i L i n d . n e t

Meda noticed it first. There’s a big mock orange hedge on the other end of Kaaawa, maybe 8 feet tall, covered with flowers. It’s back on the far end of Kekio Road, running along the front side of a house set back from the road. We noticed the fragrance as we walked towards it, wonderful. But one problem. No bees. The flowers should have been swarming with bees. We’re used to bees swarming on the flowers as we’ve seen in the past. What do we make of the absence of bees? Is this a fluke, a non-representative sample? Or is this more evidence of environmental catastrophe and a sign of more dismal things to come? I guess we’ll see soon enough.

From the Campus Beat column in yesterday’s Ka Leo, the student newspaper at the University of Hawaii Manoa campus, comes this interesting tidbit:

• Campus Security broke up a party at Johnson Hall and discovered seven underage students with alcoholic beverages. Officers confiscated the contraband items as evidence. Because alcohol is not allowed in the hall, the students will see the vice chancellor and explain why they are unable to be discreet.

So, let’s see. Caught with the goods that (a) violate campus housing rules and (b) violate the law, the students’ real problem was the failure to learn discretion.

Ah!

Two days later, another incident, according to the same column.

• A drunken student at Johnson Hall was transported to Queen’s Hospital at midnight. She was underage, which is against the law both on and off campus.

So she faces the “against the law” standard instead of the “discretion” test. A bit of gender bias, perhaps? I’m just guessing here, but it’s certainly interesting.

Still on UH news, a lot of students are upset about an HPD crackdown on jaywalking near the Manoa campus. According to a September 30th “enforcement advisory” from campus security:

The Honolulu Police Department has notified UH Manoa Campus Security that, in response to community complaints and potentially hazardous conditions, HPD officers will be actively enforcing jaywalking laws on streets surrounding UH Manoa and also citing mopeds and bicycles that are chained to signs along Dole Street and University Avenue.

But a student commentary this week questions the enforcement effort.

Certainly, crossing the street into oncoming traffic can result in injury or death and shouldn’t be done. But many times there is no traffic, so where is the harm in crossing the street away from a crosswalk when there are no cars coming?

Students aren’t the only ones angry about the sudden police focus on jaywalking. There was a similar “jaywalking sting” in recent days around Pacific Park Plaza, the office building on the block bounded by Cooke, Kapiolani, Kawaihao, and Curtis Street. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Honolulu Liquor Commission, Hawaiiana Management, GEICO Insurance, and a bunch of other businesses are located there.

The parking garage is just across Curtis Street, and apparently lots of people arriving for work or coming there on business were surprised when they walked out of the parking garage, crossed the street, entered the air conditioned lobby through the tinted glass doors, and were greeted by HPD officers handing out jaywalking tickets. I’m told that even the security guard stationed in the lobby was ticketed. It was, for several days, the buzz of the building.

Finally, here’s another approach to the foreclosure crisis. In Chicago, the Cook County sheriff says he’s stopped enforcing eviction notices, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune.

As the nationwide mortgage crisis puts the squeeze on homeowners, the Cook County sheriff’s office is on pace to evict more people than ever from foreclosed homes.

At least it was until Wednesday, when Sheriff Tom Dart announced he wouldn’t do it anymore.

Dart cited the growing number of evictions that involve rent-paying tenants who suddenly learn their building is in foreclosure because the landlord neglected to pay the mortgage. By refusing to do any foreclosure-related evictions, the hope is that banks will change their policies.