From performances to classes and so
much more, there’s defi nitely something
fun to get you up and out the door
CHECK OUT THIS WEEK’S CALENDAR ON PAGE A4 TO GET MORE DETAILS
Contested case hana hou?
TMT at mercy of process
DLNR seeks hearing officer for TMT sublease
Without a permit, board defers
decision on project location
FLORES SIMONS
Photos by HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald
and cyclist use the section of the Hilo Bayfront Trails near the soccer fields on Kamehameha Avenue on
Hilo.
Index
Big Isle History B4
Calendar A4
Classified B6
Comics B5
Pentagon: Attack was aimed
at Assad’s chemical weapons
Issue No. 104
18 Pages in
2 Sections
‘Hawaii
is home’
Today’s
weather
Page A2
Commentary A6
Community A8
Crossword B4
Cryptoquote B4
Dear Abby B4
Horoscope B4
Nation A3
Obituaries A2
Sports B1
State A3
Stocks A2
Surf Report A2
Internet
March 11, 2017
Visit us on the Web at:
www.hawaiitribune-herald.com
IVY ASHE
Tribune-Herald
the Hilo
Trails continues
unexpected
grant cycle
organizers
priorities.
phase of the
last October
new multiuse
Mooheau
Banyan
well as a path
the soccer
Kamehameha
Pauahi Street.
second phase
to extend
Wailoa River State
Area, but when
went to apply for
they learned
parks division
Department of Land
Resources could
is the agency
of the land.
The Hilo Bayfront
Trails group now is applying
for grant funding for
a different segment of
the master trails plan in
order to keep momentum
going, said Roy Takemoto,
executive assistant for
Mayor Harry Kim.
“The idea is to do
another segment along the
Waiolama Canal so that
walkers could loop back
around the (soccer field)
parking lot and restroom
area,” he said.
A second segment would
connect the parking lot
area with downtown Hilo,
TOM CALLIS
Tribune-Herald
Department of
Natural Resources
first step toward
contested case
the Thirty Meter
sublease on
by seeking applicants
hearing officer.
remains unclear
the quasi-judicial
— the third
be held.
The lower court ruling
requiring a hearing for the
sublease with the University
of Hawaii at Hilo is under
appeal, and the department’s
solicitation for applicants is
noncommittal. The deadline to
apply was Friday afternoon.
The job notice says the agency
seeks qualified applicants
“in the event it is decided to
hold a contested case hearing
and use a hearing
officer.”
“This solicitation
is made
for the purpose
of identifying
qualified candidates
if and as
necessary,” the notice says.
A hearing officer would
need to devote a “substantial
amount of time in the next six
to (12) months,”
according to the
department.
Supporters
and opponents
of building the
large observatory
on the
mountain said Friday they
had not received instructions
from the department on how
to proceed. No additional
information was available from
the department by deadline.
The hearing, if scheduled,
would be separate from the
contested case covering the
$1.4 billion project’s conservation
district use permit.
That hearing, a replay of a
previous contested case from
2011, concluded witness testimony
March 2. A decision
from hearing officer Riki May
Amano could be months away.
Index
Big Isle History B4
Calendar A6
Classified B6
Comics B5
Issue No. 70
16 Pages in
2 Sections
Today’s
weather
Page A2
Commentary A4
Community A5
Crossword B4
Cryptoquote B4
Dear Abby B4
Horoscope B4
Nation A2
Obituaries A2
Sports B1
Stocks A2
Surf Report A2
World A2
Internet
the Web at:
hawaiitribune-herald.com
GET OUT AND GO!
From performances to classes, magic camps
and more, there’s defi nitely something fun
to get you up and out the door
CHECK OUT CALENDAR ON PAGE A6 TO GET MORE DETAILS
State’s few Muslims thrust
into spotlight because of
challenge to travel ban
The beginning of the Hilo Bayfront Trails path on Pauahi Street that connects the
soccer fields off Kamehameha Avenue.
By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Associated Press
HONOLULU — Hawaii has 5,000
or so Muslims — less than 1 percent
of the state’s population — who are
finding themselves thrust into an international
spotlight after the state’s top
lawyer launched a challenge to President
Donald Trump’s revised travel ban,
saying it contradicts the islands’ welcoming
culture that values diversity.
Named as a plaintiff in the federal
lawsuit fighting the ban is Ismail
Elshikh, the imam of Oahu’s only
mosque — a converted plantation-style
house in a hilly Honolulu neighborhood
a few miles from Waikiki. Muslims
who gather in the prayer room know
they’re facing Mecca when the view of
iconic Diamond Head is at their backs.
Elshikh’s mother-in-law is a Syrian
living in Syria who won’t be able to
visit her relatives in Hawaii because
of the ban, and that will deprive the
rights of Elshikh, his wife and their
children as U.S. citizens, said state
Attorney General Doug Chin.
It was difficult for the shy and
reserved Elshikh to make the decision to
join the lawsuit and he is not speaking
publicly because of legal reasons and
fears for his security in a state that has
Associated Press
Literature is seen inside the prayer room
Thursday at the Muslim Association
of Hawaii building in Manoa Valley in
Honolulu. The mosque has been serving
Hawaii for nearly 50 years, according to
the group.
UNFORESEEN TURN
Funding twist alters plans for next phase of Hilo Bayfront Trails
See TMT Page A3
See SPOTLIGHT Page A3
See TRAILS Page A8
Saturday, April 14, 2018
TRUMP
A stream
contaminated
with cow manure
flows through
Ookala on
Friday. The state
Department of
Health is asking
residents to stay
out of Alaialoa
Gulch and avoid
the shoreline
east of Ookala
because of
an accidental
manure spill.
Courtesy of
CHARLENE NISHIDA
Accidental manure spill prompts advisory
By TOM CALLIS
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
The state Department of
Health is asking residents to
stay out of Alaialoa Gulch in
Ookala after it was contaminated
with cow manure.
According to DOH, an accidental
spill of approximately 300
gallons of manure occurred at Big
Island Dairy, located mauka of
the village, at about noon Friday.
Residents also should avoid
the shoreline east of Ookala,
the department advises.
For the past several years,
Ookala residents have complained
about manure from the dairy
contaminating nearby gulches.
A lawsuit alleging violations
of the federal Clean Water
Act was filed in 2017 in U.S.
District Court in Honolulu. A
trial is scheduled for January.
Charlene Nishida, Ookala
resident and member of Kupale
Ookala, which filed the lawsuit,
said manure is clearly
visible in the gulch, which
goes through her property.
“It stinks and you
can see it,” she said.
“This is a problem that’s ongoing.
It’s not a one-time thing.”
The department said it
will investigate the spill and
is requiring the dairy to submit
a written report.
DOH fined the dairy $25,000
in May 2017 for unlawful
discharge of wastewater.
The dairy has since planted
grass where it used to grow
corn to reduce the amount of
runoff from the property.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@
hawaiitribune-herald.com.
By TOM CALLIS
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Should I stay or should I go?
That’s the question that’s hung
over the Thirty Meter Telescope
since protests and a legal challenge
put construction atop Maunakea
on hold about three years ago.
But, without clearance to resume
building in Hawaii or at a backup site
in Spain’s Canary Islands, the TMT
International Observatory’s board
had no choice but to defer a final
decision on the future
home of the next-generation
observatory,
TIO Executive Director
Ed Stone said Friday.
“We clearly appreciate
the support and the
growing support, and we
feel that we’ve been good neighbors,”
he said in a phone interview. “… I
think in that sense we are encouraged,
but clearly the timing is becoming
Courtesy image
An artist’s rendering of the Thirty Meter Telescope.
See TMT Page A10
STONE
HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald
The state Department of Transportation will test the use of a contraflow lane during morning rush hour on
Keaau-Pahoa Road starting April 30.
Contraflow coming to Highway 130
Tribune-Herald staff
The state Department of
Transportation will test the
use of a contraflow lane on
Highway 130 later this month
to ease morning commutes.
The additional Hilo-bound
lane will be open from 6-8 a.m.
April 30 through May 11.
As a result, there will not
be left turns allowed from
the highway at the intersection
of Shower and Pohaku
drives during those hours.
DOT staff will be on hand
to ensure pedestrians and bicyclists
pass through the area
safely during contraflow hours.
For more information about
the Keaau-Pahoa Road contraflow
trial or to provide feedback
during the trial, email DOTPAO@
hawaii.gov or call 933-8866.
US, allies
strike Syria
By ROBERT BURNS,
JILL COLVIN
and ZEKE MILLER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
— The United States,
France and Britain
launched military
strikes in Syria to
punish President
Bashar Assad for an
apparent chemical
attack against civilians
and to deter him
from doing it again,
U.S. President Donald
Trump announced
Friday. Pentagon officials
said the attacks
targeted the heart of
Assad’s programs to
develop and produce
chemical weapons.
Explosions lit up the
skies over Damascus,
the Syrian capital, as
Trump spoke from
the White House.
Syrian television
reported that Syria’s
air defenses, which are
substantial, responded
to the attack. Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis
said there were no
reports of U.S. losses
in what he described
as a heavy but carefully
limited assault.
Trump said the U.S.
is prepared
to
sustain
economic,
diplomatic
and
military
pressure on Assad until
he ends what the president
called a criminal
pattern of killing
his own people with
internationally banned
chemical weapons.
“The evil and the
despicable attack left
mothers and fathers,
infants and children,
thrashing in pain and
gasping for air. These
See SYRIA Page A7
/www.hawaiitribune-herald.com