11A WEST HAWAII TODAY | SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015 Marriage today: RICH-POOR GAP, LATER VOWS, GAYS GAIN ACCESS 81% 935-6624 • hawaiitribune-herald.com 327-1652 • westhawaiitoday.com of Hawaii Island adults read West Hawaii Today and Hawaii Tribune-Herald weekly WATER COMMISSION ACCUSED OF SKIRTING LAW DURING SITE VISITS A Habitat for Humanity house is being built in Captain Cook for a family that has spent the last five years dealing with obstacles. In 2009, David Esperanza, a long-time Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources volunteer and hunter education program instructor, suffered a debilitating stroke in which he lost a great deal of mobility and now uses a wheelchair to get around. David and his wife, Sandy, were left with mounting medical bills and relying on family for help. Despite this tragedy, they remain optimistic and determined to take care of the unexpected health care costs with money saved for retirement and what they earned through landscaping and caretaking jobs. However, the burden became even greater in 2012, when an early morning fire destroyed the approximately 20-by-30-foot, two-story garage on Kahauloa Road David and Sandy called home. When Hawaii County Fire Department personnel arrived, they found the wooden structure engulfed in flames and collapsed, as well as the family and their neighbors trying their best to keep the blaze at bay. Two neighbors, one of whom was a retired firefighter, also got David safely out of the burning structure, which was not attached to the main house. Inspectors later revealed a faulty wire caused the fire. If it wasn’t for that fire and the kindness of others, Sandy said the family would not be building a Habitat home. Their neighbors were the ones who looked into Habitat for Humanity West Hawaii and encouraged the family to apply. They stressed it was an opportunity to pay forward the generosity, aloha and support David and Sandy have selflessly given to the community throughout the years. As helpers, Sandy admitted, it was initially difficult for them to ask for assistance. “For us, they were real live angels,” she added. For months, Sandy and David have shared the main house, a modest one-bedroom cottage owned by the couple’s daughter, Tyslynn Esperanza, who is a nurse’s assistant and performs hula at hotels. It’s been cramped THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2014 WESTHAWAIITODAY.COM 75¢ June 27 flow front cools significantly HONOKAA DRAGONS SWEPT AT STATES Sunshine law violated? The state Commission on Water Resource Management is being accused of violating the Sunshine Law during site visits to the Big Island in September and October. The Hawaii Leeward Planning Conference filed the complaint with the state Office of Information Practices late last month, saying the commission’s investigative meetings to county wells and national park sites should have been public. In its complaint, HLPC questions whether such investigatory functions are exempt from Sunshine Law requirements. “As the September 17 and October 9 site visits were to inform CWRM as it deliberates on the NPS Petition, these site visits were clearly ‘meetings’ under HRS 92-3,” the complaint states. “The meeting notice provided by CWRM indicated that these were not public meetings, which created confusion as to what rights the public were entitled to and what CWRM’s obligations and limitations were under the Sunshine Law. Moreover, there were several violations of the open meeting requirements during these site visits.” CWRM has until Nov. 10 to respond the the complaint and turn over the minutes and other documents related to the visits. “The main issue appears to be whether the board performed quasi-judicial functions during the visits,” OIP staff attorney Jennifer Brooks said. “We haven’t heard from them yet, but we do know that the board’s position has been that these were quasi-judicial.” State Department of Land and Natural Resources spokeswoman Deborah Ward said the department is preparing a response that will be available next week. On Dec. 10, the water commission is slated to make a decision BY BRET YAGER WEST HAWAII TODAY byager@westhawaitoday.com SEE LAW PAGE 5A Building a new life FIRE VICTIMS BY CAROLYN LUCAS-ZENK WEST HAWAII TODAY clucas-zenk@westhawaitoday.com ABOVE: Habitat for Humanity West Hawaii volunteer Clyde Nakashinn installs a sliding door at a Captain Cook house being built for the Esperanza family. LEFT: Volunteers Heath Peters, Melissa Sandry and Paul Stauffer man the rotary saw at the house. PHOTOS BY LAURA SHIMABUKU/SPECIAL TO WEST HAWAII TODAY BY TOM CALLIS STEPHENS MEDIA HAWAII The front of the June 27 lava flow, stalled for a week near Pahoa Village Road, might not move another inch after cooling significantly, according to a Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist. “That lower portion of the flow (below the Pahoa Cemetery) is very cool and it’s very unlikely that lava is now making its way into that part of the flow where it’s going to squirt out the leading edge,” said Steve Brantley, HVO acting scientist-in-charge. But Brantley cautioned that doesn’t mean nearby residents are safe since a breakout upslope could still overtake the flow’s front. When and where that would occur remains to be seen. Activity on the flow remained weak Wednesday with breakouts mostly occurring mauka of Cemetery Road. Brantley also noted it’s unclear if the lava tube just above that road will remain stable enough to continue feeding lava down slope without an uptick in activity. “Once that cools enough, then the lava won’t be able to make about the 4,100 foot level.SEE LAVA PAGE 5A Makani: Wind kite not a hazard to aircraft BY BRET YAGER WEST HAWAII TODAY byager@westhawaitoday.com A team of representatives from the research and development company Makani spent Wednesday evening in Waimea assuring pilots that an experimental wind project won’t interfere with flights. The Google-sponsored project aims to harness the winds of the Waimea plains to power an experimental kite capable of generating 600 kw of electricity, enough to power 300 homes. The kite will be located about 5 miles south of the Waimea Airport on Parker Ranch land, at SEE HABITAT PAGE 4A MORE STATES LEGALIZE POT SPORTS, 1B PAGE 3A neigh- 2014 GET NEW HOME THROUGH HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Nielsen Scarborough 2013 R2 – base is 145,577 total Hawaii County adults Through two decades of debate on whether America’s gays and lesbians should have the right to marry, opponents of such unions depicted their resistance as “defense of marriage.” Now, on the cusp of a Supreme Court ruling that could legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, the underlying institution is under scrutiny anew. Does marriage in America indeed need help? What kind of shape is it in? In simplest terms, the diagnosis is mixed. Among college-educated, relatively affluent couples, marriage is doing pretty well. Where education and income levels are lower, it’s often a different story — higher divorce rates; far more children being born out of wedlock, including many to single mothers. There’s broad sentiment that this “marriage gap” is unfortunate, but no consensus on what to do about it. Some believe government-funded marriage-promotion programs can make a difference. Others depict marriage-focused solutions as misguided and say the problems can be eased only by broader economic and social initiatives benefiting all types of households. “There is no one silver bullet,” said David Blankenhorn, head of a centrist think-tank, the Institute for American Values, that focuses much of its work on marriage and families. Yet despite uncertainty about solutions, he and others believe there is now an opportunity to bridge the left-right split over marriage, particularly in light of the sweeping gains for gay and lesbian couples. For many years, the gay-marriage debate was intertwined with assertions about “traditional marriage” between a man and a woman. A federal act passed in 1996 and a subsequent wave of amendments adopted in many states used the term “defense of marriage” to deny recognition to samesex unions. Many opponents of same-sex marriage argued that allowing gays to wed would somehow undermine heterosexual marriage. Such arguments have fared poorly in recent federal court cases. And there’s a strong likelihood that the Supreme Court will order the legalization of same-sex marriage in all 50 states in a ruling expected soon. Opinion polls show a solid majority of Americans support it. “Marriage as culture war in America can now be replaced by marriage as common cause,” said a coalition of scholars and civic leaders in their manifesto for a new initiative called Marriage Opportunity. The group, with Blankenhorn as an organizer, envisions liberals fighting for economic opportunity, conservatives fighting for stronger families and gays who have now won marriage rights for themselves all uniting to confront the marriage gap. Scholars who have chronicled the gap say it stems in large measure from the loss of stable, well-paid industrial jobs — consigning many young adults to precarious, low-paid work, and prompting some to put off marriage even while having children out of wedlock. In contrast, college-educated young adults are more likely to wait until marriage to have children and then have the prospect of raising them in a household supported by two good incomes. According to the Pew Research Center, the share of American adults who’ve never married is at a historic high. In 2012, 20 percent of adults 25 and older had never been married, compared to 9 percent of adults in 1960. Back then, according to Pew, the likelihood of being married didn’t vary according to level of education; now men with advanced degrees are far more likely to have married than those who didn’t go beyond high school. Another striking figure: Unmarried mothers account for 40.6 percent of children born in the U.S., according to recent Census data. In the African-American community, the rate is 71.5 percent. Tera Jordan, a professor of human development at Iowa State University, has studied various aspects of marriage and relationships among black Americans. She sees a need for multiple changes — more access to good-paying jobs, better educational opportunities, a lowering of the incarceration rate for young black men. Her advice to young adults wondering about marriage: “Be clear about your goals, be patient. Finish your education.” Before moving to Iowa, Jordan worked with a federally funded marriage-strengthening program in Georgia. In all, according to experts who study the field, more than $1 billion in public funding has been spent since 2005 on such programs, yet their effectiveness remains subject to debate. The largest, most durable state-level program is the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative, recently renamed Project Relate. Since its launch in 1999, it has served more than 400,000 Oklahomans — about 10 percent of the population. One of its primary programs, Family Expectations, entails 30 hours of classes for low-income expectant parents who want to strengthen their relationships. Independent assessments found that couples taking the program are more likely to stay together than other couples. Kendy Cox, a senior director of Project Relate, said many low-income couples believe in the concept of marriage, yet are unsure if it’s the right step for them. Among Family Expectations’ graduates is Rachel Chudoba, 27. She and her then-fiance, Chad — now her husband — were 19 when they signed up in 2007; they’re now parents of a son and a daughter. Chudoba said communications skills they learned came in handy when Chad, a member of the Army National Guard, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2013. Chudoba said she and her husband came from challenging backgrounds. Both of Rachel’s parents had multiple divorces; Chad spent time in foster care. Several members of her extended family are in their early 20s, and wondering about marriage. “I see people who are apprehensive,” Chudoba said. “I see a lot of looking for answers.” BY DAVID CRARY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Chudoba family, Chad Chudoba, Isaac Chudoba, Rachel Chudoba and Alexandra Chudoba, spend family time together as they walk through Myriad Gardens in Oklahoma City.SUE OGROCKI/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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