Mazda • Hyundai • Subaru • Over 200 Pre-Owned
bigislandmotors.com
HILO
961-4411 • 1 Keaa Street |
KONA
329-5274 • 75-5793 Kuakini Highway
2015 HYUNDAI
ELANTRA
*ALL PRICES AND PAYMENTS ARE AFTER ALL APPLICABLE INCENTIVES OR REBATES APPLIED. VEHICLES ARE SUBJECT TO PRIOR SALE AND
MAYNOTBE EXACTLYASPICTURED.ALLPRICES,PAYMENTSAND LEASESAREPLUS4.166%TAX,LIC.,&$195DOC.FEE.SALE ENDS6/30/15.
SE • Auto
H11221
KMHDH4AE9FU310981
$
17
,
610
*
A Full Service Supermarket
The Greenwell Family Serving Your Family Since 1881
Open every day to serve you! 5:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
,FBMBLFLVB 3BODI $FOUFS t )JHIXBZ $BQUBJO $PPL t
t XXX $IPJDF."35 OFU
C
e
l
e
b
r
a
t
i
n
g
1
5
Y
e
a
r
s
2000-2015
A Farmers Market Every Day!
Put the Falafel Back into Your Pita!
From Pita Bread to Tahini,
Fresh Island Grown Tomatoes
and Cucumbers,to Organic Falafel Mix
...we can fill your Pita!
SUNDAY,
MAY 31, 2015
WESTHAWAIITODAY.
COM
$1.50
HI
85
LO
74
WEATHER, PAGE 10A
Annie’s Mailbox . 11B Classified. 1D Home. 1C Nation & World. 5A Opinion . 8A Sports . 1B
INDEX
7
7
58551 00781
VOL. 47, NO. 151
58 PAGES
Mayor Billy Kenoi’s execu-
tive assistants charged nearly
$143,000 on their county-is-
sued credit cards — including
airfare for a local surfer, a heli-
copter ride for visiting digni-
taries, and wine that was gift-
ed during a trip to the state
Capitol — since the start of his
administration.
The expenses exceed Kenoi’s
own purchasing card charges,
which are the focus of an inves-
tigation by the state attorney
general after Big Island news-
papers reported he had used
the card for personal expens-
es, including visits to Honolulu
hostess bars.
The mayor, who through a
spokesman declined to be inter-
viewed for this article, charged
$129,580.73 and has reim-
bursed taxpayers $31,112.59 for
non-county business before his
pCard was revoked. Many of the
reimbursements came within
months following the personal
charges.
A review of county records
the Hawaii Tribune-Herald
obtained through a pub-
lic records request found
$142,885.60 in pCard charges
among the eight executive
assistants who have worked
for Kenoi since 2009. Of that,
$9,086 was reimbursed.
The charges were typically for
travel and lodging for them-
selves and others, meals, meet-
ing refreshments, and gifts for
dignitaries or awards, according
to his staff.
Deputy Managing Director
Randy Kurohara said in an
email that he acts as the pCard
coordinator for the mayor’s
office and is responsible for
reviewing monthly expenses.
While the executive assistants
work under Kenoi, Kurohara
said the mayor hasn’t served as
the office’s pCard coordinator.
“Any purchases that require
more clarification are reviewed
with the executive assistant,
and charges determined not to
be official expenses are reim-
bursed,” Kurohara said.
Still, it was not clear how all
of the charges pertain to county
business, and some might have
been violations of the county’s
Mayor’s aides outspend Kenoi
BY TOM CALLIS
AND CHRIS D’ANGELO
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
New subsidy to be offered for coffee borer spray
This summer, Kona coffee
farmers will have a new tool in
the fight against coffee berry
borer.
Legislation was approved last
year to give farmers $500,000
in subsidies for spray. However,
House Bill 1514 had to be
tweaked this past session to
include the manpower needed
to put the aid into play. Once
it’s in effect after the yearlong
delay, it will be the third sub-
sidy available from the state to
farmers of the island’s signa-
ture crop.
With the passage of a new bill
creating a position and a year-
ly salary and benefits package
worth $75,000 for a temporary
manager for the program, the
subsidies should now gain trac-
tion, said Scott Enright, chair-
man of the state Department of
Agriculture. The funds will be
available to farmers until 2019
and will cover 75 percent of
the cost of the spray until June
2016, and 50 percent after that.
Enright said the fight against
CBB will go on, with contin-
ued HDOA grants to fund
research at the University of
Hawaii and a push next month
for more federal funding at the
National Association of State
Departments of Agriculture.
“Every coffee growing region
in the world has CBB; it now
becomes a matter of controlling
it,” Enright said. “We want to
contain it where it is, on the Big
Island. It is also now on Oahu,
and the growers on Kauai and
Maui would like it to not spread
there.”
As coffee growers planned
their budgets for the coming
years, some were wondering
why the subsidywasn’t yet avail-
able. The matter was subject of
discussion at the last meeting
of the board of the Kona Coffee
Farmers Association.
The funding that farmers
BY BRET YAGER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
Mission accomplished
ABOVE: Konawaena graduates sing their class song at the commencement
ceremony at Julian Yates Field Saturday morning.
LAURA SHIMABUKU/
WEST HAWAII
TODAY
RIGHT: Paul Purdy Jr. prepares to receive his diploma during Honokaa
High School commencement exercises on Saturday.
ANNA PACHECO/
SPECIAL TO
WEST HAWAII TODAY
KONAWAENA, HONOKAA HIGH SCHOOLS HONOR THEIR GRADATES
MORE PHOTOS APPEAR ON PAGE 12A
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS’ PCARD PURCHASES INCLUDED ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, TRIPS FOR NON-COUNTY EMPLOYEES
SEE
CREDIT CARDS
PAGE 6A
SEE
SUBSIDY
PAGE 6A
