About Town 2-29

Read aloud program slated for Tuesday

The Friends of the Libraries, Kona is hosting its free family read aloud program, “Books are Building Blocks,” from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Kailua-Kona Public Library. This month’s program features the Aloha Teen Theatre performing “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” in celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

The read aloud program is usually offered on the first Tuesday of each month of the school year. Parents must attend the program with their children. There will be separate reading groups: Kindergarten, first to second grades, third to fourth, fifth to sixth, seventh and over, and their parents. Each group will have a person reading aloud to them, followed by a discussion of what was read.

Registration will take place from 4:30 to 5 p.m. in front of the library, Aloha Teen Theatre from 5 to 5:45 p.m., and reading by age group from 5:45 to 6:15 PM. Afterward, the families will meet on the lanai for free refreshments, prizes and books.

To sponsor a program or for more information, email FOLK@folkhawaii.com or visit folkhawaii.com.

Solomon to appear at fundraising luncheon

To celebrate passage of several significant public policy initiatives to help rebuild Hawaii’s economy by the 2011 state Legislature, and a successful Supreme Court challenge of the state Reapportionment Commission to secure a fourth state Senate seat for Hawaii Island, the Friends of Malama Solomon is holding a luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Jade Palace Chinese restaurant in KTA’s Waimea Center.

Keynote speaker at the luncheon along with Solomon will be Hilo attorney Stanley Roehrig, who helped successfully lead the recent legal challenge of the state Reapportionment Commission that will be a game changer for both Hawaii Island and all of the neighbor islands in terms of influence on major public policy decisions by the state Legislature.

The luncheon is a fundraiser for Friends of Malama Solomon. Everyone is invited. Tickets are $50 and will include a Chinese buffet and entertainment featuring Na Mele o Poohala with lead guitarist Russell Paio, bass player and falsetto singer Nathan Grace and kumu hula and ukulele instrumentalist Hulali Solomon Covington. They will be joined by dancers from the Beamer-Solomon Halau o Poohala.

This is the first fundraiser held by Friends of Malama Solomon on Hawaii Island since Solomon was appointed to the state Senatorial District 1 seat representing Waimea, Hamakua, North Hilo and a portion of South Hilo by Gov. Neil Abercrombie in January 2011.

Advance reservations are suggested for the luncheon and can be secured by calling Hulali Covington at 938-6357 or Patti Cook at 937-2833, or by emailing friendsms2011@yahoo.com. Contributions to Friends of Malama Solomon are welcome and may be sent to P.O. Box 370, Kamuela, HI 96743. Donations are not tax deductible for federal or Hawaii income tax purposes.

To discuss legislative concerns or community issues with Solomon, call 974-4000, ext. 67335, or email SenSolomon@capitol.hawaii.gov.

3-D planetarium program returns

Imiloa Astronomy Center’s 3-D planetarium program “A 3-D Hitchhiker’s Guide” is back, this time focusing on the messier objects located in the Milky Way for a five-week run starting Thursday.

The “A 3-D Hitchhiker’s Guide — The Messier Milky Way” live planetarium program, hosted by Shawn Laatsch, Imiloa planetarium manager, showcases the 3-D stereoscopic projection capability in the Imiloa planetarium. The program will “fly” participants out into space on a unique and engaging tour of the universe that astronomers are discovering with the observatories of Mauna Kea and other space based missions.

The program will be offered weekly on Thursdays at 7 p.m. through March 29. Admission is $8 for members and $10 for nonmembers.

Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii is located on the University of Hawaii at Hilo campus. It is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

For more information, visit imiloahawaii.org or call 969-9703.

Fueling Dreams benefits Special Olympics

Special Olympics West Hawaii is once again partnering with Tesoro Hawaii and the Hawaii Police Department for Fueling Dreams.

This fundraising event is from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Queen Kaahumanu Highway Tesoro, located across from Honokohau Small Boat Harbor in Kailua-Kona.

Tesoro is hosting Fueling Dreams events statewide to raise money for Special Olympics, a year-round program of sports training and competitions for people with intellectual disabilities. All the money raised stays on the Big Island and helps Special Olympics West Hawaii athletes.

Volunteers are needed to pump gas, talk story, clean windshields, wave signs and take donations. At least 10 people are needed per shift. The shifts are from 6 to 10 a.m., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 2 to 6 p.m.

For more information about Fueling Dreams, call Area Director Dave Ross at 345-1344 or Head of Delegation Lona Warner at 989-2080. Also, visit sowh.org.

Hilo museum hosts program on kalo

Kalo, or taro, has been called Hawaii’s most revered plant, one of the fundamental crops brought by the settlers of these islands. Tradition has it kalo grew from the grave of the firstborn son of the sky god and the Earth goddess; their second son became the father of humankind, and the families of the two brothers have always nurtured one another.

One man who exemplifies that malama, or care, is Jerry Konanui who is widely recognized as the leading authority on Hawaiian kalo in all its varieties and traditional cultivation methods. His knowledge is rooted in his ancestors’ generations of kalo farming in Puna, and has blossomed over many years of personal study and hands-on labor throughout the islands.

Kananui will share his passion for and knowledge of this essential Hawaiian food crop in an interactive talk story session from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday at Lyman Museum in Hilo. Admission is $3 and free for museum members. Seating is limited to 65 persons. No tickets will be for presale. Seating is first-come first-seated. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

The nationally accredited and Smithsonian-affiliated Lyman Museum showcases the natural and cultural history of Hawaii to tell the story of its islands and people. The museum, located at 276 Haili St. in Hilo, is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

For more information, call 935-5021 or visit lymanmuseum.org.

Waimea interim principal introduced

Families of Waimea Middle Public Conversion Charter School sixth through eighth grade students are invited to one of four meet-and-greet coffee hours to introduce new interim Principal Lydia Trinidad.

The coffee hours will be from 8:15 to 9:15 a.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesday and March 7. Families are asked to come to the school office to be directed to the meeting room. No reservation is requested.

Trinidad was recently appointed Waimea Middle’s interim principal by Hookakoo Corp., which serves as the not-for-profit local school board for both Waimea and also the public conversion charter school on Molokai — Kualapuu Elementary — where Trinidad has served as principal for the past 15 years.

Trinidad was asked to support the Waimea school through its leadership transition as a search is beginning for a new principal for the school. She brings experience as a public conversion charter school leader. She began her schooling at Kualapuu Elementary, and after graduating from Molokai High School, earned a teaching certificate from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a master’s in education administration at Columbia University’s Teachers College. After several years of teaching, including seventh and eighth grades, she returned to her alma mater and led the school through the transition to becoming the state’s second public conversion charter school under Hookakoo Corp.

Trinidad’s role at Wamea Middle is expected to run through the end of the current school year, when she will return to her Molokai elementary school.

For more information, call 887-6090, ext. 222.