Crime doesn’t pay, huh? Michael Kahapea, convicted in the city’s Ewa Villages corruption case, did OK. Paroled after doing five years of five consecutive 10-year prison terms, he started to collect his pension. That includes years on the 1990s scandal- plagued housing project, when he siphoned $5.8 million from a relocation fund.

An appeals court now agrees that the state can collect Kahapea’s nearly $1 million in unpaid penalties. Let’s see how the government, never good at enforcing fines, will manage.

A patriotic appeal for lei

On Sunday afternoon, Scouting Hawaii will stage its biggest annual Oahu service project, placing flower lei and a flag on every gravesite inside the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. An estimated 38,000 lei are needed.

The public is invited to donate fresh flowers and pre-made lei, or take part in lei-making events. For a list of drop-off locations and details about events — including about the 70th annual Mayor’s Memorial Day Ceremony, slated for 8:30 a.m. Monday at Punchbowl — check out the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation’s Memorial Day website, www.honolulu.gov/parks/program.