SO WHAT DID THESE OFFICERS DO ON MAUI?

We may never find out what those three were really doing when they
said they were in cop class, but it is a sign of the times that we
can at least think of numerous possibilities.

Two Kaua'i Police Department sergeants and one officer entered no
contest pleas last week to charges stemming from an incident in
September 2005 when they said they were attending a seminar on Maui
but never went to class. They got on the plane, rented cars, checked
into hotel rooms, got per diem checks and even filled out "what I
learned in class" surveys but didn't go to class.

Or if they did, they're just not fighting the allegations that they
cut class. Maybe they were sitting in the back, mumbled "here!" too
softly when the teacher took attendance and didn't participate in
group discussion. "No contest" is different from admitting guilt,
though it is also different from proclaiming innocence.

The three-day training session that they're not contesting they
didn't attend was about marijuana eradication. That begs for a punch
line, doesn't it?

So instead of learning about eradicating marijuana, what were they
doing? Biking down Haleakala? Cooking with Cutty? Gathering rocks in
anticipation of the Superferry?

It wasn't too long ago that the idea of getting into trouble on a
Neighbor Island would be met with disbelief. Trouble? What could they
possibly do? Hoist a few bottles at a beach park parking lot? Shoot
fence posts with their service revolver? Tip a cow? Seriously, there
just wasn't much. Pakalolo class would be the most interesting thing going on.

Even visiting high school teams found it hard to raise any heck at
the Maui Palms hotel. Whoo-hoo! We bad! Let's go raid the ice machine
in the lobby!

But Maui has the lure of the big city now, especially if you're from
Kaua'i. There are bar fights upcountry, bar fights in Kihei, costumed
bar fights in Lahaina. There's nightlife beyond 10 p.m. and daylife
even more exotic than the swap meet at the old fair grounds.

Maybe it wasn't anything like that. Maybe it was long naps, walks on
the beach at sunset, a trip to the hotel spa.

The three Kaua'i police officers have been on paid leave since August
2006, though dismissal proceedings have begun. They also face the
possibility of jail time and fines.

They face the ridicule of every person who has ever cut out of a
boring meeting, a tedious class, an odious work assignment and did it
with some ingenuity and cunning.

They also face the ire of those who went to class because that's what
they were supposed to do, fun or not.