Thursday, October 4, 2018
By MICHAEL BRESTOVANSKY
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
More than 15,000 people
visited Hawaii Volcanoes
National Park since it partially
reopened last month.
According to official park numbers,
2,688 people visited the park
on Sept. 22, the day of its reopening.
The following week, the park
recorded an average of about 1,984
visitors each day, with a high of
2,341 on Thursday, Sept. 27.
Park Superintendent Cindy
Orlando said the number of visitors
is on par with Septembers past,
when the number of visitors to the
park typically decreases. However,
she said it was an impressive turnout,
considering much of the park
remains closed because of significant
damage caused by seismic
activity during Kilauea’s eruption
in lower Puna earlier this year.
The strong turnout is a welcome
reprieve to Volcano businesses,
many of which were struggling
with a significant loss of business.
Everything You Can’t See...
Learn about the spectrum of light and energy
beyond what the naked eye can see.
Friday, October 5 at 7pm
Tickets: $10 ($8 for Members)
808.932.8901
imiloahawaii.org
Kamehameha
Schools, EPA
sign cesspools
agreement
By STEPHANIE SALMONS
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Kamehameha Schools reached an agreement
with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency in which more than 3,000 properties
owned by the educational trust will be audited
to identify and close large-capacity cesspools.
The audit will span more than
365,000 acres throughout the state.
“This historical agreement brings Hawaii
one step closed to its goal of eliminating
all cesspools statewide,” said EPA Pacific
Southwest Regional
Administrator Mike
Stoker in a news release
Wednesday. “We hope
Kamehameha Schools
becomes the first of many
landowners who pursue
similar strategies, helping
to protect Hawaii’s coastal
and inland waters.”
“Healthy
‘aina is
core to the
foundation
of Native
Hawaiian
cultural
identity and
well-being.”
MARISSA
HARMAN,
director of asset
management on
Hawaii Island for
Kamehameha Schools
Panel not sold on tax break measure for Pahoa, Volcano businesses
Index
Where can you get Cioppino in Hilo?
New a la carte dinner menu available
Monday – Thursday 5:30pm-8pm
We are Blue Zone Project Approved! Many fresh choices!
view full menu: www.queenscourtrestaurant.com
Hilo Hawaiian Hotel | 71 Banyan Dr. Hilo | 808-969-6470
Big Isle history B4
Classified B6
Comics B5
Commentary A5
Issue No. 277
18 Pages in
2 Sections
Today’s
weather
Page A2
Community A6
Crossword B4
Cryptoquote B4
Dear Abby B4
Horoscope B4
Island Beat A8-A10
Letters A5
Nation A3
Obituaries A2
Sports B1
State A3
Surf Report A2
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Photos by HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald
Ranger Rick Lamontagne talks with guests Sept. 22 at Kilauea Visitor Center during the reopening of Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park.
Visitors to Hawaii
Volcanoes
National Park
on Sept. 22,
upon the park’s
reopening,
see how
Halemaumau
crater has
expanded since
the beginning
of the Kilauea’s
lower East Rift
Zone eruption.
Thousands
visit HVNP
after reopening
By TOM CALLIS
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Hawaii County Council
members gave a measure
intended to help struggling
businesses in Pahoa and
Volcano a negative recommendation
this week.
The resolution, introduced
by Puna Councilwoman
Eileen O’Hara, would have
provided commercial properties
in the two villages
a break on their property
taxes through the end of
the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
A council committee,
which includes each member
of the council, voted against
it 7-1 on Tuesday, citing concerns
over equity since there
are other businesses
around
the island
impacted by the
Kilauea eruption
that wouldn’t
benefit. O’Hara
voted yes,
while Puna Councilwoman
Jen Ruggles was absent.
The resolution still moves
forward to a regular council
meeting but with a negative
recommendation.
If adopted, owners of commercial
properties in Pahoa
and Volcano where a legal
business operates or plans to
operate would pay the minimum
tax of $200 a year.
The county already
made efforts to reduce
or eliminate the property
tax burden for properties
in the inundation zone in
lower Puna, which doesn’t
extend to Pahoa village.
According to the Real
Property Tax Division, 6,874
properties had their assessed
values, which determines
O’HARA
See MEASURE Page A4
According to the
EPA, cesspools collect
and discharge “waterborne
pollutants,” such
as untreated raw sewage,
into the ground, where disease
causing pathogens can
contaminate groundwater,
streams and the ocean.
The federal government
banned large-capacity cesspools
in 2005, which makes
closing all such cesspools
an ongoing priority, the
EPA said Wednesday.
More than 3,400
large-capacity cesspools
have been closed statewide
since the ban took affect.
Dean Higuchi, press officer for
EPA Region IX, said the voluntary
audits come after an inspection at
Volcano Golf Course and Country Club
found a large-capacity cesspool.
Kamehameha Schools owns the
property, which is leased to Hawaii
International Sporting Club Inc., and
See CESSPOOLS Page A7
Strong turnout
See HVNP Page A7
Three weekends of delicious fun
begin Friday with premiere of
‘Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka’
ISLAND BEAT ● A8
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