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A Little Ouch Can Prevent a Painful Flu

Friday, October 10th, 2008

Free flue immunizations making the way around town.

Windy Kaiama, RN, administers the flu vaccine to Donna Puaa.

By Marie Nowell and Catherine Cluett

The Molokai Health System purchased 500 flu immunization doses, and gave over 120 shots to patients at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday. It was the second of four locations where the shots are being administered around the island over the course of a week and a half. Immunizations will continue at Lanikeha and Maunaloa this week.
Janice Kalanihuia of Molokai General Hospital says practitioners of many Molokai health organizations banded together for the project including Dr. Dan McGuire, Molokai Community Health Center, Molokai Drug Store, Molokai Family Health Center, Molokai General Hospital, and Na Pu’uwai.

“We want to make sure as many people as possible are immunized on Molokai,” she said. The shots are free to those whose insurance companies won’t cover the immunization.

Vaccinations are especially recommended children 6 months through 18 years of age and anyone 50 years. Although the free immunizations are only being given to adults, it is recommended to anyone who wants to reduce the likelihood of becoming ill or spreading the flu virus to others.

Flu viruses are always changing, so scientists update the vaccine each year to match those most likely to cause flu that year. Therefore, an annual vaccination is recommended. When there is a close match in virus strains, the vaccine protects most people from serious illness, and even without a close match, some protection is still provided. The vaccine will not prevent “flu-like” illnesses caused by other viruses.

Risks and side effects are extremely minimal, but like any medicine, can cause serious health problems, such as severe allergic reactions. Mild problems may include fever, aches, and/or soreness, redness or swelling where the shot was given.

Any slight discomfort for short periods is well worth it to keep you healthy during the flu season.

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Ranch Requests Quarter Million in Property Tax Breaks

Friday, October 10th, 2008

Ranch Requests Quarter Million in Property Tax Breaks

Says Kaluakoi Hotel worth $315,000.

By Molokai Dispatch Staff

Molokai Properties Limited (MPL), known as Molokai Ranch, got rid of its biggest operational expense when it closed down and terminated its employees in March. Now MPL management is trying to continue cutting expenses by appealing over 72 of its property tax bills received from Maui County for 2008.

If MPL management is successful with its appeals, it will save over $250,000 in property tax payments it makes to the County.

Depreciated Values
In 2007, MPL appealed taxes on nine properties assessed by the company at $22,899,600. In appeals documents, MPL claimed the properties were only worth $16,512,900. In 2008, the company is claiming that the same lands have depreciated to $6,255,570, according to 2008 appeal documents.

Last week the County’s Real Property Tax Board of Review traveled to Kaunakakai to hear appeals from a number of Molokai landowners including MPL for 2007 property tax bills.

Dan Orodenker, General Manager for MPL, appeared briefly at the meetings and advised the Board that MPL was withdrawing its 2007 appeals on all nine properties.

He offered no definitive reason for the withdrawal.

The Board of Review will return to Molokai at a later date to take up 2008 appeals.

One of the nine properties is the Kaluakoi Hotel, which was closed in 2001 and has been allowed by MPL to continue deteriorating. For 2008, the County valued the 18 acre hotel site and buildings at $5,867,600. MPL is appealing, and claims the hotel property should only be valued at only $315,290, less than the cost of an average single family home on Molokai.

If MPL is successful with its appeal, the property taxes on the hotel property for 2008 will be only $545.88, according to County records. The tax would be less than what many residents living in Kaunakakai’s Ranch Camp subdivision pay on their modest single family homes.

Uncontested Properties
Despite MPL filing over 70 property tax appeals with the County for 2008, there are many properties over which MPL is not challenging the County.

One property is the 6,348 acre La’au Point parcel for which MPL is planning a controversial 5-mile coastal development. In 2006, MPL reported to investors that the La’au parcel was worth $14,910,000.
The County has the property currently assessed at only $147,400. MPL’s 2008 tax bill for La`au is $1,091. This is substantially less than what many Kaluakoi residents are paying on their individual homes and condos.

MPL is not contesting this tax bill.

MPL’s now-defunct 30-acre Kaupoa Beach Village site is also not being contested. While it appraised in Ranch figures for $5,380,000 a few years ago, the County has it valued at only $105,400 in 2008. MPL’s property tax bill for this property is a mere $474 for the year.

A State of Decline and Few Remaining Trees
Before the shutdown of operations in March, MPL had warned of a “doomsday” scenario should it be unsuccessful in developing La`au Point. Indeed, since shutting down operations, MPL has allowed its oceanfront properties to fall into disrepair.

Most of the trees on the Kaupoa property have died, and what little else on the property remains similarly continues to deteriorate. At the company’s Kaluakoi Hotel, sidewalks are falling into the sea while hotel rooms host stray cats and beehives.

In a correspondence to homeowners, MPL has told residents that the company will be cutting down the remaining coconut trees because of liability issues and because MPL does not have the funds to keep the trees trimmed.

Kaluakoi condo owners are circulating an “adopt a tree” letter, however, and residents are being asked to contribute $70 per remaining tree every nine months for trimming and debris removal. The donation will be paid to MPL.

“It’s very important we do what we can to save the remaining trees. Once they are cut they will not grow back in our life times,” wrote West end resident Jeff Kent, who has already contributed $840. The sum will keep MPL from cutting 12 trees. In the letter Kent said there were approximately thirty trees remaining.

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Let’s Talk Story

Friday, October 10th, 2008

For a lot of us, one of the great memories of home comes from those times on the lanai, or around the kitchen table, where we just talk about what is going on around us. Who is doing this and that, what cousin is moving where, some politics, a little bit of just plain sharing the moment. Call it chewing the fat, wala‘au, talk story, it is more than sharing the news.

As a Senator representing a wonderfully complex district, I often wish I had more time to spend with every one of you. I learn great things in every conversation, feel your support and, sometimes, your disappointment or frustration. Talking with you is the best way I know to learn what is going on, and where your deepest concerns lie.

For my friends and ‘ohana on Moloka‘i, I know that there are day-to-day concerns that sometimes do not make it across the channel to the media on Maui or in Honolulu. Anyone with a deep understanding of Moloka‘i appreciates that the conversations in your homes and in the community are where the grassroots issues first come up.

I would like to make this column—which I hope will be the first in a long weekly series—a regular way for us to carry on this conversation. Serving our district means facing some simple geographical facts. We cover four islands, so it is not likely that everyone will gather in the same place. And while technology may make it seem that your neighbors on Lana‘i and in Hana are closer than ever, there are still challenges in seeing where your interests are the same, and where they may differ.

Frankly, we just won’t have as many chances to sit and talk story in the traditional ways. But rather than give up on that time-honored tradition, we will simply have to find new ways to keep the conversation going.

At the same time, I don’t want to be the person who comes to your house and won’t stop talking long enough for you to let you share your mana‘o too. Instead, I hope that this will be a place where we can share ideas. You can look forward to not only a report of what issues are at the top of the Senate’s agenda, but also what I am hearing in my community meetings with your neighbors. I will share my opinions, and I hope you will free to share your as well.

Of course, for this to work as a new version of an old-fashioned talk story session, it is up to you to speak up and join in. I know that sometimes community members feel that their representatives stop caring as soon as they get elected, or that we lose sight of their concerns once we land in Honolulu. Join me in overcoming those old ideas and artificial barriers. Call me at my Senate office, email me, or come to a community meeting and tell me what concerns you.
So let’s talk story.

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State ID Cards On Molokai

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

State ID personnel will be at Mitchell Pauole Community Center on Molokai toprocess applications for State ID cards on Saturday, October 25, 2008, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The fee is $10.00 for senior citizens 65 years and older, and $15.00 for all others, payable incash only. State ID cards will be processed and mailed to applicants within ten business days.
Priority will be given to applicants with completed application forms and required certified documents. Applications without these documents cannot be processed.
New applicants must minimally provide an original social security card and a certified
copy of their birth certificate (or resident alien card, if applicable).
For renewals of current ID cards with no change in name or citizenship, no other
documents are required.
All changes in name or status due to marriage, divorce, annulment, adoption, or
citizenship must be supported by certified government-issued documents. Altered or
illegible documents are not acceptable.
Recorded information on application requirements is available at (808) 587-3111 and on the Internet at www.stateid.hawaii.gov. Further questions can be directed to (808) 587-3112. Application forms are available on the Web site and at the State ID office, and will also be available at Mitchell Pauole Community Center on October 25, 2008.
Mitchell Pauole Community Center is located at Aiona Street and Ala Malama Avenue in
Kaunakakai. A map is provided at www.stateid.hawaii.gov.

For more information, contact:
Liane Moriyama, Administrator, or
Virtta Hite, Civil ID Supervisor
Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center
(808) 587-3110
hcjdc@hcjdc.state.hi.us
www.hawaii.gov/hcjdc

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The Molokai Dispatch Online

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

No Comment Part I
Properly registered forum posters will be more responsible. On the Maui News (website) I contributed frequently, but I am glad that the forums are gone. I am not only disappointed that such nastiness exists among us in paradise, but I am also embarrassed that the whole world can read this stuff - much of that gibberish was posted by poorly raised teenagers. If, in the name of the first amendment, we abuse this free speech by making others feel awful, then we need someone to put a stop to these voices from hell.

I asked myself the question why things got ugly over in the (Times website), and I can only surmise that in the "Times" nobody had to put a forum name to their posts. This was confusing to say the least. I signed myself as "harmony" over there so that others recognize me as having a certain motive in my dialog. I often wish that there would be some lively input of opinions and suggestions (at the Dispatch website) as well.

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$100 Youth Grants Available

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

By Clare Mawae

I would like to thank the Molokai Visitors Association, Young Brothers, and Akimeka for helping to make the Molokai Challenge part of ‘A Celebration of Youth Opportunities’ possible for 2008. I would also like to thank Elle Cochran who gave her all to be part of the main fundraising effort on Maui to help raise money for the Molokai youth. With her efforts along with others they raised $1800 and from that Youth in Motion will be distributing 15 mini grants of $100 to different Youth organizations on Molokai. Mahalo Robert Novoselic from Maui Sports net for donating much of your time in filming the event and creating the annual film footage for the past five years.

The qualification for the mini grants is for an organization to be involved with youth. The organization can use the money towards off island youth travel expenses or towards programs on Molokai. Although the funds are small this year, it is hoped that we can generate much more for next year. The purpose of the crossing is for each team to raise money for every mile that they do and half of their money raised goes to a charity or youth program of their choice and the other half go towards Youth In Motion who will distribute within the community.

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Sadness at Kaupoa

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

Sadness at Kaupoa

By Cheryl Sakamoto

Three weeks ago, I walked along the beach from Dixie Maru to Kaupoa and then further on to La'au Point. I wanted to share the beauty of the island with a visitor from the Mainland who expressed her newly-discovered love for this island and the people.  She mentioned how apparent it was that the people of this island seemed so connected to where they live and how privileged she felt to experience such precious moments here. 

Then we arrived at Kaupoa, and she watched my smile turn to disbelief and sadness.  When she looked around and saw the trees dying and the torn-apart building
structures where the tentalows stood, she asked if we had had a natural disaster here.
 
It took me awhile to reply that this was a man-made disaster.  The trees, at least 40 of them, looked so sad as they seemed to be struggling to live. Ironically, the area off to the side where Anakala Pilipo Solatorio stewarded the cultural site with his heart and soul was green and soaking wet.

Just the other day, a longtime friend of mine from Oahu, the coach of Lanikai Canoe Club was recalling his memories of 2004, the year when Lanikai crossed the Channel first in the race. He shared with me how significant their stay at Kaupoa had been for all of them as a team. 

It was a place where they had felt invulnerable, and they would carry this feeling with them through the finish line.  I knew that I could not describe what I had witnessed, so I showed him the photos I took, and he too, could not believe the sad destruction.

Clearly we all have different origins and experiences. Understanding our privilege to be anywhere in the world and remembering to leave it in a better condition than we found it is more than an environmental commandment. This island is blessed with many people who wish to steward the land towards its own sustainability.  So in contrast to the disappointment of Kaupoa, I would like to reaffirm and thank the efforts of all those who continue to toil the land and foresee a sustainable future for Moloka'i.

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Eminent Domain Is NOT A Right to Take Property from Molokai Ranch

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

By George Peabody

There is not a "Takings Clause" in the Fifth Amendment beyond the implied necessity to purchase movable objects.  Land is not mentioned. Read it!

The concept of "eminent domain" wherein the state legislators hold all lands as a sort of their kingdom in waiting does not exist in the Constitution for the United States of America.  The "takings power" they now call Eminent Domain is an ignorant interpretation of the 5th Amendment by treasonous fascist attorneys who have usurped the judiciary and deceived The People.

Crooked attorneys/judges and politicians write such outrageous rational to perpetuate their status.

The U.S. Constitution states the following, "The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needed Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State."  CLEARLY, only the CONGRESS may dispose of or make needed rules and regulations respecting territory or property of the United States and neither the union nor the States can make prejudicial claims over private property.

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Judge Rules to Review Secret Procurement Opinion in Akaku Case

Monday, October 6th, 2008

 By the Akaku Team

Akaku: Maui Community Television enjoyed a small victory in the courts last week, regarding its lawsuit against the State Attorney General (AG) and the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA).

In his Motion for Summary Judgment dated Monday, Sept. 29, Judge Joel August ordered the Defendants to release by Nov. 15 an AG opinion that has to this day been a secret for DCCA eyes only. Judge August will privately review the underlying premises that began this controversy more than three years ago before deciding whether or not to make it public.

At the crux of the lawsuit is the DCCA's and AG's take that Hawaii's cable access television stations should submit to a state procurement or bidding process. Meanwhile, Akaku's concern is that procurement behind closed doors on O`ahu would remove community voices from deciding who runs public access, and leave it up to state government agencies.
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Fake Funny Farms – Maui County redefines agriculture to include vacation rentals.

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

By Glenn Teves

It seems like we’re constantly changing the definition to words to suit our lifestyle changes and our response to money.  Once upon a time, agriculture meant the production of food, fiber, and timber. All of a sudden, this definition is being turned on its head with the recent enactment of a law that allows transient vacation rentals on agricultural lands. Has the County gone over the edge or do they know something that we don’t? 

Just like the song of the late 60’s by Cat Stevens, “Where do the children play”, my question now is “where do the farmers farm if they farm at all”. With some farm land in Maui County exceeding $500,000 an acre, probably the highest in the nation, who in their right mind will want to farm when they’ll be spending the rest of their life paying for the land. Farm land has shifted from a resource, as envisioned in our state constitution, to a commodity sold to the highest bidder and the County is taking the lead in making this happen.

Fake and funny farms dot the island from east to west, along with a new generation of pseudo-farmers all trying to find a way to get out of farming, yet still benefit from the zoning and tax breaks. Now, there’s a new crutch to lean on and make big bucks with transient vacation rentals, and bed and breakfasts.

I attended a Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Kona last week and the first question asked of everyone was, “What will be needed to create stronger local and regional food systems that are less reliant on imports from elsewhere?” Expecting responses such as farmers market and community-supported agriculture, my response was ‘a catastrophe’. The only way we will change in Maui County is when a disaster forces us to change. By that time, we’ll be eating each other.

Still, the question begs to be answered, “Who will grow our food when the farms are surrounded by houses with residents screaming about the tractor noise, dust, and funny smells and the farmers give up. This is already happening. But who really cares anyway! I still remember a farmer in Colorado I visited who used to spread manure on his fields from nearby feedlots each spring, and would receive a barrage of calls from irate neighbors. When asked, “What is that smell? He replied, “It’s the smell of money.”

Well, not anymore. Now with the New Wave Maui farming, you don’t even have to add manure or fertilizer to your fields. You can create a farm without even farming. All you have to do is construct transient vacation rentals on your farm land, and paste farm pictures on all the windows so your visitors think they’re staying on a farm. You can change the pictures by the seasons, such as classic Tuscany in the spring, or Napa Valley in the late summer.

You can create the ultimate in local cuisine by heading down to Safeway or Costco, buying all kinds of fruits, vegetables, fish and shrimp from Chile, Mexico, China, and who knows where, head back home, and whip up a luscious brunch for your unknowing visitors. No one would be the wiser, and visitors would have a once in a lifetime experience as a result. If you want to get fancy, you can spice things up and add a little more ambiance at the same time by tying a Holstein cow near the entrance to your rental units.

 

I would never have come up with this great idea on my own, and have to thank the county council and the mayor for thinking ‘outside the box’ and being on the cusp of regional land use planning. I hope they keep their thinking caps on, because I know this is only the beginning of some great ideas to come. If they run out of more ideas, I have some smart pills on hand that I can donate to them, but they have to move fast because it’s only good until my rabbit gets the runs.

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