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Denise Taueetia Earns 2007 Hand-Up Entrepreneurial Award

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007

Denise Taueetia Earns 2007 Hand-Up Entrepreneurial Award

Denise Taueetia (at left), owner of Denise’s Baskets & More/Molokai Furniture, Denise’s husband Afa Taueetia(middle), MEO BDC CEO Susie Thieman (right).

 

 

 

Molokai Economic Opportunity Business Development Corp. (MEO BDC) has named Denise Taueetia of Denise’s Gift Shop/Molokai Furniture, the winner of the 2007 Hand-Up Entrepreneurial Award. 

In 2002 Denise heard about MEO BDC and its loan program. With a start-up micro loan she was able to begin the first part of her business dreams.   

Denise’s business did really well from the beginning, but she wished to expand in order to offer more for the people of Molokai. In talking with her customers, she discovered that they wanted a furniture outlet.  

After about a year of operating her gift store, she decided to bring in hardwood, unfinished furniture. She thought this would be easier to handle, but dealing with a wholesaler located in Canada proved very costly for her and her customers. Again, she listened to her customers and decided to venture into Hawaiian style rattan and wicker furniture. 

Denise has participated twice with MEO BDC booth at the Maui County Fair. She says that attending the fair brought her more contacts for products and sales than she could have ever found on her own. She thanks MEO BDC for their continued support in helping with her business.  

Last month Molokai Furniture celebrated its 4th anniversary. They have outgrown the store areas they now occupy at the Kualapuu Business Center & will soon move into a larger space in a new building located in the same center. The new location will have a larger area to better showcase her furniture and island gifts.   

When asked if she had any words of encouragement for new entrepreneurs, Denise replied, “They should really know what’s going on with their business…knowing the bookkeeping portion as well as the sales side and always paying attention to their customer’s needs and wants. Both play a large part in their business’ success.”  

Denise Taueetia was nominated by MEO BDC Molokai Loan Fund Manager Kuulei Arce.

Molokai Furniture can be seen at www.molokaifurniture.com.   

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Molokai Moments: Book Review

Monday, December 3rd, 2007

By Marie Yamashita

We’ve met him before. Remember the one who wrote about Keli’i, the honorary mayor of Molokai? Well, Donald Sunshine is on our radar again. This time he has written another book, “Molokai Moments,” which is unlike his first one, solemn and serious. His new book is cheery and chatty.

Sunshine’s first book sought to educate about the need to preserve Hawaiian culture and traditions. “Molokai Moments” has no such intention. “Molokai Moments” seeks only to tell readers tales about his life on Molokai, which he does in an entertaining manner. It is a light-hearted book, and fast readers can probably finish it in less than an hour

Sunshine, a part time Molokai resident from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, has put together anecdotes of his experiences on our insular, under-developed island of Molokai. In one instance he got a chuckle out of me when he cited his travails in getting his house built on Molokai, where promises of completion in four months stretched into far beyond and costs went up correspondingly. We locals sympathize and laugh because we’ve been there, too.

Then there was an account of his benevolent attempt to produce a CD of a local musician. Wow! Did that produce umpteen problems, the strictly Molokai kind that he would never encounter in Virginia? Auwe

Among Sunshine’s recollections and anecdotes are the good times at Aloha Fridays at Hotel Molokai, the celebrations at Sunday church services, and the ordeal and conquest of the trail to Kalaupapa by his wife and him.

In “Peoples,” one of the sections of the book, Sunshine makes short and insightful observations about Molokai residents.

Sunshine’s writing shows great affection for Molokai and its people. Here, he says, people are not afraid to smile and hug. He is right on the button there. Shopping, he describes, is a social experience. Pretty accurate there, too. As a host and tour guide to visiting friends, he faces the same problem the locals do when answering the question, “But what do you do here?”

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Fraternity of Molokai

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

Island name used for volunteer group inspired by Father Damien 

I was very pleased when someone e-mailed me your article “A Saint for Molokai” (October 29) about the cause for sainthood for Father Damien de Veuster. Molokai will definitely be proud when the day of canonization comes for this remarkable priest.

The article mentioned the history of the great works of Father Damien in Molokai, as well as the two miracles attributed to him that have been approved in the sainthood process. However, I would like to inform your readers about another compelling attribute of Father Damien’s legacy.

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Chevy’s Restaurant Review

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

Kualapu`u Cookhouse, fine food, laid back style.

What’s this? Extra tables and chairs in front of Kualapu`u Cookhouse? This can only mean one thing – it’s Thursday night and the prime rib is being made to order! But don’t worry, if your not a prime rib person there’s plenty more being offered on the menu.

For those meat lovers out there who are not in the mood for prime rib, there’s rack of lamb with Jim Dean demi-glaze, and bbq baby back ribs with guava BBQ sauce to be considered.

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Molokai Ranch (MPL) Withdraws La`au Point EIS

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Molokai Ranch (MPL) Withdraws La`au Point EIS

Solatario has worked at the Ranch for 27 years and has recently been adamant about his disapproval of MPL’s mistreatment of employees.

“I am not for the plan. I am not for La`au,” Solatario said. “If I don’t have a job tomorrow it is because I am honest. Only honest people they let go.”

Solatario’s defiant presentation brought tears to the eyes of many including several commissioners. Upon his exit, several hundred people in the room stood and applauded.

Withdrawal or Rejection

“The environmental laws are very precise, and they (MPL) chose the options they thought were best for the community and themselves,” Judge said. But at the end of the day, the lack of a thorough EIS proved too much for MPL.

 “I think the EIS was withdrawn because they (MPL) felt it was going to be rejected,” Maui County Planning Director Jeffrey Hunt said.

LUC Executive Officer Anthony Ching said the OEQC will decide MPL’s next step. According to Ching the expected outcome will be for MPL to start the process over again by filing a new Draft EIS.

While MPL faces the task of recreating its EIS for the La`au Point development, it could be forced to concurrently author a separate EIS for water use.

A recent opinion by state Deputy Attorney General Myra Kaichi mandates MPL provide an environmental assessment in order to continue renting use of the state owned Molokai Irrigation System.

Although details of Kaichi’s opinion are forthcoming, disappointed looks from MPL’s corner at the Friday hearing tell of a probable uphill climb for the company.
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Molokai Community Advisory Council Meeting

Monday, November 19th, 2007

The Governor’s Molokai Community Advisory Council will meet on Tuesday, November 20, 2007, at 3:00 p.m., at the Kulana O‘iwi, DHHL / OHA Conference Room, 600 Maunaloa Highway, Kaunakakai. The public is invited.
Danny Tengan, hurricane program planner, and Ina Chan, population protection planner, for the Hawaii State Civil Defense will discuss preparing for hurricanes and other natural disasters.  Their presentations include information about the state’s hurricane retrofit program for homes, how people with special needs can prepare for disasters, and recommendations about what to include in disaster preparedness kits.  
The Molokai Community Advisory Council holds monthly public meetings on the third Tuesday of each month to seek community input and advise the Governor of important issues on Molokai.  The council also recommends potential nominees for state boards and commissions.
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Remains of a Rainbow exhibit on display at the Molokai Museum and Cultural Center

Monday, November 12th, 2007

 

"We did not undertake this work to memorialize plants and animals that are destined to go extinct," said Liittschwager. "Quite the opposite. We have done it to call attention to their plight and with the hope that for most of them it is not too late."        

In addition to Remains of a Rainbow, Liittschwager and Middleton are the authors of three other acclaimed books on endangered species – Archipelago: Portraits of Life in the World's Most Remote Island Sanctuary, which focuses on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Witness: Endangered Species of North America, and Here Today: Portraits of Our Vanishing Species, which focuses on California. Their work has also been the subject of an Emmy Award winning-1997 National Geographic television documentary, America's Endangered Species: Don't Say Goodbye.

The R.W. Meyer Sugar Mill Museum, a.k.a. Molokai Museum and Cultural Center, on Kala‘e Highway, is open for tours Monday-Saturday, 10:00 am-2:00 pm for a small admission; admission to the cultural center is free.  
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Molokai Ripe for the Picking

Saturday, November 10th, 2007

Recently, I was handed a flier with a quote from Molokai Properties Limited's 2005 land value appraisal. I was shocked to read these words: "Molokai is the last undeveloped and unexploited major island in Hawaii. The physical diversity of land forms, it's proximity to Oahu, and the accepted need for economic stimulus in the community make the island a significant 'blank slate' ready for additional development in the near to mid-term."   

Holy Moly! What is particularly disturbing about this quote - besides its obvious greedy and speculative nature - is that it was written sometime in 2005. This means that it was written either during or after the community process which created the Community Based Master Land Use Plan For Molokai Ranch, aka "the Plan." (That 2-year process went from Sep. 2003 - Sep. 2005!)

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OHA Support for La`au and Molokai Land Trust in Question

Saturday, November 10th, 2007

I am writing to clarify a few issues that Bridget Mowat brought up in her October 25, 2007 letter to the editor. 

First, Office of Hawaiian Affiars (OHA) Chairperson Haunani Apoliona should have informed those who attended OHA’s October 17, 2007 Molokai meeting that both Trustee Mossman and I were in New York on official board business dealing with the Native Hawaiian Trust Fund.  Let me assure the Molokai community that, as a statewide at-large trustee, I am deeply concerned with La’au Point and would have made every effort to attend the meeting if it were not for the scheduling conflict.  Chair Apoliona should have also made sure whether the remaining trustees could attend or not and rescheduled the meeting if she didn’t have quorum. 

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Growing Green

Monday, October 29th, 2007

New Series Kicks Off by Featuring Hawaii's Own Kukui Tree

Growing Green is an informative new series in The Dispatch, that is all about plants in Hawaii and how we can use and propagate them.  We use plants for food, medicine, shade, and the like with bonsai piece of mind. 

There are countless numbers of different plants from 'A'ali'i to Zamia, from as small as algae to as large as Norfolk Island pine, and as sweet as mango to as sour as lemon.  Growing Green will showcase one plant per article. 

I feel that it is right to start with the kumula'au (trees).  To many ecosystems, trees, are the foundation in which the secondary plants, animals, and people benefit.  Hawaii is a fantastic place to tree watch.  With climates ranging from ocean to snowcapped peaks and from desert dry to rain forest the potential for diversity is high. 

Being on Molokai we’ll start with the Kukui Nut (Aleurites moluccana) which is also the official state tree of Hawaii.   Kukui was and is important to the people of Molokai.   It can be found from high mountain valleys to coastal lowlands and all parts of the plant can be used. 

Brought to Hawaii by the early Hawaiians Kukui nut is found all over the Pacific as far away as Malaysia.  Kukui Nut is a medium-large spreading tree 10 - 20 meters tall.  The spreading nature of the tree gives it a classic shade tree shape perfect for parks and public places. The tree also has the ability to grow straight up with no branches for over 40 feet to get to the sun in the shady valleys. 

The leaves of the Kukui are a beautiful silvery green that can be seen from miles away.  Interestingly there are a number of different varieties where the leaves, nuts, and even chemical composition vary. 

Today we see on TV the skin care products made from the oils of the kukui nut having a healing property to sun exposure.  Hawaiians have used nearly every part of the plant for some beneficial property.  Some of the uses for the nut were medicine, inomona, oil lamps, and in modern times lei. 

The sap was used as glue and the leaves for medicine, lei, and decoration.  Kukui wood is a soft pulpy wood. The fallen trunks of the Kukui have also been used in the propagation of the edible Hawaiian mushroom, Pepeau. 

Having so much significance it is nice to know it is not endangered and easy to grow.  With trees it is always important to know if a particular location is right for a particular tree.  Kukui is the kind of tree you don't want to put under your electrical lines or in tight places.  It wants to have room to spread out.  Pruning can do a lot shape and train a tree but natural tendencies need to be taken into account.

 In propagating the tree I like to pick the nuts or sometimes pick them off the ground.  It's always a good idea to look carefully at the nuts and make sure there are no unwanted beetles, ants, or other bugs.  Then I let them dry out a little bit over about a week or so.  Take off the outer covering and you will see the hard seed inside.  I like to dry this out for about a week or so as well.  Then I put the seed somewhere that’s wet and shaded.  You can do this in a pot on the shady side of your house and keep it watered but not sitting in a puddle.  

Germination times vary widely.  It can be as fast as 2-3 weeks but usually is somewhere between 1-4 months.  Once germinated the following growth is fast. I have planted a number of Kukui trees over the years and it is a very rewarding tree to grow.

Growing green is written by Fred Richardson/ Botanist, Owner of Molokai Nei Organics a Nursery and Landscaping company, 558-8215.

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