Halfway-house bill mourned

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer

More than a year ago Wai'anae resident Beth Matsuda launched a crusade to rid the neighborhood of three halfway houses for convicted sex offenders because they were within a block of three area schools.

Not everyone agreed that something needed to be done.

"One lady said that these guys all deserved a second chance," said Matsuda, the health teacher at Wai'anae High. "I'm not saying they don't. But I just don't want them near kids. Kids don't get a second chance."

The halfway houses eventually were shut down. But Matsuda and others are upset again — this time because a bill died at the state Legislature that would have required residents to be notified and allowed to comment at a public meeting before a halfway house is established in a neighborhood.

That is not an unreasonable requirement to the thinking of retired Secret Service agent Frank Slocum, who is a member of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board.

"I don't understand it," snapped a frustrated Slocum, who was once assigned to protect President Lyndon Johnson. "All we want is to know — and to have some input. Who would object to informing the community?"

The bill was introduced by Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Barbers Point, Makaha), after hearing complaints about the issue from Wai'anae Coast residents. But concerns were raised by some in government who feared the measure might lead to communities banning halfway houses outright, said Bert Warashina, Hanabusa's administrative assistant.

Also, there were fears that the halfway house bill might be declared unconstitutional, just as the Hawai'i Supreme Court last year struck down the state's Megan's Law, which required a registered sex offender's information to be made public.

But the Legislature passed a revised Megan's Law this session, which lawmakers believe addresses the Supreme Court's concerns with the original law. And Warashina believes Hanabusa's halfway house bill is constitutionally sound as well.

"We drafted our bill with the Supreme Court decision in mind," said Warashina.

Shortly after she learned about the halfway houses, Matsuda went around the neighborhood alerting residents to the situation. "We were very upset about it," said Lily Cabinatan, vice principal of Kamaile Elementary School. "We called the police, and they said they couldn't do anything about it because these people did their time."

Part of the problem, according to public safety director Ted Sakai, is that there's no precise definition of a "halfway house." He called the term nebulous, and cited the structured living facility Fresh Start as an example.

"They're not licensed," he said. "They're not technically giving treatment. But, we've got a whole bunch of people on probation and parole living together under one roof. What do you call that?"

According to Tommy Johnson, administrator of the Hawai'i Paroling Authority, there are two structured living facilities, five residential treatment facilities and eight short-term residential and nonresidential treatment programs on O'ahu.

Johnson said halfway houses such as those that were in Wai'anae don't fall into any of those categories "because they're not structured living facilities, they're just a place where people are staying.

"There's no telling how many of those types of facilities are out there because probation refers people to them, we refer people to them, sometimes families refer them, or even the people refer themselves."

Hanabusa's bill clearly defined a halfway house as any group living facility for people who have been released from a correctional or mental institution, or who are receiving drug abuse or sex offender treatment.

That's a good definition, said Sakai, but since the bill didn't pass it's a definition that doesn't apply.

Complaints led to the closure of the three Wai'anae houses, but that doesn't mean they won't be back, said Slocum, who believes Wai'anae is a "dumping ground" for unpopular projects and causes.

He isn't fazed by those who accuse him of subscribing to a "not in my back yard" mentality. "How many halfway houses does Kahala have?" he said. "How many does Hawai'i Kai have?"

According to Johnson, the fact that some communities have more halfway or clean-and-sober facilities is because, "the services are being provided where these people live." Johnson said the Wai'anae community should have been notified and given an opportunity to comment. That didn't happen because the leaseholder "misrepresented to the parolees, the probationers, the neighborhood and the city and county what the property was actually being used for," he said.

The so-called halfway houses appeared to be nothing more than a money-making scheme that came to light after Matsuda complained to officials, Johnson said.

Hanabusa said she intends to reintroduce her halfway house bill again next year. Sakai, for one, would like to see it become law.

"I understand the frustrations of the community," he said. "In fact, we testified for Hanabusa's bill. I'm for these (treatment) programs. But I think the community has a right to know about them."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8038.