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Zachary Helm: A Career of Building Services

Thursday, February 6th, 2014

Zachary Helm: A Career of Building Services

After spending more than 30 years building dozens of programs and facilities while serving as the island’s first Department of Parks and Recreation District Supervisor, Zachary Helm has retired. From Kilohana to Maunaloa, softball leagues to youth programs, community centers to playgrounds, Helm has left a huge mark on Molokai during his career.

Among his biggest accomplishments, Helm counts the building of a $1.4 million baseyard for the Molokai Department of Parks and Rec at Duke Maliu Park, which now houses a maintenance shop, vehicle and equipment storage, office space and a staff area. Before its completion in 2010, the department has no centralized headquarters and lacked adequate storage.…

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Veterans Corner

Thursday, February 6th, 2014

Veterans Corner

Community Contributed

By Jesse Church

Aloha my fellow veterans and residents of Molokai, old Jesse here with the veterans news. All of you football fans know that the NFL just played the Pro Bowl in Honolulu on Sunday, Jan. 26. A good friend Scotty Schaefer and his wife Lynette decided to go to the game, along with their son Masi, who lives on Oahu, and myself.

We began to plan the details, and I called the NFL offices in New York City and spoke with Terry Wooten in the special events department. He was great, and set us up with four tickets in the handicapped section.…

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Hundreds Testify on GMO and Pesticide Bill

Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

More than 100 Molokai residents sat all day outside Molokai’s county offices last Tuesday, waiting to testify on a proposed Maui County bill aimed at regulating pesticide use and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

As currently written, the bill would establish mandatory disclosure requirements for commercial agricultural companies using certain quantities of pesticides, create buffer zones around schools, other public areas and bodies of water, and require public notification before pesticide applications. It also calls for the county to complete studies on the possible environmental and health impacts of large-scale agricultural companies that use pesticides and GMOs.

Introduced by Maui Council Member Elle Cochran, the bill resembles one passed into law on Kauai in November.…

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Molokai Farmers’ Half-Court Shot for $10,000

Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

Rawlins Chevron and Molokai Drugs News Release

Some lucky fan will win $10,000 if s/he can make a shot from the half-court at Molokai High School’s Barn.

The “Molokai Farmers’ half-court shot at $10,000” is a fundraiser for the Molokai High athletics department. One randomly chosen ticket owner (age 18 or older) will attempt the shot on Friday, Feb. 7, at halftime of the boys’ varsity game against St. Anthony School. The fundraiser is sponsored by Shirley Rawlins of Rawlins Chevron and David Mikami of Molokai Drugs.

Tickets are currently being sold at $5 each at Molokai General Store and Rawlins Chevron.…

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Bill to Address Radiation Concerns

Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

Community Contributed

By Jade Bruhjell

Hawaii, a close neighbor of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, sits poised to be further enveloped by radioactive elements brought by air and Pacific Ocean currents from Japan. Being a new sort of disaster, we find ourselves stunned and confused with conflicting reports, and after over two years, still unable to fathom how to cope with a continuing and escalating catastrophe here in our Island chain. Sea life and drinking water are two of the most affected aspects, and on Molokai, fishing is such a part of daily life that we need to think seriously about current levels of radiation.…

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Power Outages Unexplainable

Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

Maui Electric Company representatives visited Molokai last week to discuss a series of power outages on the island over the last year and explain their cause — or rather, to call them unexplainable.

There were 16 major outages on Molokai between Jan. 6 and Dec. 22, 2013, according to Joe Kentz, manager of Maui Electric’s transmission and distribution department. Three of those, not including a fourth in January of this year, have no identifiable cause.

“We really can’t explain what’s going on,” said Kentz. “I’ve been in this industry for 43 years and I’ve always been able to find the cause of a problem… We will find cause.…

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Ventures in Vanilla

Friday, January 31st, 2014

Ventures in Vanilla

Deep in one of Molokai’s lush east valleys, a translucent, arched roof frames green peaks and greener foliage as far as the eye can see.

“These are the girls!” says Patty McCartney with motherly pride, stepping through the door and glancing around fondly. She tilts her head to get a closer look at each, brushing them gently with her hand and telling them they’re beautiful and growing well.

The girls are vanilla plants, a type of orchid vine producing beans that hold one of the world’s most popular flavors and fragrances.

“I come up here and talk to them, sing to them, fertilize and pollinate them,” she says.…

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Tips from the Vet for Your Pet: Identification

Thursday, January 30th, 2014

Tips from the Vet for Your Pet: Identification

Community Contributed

By Dr. Stewart Morgan, Molokai Humane Society

Losing a pet can be scary. Keeping identification on pets is the single best way to make sure your dog or cat gets home if they are missing or get hurt. It only takes a second for the best behaved, best taken care of pet to get loose and run off exploring. Even indoor pets can get loose and become lost. It is, therefore, very crucial that you build a dog fencing system around your yard to keep your pet safe.

When loose dogs are found, the first place that people usually contact are the Molokai Humane Society or the island’s Animal Control Officer.…

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Hanabusa Talks With Molokai

Thursday, January 30th, 2014

Hanabusa Talks With Molokai

With the primary election approaching in August, Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa made a stop on Molokai last week and sat down to talk story with residents and answer questions. Here, The Molokai Dispatch summarizes some of those questions and her responses.

A fourth generation resident from the Waianai coast, Hanabusa said though she is not Native Hawaiian, the cause is especially important to her, along with education and seeing student success in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

Question (Q): How do you see the future of energy in Hawaii?
Colleen Hanabusa (CH): You’re not going to go independent of fossil fuels overnight.…

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Frustrations with Automated Answering

Thursday, January 30th, 2014

Community Contributed Opinion by Robert Granger Did you ever notice that what you get is often the opposite of what was promised?  For example, we are told that the evolution of the automated phone answering service employed today by many businesses has been implemented to improve services for the customer.  Actually nothing is free.  The trade off, if in fact it does improve services, is cauliflower ear from long waits while the automated voice takes you through meaningless options (listening carefully as it has been changed, like I call often enough to remember the old one). You are forced to remember the numbers for the services and later pick the one that best “fits” your original intent for calling this business. …

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