COMMUNITY NEWS for August 6 issue

On Aug. 15, enjoy a presentation by Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project Bird Biologist Laura Berthold. Learn more about the native birds of Maui and what projects are under way to help them. A short presentation will be held at 2 p.m. at the Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ambassadors of the Environment Center at the Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua. Parking is encouraged at D.T. Fleming Beach Park. For more information, call 665-7294 or visit ww.mauiforestbirds.org.
Lahaina Hongwanji Mission to hold summer Obon Festival
LAHAINA – Lahaina Hongwanji Mission will hold its annual summer Obon Festival on Friday, Aug. 7, and Saturday, Aug. 8, on the church grounds at 551 Wainee St.
Everyone is invited to dance to the beat of the taiko drums and enjoy traditional local Japanese food.
The memorial service starts at 6 p.m., and the Bon Dance runs from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Food concessions open at 5:30 p.m.
There will be assorted sushi, bentos, nishime, somen salad, chow fun and many more prepared food items for sale, games to play and craft items for sale.

Lahaina’s Noah Clark, an 18-year-old table tennis phenom, won the prestigious U.S. Open Table Tennis Tournament Under-1850 championship on July 6 at Las Vegas, Nevada. Clark, who started learning the game at the age of 12 at Lahaina Civic Center, won the title over the 256 competitors in the field from all over the world. Clark started competing shortly after beginning to learn the game here in Lahaina. He became the youngest player — at age 16 — to win the Elite Division and Super Round Robin events at the Big Island Table Tennis Tour, and the first from Hawaii to take a U.S. Open title. He is currently in California training for the National Table Tennis Championships in December, and his goal is to win gold medals in the U-2000 and U-2100 divisions.
Contact “Noosh” Nishihara at 870-6478 for more information.
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Krieger to speak at Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembrance program
KAHULUI – David Krieger, founder and president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s annual Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembrance program on Thursday, Aug. 6, at the University of Hawaii Maui College in the Pilina Building multi-purpose room.
His slide talk is titled “The Nuclear Age at Seventy: The Human Heart and Nuclear Weapons.”

Halau Hula o Na Wahine Nani o Lahaina holds hula classes on Wednesdays from 5 to 5:45 p.m. at Lahaina United Methodist Church, 988 Front St. Call 661-5498 for information. Keiki and private hula lessons are also available.
Free and open to the public, the event commemorates the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the two cities in Japan. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for origami peace crane making and viewing displays, with the program starting at 7 p.m.
Dr. Krieger, a leader in the global movement to abolish nuclear weapons and build a more peaceful world, lectures throughout the United States, Europe and Asia on issues of peace, security, international law and the abolition of nuclear weapons. He has received many awards for his work for a more peaceful and nuclear weapons-free world.
Among many other honors and achievements, Dr. Krieger is a founder of Abolition 2000, a global network of over 2,000 organizations and municipalities committed to the total elimination of nuclear weapons. He is a councilor on the World Future Council, which seeks to be a voice for future generations, where he serves as co-chair of the Peace and Disarmament Commission.
He is the author or editor of many studies of peace in the nuclear age. He has written or edited 24 books and hundreds of articles and book chapters.
Also participating in the program are Maui Taiko, Lei’ohu Ryder, Akari Ueoka and Yosakoi dancers, Sendai Japan folk singer Junko Nakagawa and a Micronesian a cappella choir.
Sponsoring the program are the Japanese Cultural Society of Maui, the Maui Peace Education Foundation and the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration Committee.
Tea and refreshments will be served after the program. For more information, visit www.mauipeace.org.
- Lahaina’s Noah Clark, an 18-year-old table tennis phenom, won the prestigious U.S. Open Table Tennis Tournament Under-1850 championship on July 6 at Las Vegas, Nevada. Clark, who started learning the game at the age of 12 at Lahaina Civic Center, won the title over the 256 competitors in the field from all over the world. Clark started competing shortly after beginning to learn the game here in Lahaina. He became the youngest player — at age 16 — to win the Elite Division and Super Round Robin events at the Big Island Table Tennis Tour, and the first from Hawaii to take a U.S. Open title. He is currently in California training for the National Table Tennis Championships in December, and his goal is to win gold medals in the U-2000 and U-2100 divisions.
- Halau Hula o Na Wahine Nani o Lahaina holds hula classes on Wednesdays from 5 to 5:45 p.m. at Lahaina United Methodist Church, 988 Front St. Call 661-5498 for information. Keiki and private hula lessons are also available.