council of Aging, four on the Public Works Commission and three on the Maui County Arborist Committee.

Two vacancies each is open on the Board of Ethics, Board of Variances and Appeals, Board of Water Supply, Commission on Children and Youth, Fire and Public Safety Commission, Hana Advisory Committee, Liquor Control Adjudication Board, Liquor Control Commission, Maui County Commission on Persons with Disabilities, Maui Planning Commission, Molokai Planning Commission, Maui Police Commission, Salary Commission, and the Committee Status of Women.…

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Molokai Drugs Celebrates 85 Years

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

Molokai Drugs Celebrates 85 Years

By Judy Mikami

It began in 1935…. While working at Benson-Smith, a large Honolulu drug store, a young pharmacist is asked if he would move to Molokai to become the island’s first pharmacist and also work with two plantation doctors,” Mikami writes. “It was a huge decision. Richard Sakata was supporting his widowed mother, but she encouraged him to move and to start a new life. Arriving when it was pitch-black on a cattle barge at the Kaunakakai harbor, one light shone away from the wharf. Richard thought, ‘What have I done? Did I make the right decision? Where will I live?’…

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Dr. Wong Now a Surgeon in Texas

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

Dr. Wong Now a Surgeon in Texas

By Catherine Cluett Pactol

Texas has a new surgeon… and he comes all the way from Molokai. Molokai High School alumnus Dr. Dayton Wong has settled in Plainview, Texas with his wife and two young sons, working with Covenant Health Plainview doing general surgery. He said the area feels like home.

“I absolutely love it,” Wong said, via email. “The people of the region remind me so much of the people back home here on Molokai. I am hoping to build a practice in this region of west Texas and am fortunate to have several experienced practitioners who are dedicated to the region as well.…

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One New Molokai Case Last Week

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

One New Molokai Case Last Week

By Catherine Cluett Pactol

Molokai logged one new COVID-19 case last Wednesday, Sept. 23, bringing the island’s total case count to 17.

Despite requests to break down the island’s total and active cases, the Dept. of Health has not yet begun providing that information so it remains unclear how many of Molokai’s cases are active.

Last week, Gov. David Ige signed a proclamation extending the COVID-19 emergency period through Oct. 31, leaving in place the 14-day mandatory quarantine requirement for both out of state and interisland travelers. However, beginning Oct. 15, a pre-travel testing option will allow out of state travelers an alternative to the mandatory 14-day quarantine by providing a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to travel to Hawaii.…

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