Hilo, Hawaii

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Hilo Weekly News: April 21, 2013

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Record High Temperature Set In Hilo

On Sunday, April 14, 2013, a new record high temperature of 87 degrees was set in our town. This breaks the previous record that was set in 1979, which just so happens was the year that Jennifer Love Hewitt was born. Source: http://www.hawaii247.com/2013/04/15/wind-advisory-for-big-island-summits-record-temperature-in-hilo-sunday/

The Latest Dieting Craze: Not Eating

What a novel way to lose weight. Who would have ever thought you could lose weight by not eating? (link)

Gas Prices Go Up in Hilo

Surprise, surprise gas prices go up again in Hilo. The average price was $4.37 in our rainy town. Isn’t it great to live in the only state in the union where the average gas price exceeds $4 per galloon? (read more)

Kolten Wong and Oscar Taveras Lead Memphis to Victory

Hawaii’s own Kolten Wong does well and leads Memphis to victory. Source: cardinalsfarm.com

Ryan Higa Posts Fruit Ninja Video and Gets 1.2 million Views

 

Find Weed In Hilo

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It isn’t easy to find weed in Hilo, Hawaii. After what happened to Roger Christie, not many people are willing to sell it here in Hawaii. And if you find someone who is selling weed, it doesn’t come cheap.

Weed in Hilo?According to Slate magazine weed sells for about $300 per ounce retail and another study says that it costs about $100 per ounce to produce.

Oh yeah, it is also illegal here in Hilo, Hawaii. So I suppose that makes finding weed in Hilo that much harder.

How to find weed in Hilo for $0.62 per ounce

But if marijuana were ever legalized there’s a good chance that weed would become very cheap in Hilo.

According to an article in the Huffington Post, if pot was legalized the cost of production could drop to as low as $0.62 per ounce:

“If the country legalized pot, the drug could be farmed and produced for about $10 per pound — or about 62 cents per ounce — assuming it was produced in the same manner as similar products like tea, according to American Interest magazine.”

Should Weed be easier to find in Hilo, Hawaii?

So what is your take, should weed be legalized? Would you like to be able to find weed in Hilo at your local “drug” store? Or should we keep our existing laws in place?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/20/marijuana-per-ounce-price_n_3094520.html

Hilo’s Duke of Sparta: George Lycurgus

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Hilo's Very Own George Lycurgus

George Lycurgus was born in 1858 in Vasara, Greece, which was near Sparta. Sparta as we know from the movie 300 was home to fierce Greek warriors who were known as the Spartans. Their claim to fame is that 300 Spartans and 7,000 other warriors held off an army of 300,000 Persians in the battle of Thermopylae.

An Accidental Voyage to Hawaii

300, the movieLycurgus, accidentally came to Hawaii for the first time in 1889. While loading a cargo boat that was bound for Hawaii, he was invited aboard for a poker game. It must have been an exciting game because he didn’t notice that the ship had set sail with him still aboard it.

The Duke of Sparta (Who Lived in Hilo)

He opened one of the first resorts in Waikiki and one of his frequent guests was the Kalakaua family who were Hawaiian Royalty. His friendship with the royal family was how he was nicknamed the “Duke of Sparta”.

In 1894, he landed in Hilo for the first time aboard the USS Philadelphia on his way to visit Volcano for the first time. He liked the Volcano so much thoughts of business opportunities there spun in his head.

Hilo Resident Accused of Treason

After the 1895 Counter-Revolution of Hawaii, Lycurgus was accused of smuggling guns for the Royalists and charged with treason. He was put in jail for 52 days, but nothing came of the charges.

Throwing Gin into the Volcano

In 1904, Lycurgus and his nephew took control of the Volcano House Company and in 1906 he worked with Lorrin Thurston to have the volcano area developed into Volcano National Park. One of the traditions that he started was tossing bottles of gin into the volcano. Obviously not everyone was happy about this.

He died at the grand old age of 101 in the year 1960.

Hilo Grow In Is Dug Up

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Police have evicted activists from Wailoa Park where they had planted a Hawaiian garden. They planted taro and other Hawaiian crops to protest the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Eleven people were arrested and charged with illegal camping. Neither the police nor the DLNR cared to talk, but the arrests happened just before the Merrie Monarch parade.

The activists who include Abel Lui and Gene Tamashiro say that the DLNR has no jurisdiction over the park since it was crown land.

Source: http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections/news/local-news/police-evict-activists-park.html

The reaction to this article is mixed. Some commenters say that the activists have no right to plant a garden at Wailoa because the land is now owned by the state, so the state can dictate what can be done on the land, while others say that Hawaii becoming a state in 1959 was a fraud where 63% of eligible voters didn’t get to vote, so that the land rightfully belongs to the heirs of the Ali’i.

Hilo Tire Prices: How Much Do Tires Cost In Hilo?

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Here in rainy old Hilo we have to do a lot of driving to get a round because we don’t have a lot of public transport options like they do in the mainland. All this driving wears out our tires fast. Since my car needs new tires soon, I decided to do a little research to find out who has the best tire prices in Hilo. I decided to look at the cost of the tires alone and with installation to find out how much tires cost in Hilo, so that I can get the best deal. Obviously prices will vary based on the type of car that you have, but this might be able to give you a good baseline on which Hilo Tire Dealer has the best prices. After all, if a company has a good price for my car, they will probably have a good price for your car too.

Goodyear Hilo Tire Price: $359.40

The lowest priced tires at Hilo’s Goodyear are the Kelly Explorer Plus, they cost $72.85 each and have a 40,000 mile warranty. Goodyear charges $17 per tire to install them. So the grand total for tires and installation at Goodyear in Hilo is $359.40. They also throw in a $49 29-point inspection for free.

Goodyear Auto Service Center
475 Kilauea Ave, Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-9756

R & G Tire Center Tire Cost: Unknown

R & G doesn’t list tire prices on their website, so I don’t know how much tires from them will cost. Perhaps I will get around to calling them later. They are a full service tire facility, so they can obviously take care of everything. I just don’t know the cost.

R & G Tire Center Inc
612-A & B Kalanianaole Ave, Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-2966

Firestone Hilo Tire Prices: $383.92

The Hilo Firestone website was just about the easiest website to use to find tire prices for my small car. Their best prices for tires is $69.99 each and they throw in installation, wheel alignment for free. But they charge for wheel balancing, valve stems and recycling so their true cost of tire installation is $104 and the total cost of tires for my car at Firestone Hilo would come out to $383.92. The tires at Firestone are cheaper than the tires at Goodyear, but the cost of installation is higher so tires from Firestone end up costing more.

Firestone Complete Auto Care
26 Kekela St, Hilo, HI 96720
808-959-7654

K & J Tire Center Tire Cost: Unknown

The K & J Tire websites also wasn’t so helpful to me. Unlike the R & G Tire website it gave me the ability to look for tires for my car, but didn’t give me any prices. It just asked for my contact information so that they could get back to me.

K & J Tire Ctr Inc
266 Kekuanaoa St, Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 961-2604

Sears Hilo Tire Prices: $339.84

The Sears Tire website wasn’t so easy for me to figure out, but it showed me a tire price of $47.98 for Guardsman Plus tires but this is before shipping. This is significantly lower than the other Hilo Tire Companies. It turns out that shipping costs $22.99 per tire so the real cost of the tire is $70.97 each. But if I were to buy it at their Prince Kuhio Plaza location it would cost $69.98. Mounting is included and disposal of my old tires is free. Valve stems would cost $2.99 each and tire balancing is $11.99. So the installed cost of these tires is $84.96 and the cost for a full set of tires is $339.84.

Sears Auto Center
111 E Puainako St, Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 981-4095