Security tightens as Isles take attacks in stride

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

From the streets of Hilo to schools and churches in Kailua, the echo of war fell on Hawai‘i communities living life today as close to normal as they had before U.S. forces attacked Iraq.

“It really is good that people are not panicking,” said Hawai‘i National Guard Maj. Charles Anthony, spokes-man for state civil defense officials.

“As far as we can tell, people are going about their normal routine,” he said.

The governor Hawai‘i’s alert status yesterday from blue to yellow as the deadline (3 p.m. Hawai‘i time) passed for Saddam Hussein and his sons to relinquish power.

Barriers sprang up around public buildings yesterday afternoon and security tightened at Hawai‘i’s airports, power plants, oil refineries and reservoirs.

Police and firefighters were on heightened alert, with off-duty firefighters told to keep their emergency protective equipment at home with them in case they are recalled to work.

But the first day of war found many Hawai‘i residents working hard to maintain a sense of routine.

“We are recommending that everybody remain calm but informed,” said Hawai‘i County Civil Defense Administrator Bill Davis. His agency issued radio bulletins today to Big Island residents.

“We are telling them about things that are going to affect them personally, like airport travel,” he said. “We’ll say that in our latest check, there was no shortage of food, no shortage of gasoline and that schools will be open.”

At Mokapu Elementary, which is located on Marine Corps Base, Hawaii, teachers and administrators this morning tried to create an ordinary day for the school’s 800 students, some of whom have loved ones serving overseas.

“Right now we are playing it down," said Mokapu Principal Larry Biggs. “If they have questions we address those. We’re trying to address their needs and at the same time create a sense of normalcy."

In preparation for war, the campus had focused on the families, holding meetings and spaghetti dinners to let parents know about the array of community services available to them through the Marine Corps while fathers or mothers are on deployment.

"“We want to get across to these families that they are not alone,” Biggs said.

The state has nine schools located on military bases, dozens more with high populations of military students and more than 15,000 military families attending public schools.

Security officer Bernard Oblero looks inside a vehicle today at the entrance to Honolulu airport. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Teachers at Solomon Elementary School will be on the lookout for signs of distress among students who have parents fighting overseas or on alert for deployment.

“The high school students can relate this to history lessons and other things,” said Solomon Principal Linda Yoshikami.

“For us with the younger kids, we're going with the flow. I think our parents need to be the first line of information. If students have questions we answer it honestly and factually.”

Parishoners at St. Christopher’s Episocopal Church on Pali Highway, today continued a 24-hour vigil of fasting and prayers for peace that began yesterday at 5 p.m., not long after war began.

“I believe prayer changes things,” said the Rev. Cass Bailey, rector at the church. “It changes things in us, and even, perhaps in God.”

More prayers were being offered during a 7:15 a.m. Mass today at St. John the Baptist church in Kalihi and St. John Vianney’s in Enchanted Lake.

Outside Bachman Hall on the University of Hawai‘i-MÅnoa, a “teach-in” to educate students about the war turned into a low-key demonstration against the war.

“This is Bush’s war,” said Claire Shimabukuro, a Local 5 union member from Hawai‘i Labor Against War. “This is not our war.”

About 60 to 75 students attended, some holding signs with slogans reminiscent of 1960s protests — “War is unhealthy for children and other living things.”

“This is a time to stick together and figure a way through this,” said Ruth Hsu, an associate professor of political science.

Yesterday, Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris convened the city’s Security Council to increase protection across O‘ahu. The council, formed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, includes the heads of all city departments — police, fire and emergency services among them.

Workers installed barricades in the form of 12-foot tall

ficus trees in concrete planters around the Municipal Building on South King Street almost immediately after reports that the military attack in Iraq had begun. Harris also ordered increased security around municipal sewer, water supply and ventilation shafts in city facilities to prevent attacks with biological or chemical weapons.

City personnel will bring hand-held monitors to some public and private gatherings to sample the air for “anthrax, botulism toxin, the plague or any other weapon of mass destruction that might be used by a terrorist,” Harris said.

If a hint of such an agent is detected, the city will dispatch its mobile DNA laboratory to the scene for a definitive analysis.

Harris said the city can administer the necessary antibiotics immediately — before anyone is symptomatic — if that is the recommendation of the state Health Department.

The city also will sample air at fixed stations throughout the urban core of the island, he said.

Honolulu Police Chief Lee Donohue said his department “will be more vigilant … , with more police presence in certain areas.”

Police officers may be required to work overtime to deal with the extra security responsibilities, he said.

“I think we’re all possible targets, because we’re part of America and we’ll be at war,” Donohue said. “I know it’s a time of uncertainty, but our nation has prepared for this war and we are prepared to defend our community.”

Advertiser staff writers Beverly Creamer, Jennifer Hiller, William Cole and Mary K. Ritz contributed to this report.