KAHULUI, Hawaii — The Maui Planning Commission invites residents to attend a community meeting, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on May 14 to review the latest draft for the South Maui Community Plan.

The meeting will be held in-person at the Malcom Center at 1305 N. Holopono Street, Suite 5 in Kihei, and online via WebEx videoconferencing.

Visit the Maui County Planning Department’s “We Are South Maui” website to view the agenda and get instructions to join the online meeting.

A community-specific land use plan, the South Maui Community Plan will provide guidance on future development and preservation of South Maui over a 20-year period. The updated plan focuses on land use and development aimed at bringing the community’s vision of South Maui to life, according to a news release.

The South Maui Community Plan Advisory Committee voted to forward its recommendations of the draft plan to the Maui Planning Commission after completing its review on Nov. 1, 2023. The draft plan with CPAC’s recommendations is on the website mentioned above.

The Maui Planning Commission anticipates the review of the draft plan to take nine meetings going into September. At that time, the commission will vote to forward its recommendations to the Maui County Council.

All commission meetings, including the public hearing, are open to the public to provide testimony on specific agenda items. Meeting agendas, schedule and general information are available on the “We are South Maui” website.

The public can keep abreast of the news by signing up for email updates on the website or following @wearesouthmaui on Facebook and Instagram.

Visit the website or call the Planning Department at 808-270-7214 for information.

Back to U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa

TUNIS, Tunisia – As with many native Hawaiians, U.S. Army Reserve Capt. Ivy Young is a mix of ethnicities including Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, German and Puerto Rican. Growing up within the diverse population of Honolulu, her childhood was immersed in traditional Hawaiian culture. Now, together with her U.S. Army Reserve unit, she traveled to the other side of the world to participate in exercise African Lion 2024 (AL24).

“I’ve been to New Zealand and Japan before, but this is my first time to Africa,” said Young, commander of the 970th Transportation Detachment Movement Control Team (970th TC DET (MCT)), 385th Transportation Battalion, 207th Regional Support Group.

Young’s team works together with exercise leads from U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) and the 79th Theater Sustainment Command team to facilitate the efficient movement of personnel and cargo in and out of logistics areas from the hub of Tunis throughout the country, even to distant areas such as the Port of Gabes and Ben Ghilouf, which is over six hours away.

To put this in perspective, there are nearly 2,500 service members in the Tunisian spoke of AL24. Running from April 19 to May 31, the exercise takes place in four host nations to also include Ghana, Morocco and Senegal, bringing the total to 8,100 participants from 27 nations. MCTs have their hands full at every turn; but Young readily accepted the mission.

Working within a hectic, multinational atmosphere is commonplace in Hawaii, says Young. But she also shared that her Eugene, Oregon-based reserve unit is very diverse and multilingual, indicating they were ready for the challenge.

“An MCT is designed to expedite, coordinate and supervise transportation support of units, cargo and personnel,” explains Young. “I really enjoy any opportunity for us to exercise our capabilities and provide real-world support to the units at AL24.”

Together with Tunisian partners, Young’s team greets new arrivals at the airport, facilitates customs inspections with Tunisian officials, then moves everyone to their assigned locations.

“When anyone submits a movement request to our team, we review and process the request before submitting it to the joint operations cell,” said Young. “An American liaison reviews the requests alongside Tunisian counterparts to determine their ability to support the movement and allocate assets accordingly.”

With so many multinational participants and many moving parts, Young’s team often works late into the night to facilitate movement requests. Due to travel constraints, many units arrive close to midnight or early in the morning, but the MCT is always ready with a smile to welcome them to Tunisia.

“Since a little before the start of the exercise, we coordinated the movement of approximately 3,225 personnel moving from one location to another,” added U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Vaughan, detachment sergeant for the 970th TC DET (MCT). “We also oversaw the transportation of nearly 150 pieces of cargo and equipment all throughout the country of Tunisia.”

Vaughan, Young and the other members of the MCT are constantly together and continually on the move, frequently traveling between locations to ensure successful transit. “Often, we’re so close to each other that many of us talk and associate regularly outside of battle assembly weekends; we’re a family,” added Vaughan.

Vaughan also shared that Young has been a breath of fresh air for the unit, saying they went from not knowing each other at all, to quickly accepting her as a new family member within their tight-knit group.

“Soon after she became our commander, the unit was informed we would deploy to the Middle East,” said Vaughan. “Rather than shy away from the challenge, Young embraced it, getting to know our team during the pre-deployment process. She quickly related to our soldiers and I can honestly say her leadership, partnership and guidance have left a mark here in the 970th that cannot be matched.”

The shared experience of a deployment can often lead to lifelong bonds of friendship. Vaughan expressed this same sentiment when speaking about his commander.

“I’ve been at her left side throughout her entire tenure with the 970th,” he said. “We’ve had laughs, shared words and tears, both of sadness and joy. I’ve seen her grow from someone that was an excited, slightly unsure officer in the beginning to a wonderful, strong and powerful commander and friend.”

For Young, the camaraderie and shared challenges are exactly what she hoped for when she first joined the military.

“My freshman year of college left me feeling like I wasn’t being challenged enough and I had too much free time,” Young recalls.

A chance encounter with a college roommate involved in Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) sparked Young’s interest in military life.

Her roommate took her to meet with a recruiter and, within 15 minutes, she was signed up for Army ROTC and military science classes. Switching her major from business to civil engineering to enhance her prospects for an Army ROTC scholarship, Young found herself drawn to the discipline and camaraderie of military training.

“My college years in ROTC really transformed me as a person and a leader,” she reflected. “I gained a lot of confidence and leadership skills that have helped me in every aspect of my life.”

She shared that she found out about the African assignment shortly after returning from a nine-month deployment to Saudi Arabia, where she and Vaughan performed MCT duties during Operation Inherent Resolve.

Deployments and events like AL24 would not be possible without the total force contributions of both guardsmen and reservists like Young. But after the exercise, she returns home and back to civilian responsibilities.

“Off duty, I serve as a project engineer for a general contractor,” said Young. “But I really love to cook, craft and travel. I really miss cooking while being deployed or on a training assignment like this one.”

As the Department of Defense honors and remembers the many contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders this month, Young says she values her experience in Africa, while maintaining a love for her cultural background. She always returns home from assignments with new recipes to try and looks forward to reuniting with friends and family.

“There are a couple Tunisian recipes I really look forward to trying when I get home. I’ll definitely have some good memories to share from my experience in Africa,” said Young.

About African Lion

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of U.S. Army Africa Command’s premier and largest annual, combined, joint exercise African Lion. This year’s exercise will take place April 19 through May 31 and is hosted across Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia with more than 8,100 participants from over 27 nations and contingents from NATO. African Lion 24 focuses on enhancing readiness between the U.S. and partner nation forces. This joint all-domain, multi-component, and multinational exercise, employs a full array of mission capabilities with the goal to strengthen interoperability among participants and set the theater for strategic access.

African Lion content can be found on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS).

About SETAF-AF

SETAF-AF provides U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Army Europe and Africa a dedicated headquarters to synchronize Army activities in Africa and scalable crisis-response options in Africa and Europe.

Follow SETAF-AF on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn & DVIDS

The Hawaii water polo team had a bevy of chances in its NCAA semifinal against California at the Golden Bears’ Spieker Aquatics Complex on Saturday.

Shooting for the biggest win in program history, the Rainbow Wahine misfired, however, in a 9-6 loss that brought their landmark 2024 season to an end.

It was the last match for 13-year head coach Maureen Cole, who announced before the season she would retire to spend more time with her family. Her assistant coach, James Robinson, takes over the program this summer.

“Game aside, I’m just really proud of the Wahine team this year, this season,” a tearful Cole said via a Zoom call afterward. “This game in particular didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but they fought until the end and that’s just a testament to the people they are. A great group of girls, a group I would want to spend the last nine months with, and just really proud of their efforts.”

Big West champion UH (23-4), which authored two wins over No. 1 teams and went 1-1 against Cal in the regular season, generated plenty of power-play opportunities but struggled mightily to capitalize on them. It was just 2-for-17 scoring in man-up situations. Cal was 4-for-8 in those situations.

“The power play tells pretty much all,” said Cole, who noted her group was “a little out of sorts” and had trouble sensing when to step in to shoot. She added that an unusual pattern of exclusions on some of her key players caused her to go to a mixed-and-matched group of players in the pool in the first half.

But ultimately, it came down to not capitalizing on the team’s many power plays, she acknowledged.

“We couldn’t put the ball away very well today. They did. So, credit to Cal for doing that,” she said. “Wish this could’ve gone on another day but, proud of the team.”

The Wahine trailed 2-1 after a quarter but a series of defensive lapses led to a disastrous second quarter in which Cal scored six times to take an 8-3 lead into intermission.

“That second quarter was a killer,” Cole said.

UH held Cal (19-6) of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation to just one goal in the second half in its home pool to give itself a chance at a comeback.

Bernadette Doyle’s third goal of the game, a shot at the far post from the right wing, got UH within 9-6 with 4:27 to go.

Big West Player of the Year Bia Mantellato Dias had a prime chance to get UH within two, but she fired wide right on a penalty shot with 3:47 remaining.

Doyle’s lob goal was disallowed with 2:46 left as a whistle occurred first. Lot Stertefeld’s ensuing shot – essentially a must-make at that point – caromed off the crossbar.

Doyle said she was able to tune out Cal’s raucous home crowd and noted there were some UH fans in attendance.

“I’m so happy that I was able to be coached by Mo again, and James,” said Doyle, who came back for her senior season after spending years away from the program with the New Zealand national team. “We had a great year with the team and we just tried to make Hawaii proud, and the university. I guess we didn’t get there at the end, but we fought right ’til the end, so I guess that just shows our team this year.”

UH was attempting to advance to the first NCAA final in program history. Instead, Cal will face UCLA (25-0), which defeated Stanford 10-8 in Saturday’s first semifinal, in the Bears’ first final since 2011.

Cole, a Punahou and UCLA alumna, exits as the winningest and most successful coach in program history.

“I think Coach Robinson is the best that there is,” Cole said of the future of the program. “I think Hawaii is in phenomenal hands and that’s why I’m at complete peace walking away.”

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.