hunterbishop.com

Regular readers know I've been agitated recently by the upgrades that Squarespace, my server, made to the program that supports this blog site. It was all supposed to be painless and fun except that  -- Surprise! -- the Web site template I'd been using is no longer compatible with all the new bells and whistles that I never asked for. Accckkkk!

Hence the new look to the site today and whatever strangeness that might appear while I'm discovering all the new mystery widgets and such that my Squarespace support team has so cleverly designed to trip me up. I suspect I'll be struggling with this madness through the weekend, so at least until then don't be surprised if you see other changes happening here in the next couple of days. And if you see anything that isn't working on your end, please let me know at hunterbishop@hawaii.rr.com.

Sorry for the humbug,

A hui hou.

Puna likely will have the first resident-written Community Deveopment Plan in the state after the County Council's Planning Committee endorsed the plan without major changes today in Hilo.

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Fifth District Council candidates Kale Gumapac and Wayne Joseph joined in the rally for the Puna Community Development Plan this morning which started at the former Council building on Aupuni Street in Hilo shortly after 7 a.m. and marched to the Ben Franklin building where the Council's Planning Committee met to take testimony and discuss the plan. Joseph and Gumapac both oppose Fifth District Councilwoman Emily Naeole's proposed amendments to the plan and each will try to unseat her in the upcoming Fifth District election. Naeole argued with Gumapac briefly over the amendments during testimony this morning before Chairman Angel Pilago ended the beef. Dozens of people signed up to give testimony which is continuing after lunch, although Naeole already indicated she intends to seek her amendments to the plan. I'm heading back to the Council room now and will report what happened as soon as possible. Thanks to Rob Tucker for the photo.

I'll be up and in Hilo early tomorrow morning taking photos of the "Rally for the Plan" and covering the subsequent County Council meeting on the Puna Community Development Plan. Should be an interesting day and I'll be posting on it as soon as I can. And if the subject's still pertinent, W.H. Shipman President Bill Walter is scheduled to talk about it Friday on the Mynah Bird radio show, which airs right after the 8 a.m. news on KHBC radio (1060 AM and 92.7 FM).

Updated on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 04:56PM by Hunter Bishop

I'm adding a few sites and removing one from the Links section of the left column.

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I just learned that Rob Tucker, president of the Friends of Puna's Future, one of the community groups spearheading the movement to pass the Puna Community Plan without amendments, we will be on radio station KHBC 1060am and 92.7 FM this morning after the 8am CNNnews, according to an e-mail this morning from station manager Stephanie Salazar. That's less than an hour away from the time this is posted. Sorry for the short notice.

The Prostate Cancer Support Group walks in Saturday's Relay for Life at Wong Stadium, Hilo. More pics from the festivities are at my Flickr site.

I'm about to leave for the all-night Relay for Life sponsored by the American Cancer Society in Hilo. Members of the Hawaii Newspaper Guild take photos of the event and all its participants. So I should be straggling in tomorrow morning and recuperating a while before getting back to blogging. Then at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Squarespace, the host for this blog, promises to shut down for about four hours while installing some new systems. I don't feel real good about that but they didn't consult with me. Be forewarned, there could be problems. A hui hou.

Don Bremer, hailed as the father of Teen Court in Hawaii County

Teen Court in Pahoa was gaveled open with ceremonies Thursday at the Pahoa Community Center.

 It's a welcome addition to the Puna makai community, providing a valuable service that several other communities around the island already have.

The $216,000 a year island-wide state Judiciary program meets a tremendous need for alternatives to the court system for youthful criminal offenders, offering them a real chance to better themselves. The Hawaii Tribune Herald does a good job of describing the program here in  today's paper.

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