make their wishes known.
The meeting begins at 5
p.m. at the North Kohala
Senior Center.
A handful of testifiers
spoke on the issue at the
County Council Planning
Committee
meeting
Tuesday, where a revision
of the county’s general
plan was being discussed.
They want the gener-
al plan to specify where
such medical marijuana
production centers can be
located.
The state Legislature
and Gov. David Ige
opened the way for two
licensees on the Big
Island to each operate two
production centers and
dispensaries. The state
Department of Health is
required to provide for a
selection process and cri-
teria for license applicants
by Jan. 4.
“Wehavebeenresearch-
ing what happened in
Colorado, Oregon and the
Netherlands. Their prob-
lems are great,” Eugenio
said. “We cannot afford to
have this happen in our
community and so we are
preparing now because
others are preparing
to shove this down our
throats. Our politicians
have put us in this situa-
tion, and our politicians
need to help us protect
our community.”
Eugenio, who is the
chairwoman of the CDP’s
Agriculture Committee,
said the goal of the CDP is
for the area to produce 50
percent of the food it con-
sumes. Eugenio, who said
she is speaking as an indi-
vidual and not on behalf
of the CDP, worries that
allowing lucrative mari-
juana fields will compete
with the food supply.
Dispensaries and pro-
duction centers will have
to comply with county
zoning regulations, and
will not be allowed within
750 feet of a school, play-
ground or public housing
project or complex, under
the new law.
They will also be
required to provide both
video surveillance and
recording and physical
security, and to take part
in real-time computer
monitoring of sales and
inventory by the Health
Department, as well
as to comply with any
request for production
and sales records by law
enforcement.
Kohala Councilwoman
Margaret Wille, who’s
working in changes to
the county’s general plan,
said she’s hoping a mech-
anism could be set up for
communities to opt out of
the marijuana production
plan. She said she’d take
the lead on helping people
understand the new law.
“Let’s figure it out,”
Wille said. “If you do
something like that, it
does affect the communi-
ty as a whole.”
A message left with
county Planning Director
Duane Kanuha was not
returned by press time
Thursday.
But Janice Okubo, a
spokeswoman for the
Health Department, said
there will be community
input into the process.
The interim adminis-
trative rules for medical
marijuana
dispensa-
ries are currently being
written by a work group
consisting of three attor-
neys from the Attorney
General’s Office and lead-
ership from the Health
Department’s licensing
and planning offices, a
deputy director and the
health director, Okubo
said in an email Thursday.
Under Act 241, the
Health Department is not
required to hold public
hearings on the interim
rules, she said.
“However, a public
hearing will be held when
the permanent admin-
istrative rules are draft-
ed,” she said, adding the
department is rushing to
meet a very tight deadline
to have rules in place.
friday, august 7, 2015 | west hawaii today
a $50 million shortfall for
the current fiscal year.
To accomplish an
emergency appropria-
tion, the governor would
need to coordinate with
leadership and call a spe-
cial session, Green said.
Gov. David Ige’s office
did not say whether
the governor intends
to back an emergency
appropriation.
Ige’s
spokeswom-
an Cindy McMillan
said the UPW suit
is being reviewed by
the
Department
of
the Attorney General
and other appropriate
counsel.
KCH will keep the
skilled nursing unit closed
only as long as necessary,
and intends to reopen
the facility when funding
allows, CEO Jay Kruezer
said at a public hearing
in June. Residents who
showed up for the meet-
ing called on the state
to fund essential health
services, saying there are
few options to what KCH
offers.
Kreuzer said the bud-
get shortfall was created
by a new requirement to
pay retiree health bene-
fits previously covered by
the state, along with col-
lective bargaining agree-
ments that increased
labor costs.
The hospital began cut-
ting positions on July 1.
KCH declined to list the
positions eliminated, cit-
ing employee privacy. The
positions range across
clinical and non-clini-
cal departments, KCH
spokeswoman
Judy
Donovan said. The hospi-
tal also declined comment
on the UPW lawsuit.
It will not be clear how
many employees will be
able to move into other
positions until the hos-
pital’s human resources
department completes
a 90-day process, said
Donovan.
The 18-bed skillednurs-
ing unit will no longer
accept patients starting
Sept. 1. Administrators
say it could take up to
60 days to release exist-
ing patients or transition
them to another facility.
HOSPITAL:
UPW suit is being
reviewed by the Department of
the Attorney General and other
appropriate counsel
continued from page 1a
a flattening upper level trough to the
north will maintain strong vertical wind
shear and dry air aloft overhead during
the next few days, forecasters added.
A high surf advisory remains post-
ed for east-facing shores of the Big
Island’s northern, eastern and southern
coasts through 6 a.m. Friday, according
to the National Weather Service in
Honolulu. Wave heights of 8 to 12 feet
are forecast.
Also being monitored in the Eastern
Pacific Thursday was an area of dis-
organized showers and thunderstorms
more than 1,000 miles southwest of
the southern tip of the Baja California
peninsula associated with a broad area
of low pressure. Environmental condi-
tions are forecast to be conducive for
gradual development, and this system
could become a tropical depression by
early next week while it moves generally
northwestward at around 10 mph.
The Central North Pacific and Eastern
Pacific hurricane seasons continue
through Nov. 30.
Get more hurricane-related content,
including preparation tips, evacuation
info and daily tropical weather updates,
on our hurricane season page, spon-
sored by Clark Realty, at
-
waiitoday.com/hurricane-season-2015.-
TROPICAL:
Environmental conditions are forecast to
be conducive for gradual development
continued from page 1a
4A
Tropical Storm Hilda, identified within the red box, formed early
Thursday far east of Hawaii as a weakening Guillermo, identified within
the white box, passed north of the Big Island.
NOAA
A marijuana leaf is held up at a grower’s site.
MARIJUANA:
Goal of the CDP is for the area to produce 50 percent
of the food it consumes
continued from page 1a
Obama declares disaster for
typhoon-devastated Saipan
HONOLULU
—
President
Barack
Obama has declared
the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana
Islands a disaster area
and is ordering federal
aid to help the U.S.
territory in the aftermath
of a destructive typhoon.
The White House on
Thursday announced
the disaster declaration
for Typhoon Soudelor,
which destroyed homes,
toppled
trees
and
snapped utility poles
over the weekend on the
48-square-mile island of
Saipan.
Damage
surveys
were
ongoing,
but
the
commonwealth
remained
without
electricity and running
water, and residents
were rationing fuel.
Most major roadways
have been cleared of
uprooted trees and
debris, Saipan resident
Glen Hunter said.
“Themorning after the
typhoon, you could not
get anywhere because of
the power poles … and
trees that fell on the
ground,” lifelong Saipan
resident Lucy Selepeo
said. “The tin houses,
practically everything
just flew away. The
only thing you can see
from the houses are the
foundations.”
Selepeo said concrete
homes that withstood
the winds, like hers, are
flooded.
More
than
500
people on Saipan were
in shelters, according to
the Red Cross.
Officials distributed
water at various stations
across the island. Still,
signs of aid remained
scarce going into the
fifth day after the storm,
Selepeo said.
“I encountered a
family of eight who slept
on the beach in their car
because their home flew
away,” she said.
About
50,000
people live on the
commonwealth’s four
populated islands, with
most residing on Saipan,
which took the brunt of
the storm.
Nearby Tinian got
some damage, while
Rota
was
spared,
said Gregorio Kilili
Camcacho
Sablan,
the
commonwealth’s
delegate
to
U.S.
Congress.
As for Pagan, “No
idea,” he said. “I have no
way to contact Pagan.”
Ten generators were
being shipped from
Guam to power water
pumps in Saipan, but
the harbor was closed
Thursday because of a
listing boat that was half
underwater, Sablan said.
Restoring power could
take a month or two, he
said.
“I haven’t seen a
storm like this in 20
years,” Sablan said.
“Unfortunately,
the
resources we have are
hardly enough to get
things up.”
Wind speeds during
the storm were between
100 mph and 120 mph.
In an area that’s used
to typhoons, Sablan
said he and others were
expecting it to pass with
maybe 80 mph winds.
That there were no
reports of deaths or
serious injury “seems
almost
impossible,”
Hunter said.
There initially was a
$20-per-vehicle limit
on buying gasoline,
which meant motorists
could get only about
four gallons, Hunter
said. Some easily burned
through that amount
while waiting in long
lines at the pumps.
On Thursday, the limit
increased to $50, Sablan
said.
Gov. Eloy Inos was
on vacation visiting his
children on the U.S.
mainland.
“He’s doing everything
he can to come back
home. … He’s very
anxious,” Sablan said.
Despite the desperate
conditions, residents
were hopeful.
“There is nowhere to
go but up from here,”
Selepeo said. “We’re
optimistic. We will
recover.”
By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
The Associated Press
Aug. 5, 2015 photo shows the storm damage to a vehicle in Saipan,
Northern Mariana Islands.
Svetlana Hunter/
The Associated Press
“The tin houses,
practically
everything just
flew away. The
only thing you
can see from the
houses are the
foundations.”
Lucy Selepeo
Saipan resident
Man dies on flight to Hilo
The Hawaii Police
Department is investigat-
ing the Wednesday eve-
ning death of a passen-
ger on a United Airlines
flight from Los Angeles
to Hilo.
It
wasn’t
clear
Thursday morning how
the man died, or how he
was discovered.
A spokeswoman for
United would only con-
firm “a medical emer-
gency” on flight 1004,
which landed at Hilo
International Airport at
7:27 p.m.
“Out of respect for our
passengers’ privacy, I can-
not provide any addition-
al details,” United media
relations spokeswoman
Jennifer Dohm wrote
Thursday morning in
an emailed response to
questions.
No positive identi-
fication, age or place
of residence has yet
been
confirmed
by
the
police,
accord-
ing to a spokeswoman.
However, a Department
of Transportation spokes-
man described the pas-
senger as “a man in his
40s.”
The police are current-
ly listing the man as a
“John Doe.”
The police spokeswom-
an added that the death
was reported at 6:37
p.m., and the passenger
was officially pronounced
dead at Hilo Medical
Center about two hours
later. An autopsy has
been ordered.
Email Colin M. Stewart at
cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.
com.
By COLIN M. STEWART
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
This file photo shows a United Airlines Boeing
737-800, the same type of plane used for flights
to Hilo International Airport from Los Angeles.
