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Community

General news which affects the Molokai community in one way or another.

Parks and Rec Director Returns Home

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

Parks and Rec Director Returns Home

Community Contributed

By Zach Helm

It’s been approximately four years since I left Molokai to accept the appointment to Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation for the County of Maui. I am very grateful and honored to have served as the number two Administrator for the Department of Parks and Recreation. I would like to personally thank Mayor Charmaine Tavares for giving me the incredible opportunity. It’s also important that I thank Councilmember Danny Mateo for his continued support. He helped make many things possible.

The responsibility was huge, and at times very overwhelming. However, I enjoyed the day-to-day challenges and appreciated the hard work necessary to do the job. Being responsible for approximately 450 employees, an operation budget of approximately $28 million, and a capital improvement budget running at around $20 million annually, in my opinion, was rewarding and perspective changing. The things that seem easy and simple can sometimes in reality be very complicated. I feel confident we have done our best to serve the entire community in providing safe, satisfying, cost effective recreational opportunities for both the residents and visitors of the County of Maui.


Other regular tasks included monthly meetings with the Administration, assisting with personnel matters, County Council meetings, and public hearings, County Budget deliberations and so on.  

As we move forward, I look forward to returning to Molokai as the District Supervisor on Jan. 10, 2011. With my formal education – Recreation Degree, Central Washington State University – and over 29 years of experience, I’m ready to return to the community and my hometown once again to continue to provide the professional, people-friendly service for our entire community.  Thank you for allowing me to share and work towards a common goal. I look forward to my return.   


Projects Completed
•    Implementation of the Park Ranger Program; staff hired in 2007-2008
•    Removal and referral of approximately 150 homeless people at Kanaha Beach Park and Paukukalo Beach property
•    Maunaloa Community Center
•    Renovations and improvements to the Waiehu Golf Course Restaurant, Pro Shop, and Starters office
•    Grand opening of the new Waiehu Golf Course Maintenance Shop 
•    Ground breaking of the new South Maui Regional Park
•    Blessing and grand opening of the new Boys and Girls club in Lahaina 
•    Grand opening of the additional tennis courts in Lahaina 
•    Ground breaking and the grand opening of the new Molokai Parks Maintenance Shop and Base yard at Duke Regional Park.
•    Installation of new septic tank system for One Alii Park comfort station, Kilohana Community Center, and Papohaku Beach Park comfort station.
•    Improvements to the Iron Maehara Baseball Stadium facility and baseball field
•    Improvements to the War Memorial Complex Little League fields #1, 2, and 3
•    Wailuku Gym improvements
•    Keopuolani Park Playground Structure in Wailuku
•    Planning and preparation for the rock band Aerosmith and their concert at the War Memorial Stadium
•    Planning and preparation for the State High School Baseball Tournament at Iron Maehara Stadium
•    Planning and preparation for Golden League Baseball at Iron Maehara Stadium
•    Planning and preparation for the State Senior Softball at War Memorial Complex and Keopuolani 


On-going Projects:
•    Acquisition of Murphys Beach Park on Molokai (Maurice Point)
•    Kawaikapu Open Space on Molokai
•    Canoe Club lease agreement in Kaunakakai
•    Kaunakakai Gym improvements - exterior painting and removal of termite eaten lumber
•    Mitchell Pauole Center Pilot Project “Energy Savings Program”
•    Mitchell Pauole Center repairs - replacement of sliding doors and patching of the cement floors; contractor already selected
•    Cooke Memorial Pool improvements, completion in Jan. 2011
•    Paving of One Alii Park I entrance road way – has not been resurfaced in approximately 50 years
•    One Alii Park Playground structure
•    The new Parks Construction Maintenance Base yard in Wailuku
•    Long-term lease for Kihei Veterans Center – including requesting additional lands from DLNR, testifying in front of the Board of Land and Natural Resources and having the property re-surveyed.

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Big Gains in Metal Recycling

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

Big Gains in Metal Recycling

While frustrated residents have built up a cache of large metal materials needing to be recycled, the county’s temporary program is almost done – but with a lot of success.

Molokai’s recycling center and landfill used to host a metal recycling facility, but was shut down in Dec. 2009 after reaching its capacity. Patience Gaia, administrator for metals and abandoned vehicles in the county Department of Environmental Management, said hosting metal recycling events is actually more cost effective for islands like Molokai and Lanai.

“The previous facility [was] meant to be temporary,” Gaia said, adding that keeping the equipment and staff for metal recycling was costly. “We get more collection [of materials] in a short time than ongoing.” 

The county contracted Kitagawa Towing to receive and process the material, and the Community Work Day Program (CWDP) to provide assistance cleaning up sites and bringing material to the landfill.


Gaia said more than 120 cars have been received, as well as 200-plus appliances, 100 tons of scrap metal, and over 1,000 tires. After being crushed, the metal is sent to Oahu, and sometimes on to other markets such as China. Tires are shredded and turned into playground material or other rubber-based products, and cars and appliances are melted down to form new metal parts.

Rhiannon Chandler, executive director of CWDP, said they received a lot of calls from residents, and on-island crews were sent out to help clean up.

“It was really overwhelming,” she said. “People had this stuff on their property for a while, unable to get rid of it.”

The county is planning another metals collection event next spring, and Chandler added CWDP is planning on working with a towing company to help bring in large items like cars.

Almost Pau
Metal materials accepted during landfill hours until Sat., Dec. 11:
Tues-Sat 8 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
No charge for residents; call 658-9029 for more info

Can It Be Recycled?
Regular recycling accepts:
Cardboard, glass jars and bottles, aluminum, tin and steel food and drink cans, paper, newspaper, plastic bottles, plastic bags, yard debris, motor oil, HI-5 Deposit Bottles and Cans
NOT: Styrofoam, aluminum foil, molded plastics, magazines, ceramics, light bulbs, containers with food residue

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Mana`o Sought for Federal Protocol for Burials and Cultural Items

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Department of the Interior News ReleaseThe U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Native Hawaiian Relations, will conduct a community consultation meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 14 at the Kulana `Oiwi OHA/DHHL Conference Room, regarding its draft Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Consultation Protocol. NAGPRA requires consultation with Native Hawaiians in order to address the appropriate handling and disposition of iwi kupuna, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony located on federal lands and Hawaiian home lands.
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Tutu’s Corner

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Tutu’s Corner

Community Contributed

Column by Tutu and Me

Self-esteem is one’s regard for self; how we value ourselves. Most of the feelings about ourselves were established when we were children. Many people suffer from a low self-esteem, which leads to many other problems in their lives. Low self-esteem could, for example, lead to depression and even a life of oppression and crime as one strives to feel good about oneself. Therefore, it is very important, as caregivers of young children, that we help children to develop a healthy self esteem while they are young.

We are not advocating the exaltation of oneself or teaching children to feel superior to others. This can be very harmful. On the contrary, we are advocating the humble, thankful acceptance of oneself as good and beloved.

At Tutu and Me Traveling School, the staff strives to enhance the self-esteem of children as well as adults. We strive to give positive feedback to children and families, to demonstrate emphatic listening, to encourage children to make decisions about areas and to give children tools for identifying emotions, among others.


Try This at Home:
•    Hold and touch your baby during the first year of life. This is crucial. It is your baby’s first most comforting experience with the world.
•    Meet your baby’s basic needs (hunger, security, and comfort) quickly, consistently and sensitively. It is impossible to spoil a newborn baby.
•    Encourage your child daily with words. It is up to you to build your child up. Words to use include “good, well done, excellent, wow, correct, good idea, clever” and of course, “I am proud of you.”
•    Encourage your child daily with your body language: maintaining eye-contact when your keiki is talking to you, smiling, giving thumbs up, or simply hugging them will show beyond a doubt that you are paying attention and that they are important and valued.
•    Communicate respect for your child by emphatic listening and dialogue. Emphatic listening means listening to the emotional content of a message. This does not imply agreement. It is possible to empathize and disagree at the same time.
•    Focus corrective feedback on your child’s behavior, not on your child. Always make it crystal clear to your child that it is the behavior that you disapprove of, not your child.
•    Give honest and specific praise, often: Say “I liked the way you helped clean up the blocks,” is better than saying “you did a good job.”

Remember, wise is the parent who will help their child understand that by their very membership in the human race they are worth a lot!
Excerpts from Families Online Magazine, Sylvia Cochran, “Healthy Self Esteem for Your Child”

Contributions from Tutu and Me Traveling Preschool, a program of Partners in Development Foundation.  Tutu and Me is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

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Father Damien’s St. Joseph Church Rescued

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Father Damien’s St. Joseph Church Rescued

Community Contributed

By Maria Sullivan, St. Damien Parishioner

St. Joseph Church at Kamalo is a State Historic site and one of the most visited on Molokai.  Each year more than 4,000 Hawaii residents, visitors and pilgrims visit the church, built in 1876 by Father Damien and the Kamalo community. Today, due to the grace and generosity of many people, this 134-year-old church is being saved, so it can continue to tell the story of Molokai, and of one of its most famous residents, Father Damien. 

In addition to his work with the Hansen disease patients on the Kalaupapa peninsula, Father Damien also served as pastor and church builder for the Catholic faithful who lived on topside Molokai.  Of the churches built by Father Damien, St. Joseph Church at Kamalo remains in the most original condition.  However, due to time, weather and termites the church was at risk of being lost. A windstorm this past April complicated matters by blowing off the cross and tearing a large, gaping hole in the church’s eight-sided steeple spire.


There are still substantial costs ahead to evaluate the structural integrity of the steeple, and to reinstall a new top spire. Father Guerreiro and the parish are hopeful that donors will come forward and join the parish in its effort to “Save the Steeple” at Father Damien’s historic St. Joseph Church.

Help Save the Steeple
Make your check payable to: “St. Joseph Church Fund”
Attn: Fr. Clyde Guerreiro
Saint Damien Parish-St. Joseph Church Fund
P.O. Box 1948
Kaunakakai, HI  96748
For more information about the church and project, contact Maria Sullivan, St. Damien Parishioner (808) 553-5181; mjs@aloha.net

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Paddlers Closes Temporarily

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Paddlers Inn has still not received the OK to start serving liquor at their restaurant, despite having their permanent liquor license approved. Staff said they are waiting for the liquor commission before they are able to serve alcohol.

“Basically we just can’t afford to stay open on food alone and cost of running this place is too much,” said bar manager Mike Helm.

In order to cut costs, the restaurant will close temporarily, beginning last Monday, Nov. 29.

“It’s a miracle the place has been open this long on food alone,” Helm said.

Paddlers Inn thanks the community for their support.
 

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Revered Sergeant Retires

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Revered Sergeant Retires

Michelle Tancayo remembers being nine and having to move to Maui, while her dad trained to be a police officer.

“We soon found ourselves in a new school, with new friends, and a new career for my dad.”

Tancayo’s dad, Sgt. Timothy “Timmy” Meyer, is a steadfast Molokai cop whose decades of experience and dedication is seen by many as the epitome of a good small-town officer. It would be difficult to imagine him any other way.

“I had no inclinations to be a police officer,” he said in a recent interview.

More than 30 years ago, after 15 years of working in construction – including work on the Molokai Irrigation System – and in corn seed production, Meyer took both the police officer and firefighter entrance exams.

He was offered a job as a patrolman, and never looked back.

that I can never repay,” Yabuta said.

It is not in Meyer’s nature to slow down simply because he won’t be working at the Molokai Police Station every day. Meyer said he will take the next few months off before he and his wife head off on two-year mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He said because of his law enforcement background, he will possibly be assigned to security work in South Africa, Germany, Asia or Salt Lake City.

“I know my husband has served with integrity and with the privacy he needed to serve the people of Molokai,” Donna Meyer added. “We thank everyone who has acknowledged his service with appreciation. May we continue to take care of our aina, keiki, and preserve the integrity of the island, by contributing good citizenship.”

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Mahalo Molokai For Your Support

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Mahalo Molokai for supporting the boys and girls of the Molokai Air Riflery Club.  The first shoot out for the club was held at MPC on November 19, 2010.  We had five divisions – men’s first place winner Michael Cabico, women’s first place winner Bonnie Auchenback, boy’s ages 13-18 fist place winner Kailen Inouye, girl’s ages 13-18 first place winner Britt Nerveza, kid’s ages 6-12 first place winner Kai Boy Magdirilla.  It was an awesome night, the crowd was amazing. 

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Going Home

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

By Estrella Madani

There are many things you expect when coming home from college: a crowd of family members awaiting you at the airport, your bed made the way it was when you were a child, and friends calling you everyday to hang out. Imagine my surprise when I touched down at MKK airport that December of 2009 after what seemed like the longest four months of my life and there was no crowd and many friends that stayed home after graduation had a full-time job while those who went to the mainland for college spent their limited time with family. Luckily, my bed WAS made the same way it was when I was a child (thanks mom). Driving from the airport, a recurring paradox wouldn’t leave me alone: that life on Molokai had gone on without me, yet nothing changed at all.

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Oh Deer!

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

Scary encounters between cars and deer crossing at Maunaloa, sometimes in Kalae too. Several incidents just yesterday. Deer cross in larger numbers to get water. One of these days these encounters will hurt some people or worse! Some of them are tourist cars. Those deer are quick, and before the driver knows it, bang! Extra warning signs are needed. Careful out there driving, especially in the dark!
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