Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 2, 1 February 1996 — Waimānalo homesteaders sign up to fight drugs [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Waimānalo homesteaders sign up to fight drugs

by Patrick Johnston Waimānalo homesteaders are mad and they're not going to take it any more. Drug dealers have been moving into their neighborhood, conducting business, and terrorizing residents. In their wake they leave addicts who rob homes to feed their narcotics appetite, and children exposed to one of the seediest and most destructive elements of Hawai'i society. In December, Nani Akeo, fed up with the dealing that was taking plaee around her home, decided that she was going to take action. Bright yellow signs

began appearing outside her home on Huli Street telling drug users to go away, and stay away. For Akeo the action was the result of months of fruitless efforts to stpp her neighbor from conducting his illicit business in front of her home and family. "I talked to him (the dealer) and told him to take his business away from my home and the kids." His response was to conduct his business at his girlfriend's house, another neighbor of Akeo. Frustrated, Akeo bought some yellow poster board and created a poster that she stuck outside her front gate. The sign read: "Druggies get off our street."

The idea caught on. Soon it seemed there were as many bright yellow signs discouraging drug dealers on Huli Street as there were post boxes. The next step was to get the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) involved. At a meeting held January 2, community members invited DHHL to speak and begin supporting their efforts. The agency eomplied. In the past, DHHL had the authority to revoke a lease only if the lessee was convicted of enminal activity. According to communications director Francis Apoliona, DHHL now wants to use civil law to carry out evictions. "Under civil law," continued on page 18

Dealer deterring sign outside Waimānalo homestead. Photo by Patrick Johnston

Waimanalo signs from 1

explains Apoliona, "you don't need a conviction. If you have a preponderance of evidence you ean schedule a case hearing." If the case hearing ruling goes against the suspected individual, then DHHL ean revoke his or her lease. Akeo thinks this is the right step. "DHHL is now enforcing what they should have all along," says Akeo. Apoliona says having the community actively involved in the polieing of their neighborhood - gathering the evidence that is required for a case hearing - goes a long way towards making civil law evictions effective. Residents plan to work closely with DHHL and the poliee to monitor houses of known drug dealers and report suspicious activity. They also want to recruit as many comnlunity members as possible. "Neighbors have committed themselves to watch over eaeh other's homes," Akeo explains. DHHL is also going to start using family members to bring the drug dealers in line. Some of the suspected drug dealers living in Waimānalo homesteads are the children or grandchildren of the actual lease holder. They live in the house but do not hold the lease. Threatening to terminate the lease ean put pressure on the elder leaseholder to bring their kids in line or risk losing the property. "Parents could lose their lease whether they live there or not," Apoliona points out. Community members, however would prefer to consider less drastic measures before seeing someone lose their lease. "Now there is going to be a healing process," Akeo says, adding that she doesn't want to see the parents and grandparents - some of whom have lived in the neighborhood for years - lose a lease because of a wayward child or grandchild. She says she wants the criminals to work within their families and support groups to reform themselves. If they do, they ean stay; if not, they will have to leave. Waimānalo drug problems are not unknown to other Hawai'i eommunities, both on and off Hawaiian home lands. According to Leighton Kaonohi, director of the drug education and prevention program "No Hope in Dope," drug use has increased at an alarming rate in recent years. Kaonohi says while a good deal of attention has been on "iee" use, the effects of long-term marijuana use, both on the user and an unborn child, should not be underestimated. "iee has been perceived as the main problem, but few Hawaiians realize the long term bad results from marijuana use. ... It is a silent killer." Many see community movements like the one in Waimānalo as an important part of the solution to the drug problem in Hawai'i eommunities. "The problems start at the community level and that's where the solution lies," Kaonohi believes. "More poliee officers are not the solution." Apoliona would like to see similar programs across the state. "It ean serve as an example for other communities," he says.