HALAWA

HUMANE SOCIETY COMING TO STATION

The Board of Agriculture yesterday voted to allow the Hawaiian Humane Society to enter negotiations with the state to lease a portion of the state's Animal Quarantine Station in Halawa Valley.

The Humane Society, which has a 2.5-acre facility in Mo'ili'ili, would like to nearly triple its capacity by establishing a second facility to provide regional animal holding and adoption services on 6 acres of mostly vacant land on the mauka-'ewa end of the Halawa site.

A nine-member committee reviewed three proposals submitted to the Agriculture Department in March and recommended the Humane Society's plan.

The state wants to lease a portion of its quarantine facility because most pets now entering Hawai'i get to go home directly from the airport after the introduction of the popular five-day-or-less rabies quarantine program in June 2003. Much of the facility is unused.

The state and the Humane Society will now negotiate the length of the lease and the cost.

WINDWARD

2 NAMES NEEDED FOR MARSH ROADS

A list of possible candidates for the renaming of Kapa'a Quarry Road is expected by the end of the month, but residents will have to choose two names for streets in the area: one for the main drive and another for the stretch that takes people to the quarry and other businesses in the industrial area.

Jim Wood, a member of the selection committee, said many names have been proposed but the most popular likely will need City Council action because it doesn't conform to city laws that require only Hawaiian words to be used. Kawai Nui Marsh Drive contains marsh in the name and that doesn't meet the standards, Wood said.

Kawai Nui Nenelu, which can mean marshy among other things, might work, he said.

Another problem is that the name shouldn't be in use, but there is a Kawainui Street in Kailua, Wood said.

The committee is discussing the choices and narrowing them so that they may be put to a vote, he said.

MAUI

YOUTH SERVICES CENTER GETS BOOST

Gov. Linda Lingle has released a $50,000 grant-in-aid for the Hui Malama Learning Center on Maui to provide support for its programs and to help the center meet the growing demands for youth services.

Hui Malama Learning Center, created in 1973, provides alternative educational programs for at-risk youth. The center offers general education diploma preparation, home-school enrichment, academic tutoring and an after-school youth service center.

For the past 32 years Hui Malama has helped about 20,000 Maui County residents, more than half of them at-risk youth. Last year alone, more than 1,000 people — 729 of them under the age of 19 — benefited from the center's programs.

MANOA

WEBMASTER TO SPEAK AT UH

Web designer, author and educator Molly E. Holzchlag will give a free talk on "The How and Why of Blogging" at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Holzchlag's talk will include discussions of what Web logs, or blogs, can do for your personal site or business, as well as the best tools for creating and maintaining them.

The lecture will take place in Krauss Hall 12, Yukiyoshi Room.

KAUA'I

HOSPICE OFFICE BUILDERS DIG IN

LIHU'E — Kaua'i Hospice yesterday broke ground on its new office site, a $2.2 million project that involves a 4,500-square-foot structure on a half-acre lot on Pahe'e Street in the Kukui Grove commercial area.

The hospice already has raised 70 percent of the cost of the project, said Roberta Wallace Cable, head of the fundraising campaign.

Kaua'i Hospice executive director Phillip Clark said the non-profit has found that office rental costs have risen regularly, and that available office space often does not suit the unique needs of a hospice organization.

The 22-year-old organization provides care for patients and the families of patients who face terminal or life-threatening illness. Its services are free of charge, and although it has a staff, much of its care is provided by community volunteers.