Punalu’u Black Sand Beach
Kona Kai Ea Surfrider Chapter Inaugurates!
Hi SKY ~ Sorry this news is reaching you almost a month late, but as they say, better late than never!
This sent to me by Dr. Rick Bennett, Co-chair
Aloha,
The Kona Kai Ea chapter of the Surfrider Foundation had its inaugural meeting last thursday night. It was well attended and the excitement in room was amazing. We heard about the amazingly good work of Surfrider Maui from Jan Roberson and about the threats and opportunities to Keep it Blue from Rick. The members of the Executive Committee all took part to make the event a Big Wave.
We announced 3 campaigns and a philosophy for our chapter
1. Keep it Blue… water quality and watershed education, monitoring and outreach. It is sad to see our water getting greener in some places. The time is now to stop it and we must address the landscape scale of this issue
2. Keep it Clean… Our beach clean up program will begin Sept 13 at Kohanaiki Pine trees in concert with the Ladies Surfing Contest. Come help us clean and win prizes for the most trash.
3. Keep it Fun and Funded … is our plan to have fun in our mission with concerts, dance, photo contests and raise money to make it all happen and central to all our programs we embrace and we are enriched by the wisdom and guidance of the Hawaiian Culture and will follow the ways of the very first surfers as we malama ka aina.This is an invitation to join our Kona Kai Ea Surfrider and our Yahoo group.
This will be the best way to stay connected to us and for us to communicate with each other.
To join send an email to the subscribe address below.
Mahalo for your kokua,dr. rick and Hannah Springer,
Co-chairs, Kona Kai Ea
“THE RISING TIDE”
Group Email Addresses
Post message:konakaieasurfrider@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe:konakaieasurfrider-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe:konakaieasurfrider-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner:konakaieasurfrider-owner@yahoogroups.com
Please join the Kona Kai Ea Surfrider group and keep Kona Country!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )2nd Annual Malama Punalu’u Festival – Volunteers Needed
BECOME A VOLUNTEER AND/OR DONATE ITEMS NEEDED – 2 Day Festival to Be Held This Labor Day Weekend in Na ‘alehu
This sounds like fun, S.K.Y! Won’t some of you come out and represent? Kau Beach Preservation organization is gearing up for the 2nd Annual Malama Punalu`u Festival to be held this Labor Day Weekend in Na`alehu. They need you help to make it a success.
The two-day festival is FREE to all and is intended for families and children of all ages. It will celebrate the sacredness of Punalu`u Black Sand Beach and will feature over 100 Hawaiian Cultural Practitioners, Artists and Musicians, including GRAMMY WINNER Ledward Kaapana and MULTI NA HOKU HANOHANO AWARD WINNER, Amy Hanaiali`i Gilliom and performances by the Kane Hula Halau I Ka Wekiu, which won BEST OVERALL HALAU at the Merrie Monarch Festival in 2007.
The festival is made possible through donations of time and funding and last year we had over 200 volunteers who made the event a great success (over 5,000 people attended) and had a great time too!
TO VOLUNTEER please email me (jim@kaupreservation.org) or call me at: 808-929-8334.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Hallelu-Jah! Ka’u Preservation Major Victory!
Aloha United SKY~
It is with elation in my heart that I write tonight to inform you that yesterday September 19th, 2007 a major victory was won. The next step is already underway – Resolution 169-07 Passed!!!
This resolution will allow the county to begin negotiations for the purchase of 150 acres at Punalu`u that will protect all lands at Punalu`u within 2,000 feet from the shoreline.
The passage of this resolution is an important first step in protecting all of the sacred lands at Punalu`u.
This a STEP mind you. I do not like to think of life in terms of a fight, but that is what comes to mind when I think about how much effort it takes for us – the people that care about nature and natural resources (like beauty) being available for future generations – to protect our land, our ‘aina. So wake up you Peaceful Warriors. No time for complacence or laurels-resting. This victory is like a drink of clean, fresh water, intended to strengthen us and give us hope of “new heavens and a new earth” as we march forward, each one of us learning to make change and be effective in our own way.
I’m feeling good because though I did not make it down to the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort (got my email too late) as soon as I realized that the meeting was in progress I stopped my day and imagined Ka’u preserved forever, in all it’s glistening black, blue and green glory – open, wild, free. My thoughts were free of fear and certain in the rightness of this beautiful place lasting forever. This place is key.
If you want to see the email Press Release, read on. It’s not up on the Press page of http://www.malamapunaluu.org/press/ yet, so I am reposting here. (more…)
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )My letter to Mayor Harry Kim
In response to the news below, I sent Mayor Kim the following email. I suggest you all pen some prose yourselves. The more the merrier!
Dear Mayor Kim,
in denial, or if you have a personal interest in a different outcome. Your job is to serve the public good. WE are the public, and we have been unwavering in our response to a possible crime against this Hawaiian land.
I suggest you double triple check your motives because your actions are speaking volumes about your character. I would hope that as the Mayor of the Big Island that you love this place and realize that if we strip it out and sell it off to developers there will be nothing left to appreciate in a short amount of years. This is unspeakable and it is your JOB to protect the interests of this beautiful place and its people.
I will spread the word among my family and friends about your actions – and I feel they will conclude as I have – that you are not being forthright, that you are showing yourself to be deaf and dumb when it comes to accurate representation of your people. Just like George W. Bush is finally starting to see the results of his disdainful actions, don’t put yourself in a similar place, for all of Heaven and Earth to judge.
Thank you for taking my words into consideration and choosing what is best for the people and the land. Spend that $80,000 to improve the poor food that is served in our schools or I’m sure there are many other good places for those funds to go in helping Hawaii.
Do good. We are watching.
Sincerely,
Zhenya D.
Kealakekua, HI
The news that prompted the email.
August 17, 2007
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MAYOR TO SPEND $80,000 ON “KA`U LISTENING PROJECT
Rather than attending the Public Hearing in Ka`u back in June (and after months of surveys and hearings that clearly showed the majority of people in Ka`u want Punalu`u protected and support the passage of Resolution 169-07) Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim is spending $80,000 of tax payers money to conduct a month long (that’s $20,000 a week!) “listening project” to determine how the people of Ka`u feel about the proposed development at Punalu`u. In a recent letter to Mayor Harry Kim, Ka`u Preservation Senior Attorney Ron Self writes:
“Ka’u Preservation will not participate in any matter where Hawaiian history, culture, and practices will be compromised or eliminated, and endangered species will be destroyed or threatened. Such is the case of the proposed housing and commercial development by Sea Mountain Five at Punalu’u, Ka’u, Hawaii.”
LET THE MAYOR KNOW HOW YOU FEEL
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Contact the Mayor today and let him know how you feel about spending $80,000 and postponing the passage of Resolution 169-07.
Send your emails to: cohmayor@co.hawaii.hi.us
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Big Island Hawaii - South Kona Youth 