The Honolulu Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • 9

tovn oio 0 in llO 1 TRAFFIC ALERTS ON YOUR CELL i Bank of Hawaii's Don't get stuck! sponsored Text HITRAFFIC to earnings drop 23 44636 (4INFO). OBITUARIES B2 COMMUNITIES B3 CLASSIFIED B10 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2009 LOCAL NEWS DESK: 525-8090 OR HAWAIIHONOLULUADVERTISER.COM SECTION adi Bark to be cleaned "WW Will I It, MI WW lv 1 1 1 I LEE CATALUNA Make the best of those furloughs out "We're still doing it the same way we've done all the other cleanups," Moses said. "We give them 30 days notice, and we give all the service providers a heads up so they can go out and try to get these people to relocated to available shelters." Nearly three years ago, the city adopted a plan to clean up and reclaim a 16-mile stretch city beach parks on the Wai'anae Coast that had been populated by an explosion of tent dwellers displaced by rapidly rising home prices. Since the fall of 2006, park improvement projects have displaced hundreds of beach dwellers from that the latest cleanups will only make matters worse. Jo Jordan, chairwoman of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board, said she has heard concerns from residents about the already overcrowded conditions at Kea'au Beach Park.

Jordon said her understanding is that by February the city will shut down and clean up the area between the District Court building and Ma'ili Point, which has a large homeless population. Jordan said that she's been told that shortly thereafter, the rest of the coast will SEE NANAKULI, B4 Project part of city's effort to reclaim beaches from homeless campers BY WILL HOOVER Advertiser Staff Writer The city is planning to close the beach park in Nanakuli between Lualualei Naval Road and the District Court building at 87-1784 Far-rington Highway beginning Monday for the latest in its series of beach cleanups. About 24 homeless people have been camping in the area, although police Maj. Michael Moses said some have already started moving Nanakuli to Ma'ili to Wai'anae. Service providers, however, lately have said that their task has been complicated by an increasing number of homeless people shunning beach parks and settling on remote, unimproved beaches that are difficult and dangerous to access.

Tulutulu Toa, a homeless programs specialist, and Utu Langi, who has a program that feeds Wai'anae Coast homeless people on weekends, are among numerous service providers who say the evacuations have caused the coast's westernmost beach park and an unimproved beach to the west of it to become overcrowded. They fear INMATES SHARE THEIR STORIES 'V 11 L-Jv- ABOVE: St. Andrew's Priory students in grades six to 1 2 listened as eight inmates from the Women's Community Correctional Center spoke about their time behind bars. The inmates warned the students of the consequences that result from getting into, trouble. RIGHT: Inmate Earlily read an essay she wrote as inmate May waited for her turn to speak.

See more photos and a video at H0N0LULUUVERTISEII.COM. DEBORAH BOOKER The Honolulu Advertiser I 1 1 -i What ail amazing thing to find out that nobody realized teacher furlough days meant public school children would be missing school! Gov. Linda Lingle said she assumed incorrectly that furlough days wouldn't take away from class time. Teachers are saying they weren't given a choice. Hawaii State Teachers Association leaders are saying that Lingle got what she wanted, making it seem like their membership didn't agree to the deal when they did.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Ben Vereen is at the state Capitol partying with the protesters. Cool but definitely random Maybe he knows who to blame. Truth is, there's enough blame to go around. Lingle has been trying to whack the public school pinata since she got into office, even before there was a billion-dollar budget deficit. This was her chance to get in a good solid hit.

The teachers union wisely took the option of furloughs rather than straight pay cuts or layoffs, but they made the choice to schedule those on class days rather than prep days and the school board signed off on the deal. Nobody worried about the kids losing class time until the reality of the first Furlough Friday came down and the community was up in arms. Seventeen days of school cut from the school year is bad, but not as bad as the 21 days students lost in 2001 when the teachers went on strike looking for a retroactive pay raise. As those weeks went on, there were no parents holding concerts at the CapitoL and though Gov. Ben Cayetano got his share of screaming e-mails, Ben Vereen didn't stop by.

All involved need to holster their blaming fingers and instead use that energy to figure out what to do now. All is not lost. No, not the hurricane relief fund. Not a special session. Not raising taxes or "finding the money." There is no money.

The state just closed a prison, for crying out loud. There isn't a secret stash of money hidden away in Lenny Klompus' desk draw er. Individual schools do have the option of switching out prep and waiver i i aays ror cuiss uay ana oi extending scnooi nays. Teachers can keep students busy with reading and homework. It's important to remind ourselves that this is but a moment in time.

Furlough Fridays are temporary, not forever. This crisis will pass and things will get better. And even in this difficult time, there are lessons for the students. Life is more than worksheets and word problems. It is often about figuring out how to make the best of difficult circumstances.

This is good practice for, well, tough times like these. Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or at lcatalunahonoluluadver tiser.com. 30-YEAR SENTENCE Gunman calls victim 'a hero' BY JIM DOOLEY Advertiser Staff Writer A 19-year-old man who crippled a teenager in a 2008 armed robbery tearfully apologized to his victim yesterday in court before being sentenced to 30 years in prison. The defendant, Nicholas Nichols, was also ordered to pay $501,000 in restitution for medical expenses incurred by the state in treat Nichols ing Nichols victim, Timothy Lapitari.

Lapitan was shot while protecting his mother during a May 2008 armed invasion of their 'Aiea home by Nichols and several co-defendants. "It should be me in that wheelchair," Nichols told Lapitan in court. "You are a hero for what you did." Lapitan said outside court he thinks the primary responsibility for his injuries is with a former girlfriend who instigated the armed robbery of his home. "I don't blame Nick for what happened," he said. "When he gets out, I hope the best for him." SEE SHOOTING, B5 TV DEBUT Merged news team launches simulcast BY RICK DAYSOG Advertiser Staff Writer KGMB9 and KHNL debuted their new simulcast newscast yesterday evening by sticking to their game plan: traffic and weather coverage.

Anchors Tannya Joaquin and Stephanie Lum kicked off the inaugural 5 p.m. news with a story about recent flooding in the Waikane area, followed by a live report on a traffic accident that caused congestion in the Waimalu area "Overall, it was a solid beginning," said Rick Blangiar-di, general manager" for KGMB and. KHNL. "With the amount of variables involved in making this happen, I'm very pleased with the hard work of everyone." KGMB, KHNL and K5 say the merger of their news- SEE NEWS, B4 Dispute brews in over planned dog Halelwa park site borhood Board meeting at 7 tonight at the John Kalili Surf Center, 66-167 Hale'iwa Road. Group spokeswoman Malia Evans said she was shocked to learn last month that the board voted to support the proposal and the North Shore Woof Pack selected the site without learning more about its historical background.

The Woof Pack is a nonprofit organization that was established in July to support the creation of a dog park at Kaiaka Bay Beach Park, according to its Web site. The site is well documented in literature, Hawaiian stories and missionary accounts, said Evans, a Uni- SEE DOG PARK, B4 Some residents say land is an ancient heiau complex; city officials say it's not so BY ELOISE AGUIAR Advertiser North Shore Writer A recently approved dog park for Kaiaka Bay Beach Park in Hale'iwa has prompted residents to protest placing the activity in what they say is an ancient Hawaiian heiau complex. City officials say the site is not near a heiau complex. Malama Keia 'Aina 'o Hale'iwa, made up of North Shore residents from various cultural, civic and professional organizations, said it will take its concerns to the North Shore Neigh Area of 'detail Kaiaka Bay O'AHU The Honolulu Advertiser CENTURY CELEBRATION Leahi Hospital yesterday honored three nursing home patients who are 100 or older. The centenarians, from left: Ralph Aloiau, who turned 100 on Thursday; Shizuyo Moriyama, 1 03; and Taka Sato, 101.

See more photos and a video online at H0N0LULUADYERTISER.COM. GREGORY YAMAMOTO The Honolulu Advertiser Eiementary soccer 1 School! yield KAIAKA BAY g'f, BEACH PARK to t. rl: S'i U-- i -3t. I.