March 11, 2017
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 Saturday, August 11, 2018
case hana hou?
DLNR seeks hearing officer for TMT sublease
Gov. David Ige talks with supporters Friday
U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa speaks with
during the Hawaii County Grand Rally at the
supporters Friday during the Hawaii County
Rallying Mooheau bandstand in Hilo.
Grand Rally unity
at Mooheau Park Bandstand in Hilo. Dem candidates embrace aloha on eve of primary
By NANCY COOK LAUER
West Hawaii Today
Democratic candidates
FLORES SIMONS
and cyclist use the section of the Hilo Bayfront Trails near the soccer fields on Kamehameha Avenue on
Hilo.
for Hawaii primary
races tried to set aside
their intraparty rivalries
Friday evening as they braced for
what could be one of the closest
gubernatorial races ever.
Polls are open 7 a.m.-
6 p.m. today.
Since 1954, the pre-election
day Grand Rally at the
Mooheau bandstand has been a
Democratic tradition, after the
then-minority party couldn’t find
a Honolulu venue for its gathering
that celebrates party unity
and showcases their candidates.
Gov. David Ige and his main
Democratic challenger, U.S.
Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, outwardly
showed nothing but
aloha on the eve of the end of
a bruising primary campaign.
Polls and political prognosticators
were showing the race as
too close to call, but supporters
touted their candidates during an
Photos by HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald
evening of speeches, sign-waving,
music and munchies.
Some 300 people, many sporting
T-shirts and signs promoting
their favored candidates, crowded
into the bandstand and milled
THIRTY METER TELESCOPE
Improper
contact
‘Hawaii
is home’
around the area, sampling everything
from the traditional chili, hot
dogs and Spam musubi to vegan
ice cream, cookies and brownies.
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.
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Internet
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GON
See UNITY Page A9
See EMAILS Page A9
Photo courtesy of GARY LANGLEY/
Kauai Monk Seal Hui NOAA volunteer, NOAA Permit #18786
Hawaiian monk seal pup RK58 unsuccessfully
attempts to reunite with his mother on Kauai.
Rescued monk seal
pups are doing well
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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
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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
Paid for by Friends of Kaiali‘i Kahele, Ikaika Mahoe, Treasurer, PO Box 4952, Hilo, Hawai‘i, 96720
Re-Elect Senator Kaiali‘i
Kahele
STATE SENATE DISTRICT ONE–HILO
LEADERSHIP FOR HAWAI‘I
www.senatorkahele.com
D
In Just Three Years In The Hawai‘i State Senate:
Chairman Higher Education
Majority Floor Leader
Former Majority Whip
$192 Million In CIP Projects for Hilo
ACT 149 (Hilo Economic District / KIAA Legislation)
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Prohibited emails prompt notice
from state Supreme Court justice
By JENNIFER
SINCO KELLEHER
Associated Press
HONOLULU — A
member of the state
board that approved
a controversial giant
telescope improperly
contacted a state
Supreme Court justice
weighing the
fate of the project.
Justice Michael
Wilson filed a notice
saying he didn’t read
emails he received
from Sam Gon last
month. The notice
reminds parties in
the Thirty Meter
Telescope case that
communicating with
justices is prohibited.
Gon was one of the
state Board of Land
and Natural Resources
members who voted
to grant the project a
construction permit.
Opponents of the
project say it will desecrate
land considered
sacred by some Native
Hawaiians. Those who
support
it say the
telescope
will
bring
educational
and
economic opportunities
to the state.
The court is considering
an appeal of
the permit decision.
The first email
thanked Wilson for
participating in an
unrelated conservation
event committee, Gon
told the Associated
Press on Thursday.
The email also asked
if Wilson wanted to
know his thoughts
Photos by HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald
Those who attended the Grand Rally on Friday at Mooheau Bandstand
in downtown Hilo got their last chance to see and talk to Democratic
candidates in person prior to today’s primary election.
“There are no losers here, only winners. Everyone’s a winner in this house.”
DEAN AU, field representative for the Regional Council of Carpenters, a sponsor of the Grand Rally
By CHELSEA JENSEN
West Hawaii Today
KAILUA-KONA
— A Hawaiian monk
seal pup recently rescued
on Kauai is in
stable condition at a
monk seal hospital
on the Big Island.
The male pup,
RK58, was born July
16 to monk seal RH58,
also known as Rocky,
and was involved in
a switch with another
mom-pup pair on the
same remote Kauai
beach, said Dr. Claire
Simeone, hospital
director at The Marine
Mammal Center’s Ke
Kai Ola Hawaiian
monk seal hospital
in Kailua-Kona.
Multiple attempts
at reunification were
unsuccessful, including
a last try in late July,
when Rocky rejected
See PUPS Page A7
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