MILITARY
MARKDOWN
SAVE 10% OFF
EVERYDAY!
SEE STORES FOR DETAILS.
Steady and consistent
A month a er reopening, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park seeing
daily visitor numbers ‘on par’ with those from this time last year
BIRCH FERRACANE
Index
Big Isle history B4
Classified B6
Comics B5
Commentary A6
Saying
farewell
Hawaii Island remembers
Dr. Earl Bakken as an
innovator, philanthropist
ANDERSON PHOTOGRAPHY
Dr. Earl Bakken died
Sunday at his home in
Kiholo. He was 94.
Issue No. 296
18 Pages in
2 Sections
Today’s
weather
Page A2
Community A5
Crossword B4
Cryptoquote B4
Dear Abby B4
Grinds A9
Horoscope B4
Letters A6
Nation A4
Obituaries A2
Sports B1
State A3
Surf Report A2
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Internet
We have simple ways to Dramatically Reduce
Anyone’s Risk for Alzheimer’s Now!
Courtesy of SARAH
Call today for a consultation.
Family Hearing Aid Center
Hilo: 935-2008 • Kailua-Kona: 329-8300 Freline Pajimola - Member IHS, CBHS
Visit us on the Web at:
www.hawaiitribune-herald.com
HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald file photo
Visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park upon its reopening Sept. 22 see how Halema‘uma‘u crater
has expanded since the beginning of the Kilauea volcano’s lower East Rift Zone in May.
By MICHAEL BRESTOVANSKY
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Monday marked the onemonth
anniversary since
the reopening of Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park,
and business seems steady.
Park spokeswoman Jessica
Ferracane said the number of
visitors to the park consistently
has remained at about
2,000 visitors daily, with
boosts on cruise ship days.
“That’s about on par with the
numbers we had in September
of last year,” Ferracane said,
adding that September is historically
a slow month for Big
Island tourism in general.
Most of the trails in the
park — which closed in May
during a period of violent
seismic activity during the
Kilauea volcano eruption —
are now back in service since
portions of the park reopened
Sept. 22, Ferracane said.
Ferracane said that, while the
park has not had
to cite anybody
for attempting
to visit restricted
areas within its
boundaries since
Sept. 23 — when
three Oahu visitors
attempted to reach the
closed Jaggar Museum — the
park has had to rescue hikers
from backcountry trails.
Ferracane said overgrown
foliage on the park’s Keauhou
Trail necessitated a search and
rescue operation after a hiker
became disoriented Monday,
and another visitor became
lost at Pu‘u Huluhulu last
week. Both hikers were found
quickly, Ferracane said.
However, she said two trails,
the Ka‘u Desert Trail and the
Kilauea Iki Trail,
remain closed. The
latter trail cannot
reopen, she said,
because a minor
earthquake dislodged
boulders
that fell and damaged
the trail, creating a significant
security risk for visitors.
Ferracane also was unable to
confirm when the Thurston Lava
Tube — also known as Nahuku
— might reopen for visitors.
“Still, we’re expecting big
See STEADY Page A7
“Bowl of Red” promises a taste of Texas
GRINDS, A9
County officials sued over plans for Ka‘u sewer plants
By NANCY COOK LAUER
West Hawaii Today
A Naalehu resident is suing
two county officials over
plans to build sewer plants
in Naalehu and Pahala.
Sandra Demoruelle,
in court filings against
Environmental Management
Director Bill Kucharski and
Wastewater Division Chief
Dora Beck, is asking the
court to require the
county to turn over
copies of draft environmental
assessments
she requested, and
also to publish notice of
the documents in the state’s
Environmental Notice.
In addition, Demoruelle,
who is representing herself
without an attorney,
wants the county to
immediately quit paying
consultants and
contractors and halt
all planning and development
activities on the
Naalehu and Pahala wastewater
treatment plan until
final environmental impact
statements or environmental
assessments are accepted.
A hearing is scheduled
in the case for 8:30 a.m.
Thursday in Hilo Circuit
Court. The county is under a
federal consent order to close
large-capacity cesspools in
Naalehu and Pahala or face
penalties. The county took
over the cesspools from C.
Brewer when the plantations
were closed in the 1990s.
“I’m not trying to stop
the project, but what I’ve
been saying all along is
examine the (large-capacity
cesspools) and take a
look at other technologies,”
Demoruelle said Monday.
See SUED Page A7
By MAX DIBLE
West Hawaii Today
KAILUA-KONA
— As an electrical
engineer who made
groundbreaking technological
advancements
in the field of medicine,
Dr. Earl Bakken
saved, prolonged
and changed lives.
As a prolific philanthropist,
particularly
on Hawaii Island, he
improved them.
The billionaire inventor
of the battery-operated
pacemaker in late
1957 and co-founder
of the biomedical firm
Medtronic retired from
Minnesota to Hawaii
Island, where he died
Sunday at the age of 94.
Those who knew
him well say his legacy
will live on in the institutions
he helped build
and carry, as well as
in the people he lifted
up through his gift for
technology and proclivity
for generosity.
“I am who I am and
have been able to live the
life I’ve lived because of
that man,” said Nancy
Stephenson, a retired
critical care nurse who
worked at Medtronic for
32 years and now resides
on Hawaii Island. “And
there are thousands of
us, thousands, who can
say the same thing.”
Not just
another hospital
Bakken’s greatest
imprint on life around
the Big Island combined
his vision for a different
sort of health facility in
North Hawaii, which
before didn’t have one
at all, and the financial
support he put behind it.
Stephenson thinks the
mere presence of North
Hawaii Community
Hospital where it stands
today has saved several
lives. The golden hour,
or the first 60 minutes
after a heart attack or
stroke, is absolutely
crucial for the treatment
of the critically ill and
their potential outcomes.
See BAKKEN Page A8
/www.hawaiitribune-herald.com