Posted on: Friday, October 29, 2004
Youth group concerned about being misidentified
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
The Boys & Girls Club of Hawai'i is distributing a letter to distance the nonprofit agency from allegations that a van driver employed by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu kidnapped and sexually assaulted a teenage girl.
Club president Rick Marine said the names of the two groups are often confused with each other, and Boys & Girls Club officials have been getting questions about the reported abduction.
"Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try to make the public aware of our name and our mission, this is not the first time we have been mistaken for other youth-oriented organizations," Marine wrote in his Oct. 20 letter to supporters of the Boys & Girls Club of Hawai'i.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu CEO Dennis Brown, citing the need for caution in discussing "personnel issues," said he couldn't comment on the case or any current policies or measures the agency has taken to improve hiring and safety.
He did say, however, that his organization has not suffered any loss of donations or volunteer support due to the case. "We've gotten very little negative reaction," he said.
However, Brown said it wouldn't be surprising if similar organizations experienced some fallout. He also said he didn't have a problem with the Boys & Girls Club letter because the two organizations have been confused with each other in the past on the national level.
"I just see (the letter) as clarifying what they do for safety in their program," he said.
Marine and other youth service group leaders said they're committed to the safety and welfare of their members, volunteers and employees, and have been reviewing hiring practices and, in some cases, considering new security measures.
"We all took a step back to double-check what we are doing," said Larry H. Bush, president of the YMCA of Honolulu. "It was a reminder that this stuff is important."
Anton Myklebust, 26, is awaiting a Dec. 15 trial on 15 counts of sexual assault, credit-card theft, robbery, drug trafficking and kidnapping.
He has a criminal record that includes federal jail time for burglary and trespassing.
Myklebust is accused of abducting a 17-year-old girl from a downtown Honolulu on Oct. 2, holding her captive for more than eight hours, sexually assaulting her in the van and injecting her with methamphetamine.
The girl told police she got into the Big Brothers Big Sisters van after Myklebust stopped to ask for directions. Myklebust is being held at the O'ahu Community Correctional Center in lieu of $500,000.
In his letter, Marine pledged that the Boys & Girls Club would continue to conduct criminal history checks of all employees and volunteers who work with youngsters.
The organization has seven clubs serving 12,000 children on O'ahu, and there are separate Boys & Girls Club organizations on the Neighbor Islands.
Marine told the Advertiser that the agency was safety-conscious even before the Oct. 2 incident. Five months ago it installed surveillance cameras at the Spalding clubhouse in Honolulu to monitor traffic in the area, he said, and officials want to install cameras in other clubhouses.
In addition, Marine said, club directors are being even more diligent about enforcing policies that govern where, when and how volunteers are allowed to interact with club members.
"Our greatest fear is knowing that there are predators out there and we don't just mean those who would sexually abuse a young person. Luring young people to drugs, gangs, prostitution and the like is scary stuff. Safeguarding young people from the 'street' is an ongoing process that we do not take lightly," he said.
Gail Mukaihata Hannemann, CEO of the Girl Scout Council of Hawai'i, said her organization already was updating its policies regarding background checks on employees and volunteers when the alleged kidnapping made headlines.
It's a difficult process, she said, because of privacy and liability issues, and the fact that the Girl Scout Council doesn't qualify as an organization that can easily obtain sex-offender information.
"I don't know a nonprofit that isn't looking at the issue," said Hannemann, who oversees 30 employees and 2,500 volunteers across the state. "It's an ongoing challenge. Even those groups with full access to the background information constantly have to look at the law and at what tools are available to them. It's not cheap, either."
Nevertheless, Hannemann said the council's main goal is to do what's in the best interest of children and volunteers, and "you have to do what you have to do."
