March 11, 2017
From performances to classes and so
much more, there’s definitely 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, October 20, 2018
case hana hou?
School tax struck from ballot
DLNR seeks hearing officer for TMT sublease
FLORES SIMONS
and cyclist use the section of the Hilo Bayfront Trails near the soccer fields on Kamehameha Avenue on
Hilo.
Internet
Pradeepta Chowdhury MD
Photos by HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald
‘Hawaii
is home’
By TOM CALLIS
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
FERREIRA
NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS
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Issue No. 293
18 Pages in
2 Sections
Today’s
weather
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IVY ASHE
Tribune-Herald
the Hilo
Trails continues
unexpected
the grant cycle
organizers
priorities.
phase of the
began last October
www.hawaiitribune-herald.com
new multiuse
from 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
funding they learned
parks division
Department of Land
Resources could
it 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
will 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.
Index
Big Isle History B4
Calendar A6
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Issue No. 70
16 Pages in
2 Sections
Today’s
weather
Page A2
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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
HONOLULU (AP) —
The Hawaii Supreme Court
on Friday threw off the
November ballot a proposed
constitutional amendment that
would have established a surcharge
on investment property
to help fund public education.
The court unanimously
ruled that the proposed
amendment did not meet the
state constitution’s requirement
that amendments be
clear and not misleading.
The Hawaii Constitution
authorizes counties to levy
property taxes. The amendment
would have had Hawaii
join 49 other
states in using
property taxes
to finance public
education.
The state’s
four counties
encompassing
the Big Island, Kauai, Maui
and Oahu, along with the
city of Honolulu, filed the
complaint with the Supreme
Court against the wording of
the proposed amendment.
Honolulu Corporation
Counsel Donna Leong praised
the ruling, the Honolulu
Star-Advertiser reported.
“Clearly the questions
that were posed by the court
showed that they had carefully
considered the arguments
of both parties — the state’s
and the counties’ — as well
as all of the cases cited in
those briefs, and there were
a lot of cases, and their questions
were just spot on,” she
said at a news conference.
County officials argued
that the question’s wording
is not clear enough for voters
to understand that it would
give additional taxing power
to the Legislature. They also
said it could hurt counties’
ability to raise revenue to
State supreme court rules wording
for surcharge amendment not clear
LAURA RUMINSKI/West Hawaii Today
Palamanui students join Marines in clearing the field behind the college on Friday.
BACK TO LIFE
KAILUA-KONA —
Along a stretch of an
ancient trail north of
Hawaii Community College-
Palamanui, Camilo Ramirez
and his son, Essien, carefully
laid lava rocks along the
trail’s edge, restoring the
walls that had been kicked
and tumbled by the goats that
have taken up residence.
“I just think it’s important
to just be in touch with
the culture here,” Camilo
Ramirez said as his son picked
the rocks that would line the
mauka-makai trail, “and to
be a part of something that’s
much older than ourselves.”
Ramirez and his son were
among more than 60 volunteers
who came to the campus
Friday morning for a day of
restoration and revitalization
of the trail system being developed
at Palamanui. The team
of volunteers included students
of the college, volunteers from
Big Island Substance Abuse
Council and about two dozen
Marines on island from
Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
“We’re bringing it back to
life again,” said Palamanui
Police discuss
vacancies,
salary inversion
during meeting
Ferreira: Department facing high
number of possible retirements
Police Chief Paul Ferreira said the
department’s vacancy rate is a challenge
that is “going to get
worse before it gets better”
during a Police Commission
meeting Friday in Hilo.
He said there are 33 vacancies
for sworn personnel out
of 450 authorized positions.
Ferreira said that could get
worse because the department
has a high number of employees facing retirement
while recruitment is falling short.
“The pool out there is very slim pickings,”
he told the commissioners.
Ferreira told the Tribune-Herald the focus
is on keeping enough officers on patrol, which
is why the priority is on filling patrol positions
rather than management vacancies.
“We’re still providing the same service,”
Ferreira said. “We’re providing
for enough officers on the street.”
In order to attract more recruits, he said
he is asking county Human Resources to
allow people to apply before they are 21.
Currently, they must be at least that age,
but he said that can force people right out
of community college to wait a year.
Ferreira said he’d like the county to
allow them to apply as long as they are
21 at the time they finish their training.
It’s also been a tough year for the department,
with the Kilauea eruption straining
resources and the shooting death of an officer.
Ferreira said he is proud of
the work of his staff.
“They are the ones carrying the
department through,” he said.
Assistant Chief Marshall Kanehailua told
See MEETING Page A9
IGE
See TAX Page A9
Dozens of volunteers contribute to trail
restoration efforts at Palamanui
By CAMERON MICULKA
West Hawaii Today
See TRAIL Page A9
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