By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

On Monday night, thieves stole the 55-foot long, 14-foot high Little League batting cage from Kahala community park.

Tuesday night, they came back and took half of the outfield fence.

Wednesday night, some of the league parents camped out in their cars around the park just in case.

"This is really bad, stealing from Little League kids," said Bruce Campbell, league president of the Wai-Kahala Athletic Club. "And what are they going to do with this stuff?"

While some are shrugging the theft off to "druggies will steal anything that isn't nailed down," Campbell is trying to figure out what to do about it.

He made a police report, but was told there's not much that can be done without leads.

He's scrambling to get new equipment in place. The Wai-Kahala Athletic Club has a big tournament next weekend with 560 kids on 44 teams scheduled to play. He placed an order for a 150-foot section of the plastic mesh fence from a Mainland company for close to $400. He has his fingers crossed that the shipment will get here

in time.

The outfield fence is 4 feet tall, and has dark green plastic mesh with plastic poles to hold it up. The section that ran from center field to right field is gone. Campbell isn't sure why anyone would steal it. Can you fence a fence?

"That thing will stick out like a sore thumb in somebody's field or at their house," he says.

The batting cage is 55 feet long, 14 feet high and 14 feet wide.

"It took at least two guys to grab that thing. Or one guy who was a really good acrobat," Campbell says.

Neither the fence nor the batting cage were cemented into the ground. The fence was meant to be put up and taken down at each practice, but that proved to be a major hassle.

"The coaches come to the field straight from work and it takes 20 to 30 minutes to put up the fence," Campbell says. "Meanwhile, the kids are just waiting. It wasn't practical. So we took the risk."

That part of the equation, Campbell is quick to own.

"Yeah, our bad. We left it out there. But, hey, somebody stole it."

Campbell is well-known in the Little League community for his volunteer work in maintaining several parks in the area. He and several other parents work with the City Parks and Recreation Department to plant grass, weed the fields and mow and water the grass. He also makes calls, tries to get donations, lines up volunteer work days — anything to support the league.

But right now, he wants to catch a crook.

"Somebody must know something," he says, and he hopes that somebody calls the police.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.