About Town | 10-13-15

Awong selected Kahuku Unit area manager

Awong selected Kahuku Unit area manager

Keola Awong is the new site manager for the Kahuku Unit within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. She will oversee staff and visitor programs in the 116,000-acre unit, which is open to the public on weekends from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Awong has served as the park’s cultural anthropologist since 2005, and will continue to serve as the park’s liaison to the Native Hawaiian community. She holds a master of arts degree in American studies, and graduate certificates in museum studies and historic preservation from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology with a minor in Hawaiian studies from UH-Hilo. She began her career in the national park as a fee collector in 1999.

Kahuku, which was acquired by the National Park Service in 2003, is located in the Ka‘u District. It stretches from Highway 11 to the summit of Mauna Loa, and features historic lava flows and geologic features, relics of ranch history and a rich connection to the Hawaiian culture. Kahuku also provides habitat for a variety of native plants and animals, including nene, rare lobeliads and the Ka‘u silversword.

AdvoCats meeting Saturday afternoon

AdvoCats meets at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Kona Vistas community center on Pualani Street off Lako Street. The Hawaii County-endorsed, nonprofit, trap-neuter-return organization is committed to solving the homeless cat problem in a humane way. A memorial for Debra Shearin on Oct. 25 and a garage sale in November will be on the agenda. Bring ink cartridges for recycling.

In September, the group spayed or neutered 119 cats at its Kona clinic. Upcoming clinics in Kona on Oct. 21 and Ocean View on Nov. 18 at the Ocean View Community Center are planned. To make a reservation, reserve traps or to volunteer, email cindyt@hawaii.rr.com or call 895-9283.

Anyone who has cats to be trapped, spayed or neutered and returned should call or email. For more information, call 327-3724 or visit advocatshawaii.org .

Saturday book sale benefits libraries

The Friends of the Libraries, Kona will hold its next book sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday on the Kailua-Kona Public Library lanai. Proceeds from sales help support the needs of the Kona libraries, with funding that includes educational and entertainment programs, community summer reading programs, visiting authors, magazine subscriptions, CDs, DVDs and new book purchases.

FOLK volunteers are at the library Tuesday and Thursday mornings working in the loading dock area and will accept donations. It is no longer accepting DVDs. This sale will close out the existing DVD inventory at 50 cents each.

Volunteers are welcome. Call 322-0077.

Saturday car show benefits MADD

Owners of classic cars, hot rods, sports cars and unique vehicles of all kinds are invited to cruise down to Lanihau Center on Saturday for the “Cruise Like MADD” cruise night.

All participants will get a red MADD ribbon to tie on their antennas or rear view mirrors to show their support of Mother’s Against Drunk Driving during the upcoming holiday season.

The 6 to 9 p.m. event will feature music from guest emcee G. Cruz of KWXX radio who will also be giving out prizes from Lanihau merchants and other community businesses throughout the evening.

The “Cruise Like MADD Show and Shine” will be held in the parking lot of the Famous Footwear store facing Palani Road at the entrance to the shopping center. Additional show lighting will be provided by co-sponsor Transmission Technology, with kokua from Service Rentals of Kona.

All spectators are also invited to pick up their red MADD ribbon and “Tie-One-On for MADD.” Donations to MADD will be accepted at its table at the Lanihau Center DJ tent where the ribbons will be available all evening, as supplies last.

The Lanihau Center “Cruise Nights and Show and Shine” events are co-produced by the Hawaii Racing Association and feature a local nonprofit organization as beneficiary. They are free to the public and all participants.

For more information, visit lanihau.com or email Paul at zoom96740@gmail.com.

Korean War Veterans meeting Saturday

Korean War Veterans Association, West Hawaii Chapter 279 meets at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars meeting hall, 74-5543 Kaiwi St., Suite 185a.

Membership is open to any person who has seen honorable service in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard if said service was within Korea including territorial waters and airspace at any time from Sept. 3, 1945, to the present, or said service was outside Korea from June 25, 1950, to Jan. 31, 1955. Associate members are also welcome.

For more information, call Ronald Cole at 327-9304 or David Simon at 769-4427.