LIHU‘E — County officials are encouraging residents to recycle their Christmas trees.

LIHU‘E — About a dozen Kaua‘i keiki rode off with brand new bicycles, early Christmas presents, during the Kaua‘i Bible Church monthly Church on the Beach at the county Salt Pond Beach Park earlier this month.

Thirty-two-year-old Alberto Pedroso was very grateful for his early Christmas gift, a HHSC news release states.

In handwriting you connect one letter to another, other than natural intuitive breaks. This movement of connection is relayed to your body-mind functions, supporting your well-being and relationships. Unique to cursive writing is it capacity to unify your triad nature of body, mind, and spirit. This happens in the writing movement as you extend letters in upward and downward directions. The rhythmic design of handwriting is an orderly movement encouraging an orderly mind.

Coach Orlando Anaya (he’ll be at Saturday’s swim meet) is happy to be able to practice back at the Kaua‘i High School pool. He was enjoying practice Tuesday night when Kaua‘i girls basketball hosted Kapa‘a in the KIF season opener. And of course, Santa (aka Leonard Vegas) was there with a Spam musubi.

HANALEI — It sits outside on the road, and over the period of the Kaua‘i Food Bank’s Holiday Food and Fund Drive, has collected more than $1,000.

LIHU‘E — As the calendar turns from 2009 to 2010, Kauaians have a chance to look back at where we’ve gone and look ahead at where we’re going.

LIHU‘E — Sometimes it takes a document a long time to travel down a flight of stairs.

LIHU‘E — Can it really be that the first decade of the new century has passed us by?

During the British warship Calypso’s three-and-a-half-month stay in Hawai‘i beginning on Oct. 2, 1858, its surgeon, W.H. Sloggett, was presented with a royal feather shoulder cape by King Kamehameha IV in gratitude for medical service he’d rendered the seriously ill King.

• The public is invited to attend the Larsen’s Beach Access Celebration at 1 p.m.,

• Editor’s note: This is the third and final part of a series on nonprofit groups working together to overcome challenging economic times.

LIHU‘E — The voters’ rejection in 2008 of a proposed charter amendment that would have loosened ethical restrictions does not impact how the law is interpreted, county officials have determined.

LIHU‘E — County officials Wednesday released the names of the two men believed to have drowned Monday in separate incidents on Kaua‘i.

LIHU‘E — Surfers said they heard bullets whizzing past their heads and saw ripples in the water where the bullets entered, Friday, in the ocean offshore from the Kekaha Rifle Range.

LIHU‘E — With the recent winter storms that affected households in Hanalei and Keapana Valley with road closures, property damage, and flooding, the Kaua‘i Red Cross is emphasizing the need for more pre-trained volunteers and has scheduled Disaster Services Training for interested individuals. 

LIHU‘E — Marriage recovery is a goal of the next Love and Respect video series of gatherings, beginning Tuesday.

National Tropical Botanical Garden hosted a Winter Fine Art Festival on Dec. 19 at the Southshore Visitors Center Meadow.

LIHU‘E — Wilcox Health Foundation, an affiliate of Hawai’i Pacific Health, presented an evening of elegant music performed by Kaua‘i’s own critically acclaimed Dr. Timothy Lee, Dr. Aileen Denny, Dr. Dennis Haack, Dr. Jean Shein and Dr. Gerald Tomory, with guest performances by Dr. Jorge Camara, Kaycee Parker and Paul Olson, a news release states.

LIHU‘E — A variety of federal Web sites have information on the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, a spokesperson said.