fby Dennis Fujimoto - The Garden Island

Hawai‘i's four Congressional delegates spent the greater part of Thursday attending and being part of two events on Kaua‘i.

The blessing at the Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor opened the first leg of the delegation's itinerary followed by visiting and talking with students and community leaders at the Fourth Annual Aloha ‘Ike fundraising event at the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club.

In a press release from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Hawai‘i Congressional Delegation joined U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state and local officials in the blessing ceremony which was highlighted by the arrival and departure of several tour boats which make use of the small boat harbor.

According to the release, the Army Corps awarded a construction contract of $18,771,500 to Kiewit Pacific Co. of O‘ahu for the project on Sept. 6, 2007.

The project cost is being shared between the Corps and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, represented at the blessing by Russell Tsuji, for the purpose of eliminating breaking waves as well as making the harbor safer for boaters who utilize the facility.

Work will consist of dredging a 725-foot-long entrance channel varying in width from 105 to 205 feet to a depth of 11 feet, dredging a 320-foot-long access channel varying in width from 70 feet to 105 feet to a depth of 7 feet, removing 150 feet of the existing outer east stub breakwater, raising the crest elevation and flattening the seaward slop of approximately 764 feet of the existing breakwater. It will also include removing and reconstructing the 71-foot inner east breakwater and modifying 245 feet of the existing west breakwater, the release states.

Brigadier General John Peabody, commanding general, U.S. Corps of Engineers, Pacific Division, said in his remarks, that on a previous visit to the facility, he became acquainted with some of the boaters and is aware of the importance of the harbor within the community, pointing out that the waves that break over the seawall, even on a day when no swells generate sizeable surf, would be gone because the existing wall would grow by 4 feet.

The project is anticipated to be completed by April 2009.

Following that stop, the congressional delegation was honored at the Aloha ‘Ike, or "To Love Learning" fundraising event where three of the Kaua‘i appointees to military academies had the honor of introducing the two U.S. representatives, Mazie Hirono and Neil Ambercrombie, and the two U.S. senators, Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka.

Michelle Woltmon, a senior at Island School, Brianna Bailey, a senior at Kaua‘i High School, and Jared Coleman-Stark, a senior at Waimea High School are the three appointees who are familiar to Kaua‘i's people due to their participation in numerous school and community achievements.

In the pre-dinner opening, the congressional delegation mingled with local business, community, educational and government leaders as they became involved in investigating, at greater detail, the four school projects set up for people to see what the partnerships between community and schools are capable of achieving.

Stu Burley, who was instrumental with the Waimea High School Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle program, was more engrossed with students from the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School Rocketry program led by Kris Fujita.

Kaua‘i High School students Casandra Kawamura and Carlie Ann DeSilva and advisor Herbert Keamoe were on hand to answer questions and discuss various aspects of the Hawaiian saddle making display which was recently exhibited during the Waimea Town Celebration and coincided with the Paniolo Hall of Fame program at the West Kaua‘i Technology and Visitor Center.

Students Kody Pagador and Anthony Shredder of Kaua‘i High School who will probably have graduated when the key is turned on the bio-diesel car project headed up by instructor Davis Oshiro, all three being on hand to answer questions and discuss the progress of the project.

An Aloha ‘Ike grant sparked the program which was recently gifted with a Jeep Liberty courtesy of the Chrysler Corporation and King Auto Center.

"We still have a lot of work to do on the body itself," Shredder said of the Ford T-Bucket kit which had a void where the engine will sit.

Pagador said they still need to get the conversion kit for the diesel engine which would enable it to run on bio-diesel.

"Maybe we'll come back (after graduation), just so we can drive it," the pair said.

Rounding out the evening of student accomplishments were the Kalaheo School corn project and the ‘Ele‘ele School aquaponics/hydroponics project.

Abercrombie lost little time getting immersed in that event, joining Kaua‘i Mayor Bryan Baptiste in chatting with David Ochoco and Shisa Kahaunaele, both students at the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School and serving as emcees for the night.

"You have to know the right people so they talk nice about you," Abercrombie said.

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/03/22/news/news03.txt