Author Archives: Catherine Cluett Pactol

Molokai Hosts First-Ever Cross Country MIL Championship

Thursday, October 24th, 2013

Molokai Hosts First-Ever Cross Country MIL Championship

For the first time in the history of the Molokai High School Cross Country team, the Maui Interscholastic League (MIL) Championship race was held on Molokai, bringing schools from around Maui County to compete on the Farmers’ home turf. More than 150 athletes representing nine schools ran the three-mile course at Ironwood Hills Golf Course, with Seabury Hall taking the girls team crown, while Lahainaluna boys won first place for team score.

Results from the MIL championship event also determine who qualifies to compete in the state meet this weekend — and Molokai’s Luke Kikukawa will be one of those running.…

MHS Hosts First-Ever MIL X-C Championships On Saturday

Wednesday, October 16th, 2013

MHS Hosts First-Ever MIL X-C Championships On Saturday

Community Contributed

By Sue Forbes

For the first time ever, Molokai is hosting the Maui Interscholastic League Cross Country Championships to be held this Saturday, Oct. 19 at Ironwoods Golf Course. The Boy’s race begins at 11 a.m. Upon completion of the boy’s race, the girls will toe the line to determine who will be crowned champion.

Molokai High School is hosting this competition for the first time. More than 150 off-island competitors will make the journey to Molokai to race. Members of Molokai High School’s Boy’s X-C team are: Greyson Aldridge, Kealohanui Helm, Luke Kikukawa, Tanner Mosher, Makana Naki, Keaoalono Ross, and Erik Svetin.…

Oceanic Cable Franchise Hearing on Molokai Tuesday

Friday, October 11th, 2013

Akaku: Maui Community Television News Release

Oceanic Time Warner Cable’s franchises to provide cable service in Maui County expire at the end of 2013. The current franchises were issued by the State of Hawaii more than 15 years ago, and the cable company has filed an application with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) to continue providing cable service in Maui County for the next 20 years.

DCCA’s new Cable Administrator, Catherine Awakuni, welcomes comments from the communities of Maui County as DCCA reviews Oceanic Time Warner’s application. In the next few weeks, DCCA will hold public hearings in Kahului and Lahaina, and on Molokai and Lanai.…

Rising from the Rocks

Wednesday, September 4th, 2013

Rising from the Rocks

Native plants making a comeback

Editorial by Catherine Cluett

We’re bumping along a rocky track, ascending steeply through a landscape some would call lunar. Ahead of us is mostly gray—Kawela’s barren, stony slopes and gulches, topped by a thin line of green where the mountaintops meet the sky. But I can’t help turning in my seat of our all-terrain vehicle toward the view behind us—each bump expands a breathtaking panorama of Maui to the east, Lanai’s slender back, the turquoise fingers of Molokai’s south shore reef, and the slopes of Pu`u Nana to Molokai’s west.

In the years before European contact in the 19th century, these mountainsides were covered in lowland forests, according to historic records.…

Dream Green Team

Thursday, August 29th, 2013

Talking trash isn’t usually a good thing, but a small team in Kalaupapa is changing the way people think about rubbish with their award winning solid waste management program. The Kalaupapa National Historical Park (KNHP) Green Team, comprised of five local Molokai employees, has received national recognition for the work they’re doing to make the peninsula a statewide model of waste management.

The team — Arthur Ainoa, Joseph Kahee, Brennan Lee-Namakaeha, Pa`oneakai Lee-Namakaeha, and Ryan Mahiai — has recently been named one of seven recipients of the National Park Service’s 2013 Environmental Achievement awards. The award recognizes their accomplishment of drastically reducing the peninsula’s solid waste through recycling, composting, conserving and reusing.…

MECO Scheduled Kaluakoi Outages

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

MECO News Release

Maui Electric Company (MECO) is scheduling an electricity outage for the Kaluakoi subdivision in west Molokai this Friday, Aug. 23, from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. The planned outage is part of an improvement project to install new equipment in that area.

As part of this project, periodic outages will be scheduled through October to replace several switchgears. A combination of electrical disconnect switches, fuses or circuit breakers used to control, protect and isolate electrical equipment, switchgears provide continued reliability of the electrical supply.

Should there be any questions or concerns, please contact Maui Electric directly at 1-877-871-8461.…

Impaired Driving Enforcement

Wednesday, August 21st, 2013

Maui Police Department News Release

The Maui Police Department will be participating with the nationwide Impaired Driving National Enforcement crackdown from August 16 to September 2, 2013. Police will set up intoxication checkpoints at unannounced locations and times during this two week period. Intoxication checkpoints will be set up county wide, which will include Hana, Lanai and Molokai.

People are encouraged to drive sober. Those that will be consuming alcoholic beverages are reminded not to drive and to use a designated driver or find an alternate mode of transportation.

Police will also step up enforcement with seat belt usage, speeding and electronic mobile devices.…

Brother Dutton Statue Installed

Monday, August 19th, 2013

Brother Dutton Statue Installed

Molokai Catholic parishioners got to see the face of a new statue of Brother Joseph Dutton for the first time when it arrived on the island from China last Thursday. The statue of the Civil War veteran who worked for 45 years in Kalaupapa with St. Damien depicts him in his youth wearing his Union uniform. There is a growing movement to promote Dutton to sainthood alongside Damien and Marianne Cope, and the statue may be one starting point for that process, said Molokai’s Father Bill Petrie of St. Damian Catholic Parish.

The statue was donated to Molokai by Oahu benefactor John Perreira, who worked with local residents, including the late parishioner Larry Helm, former commander of the Molokai Veterans Caring for Veterans, to design the statue.…

Taking on the Big Blue

Thursday, August 15th, 2013

Taking on the Big Blue

Since Leahi Camacho, of Kona, Hawaii, was six years old, she said she and the water have been inseparable.

“For as long as I can remember, I have been a distance swimmer,” she said.

Now, the 17-year-old is attempting something not many have successfully accomplished: swimming the 26-mile Ka`iwi Channel between Molokai and Oahu. On Aug. 17 at 11 p.m., she plans to take her last steps on land for about 15 hours. Leaving from Hale O Lono, she will swim through the night for a planned landing the next day at Sandy Beach on Oahu. She hopes to become the youngest swimmer ever to swim the channel.…

Partnering for Preservation

Wednesday, August 14th, 2013

Partnering for Preservation

Protecting Molokai’s Watersheds

An understanding of the connections between mountains and ocean — mauka and makai — is rooted in ancient Hawaiian culture. Today, invasive species and human impacts are threatening to clog Molokai’s reef — the most extensive coral reef in the Main Hawaiian Islands — with sediment washed down from the mountain slopes. Today, scientists are doing studies to provide proof of this evidence and offer their data to help find solutions. And today, Molokai residents are meeting together to discuss those solutions and taking action to protect the island’s most valuable resources — both the mountains and the ocean.…