Yesterday’s breaking news that freeway traffic was snarled after a 2-year old was thrown off an overpass into passing traffic hit while everyone was still trying to digest and deal with news of the Wednesday night’s incident in Kailua in which a woman was beaten to death in a well-used street in front of bystanders.
This is one of those times when a newspaper’s thoughtful and compassionate editorial voice can help the community through an extremely difficult moment. I haven’t gone out in the dark to drag our two newspapers in off the driveway, but a quick online check shows neither Honolulu daily stepped up to the plate. That’s a shame.
The Star-Bulletin, though, did make several good points in its editorial urging caution before automatically sending juveniles charged with serious offenses to be tried in adult court. They point out that this is likely to happen even under existing law in the Ewa case driving the current proposal, so the need for the across the board change is questionable.
I would give the Advertiser high marks for its detailed coverage of yesterday’s incident, while the Star-Bulletin, with far fewer resources to work with, provides a much better read in a story this morning by Leila Fujimori and Alexandre Da Silva, complete with the name of the victim, a photo of his mother at the police station last night, and her description of what led up to the incident. The mother’s comments put the Star-Bulletin way ahead of its larger rival on this one.
I also have to give S-B writer Gene Park’s second day story on the Kailua beating. Here’s his lead:
Outside a Kailua apartment building, 2-year-old Trulyn skipped, jumped and giggled up and down the sidewalk yesterday, blissfully unaware of the fate of her parents.
Her father, Alapeti Siuanu Tunoa Jr., is accused of beating her mother, Janel Tupuola, to death in front of several witnesses in a public road.
In stark contrast to his half sister’s boundless energy, 13-year-old Kealii Toelupi leaned against a car, his arms crossed as he remembered months of abuse his mother suffered during her relationship with Tunoa.
“I hate him,” he said under his breath, his lips tight across his face and his eyes without tears. “I hate him for what he’s done to this family.”
Terrible situation, but a winning story.
An interview this week with Gannett’s newly appointed chief digital officer gives some perspective on the company’s strategy going forward.
Time Warner says it’s going to be experimenting with variable Internet pricing, with high bandwidth users paying more. Still no word on whether this is going to show up in Hawaii at some future point.
The Hawaii People’s Fund is offering two upcoming workshops on how to apply for its social change-oriented grants. Potentially interested community groups should take note.
CHINATOWN: Learn how to apply for a Hawai’i People’s Fund grant at a gathering from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, January 29, in The Peace Center, at Pacific Justice and Reconciliation Center, located in Chinatown at 19 North Pau‘ahi Street. (Parking is $3.00 in the underground Chinatown garage, entrance on Beretania St., and on-street parking is free after 6pm.)
HAUULA: Learn how to apply for a Hawai’i People’s Fund grant at a meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 30, in the Queen Lili‘uokalani Children’s Center (Windward Unit) conference room, located in Hau‘ula at 53-516 Kamehameha Highway.
“Hawai’i People’s Fund is a partnership of progressive activists and donors who share a vision of justice,” said program coordinator Richard Rodrigues. “Hawai‘i People’s Fund gives grant money to support work challenging institutions and attitudes that feed economic, social, racial and gender inequalities. We’re proud of our organization’s tagline, “Change, Not Charity™.” “Come to our informal workshop and learn how to apply for an HPF grant.”
For more info, check the foundation’s website or give them a call at 845-4800.
After dragging around all week with this cold, I didn’t have a lot of new Friday Feline photos to choose from.
Luckily, I caught up with Mr. Leo just before the cold bug caught up with me. He looks so nice and calm when he’s not neurotic and demanding!
Not only was the Bulletin’s coverage of yesterday’s tragic event better, but the Advertiser has a blatantly misleading headline — “Babysitter throws tot…” Reading through the article there is mention that perhaps the boyfriend of the mother let Higa watch the child sometimes, but there was no indication that he was put in charge of the child yesterday. Furthermore, the Bulletin quotes the mother saying that she would never leave her child with Higa.
Well, we see in effect, she did leave her child with Higa. Either by action or inaction, it’s the same damn thing.
See, people depend on our screwed up society and the local gummint to hand them a safe daily life. when it just ain’t here. It is painfully obvious, it will never be.
They let serial criminals go free. (the murderer in kailua)
they allow kooks who should be locked away safe from the public, (Baby Dropper and the Nimitz Xerox Killer) to roam free among our neighborhoods, which by some strange coincidence, it populated with broken families of apathetic couch sleepers who think nothing of letting their little toddlers wander unattended out the door, to crawl around the neighborhood.
This scenario is an obvious equation. It’s a recipe for the disasters we see on a now, daily basis and the amazing thing is, people are shocked, horrified and in disbelief when they see that two plus two can and DOES equal four!
The holes in two inadequate social service safety nets lined up yesterday to kill an infant that fell through those holes to its death.
The lack of adequate, competent, affordable, readily available mental health services for the sad, damaged Mr. Higa left him to be “available” to do “baby sitting” service.
The lack of adequate, affordable, competent, available day care services for the economically stressed parents of the child made Mr. Higa’s “availability” useful, indeed, necessary to them.
There are probably scores, dozens, perhaps hundreds of other parents facing exactly the same day care need the day before yesterday, yesterday, today and tomorrow who are doing exactly the same thing. Responding to the unnecessary risks generated by inadequate social services by taking risk [presumably unknowingly].
The cost of the turmoil created yesterday to the rest of us is something that needs calculation.
Tens perhaps hundreds of thousands of persons who had time “stolen” from them; the costs to business; I’m sure there are other “lost opportunity” costs. [nearly as much as when the military took out the overpass a couple of Labor Day's ago.]
In the end it probably costs just about as much to provide adequate services as it does not to with the only difference is at the end of the day we aren’t disrupted and, oh yes, the infant lives.
I’ve been thinking a little more on the saddest thing that has happened this year. I happen to have a connection to a person living in the building from whence this tragedy issued.
I’m told that there are several children living in the building. Being children they are hyper alert to the emotional climate in their surroundings.
I’m trying to imagine myself as a, say 6 year old, living in the building. A tragedy involving me has happened. I know the baby. I know the mother. I know the “bad” guy. I don’t understand what’s going on except something really bad has happened.
A proactive social services regime would be in the building knocking on the doors finding the parents, or care-givers, and the kids to provide trauma counseling.
Adults can, supposedly, handle tragedy and trauma. It’s the kids that don’t have the skills yet. I’d like any thoughts on this issue. If this were an office shooting, or a school shooting, I’m thinking there’d be “proactivity”. Perhaps there has been here, but I’ve seen or heard no evidence of it.
good points Steve. but agggh. Steveo!. usually insightful observations marred by the “from whence” glaring redundancy.
“whence” MEANS ‘from a place’.
But I digress. of course.