THE LE AD ERJ U LY 28, 2015 · Volume 111: Issue 5

Cover: Hukilau at Hukilau

Interview with Manti Te’o

Spend less than you make

Page 8

Page 17

Page 18

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K E A L A K A ISUMMER 2015 • Volume 111: Issue 5

ADVISORLeeAnn Lambert

Hector Per iquin

ART DIRECTOR

COPY EDITORSLeeAnn LambertSamone Yuen

PHOTOGRAPHERSKelsie CarlsonHector Per iquin

ART & GRAPHICSAndrea MarshallSamone YuenHector Per iquin

MULTIMEDIAJOURNALISTSRachel Reed Eric HarlineSamone Yuen

Samone YuenHector Per iquin

INTERNS

VIDEOGRAPHERS

Vlad TropnikovAbraham GarciaYan-Fu Chen

Share with us your photo of the week and we may feature it in our next issue. e-mail us at keal-akai@byuh.edu

ON THE COVER: R. J. Kahawaii gathers up the large fishing net used at the hukilau community event at Hukilau Beach where about 50 people helped pull in the net and shared the catch. It was part of the annual Laie Days activities celebrating the history of the LDS Church in the community. Photo by Hector Periquin

Waimea Bay Photo by Hector Periquin

CONTACT

Edi tor ia l , photo submiss ions & d is t r ibut ion inquir ies : kealakai@byuh.edu. To subscr ibe to the RSS FEED or to v iew addi t ional ar t ic les , go to kealakai .byuh.edu.

BOX 1920 BYUHLAIE, HI 96762

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The Ke Alaka‘i began publishing the first year the university was started and has continued printing for 60 years. The name in Hawaiian means “the leader.” It began as a monthly newsletter, evolved into a weekly news-paper and is now a weekly news magazine along with a website, Youtube channel, Facebook page, Twitter and Instragram. Today a staff of more than 30 students works to provide information for the campus ohana and com-munity.

A B O U T U S Photo of the week!

3JULY 28, 2015

Waimea Bay Photo by Hector Periquin

Admissions accepts 900 new students for Fall4

f o l l o w u s a r o u n d t h e w e b

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Website: KEALAKAI.BYUH.EDU

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5 Counseling Services’ Leilani Auna plans outreach

Twelve ways students cansave money6-7

8-11

Hawaii passes bil l to use only sustainable energy by 2045

Plan for more windmills in Kahukumeets opposit ion

12-13

14-16

Manti Te‘o talks family and football

A hukilau at Hukilau Beach br ings people togetherfor Laie Days

17

18-19 The golden rule of personal f inance

20 Laie’s LeGrand Lawrence br ings Shrek to l i fe on Diamond Head stage

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Admissions explains how applicants are chosen from around the world Close to 900 new students will come to BYU-Hawaii Fall Semester as new freshman, transfer students, and returning students. Approxi-mately 30 percent of freshman applicants are accepted from all who apply, coming from re-gions such as Asia, Pacific Islands, Hawaii, and the U.S. mainland, according to James Faustino, the director of Admissions and Financial Aid.

Out of roughly 3,300 applications, these 900 were chosen based on academic factors such as grade point average in high school or transfer school, bishop and stake president’s endorsement, seminary attendance, involvement in activities such as service work and extracurricular activities, and their desire to come to BYUH, according to Faustino. Roughly 50 percent come from the mainland, while the other 50 percent come from the Pa-cific area such as Hawaii, the Polynesian islands, and Asia, according to Faustino.

New Students

With new students coming in for the Fall, the New Student Orientation (NSO) office is getting ready to welcome them with activities and games so students can meet, find friends, and get to know more about what BYUH has to offer. “Some of our bigger events are for their benefit,” said Michael Maile, who is in charge of NSO. “I would encourage the students to make it to every event they can, especially student life and the academic fair. If they come to those, I think they will have a good idea of what to expect.” With new students coming in, the school will change as they make their mark.

“Since there are going to be a lot of new stu-dents, there will be a new mood,” said Hwan Koo, a junior from Korea studying business management, who works for NSO and helps set up and give the orientation for the new students. He added one of NSO’s important missions is to “have the new students feel com-fortable with the school and that the school is working with them.” Besides going through applications, Admissions employees also go out to find individuals looking for an education. They find students to come from remote locations such as Fiji, Mongolia, and other areas. For those who may not have the finances to come to BYUH, Faustino said,

“Gratefully we are able to interview these students and look at their ability too, or their academic preparation, so we may be able to extend the IWORK program. They have this desire to get educated, and then to interview them and find out the things that they have done, and to see how the church has been able to lift them is so exciting. “You talk to them in their home chapel and then you see them here, and to see their smiling faces and it’s just so gratifying to be able to do that. To know you had the op-portunity to have met them before and to see the excitement, to see how they went after that dream. To pursue an education–it’s life chang-ing.” “I’m excited,” said Maile about the new students. “I love the change and growth at the university. What has always surprised me about new students during NSO is how unique and different they are. Each from a different background and circumstances. Each with their own story about what led them to BYUH.”

Students join the BYUH student body. Photo by Hector Periquin

BY RACHEL REED

5JULY 28, 2015

L eilani Auna has been appointed as the director of Counseling Services and Special Needs as Elder Jerry Harris, who has been the director for the past two years, finishes his service mission

with his wife, Sister Sue Harris. Elder Harris shared that Auna’s role, which consisted of mostly counseling before, will now consist mostly of administrating and coordinating special needs services. Auna, a BYU-Hawaii alumna, has worked in Counseling Ser-vices as a counselor and as the coordinator for Services for Students with Special Needs for more than 15 years. “I wear two hats,” said Auna. “I do personal counseling because I am a licensed clinical social worker. And the other hat is the special needs coordinator, meaning that I work with students who are eligible for academic, food, and housing accommoda-tions.” Auna commented those with physical, learning or psychological disabilities, as well as medical conditions, could come and work with Special Needs Services to coordinate accommodations in the classroom, housing or food services. Concerning her upcoming promotion, “I’m very excited,” said Auna. “I’m also very humbled.” She shared her excitement at the oppor-tunity to build upon the foundation the Counseling Services and Special Needs has already established and “to make it even better.” She said one of her major goals will be to reach out to the students and inform them about the services provided by Counseling and Special Needs. “I really want to do a lot more outreach to the students and let them know that there are services available to support them in their educational goals, especially the international and married students.” Students do not need to have a problem to come to Counseling Services and Special Needs, explained Auna. The services are free for all full-time students and their dependents. Auna continued, “One of my goals for Counseling Services and Special Needs together is to let people know that we’re here, that there is a safe place for them to come to and not feel like they’re being judged and all their secrets are being divulged to others.” She said everything is confidential. Auna shared her favorite part of her job is the ability to work with students and her colleagues. “I like working with people,” she said. “I enjoy helping people develop their talents. To be able to let the students

or clients see that in themselves makes my job worthwhile.” She also said she looks forward to directing the progress of Counseling Services and Special Needs, hoping to take out the stigma of using those services, making it accessible and helpful to students. “For me now in this position, I’m able to have a little more flexibility to use my creativity and work with the counseling staff to do just that.” The Counseling Services and Special Needs office holds events to inform students about the services provided. “We’ll probably be having an outreach day in August when school starts,” said Auna. “We’re going to have an open house and a cultural consideration day. Counsel-ing Services will have an open house so students can come in to see what we do and ask questions.” Auna expressed that the open house will be a way for students to experience Counseling Services and Special Needs at the same time understand and learn about the different cultures on our campus. She encouraged students to visit the Counseling Services and Special Needs website, counseling.byuh.edu.

Leilani Auna is ready to take the reigns of her department to make it “even better.” Photo by Monique Saenz

Confidential CounselNew director of CounselingServices and Special Needs wants to inform students of the free services availableBY ER IC HARL INE

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Student ID

Give ‘N’Take

LibFlix, not Netflix

Carpool

ways to save money while at BYU-HawaiiCollege isn’t cheap, especially when in Hawaii where the cost of living is high. New students come and gape at the expensive prices of milk at Foodland ($5), dishing out their savings to pay for tuition, board, and the textbooks. Yet there are small things you can do to keep some of your money and not be completely broke. Here are tips to save your spare change

1 Carrying it around can help you get things a little cheaper: You can go to Hanauma Bay for free, get a discount at Laie Palms Cinema, discounts on skydiving, etc. Turns out it’s handier for a lot more than getting into the Testing Center.

Volunteer for half an hour and get 10 items for free. If you look closely, you could find books for school, laundry detergent, new clothes, sheets, kitchenware, movies, and more. It’s a gold mine of reusables, all for free! Sunny Jin, a sophomore studying music from South Korea, said, “I go to Give ‘N’ Take often so I get good stuff and I don’t have to buy it.” To get to Give ‘N’ Take, turn right off of the Big Circle by the Stake Center and it’s at the end of

2

3There are a lot of beautiful beaches, breathtaking hikes, and places to see on this island. If you have a car, take people with you to make the ride cheaper, and if you are getting a ride from somebody, chip in on gas money. Gas is expensive, and it’s always nice to show a little gratitude.

Stop paying money on Netflix or Hulu. There is our own LibFlix in the library with a lot of movies you can rent out for two nights for FREE. “You don’t have to pay to watch a movie, like Redbox,” said Pate Latu, the circulation supervisor at the library.

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BY RACHEL REED

7JULY 28, 2015

The Bus

Make and keep a budget

Cook Smart

Work to Eat

SchoolEvents

Keep your grades up

Textbook options

Use social media

If you don’t want to get a car, you can always spend $2.50 to board the city bus and receive a transfer slip for one more bus ride. There is also a semester-long pass available at the Aloha Center Front Desk for $120. That is only worth buying if you ride the bus more than 48 times a semester, which would be more than twice a week.5

Make a budget and keep to it. Don’t just map it out and forget about it; know how much you earn and how much you spend. The more you lose track, the more you lose that precious change that makes all the difference. “Whenever I have to get food, I have to write it down and make a list to go buy. If I want to buy anything else, I don’t buy it,” said Saebom Park, a junior studying business finance from South Korea.

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Don’t always buy prepared food. Buy in bulk and freeze the food you don’t use immediately to save for later. If you live off campus, share the cost of food with a friend. Carpool to Costco or Sam’s Club with someone who has a card. Look for coupons in the newspaper and online.

Attend school events such as FHE, activities held by clubs, and other activities for students. They will mostly likely have food, as well as new people to meet and new things to experi-ence. There are also a lot of free, fun things to do like movie nights, and bowling.9

Work at a place that feeds you. The Seasider, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Pounders, and the Caf will feed you once per shift, and that is one less meal to pay for!

10Do well in school. There are scholarships for those who get high grades. A GPA of 3.25 will earn you a 1/4 tuition scholarship. A GPA of 2.45 gets you 1/2 tuition. A 3.75 GPA will pay for 3/4 of your tuition, and if you manage to get a 3.95, you don’t have to pay for tuition at all. Isaiah Gillenwater, a senior studying biochemistry from Indiana, said, “I keep my grades up because I automatically qualify for the academic scholarship and it can save up to all your tuition.”

11Textbooks are expensive and heavy. Cheaper ways of getting that knowledge are renting them from the Bookstore, buying them from Amazon or half.com, or not buying them at all and checking them out from the library for two hours to get your homework done. E-book ver-sions are also often cheaper than their printed counterparts.

12If you want to save and get other cheap stuff, look on the Facebook page Sell your stuff @ BYU-Hawaii. You can find textbooks, bikes, clothing, electric fans and all sorts of other things for less than the retail price.

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Photo by Hector Periquin

Hukilau at

9JULY 28, 2015

BY SAMONE YUEN

Photo by Hector Periquin

T he Kahawaii family orchestrated a hukilau at Hukilau Beach in celebration of Laie Days on Saturday, July 18. More than 100 people participated in the wet and sandy team activity

of pulling in a fishing net - creating an overall happy, exciting and easygoing atmosphere, as one participant described. Robert Kahawaii said his family does hukilaus for special occasions, like Memorial Day, funerals and Laie Days. “We do it for the community in July. We are the only ones who still practice it. This is a good thing for us to do as a family.”

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11JULY 28, 2015

Top: Robert Ah Puck and his sons Jeronn, Cobi and a neighbor, Talanoa Kaluhiokalani pose with the catch. Bottom left: some of the

fish caught lie in a burlap sack. Bottom right: Kaleo Kahawaii (in red) helps kids manage the net. Photos by Hector Periquin

When everyone was gathered around at the beach, Kahawaii gave an introduction about the hukilau. He said, “In the old days, when the community needed food, they would gather families together be-cause you need a lot of people.” He explained what the “lau” is in “hukilau.” “The lau—it’s a piece of rope with dried ti leaves tied to it. It scares the fish into the net.” He said in the old days, the Hawaiians only had a small net because they were poor. They would use the lau to extend their fishing area. The net used on Saturday was roughly 80 feet long, he said, but they still used lau. Kahawaii’s brother-in-law, Robert Ah Puck, announced to the novice helpers, “This net is like gold to us. It is how we feed our family. There are plenty rocks and trees in the water and they’ll rip and tear the net. It’s not a race to pull it in. So when the captain says, ‘Stop!’ You stop. The biggest thing with hukilau is it’s a team effort.” The hukilau began as three men pushed a small wooden boat filled with net into the ocean. Kahawaii rowed the boat in a large curve until he reached the shore far down the beach, creating a semicircle where the fish were trapped by the lead-weighted net. Another man acted as an anchor, holding the end of the long net as it unfolded. Divers were around the net, and Kahawaii’s son, Kaleo Kaha-waii explained why. “As divers, we have to surround the net so we can lift it over debris…so it doesn’t rip the net and the fish doesn’t escape.” Zane Clark acted as the anchor at this hukilau. He helped organize hukilaus 50 years ago, “and it’s pretty much the same,” he said, laughing. “We’d come down every Friday—it was a church assignment. We had to gather 80 to 100 coconuts and make the haupia. I learned to husk them, but I was never as good as the Polynesians.” Fifty years ago, he said he was a librarian at BYUH, and returned to that position as a senior missionary 18 years ago. He said he and his wife visit Laie every summer. Senior missionary Sister Mary Robinson, said, “We sang the song as kids, and now we are going to the hukilau!” Clark held on as the rest of the participants pulled the lau on the other end, bringing the net in from the ocean under the direction of the Kahawaiis. Once the net reached the beach, the long lau ropes were un-tied and people began to pull directly on the net. The top and bottom of the net were brought together to keep any fish securely caught as more and more net was brought up to the beach and closer to where Clark was holding the end.

Emi Miskin and Alina Allen came to their first hukilau in conjunction with a Young Single Adult conference that was happening the same day. Miskin, a sophomore at BYUH from California studying graphic design, said, “It’s way fun. I would totally come again.” She said it is a great community-strengthening activity. Allen drove from her home near UH-Manoa, where she stud-ies marine biology. She said, “It’s really cool how all these people are together just to do this.” That community aspect of the hukilau is what makes it special, as Kaleo Kahawaii said. “One big thing I like about hukilau is everyone coming together for a cause. Just with it being a community activity and with all the help from everyone, it’s a good place to be at. The size of the community was a big factor in helping. As Hawaiians, we say ‘laulima’: many hands make the workload less.” Once the net had been gathered in to the beach, children and adults untangled the fish and carried them around in their hands. Some posed for photographs with the fish dangling from their mouths to the laughter of those present. Bags of cut oranges were passed around for the refreshment of those on the beach. Sina Fonoimoana, an alumna in ICS communications from California and Laie said her family was eager to eat the fish. “We are not going to cook them. We are going to eat them raw.” They planned on removing the scales cutting up the meat. “Just salt is good. Nothing fancy. We just like fish.” Kaleo Kahawaii said he had expected a larger catch, “but with it being a hukilau, it doesn’t really matter. I remember growing up we’d always catch loads and loads of fish. We’d have coolers here filled of fish. Now with the ocean kind of changing and things happening in the world, global warming, stuff like that, there’s not that much fish now. But we are always happy with what we catch.” He said his family will eat some and they’ll give the rest “out to people who need food, like the old kupu-nas of Laie.” The Kahawaiis also do a hukilau every Memorial day and have partnered with Hawaiian Electric to bus homeless youth to Laie. “The majority of those kids have never been on this side of the island.”

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BY SAMONE YUEN

Hawaii aims to be energy independent by 2045POWERED LOCALLY

T he news broke June 9 to the pub-lic that Gov. David

Ige signed into law a goal to have Hawaii be independent of fossil fuels for all energy needs by 2045. This means harnessing renewable ener-gy, such as wind, wave, sun and even garbage. Masaki Yamanashi, a junior from Japan studying biology, said, “I think Heav-enly Father gave us this earth and we are told to landscape it well. One way or the other it is a treasure.” The bill says, “En-ergy independence beyond 2030 shall be undertaken in a manner that benefits Ha-waii’s economy and all elec-tric customers, maintains customer affordability and does not induce renewable energy developers to artifi-cially increase the price of renewable energy in Hawaii.” Ajri McArthur, an architect at BYUH, pointed out “renewable energy is a good thing, but it requires its own infrastructure, and that has an impact on the envi-ronment.”

HECO’s website says customer-sited solar energy produces 40.9 megawatts across

Maui, Molokai and Lanai. However, manufacturing solar panels comes with a cost to the environment as well. According to energyinformative.com, “certain solar cells require materials that are expensive and rare in nature. Some manufacturing pro-cesses are associated with” nitrogen trifluroide and sulfur hexafluoride, which “are some of the most potent greenhouse gasses and have many thousand times the impact on global warming compared to carbon dioxide.” “The bottom line is this: there’s noth-ing that’s completely risk-free in the energy world, but solar power compares very favorably

Sun

with all other technologies,” the website says. There are hoops to jump through for more company-based solar projects. “State Public Utili-ties Commission Chairman Randy Iwase said he delayed approval of seven utility scale solar projects on Oahu because he want to avoid the ‘monopolizing’ of power produc-tion in Hawaii. ‘We want to make sure we don’t go back to where we are trying to get away from: one group or company monopo-lizing power production,’” Iwase said in the June 9 Honolulu Star Advertiser article. In order for HECO to start its proposed solar projects, it wants to have the PUC waive the competitive bidding process to help shorten the approval process and meet a federal tax credit dead-line of December 2016. An eighth proposed project

could produce 240 megawatts, which could pro-vide energy for up to 40,000 homes. Before the PUC will approve the projects, Iwase said, “The first question we asked was, ‘How can the grid absorb all of this?’ Their response was they can handle it. It didn’t go into any detail.” HECO provided more information, as the PUC has requested, saying the “contracts between the utility and the different power pro-ducers could save customers more than $800 million over 22 years, according to a high fuel cost scenario, or could cost more than $9 mil-lion, according to a low fuel forecast,” reported the Honolulu Star Advertiser on June 17. “All of the waiver projects can be safe-ly integrated onto the Oahu system grid while still accommodating and permitting continued growth of customer-sited PV systems,” HECO said in its report to the PUC.

Graphics by Samone Yuen and Andrea Marshall

13JULY 28, 2015

H ECO uses a waste-to-energy process to create 73 megawatts of power. “The total

capacity of HPOWER is 88 megawatts, but the power producer only is on contract to send 73 megawatts to Hawaiian Electric Co., after using 15 megawatts to run the plant,” said the Hono-lulu Star Advertiser. It is a mixture of sewage and garbage called “sludge” that is processed to create energy. “That’s a good idea—since this island is overpopulated,” said Jacqueline Rasmussen, a senior in chemistry from Las Vegas.

H awaiian Electric Company (HECO) cur-rently gets a total of 99 megawatts from

wind energy that is enough to power 16,500 homes, 30 of which come from the wind farm in Kahuku, according to its website. The Star Advertiser reported June 18 that Na Pua Makani Power Partners LLC pro-posed a second wind farm to be constructed “far enough from residents to have minimal visual and noise impact” in early 2016. “’Hawaii residents will benefit from the lower cost of energy generated by the wind farm,” said Scott Bradshaw, community out-reach specialist for the project. ‘This will help the environment and save residents of Hawaii money in the long term.’” At an informational meeting by Na Pua Makani in Kahuku, Kent Fonoimoana was one of several people there protesting the new wind farm. He said, “We are not against renew-able energy. It’s just where they are putting them.” Read about the meeting on the next page. Mike Reid, a Kahuku resident, was also there. He said, “Our electric bill used to be $75. Now it is $300.” He also mentioned the noise bothers his community at night. However, wind turbines built out in the ocean would be far enough away to not be heard by residents. That is what AW Hawaii Wind, a subsidiary of Denmark-based Alpha Wind Energy, proposed building: 102 wind tur-bines in the ocean, with undersea cables getting the energy to Hawaii’s energy grid. “Because the project is at such an early

Wind

Sludge

Wave energy has made its first appearance on Oahu’s power grid, reported the Ho-

nolulu Star Advertiser on June 17. “Honolulu-based Sea Engineering Inc. deployed the Azura wave power generator at the Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay, Northwest Energy said this month.” Northwest Energy has been backed by the U.S. Navy and the University of Hawaii, says the article. Northwest Energy founder and CEO Steve Kopf, said, “As the first grid-connected

stage, its impact on the state, from the overall economy to the individual ratepayer, remains an unknown,” wrote the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

“Further studies, design improvements and tests are required prior to manufacturing and instal-lation,” AWH says. A prototype wind turbine is being used on the remote Palmyra Atoll in the Pacific to power a wildlife refuge and research center. It has nets over the opening to protect birds. It could be another piece of technology to be used in diversifying Hawaii’s renewable energy port-

Water

wave energy device in the United States that will be tested and validated by an independent party, this deployment marks a major milestone for our team and the marine renewable energy industry.” “Darren Pai, spokesman for Hawaiian Electric Co., said the utility is hopeful that the pilot is successful, as the state could add another renewable-energy resource to its portfolio,” re-ported the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

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T he small community building in Kahuku was full and loud on Tuesday, June 23, as about 50 community members and

environmental impact researches discussed the Champlin windmills to be built in Kahuku. About 20 people lined the road outside the building, holding “no more windmill” signs. Cars honked as they sped past. One sign-holder, Kent Fonoimoana of the Kahuku Community Association, said,

“We are not against renewable energy. It’s just where they are putting them.” Champlin is the developer, while Na Pua Makani is the operator of the wind farm. The proposed project would add up to 10 in-dustrial-sized wind turbines to the existing 12, generating an additional 24 megawatts, which is “enough to power 9,000 homes,” according to Champlin’s President Mike Cutbirth. Cutbirth said, “Local community– just like tonight–get to give their comments,

questions and concerns,” but do not ultimately make the decision. The project will be ap-proved or not approved “by federal, state, and county agencies. Those agencies take into ac-count the community’s feedback. “ A 2012 University of Hawaii survey showed that 97 percent of people on the island are in favor of renewable energy in general, and 86 percent of those surveyed said wind power is among the energy technologies they favor. A study prepared by QMark Re-search in March of 2014 surveyed 300 people via phone, 100 of which were from the North Shore, asking them to “think broadly about the ways to generate electricity-which one do you think is the best way for Oahu to meet the power needs of the island?” They were restricted to a single answer, and 12 percent of the North Shore people said wind was their most preferred renewable energy technology, as did 13 percent of non-North Shore residents.

State Senator Gil Riviere was at the meeting, as he represents the 23rd Senatorial district that encompasses Kahuku and much of the North Shore. He said, “We really need to listen to the people who are impacted by this. Too often decisions are made downtown without consideration of the sentiments of the people who are most affected.” Projected benefits of the project include reduced and stabilize electricity rates for the island, a Kahuku community benefit package, and jobs, among other things. Joe Kalili of Hauula said, “We have local guys up there working. It’s clean and I’m pretty sure it’s all good stuff. I’m for it.” Mike Reid, a Kahuku community member, said he is strongly opposed to the building of any more windmills in Kahuku.

“Our electric bill used to be $75. Now it is $300. It doesn’t stabilize it because you have to keep fixing the dumb windmills.”

Kent Fonoimoana stands outside with others seeking support from passing cars. Photo by James Anshutz

The people for and against

Kahuku’s second wind farm BY SAMONE YUEN

15JULY 28, 2015

“You have to look at it by the whole system,” Cutbirth said. He said it costs about 32 cents to get electricity from oil, and only 15 cents with renewable energy. “The more renewables you bring on, the lower those costs will be. It’s going to take time.” Na Pua Makani’s website states the “community will receive $10,000 per turbine each year over the life of the project. For Phase 1, that would amount to about $2 million over the 25-year life of the proj-ect.” That is not acceptable compensation to Cindy Tutor. “How long will that payoff last in relation to the wind turbines lifetime? Money is spent and we still have to look at them.” Some people like how the turbines look, and some people don’t, but residents are concerned about how the visual impact with affect tourism. “People come for the beautiful scenery. They don’t come to see an industrial wasteland,” said Fonoimoana. “We’ve already lost our sunset. Now they want to take away our sunrise. A dollar amount should be put on that.” Maria Seagai said there is better renewable technology “on the cusp. [These wind turbines] are obsolete as soon as they go up. Tourism is our No. 1 source here. We shouldn’t be shooting ourselves in the foot. Not too many people can drive up and not recognize the beauty here. [The turbines] mar the landscape. It would be sad for us to leave this to our children. A pile of rotting turbines.” A pile of rusted turbines sat on the Big Island’s South Point for several years, which is what several community members are afraid will happen in Kahuku. “Nobody is going to do anything illegal,” said 76-year-old Buddy Ako, who has lived his whole life in the region. He said he is not afraid of change, having seen a lot of changes in the community, with the closing of the sugar mill in 1971 and the building of the schools. “There were anti-people back then too, saying to keep the country country—don’t build! Keep the Country Country—for who? We want quality control change and progress. We cannot stay static. Slowly you accept eventual goodness of what is happening. We cannot stagnate and live in the past. Part of the progression is to take care of sustainable energy and get rid of oil. A windmill is non-intrusive and doesn’t pollute. Ugly is in the eye of the beholder.” The project is part of the initiative by the state to stop using fossil fuels by 2045 so Hawaii can be energy independent. Mike Reid, said he thinks that is “very isolationist. Saying we—this little island—don’t want to use the resources of the whole world. Why do we want to stop using fossil fuel? Wouldn’t it be smarter, if Hawaii is such an expensive place to live, to get the cheapest, most economical resource in the world?” According to Reid, that cheap resource is oil, which only gets expensive “because of greed.” Reid said, “I’m very concerned about the farmers. It looks like there’s going to be competition between the farmers and the windmill company.” Currently 225 acres of the land between the town and moun-tains is designated as agricultural land, or an “ag park,” according to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Brita Woek of Tetra Tech—an environmental impact consulting company hired by Champlin— said most of the existing land use and ac-cess to areas behind the town will not change with the project’s comple-tion, though there might be some limitation as they are being built.

“During operation, it’ll be like just one truck. They are not even allowed to widen the road,” which would encroach on agriculture land. She said

“We cannot stay static. Slowly you accept eventual goodness of what is happening. We cannot stagnate

and live in the past.”

– Buddy Ako

there have been “big design changes. The landowners said we’ve got to move the turbines so they can still use agriculture. My understanding is the next iteration is to have the line moved farther away from the farm land.” Current farmers are affected, which leads Polly Reid to believe these measures will still have “an effect because you can plant it but you can’t harvest it afterward because no one is supposed to go under the windmills.” In addition to farmland, Woek said, “The Zipline stays the same. You couldn’t put a windmill too close to the houses. You can still go visit the bunkers to restore them.” The research is “based off of existing stud-ies, weather patterns, and other things,” she said. Champlin has to do an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and have a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) in order to build. It must abide by the findings as well. “In order to get the permit, they are com-mitting to this suite of mitigation measures,” said Tom Snetsinger of Tetra Tech.

“The environmental review and permitting process is more rigorous in Hawaii than any other state or community we’ve developed—and I’ve been in business 20 years,” said Cutbirth. “After three years of studies, the conclusion is there are no adverse impacts.” Part of the EIS is considering the cultural impact of a proj-ect. Dr. Tevita Ka‘ili, cultural anthropology teacher at BYU-Hawaii and resident of Kahuku, said, “The first thing that they don’t address in their Cultural Impact Assessment is that the birds and bats that are going to be killed by the turbines are culturally significant to Hawaiian and Poly-nesian cultures.” Three birds in question, the Hawaiian Moorhen, the Hawaiian Short-Eared Owl, and the Hawaiian Goose, are considered au-makua, or ancestral guardians of certain families. “Even today, Hawaiians who come from those families will not hurt or kill those animals. The belief is very strong,” he said. The hoary bat species is affected by the turbines as well. “The bats are very sacred because they are considered the physical manifesta-tion of one of the four major Gods of Hawaii—Kanaloa. It’s like how with Native Americans eagles are sacred. That’s the same issue as is hap-pening here in Hawaii,” Ka‘ili said. Ka‘ili continued, “I talked to the archeologist yesterday and he said he never thought of it, and when he was interviewing other people, they never thought of it. I guess they were thinking about artifacts but not thinking about things that are alive as culture.”

KE ALAKA‘I16

Top: Kahuku community members gather to talk to Environmental Impact research-ers. Mike Cutbirth is in black on the left.

Bottom: Kahuku residents share their opinions with signs. Photos by James

Anshutz

Once the EIS is complete, the mitiga-tion measures to reduce the projected impact must be kept if the project wants to move for-ward. “The mitigation plan is because they are killing the birds in Kahuku you have to keep the birds alive somewhere else,” said Ka‘ili.

“That may address the biological problem, but if you are striking a sacred bird, how do you mitigate that?” The Habitat Conservation Plan talks about protecting threatened species in the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge, lo-cated between the shrimp ponds and the ocean north of Kahuku. Under the June 10 heading, the Fish and Wildlife Service has the entirety of the Habitat Conservation Plan, Draft Environmen-tal Impact Statement, Cultural Impact Assess-ment and other studies done. Donna Brown said she and her family, including a son with cerebral palsy, moved to Maui so they can sleep. “We noticed that ever since they put up those windmills, he had a

hard time going to sleep. He would wake up every night at about 2 a.m. and the only way to get him to sleep was to put him in the car and drive him toward Laie and Hauula. As soon as we turned around he would wake back up.” Others at the meeting said their special needs children would also wake up around 2 or 3 a.m. Junior Primacio is “83 years young” and said, “I really don’t think that’s an issue, in my opinion. And you know why? From 1895 to 1971 every year we heard the grinding of the mills. And the plantation families learned to live with it.” Consultant company HDR Inc’s Scott Noel explained its findings about the noise impact. He said the existing windmills have a “sound power level about 3 decibels higher” than the proposed ones. A human ear will notice a difference in 5 decibels. “The EPA has an indoor noise guideline of 45 db. This project is predicted to be less than 45 decibels outside,” and the walls of a home block about

10 decibels, making it sound about 35 decibels inside. “It shouldn’t keep people awake at night.” A 2011 review of international poli-cies concerning Wind Turbine distances from residences done by the Minnesota Department of Commerce found, “There is no worldwide agreement on appropriate wind turbine setback distances from homes,” and none in the United States. In Europe, minimum recommended dis-tances vary from 300 meters (984 ft) to 1,000 meters (3,281 ft). Na Pua Makani’s website states the closest wind turbine to Kahuku High School will be 3,800 feet away. Cindy Tutor said windmills have

“served well in places they’ve been—like Texas and Holland. I think they have their place, but this is not the place. It sounds like such a great idea, but as you dig deeper you find that it’s really not.”

17JULY 28, 2015

Manti Te’o tells Ke Alaka‘i how he reached the NFL

NFL football player and Laie native Manti Te’o said years of hard work and practice allowed him to reach the point he is at now: on the roster of the San Diego Chargers. “I think it was great for me,” said Te’o, “because my dad instilled in me at a young age the importance of hard work and then preparing yourself for something that you really wanted to do.” When making the jump from Puna-hou to Notre Dame and then to professional football, Te’o said that adjusting takes time. “It’s all about me getting comfortable because I knew myself, that I was going to work hard and I was going to try and outwork everybody,” he told. “I was never the strongest, I was never the fastest, but I was always the one that worked the hardest. I knew that with that quality, in time things would start to click.” He said he has received his fair share of bumps and bruises as he continued in his career. “For me, it was just about getting my reps, taking my bumps and I think that’s what a lot of people don’t under-stand.” Even Te’o has bad days, but he said that remembering why he plays the game helps him to beat what he calls “slow days.” “If your

‘why’ is strong, if your ‘why’ is pure, you’re going to find a way. You’ll find a way to get it done.” Te’o grew up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and said he does his best to live his faith. There are three other Latter-day Saint players on the Chargers roster and Te’o shared that the four of them help to keep each other in check. “It’s not the chapel in the locker room, you know. It’s quite the opposite, but the four of us always remind each other of who we are,” he said.

Because game day is on Sunday, Te’o said it can be hard for him to make it to church. But he also shared that if there is a sacrament meeting he can make it to, he does his best to get there. Making it to Family Home Evening activities in his singles ward in San Diego is something Te’o said he has committed to weekly. “Whatever comes up in life, it’s the gospel that always gives you hope that every-thing’s going to be alright,” said Te’o. “And in the NFL it sucks sometimes because you don’t know if you’re going to have a job the next day. One day you may be there, one day you may not be there.” He said having the gospel has helped him, especially when he received some injuries that could have threatened his career. “I honestly feel that the Lord puts certain things in our lives, whether it be blessings or whether it be hurdles, to teach us that He loves us enough to always make us and force us and push us to be the best versions of us we can be.” His last piece of advice to the stu-dents of BYU-Hawaii: get to church on Sunday.

“Go to church!” said Te’o. “It feels so much better to know that you’re in an environment where there’s so many people who believe in the same things as you.” He shared that his week goes by so much better every time he makes the effort to attend church on Sunday. “If anything happens in your life that you feel like,

“man, this sucks”, go to church, say a prayer,” he said. “I mean, ask for help, then everything is going to be alright. Life’s difficult, but it’s good, man.” For Te’o, football started at an early age and quickly became a large part of his life. “I started playing football when I was 5

years old,” Te’o said. “I kind of just fell right in line. My whole family played football. My dad played football, uncles, grandfather played football.” He also shared how involved his father and uncles were in his development as a young football player. “My dad was my coach and all my uncles, his brothers, were the assistant coaches. My cousins played on the team. Just that whole dynamic was real special to me, you know.” Whenever Te’o came home from school, he said his father would help him run plays and do other things to support his football career. However, it was not until the end of middle school that Te’o really began to drive himself. “For me, it was always my dad just pushing me when I was little,” he said. “And it wasn’t until I got older and until I got into I’d say 7th or 8th grade, where I took it over. But, before that it was like my dad was pushing me and I just wanted to make him proud.” The hard-working attitude given to him from his father is what Te’o said helps him to continue improving. “You didn’t just ‘show up’. You busted your butt to make sure that when it was time to play that it came easier.” Now playing at a professional level, Te’o shared having that confidence in himself is key. “[In the NFL], people are bigger, people are stronger, people are faster. At the same time you got to try and keep your confidence about you to make sure that you’re confident in your ability to do what you have to do.”

Football, family and faithBY ER IC HARL INE

Manti Te‘o (right) and author Eric Harline (left) throw shakas after the interview. Photo by Hector Periquin

KE ALAKA‘I18

P ersonal finance is an issue every student at BYU-Hawaii must tackle at some point. Fortunately, there are tools available to students to help them become what Alan

Akina, president and CEO of 101 Financial and alumni of BYUH, calls “financially educated.” When it comes to finances, Chi Man Leung, a senior from Hong Kong studying psychology, said it is useful to know what things she can buy within a budget she has set for herself. “It can help me to use the money wisely,” she shared. “It’s like knowing what kind of things I need instead of what things I want, so I don’t waste lots of money and time.” Akina, a former counselor in the Laie YSA 1st stake, said he also struggled with finances when he first left BYUH. Years of experience and learning about his own finances enabled him to help others relieve their own financial burdens. 101 Fi-nancial serves as a learning resource for individuals and families who face financial issues or just want to become more financially stable. Akina said he and those who work with him teach families in their homes to create a guaranteed learning environment. “We all know 101 is the beginning, the basic stuff that we wish we would’ve had,” he said. Akina said the No. 1 tip in managing personal finances and the golden rule of money is this: the amount of money you spend must be less than the amount that you bring in. Peter Banks, a volunteer instruc-tor in the business department, supports this golden rule. He said, “Rule number one: spend less than you make. Rule number two: see rule number one.”

Banks also said students can and should be engaged in research-ing and learning how to become financially stable. “To me, decision points happen at a very young age,” he said. One of the resources that Akina himself has provided is his book, “The Super Duper Simple Book on Money,” which can be down-loaded for free at his website: alanakina.com. The book can be purchased on Amazon as well. “This is a great first step for people,” Akina said. “It contains the five money principles that everyone needs to know.” He wrote the book for people who are financially illiterate. The five money principles are these:

of personal finance

Tips and tools on how to manage your money,given by professionals

Akina emphasized this last point by saying how important it is to help others. “Even if you don’t have money, you can always donate your time.” He shared his experience living as a young family in the Temple View Apartments. He said he would spend time coaching and or-ganizing events, such as helping Kahuku High School students volunteer at the Special Olympics in Honolulu.

1. Money In: Your income.2. Money Out: Our expenses.3. Money We Owe: Debt.4. Money We Grow: Our investments.5. Money We Share: How do we give back and help other people

The

Golden Rule

BY ER IC HARL INE

19JULY 28, 2015

The golden rule of money is this: the amount of money you spend must be less than the

amount that you bring in.

– Alan Akina, president and CEO of 101 Financial

Another tool available to students recommended by both Banks and Akina is the personal finance class taught by P.J. Rogers at BYUH. Highly recommended by Akina, he said the class makes learning about personal finances “fun and interactive.” He also shared,

“Maybe 5 percent of us use algebra today, but 100 percent of us had it in high school. None of us have money classes. But 100 percent of us have to use money. Everyone is going to use money, but why don’t they teach us?” The Personal and Family Financial Management class is available in every semester but requires a few prerequisites. For American students, Akina also shared creditkarma.com, a website to check

your credit score at no cost. “You need to know your credit score,” said Akina. He said that the website not only gives you a glimpse of where your credit score is at, but it also offers differ-ent tools that teach about credit. “Why your score is [where it is], what you can do to bring it up, what you can do to affect it.” The site will pitch credit card offers, but allows users to see their credit score for free. A final tip given by Banks is to be realistic with your income and the stability of that income. Akina said to learn from your parent’s example. “Most of us will learn what not to do, right?” He said. “We will know, and hopefully our parents will be truthful with us and say, ‘You know, I didn’t do the best, but I’m

glad you’re asking because I’ll tell you what not to do.’” There are other resources that can be useful in learning how to manage personal finances, and Akina and Banks both encourage students to research and learn for themselves how to become financially educated. “The more [money] you make the more you realize you don’t know about money,” Akina said of his early financial struggles. “I guess the one thing that drove me, the question that just rang in my head was ‘is there a better way?’” He shared that his desire to learn helped him reach the financial success he now enjoys.

KE ALAKA‘I20

Former student headlines at Diamond Head Theatre as lovable ogreLeGrand Lawrence, a former student of BYU-Hawaii who has starred in several school plays such as “Pippi Longstalking” and “The Princess Bride,” will play the lead role of Shrek in “Shrek the Musical,” which will be showing at the Diamond Head Theatre in Honolulu. Lawrence said he has participated in seven shows for the theater and has been acting there for a year. “I first learned that the theater was going to do ‘Shrek’ while I was doing ‘Spamalot’,” he said. “‘Shrek’ is one of my favorite animated movies and I had a lot of people encourage me.” The support he received was what helped him prepare to try out for the role. He said he began preparing for the role in December last year by taking voice lessons with two of his fellow actors. “We had auditions last month. I made it to callbacks, was freaking out, went to callbacks, and they told me about 10 minutes after I left that I got the part.” Lawrence continues to be excited about the show, which will run from July 17 to August 8. “Shrek is very… crass,” Lawrence shared about his character.

“He doesn’t really fear anything and he sees himself as the scariest thing in the forest.” Lawrence said what he likes about Shrek’s character is his re-solve to never give up. “There’s that part where he thinks that he’s totally failed, where he thinks that the princess thinks he’s ugly and everything. It doesn’t stop him from going after the princess in the end.” Lawrence’s favorite part of the play is a song that Shrek sings about being someone other than the ogre he is. “It’s a little sad because Shrek is finally opening up.” As far as his acting career goes, Lawrence said one of the big-gest challenges is typecasting. “At an audition, [directors] are looking for someone who physically fits the role,” he said, which probably helped the large Lawrence land this role of Shrek. Regardless of struggles, he shared that acting is fun for him.

“Not to say that I’m boring,” he said, “but I enjoy trying to be someone

BY ER IC H AR L INE

else. I get to be a Navy person. I get to be Shrek. I get to be someone else. And it’s just exciting to try and get in that person’s shoes and try to think like them and perform the way that you believe that they would perform.” While in school, Lawrence shared that trying to maintain stability between schoolwork, a job, and his acting career was sometimes difficult. “Definitely a lot of balancing going on, maybe a little bit of unbalancing at times,” he said. “It’s kind of a juggling act. I think there should be balance in some things and in other things you should be focus-ing more on what’s more important to you, but it just depends on the situation.” Lawrence said while he was acting, he would try to keep his mind focused on the rehearsal. “Sometimes it might be hard because I might be stressed out with something else like school. But for the most part I try to leave everything at the door. The last thing I want to do is be on stage and be thinking, ‘Did I get that question wrong or right?’ and screw up the play for everybody.” Planning and setting goals for his school and other work were very important for him to be able to remain focused on his roles. “I think if someone is in acting or that’s something that they want to do,” Lawrence said, “they should just keep pursuing it.” He shared his own experiences of hard work, taking singing lessons, jazz and tap-dancing lessons, and doing other things to improve his own acting abilities. “And it goes true for everything: you can only fail if you give up,” he said. “If you want to be an actor and you never go out and audition and never go out and rehearse your craft, you’re not going to become the actor that you want to be.” “Shrek the Musical” will be playing at the Diamond Head Theatre in Honolulu starting on July 17. The show will run until August 6 and ticket prices range from $15 to $35.

Left: Lawrence in his Shrek costume. Photo by Brad Goda. Right: Lawrence as the Strongest Man in the BYUH production

of“Pippi Longstocking.” Photo by Kelsie Carlson