About Town 1-11

American Legion meets tonight

The American Legion Post 20 meets for fellowship at 6:30 p.m. today at Teshima’s Restaurant in Honalo. The meeting and dinner begin at 7 p.m. A buffet dinner for $13 will be served and cocktails are available for purchase.

For dinner reservations, call David Carlson at 325-6491 or kalokodavid@cs.com or Kalani Hamm at 329-7274 or 936-8033.

The club’s Adopt-a-Highway cleanup will be Saturday. Members will meet at 7 a.m. at the entrance to the West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery. Members should bring gloves and wear heavy footwear.

Tropical fruit growers meeting Monday

The West Hawaii chapter of Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers meets from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday at the University of Hawaii Experiment Station in Kainaliu across from Aloha Theatre. Nonmembers are welcome to attend.

Danielle Downey, the new apiary specialist for the Hawaii Department of Agriculture will discuss the state of honey bees in Hawaii. She will also pass out a brief survey in order to get grower concerns on the current bee situation.

Dr. Mark Nickum, the new University of Hawaii tropical fruit specialist, is also expected to attend. Both will be available to answer questions.

Members are encouraged to bring fruit to share at the meeting.

For more information, contact Brian Lievens at 895-8753 or greenwizard@hawaii.rr.com or Ken Love at 323-2417 or kenlove@hawaiiantel.net.

Waimea group looks at legislative issues

Waimea Community Association’s Town Meeting at 5:15 p.m. Thursday in Waimea School cafeteria will ask attendees to rank issues to help guide legislative activities during the 2012 state Legislature.

“With the 2012 Legislature starting Jan. 18, it’s an ideal time to talk about community priorities and for legislators to get first-hand feedback as to what’s concerning constituents,” said association President Sherman Warner.

“We are hearing many are reeling over recently received HELCO bills that reflect a huge increase. We also are hearing widespread concern over the lack of funding and attention being given to coqui frog and axis deer control,” he said.

Some of the issues are long-standing concerns, including employment, mortgage relief, taxes, highways and other transportation concerns, especially with interisland air costs continuing to soar, he said.

This will be a third year the association is asking attendees at its January meeting to vote for their top legislative priorities.

Everyone is welcome to attend the meetings and there are no longer membership dues. Instead, voluntary donations are encouraged to support its activities including an informative community website, waimeatown.org, that includes a comprehensive community calendar of coming events and links to many community schools and not-for-profit organizations.

Also on the agenda will be the election of two-year officer positions of president and vice president.

Those attending are asked to help continue the association’s commitment to help Waimea’s food pantries by bringing a donation — preferably cash or a check — or nonperishable food items. Cash or checks are given to the Waimea pantries to purchase food or gift certificates from Waimea grocery stores and farmers markets so recipients are able to buy fresh items such as vegetables, fruit, milk and other essentials. Checks may be payable directly to a food pantry so the donation is tax deductible. The monthly collection drive resulted in the organization contributing more than $3,000 to Annunciation Catholic Church’s food pantry in 2011.

For more information, call Warner at 885-1725 or visit waimeatown.org.

Waimea school offers community program

It promises to be an inspiring glimpse of the life and paahana (hard, industrious work) of “treasures in our own backyard on Hawaiian homestead farms and ranches” as Waimea Middle Public Conversion Charter School family members and community friends come together for a series of free after-school classes on four consecutive Wednesdays, beginning today.

Led by Kuulei Keakealani and the school’s Ike Hawaii Resource Teacher Pua Case, participants will first visit a successful Hawaiian Homes flower farm and floral business operated by the Berdon family from 3:45 to 5 p.m. today.

Participants are asked to meet at the school office parking lot no later than 3:45 p.m. to caravan to the site of the week’s classes where they will meet and hear from community “living treasures,” and in the process, experience the same lessons the school’s students are studying to fulfill social studies’ spatial geography standards and benchmarks.

There is no charge to participate and no reservations required. Participants are asked to arrive on time because the group will caravan each week to an off-site location. Participants should wear comfortable closed shoes and bring a jacket for weather protection.

For more information, email Case at Pua_Case@notes.k12.hi.us or call Patti Cook at 937-2833.

Police plan meeting today in Waimea

The Hawaii Police Department will hold a community meeting from noon to 2 p.m. today at the Hawaiian Homes hall in Waimea.

The purpose of the meeting is to allow the public to meet the department’s command staff and to discuss concerns with the police chief and commanders who oversee police operations in the South Kohala District.

To aid police commanders in focusing on specific concerns, it is requested that participation be limited to individuals who live or work in the South Kohala District.

Those interested in participating but unable to attend may call Capt. Aimee Wana at 887-3080, stop by the South Kohala police station in Waimea or email their concerns or comments to copsysop@hawaiipolice.com.

Youth chorus sets Thursday open house

The Kona Music Society Youth Chorus will have an open house from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday at Kealakehe Intermediate School chorus room.

Students who want to sing and create beautiful music in grades three through 12 are welcome to attend.

Call Sue Boyum, music educator, at 896-1967 or email sboyum@hualalai.org for more information.