Vandals mar mural in Hawai'i Kai
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Vandals with black markers or paint tried Saturday night to ruin a 25-foot mural being completed at Haha'ione Elementary School in Hawai'i Kai, but the artist and other volunteers converged on the scene yesterday to restore it.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Artist Joy Koyanagi, a Kuapa preschool teacher who had been volunteering her time every Sunday to paint the mural, arrived at the school yesterday morning to find the painting marred by obscene additions and other markings.
Jay Smart, 10, a fifth-grader at Haha'ione Elementary; Christina Evans, 7, a He'eia Elementary student visiting her grandparents in Hawai'i Kai; Joy Koyanagi, a Kuapa preschool teacher and artist; and parent Shari Smart work to cover "very juvenile" graffiti left by vandals on Koyanagi's mural at the Haha'ione Elementary School library.
"She called us in tears," said Tori Spaulding, president of the school's Parent, Teacher and Student Association, which was providing paint and other supplies for the mural.
The painting on the library wall and pavement near the entrance, depicts favorite characters from several children's books.
"The graffiti were very, very juvenile," said Spaulding.
Spaulding said police responding to the scene said the sprawling campus was difficult to monitor, especially with patrols spread from Makapu'u to Hawai'i Loa Ridge.
She said she was going to talk to school officials about making the school a rest point for police to use toilet facilities and write reports, in an effort to increase security there.
"I think it's very possible to accommodate police there," Spaulding said.
"There is a convenience store on the corner nearby, and the school has become an after-hours gathering place for young people," said Spaulding, the mother of an eighth-grader.
"I don't think parents realize what groups of kids are capable of," she said. "We need to explore a number of ways to increase security at the school."
Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.
