Question: There’s a low stone wall on Diamond Head Road from Beach Road to the last lookout before the residential area. Again, graffiti is cropping up. From Beach Road, past the lighthouse and up to the path where you go down to showers has all been tagged with graffiti. How can we get this removed, and what can we do to make sure this doesn’t happen again?
Answer: Kokua Line passed along your concern to the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, which quickly dispatched staff members from neighboring Kapiolani Regional Park to eliminate the graffiti along that particular section of wall. The department thanked you for reporting the problem, and you expressed gratitude for the city’s rapid response.
Unfortunately, as you know, the same site was vandalized again only a few days later. Based on the style of graffiti, it seems to have been done by different taggers. City crews once again will remove or conceal graffiti marring the area.
As Jon Hennington, public information officer for Parks and Rec, explained, graffiti is a common concern not only along Diamond Head Road, but also in nearly all of Oahu’s 290-plus city parks. “Our staff are always on the lookout for graffiti, but we appreciate help from the eyes and ears of the community,” Hennington said.
You and anyone else who sees graffiti in a city park should call 768-3001 or email parks@honolulu.gov to report the problem so that city crews can remove it as quickly as possible. Doing so generally discourages repeat tagging. “In the event that you spot someone actively tagging public or private property, please call 911 and report the crime in progress,” Hennington said. “As always, mahalo for your kokua!”
Ensuring that Honolulu does not succumb to the urban ills that plague so many resource-strapped cities — problems that can include rampant graffiti — requires the active engagement of regular citizens. Community members and groups committed to spotting, reporting and helping clean up graffiti have an important role to play in preserving Oahu’s natural environment and scenic beauty.
Q: I looked at the CrimeStoppers website because of the missing boy. There are many missing persons listed there. Some cases go back years. Are all those people still missing?
A: Yes. CrimeStoppers Honolulu removes the alert for any missing person who is found, living or dead. The same is true regarding wanted suspects, whose cases are removed from the site once suspects are arrested, said CrimeStoppers Honolulu coordinator Kim Buffett Feigenspan.
Besides updating the website, CrimeStoppers also releases new information about the cases to the media, which disseminate it to the general public. “Every (missing) person on the website is still missing, according to the detectives,” she said.
That includes Noah Montemayor, the Hawaii Kai teenager to whom you referred in your question. He was last seen at his home Sept. 29 and was described as a possibly distraught runaway. Anyone with useful information in this case is urged to call police at 911 or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cellphone. Tips also can be submitted online, at crimestoppershonolulu.org.
Sadly, as you noted, some missing-persons cases go unresolved for years, with no definitive answers about what happened. It’s important to support the victims’ families and loved ones through the pain and uncertainty that can persist long after an initial surge of interest in high-profile cases subsides.
Mahalo
On Oct. 16 I was shopping at Mililani Walmart and after paying for my purchases dashed out of the store and walked to my car to unload the packages. A young woman approached me and said I forgot my credit card. I followed her back into the store, and her friend asked my name and, after confirming the name on the card, handed it to me. I was so happy. … Many thanks to the couple, and may they have much good fortune in the future! — A grateful senior
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
