DO YOUR PART - TURN IN A THIEF OR PUSHER

Captain Cook -- There is little doubt that the citizens of West Hawaii are
very concerned with the cost of doing what is necessary for the safety and
health of the community. The obvious needs are roadways, sewerage, water,
schools, and public health facilities such as prenatal clinics and day care
centers. Added to this would be the social services, regarding family abuse;
to children, elders, and spouses. Then would come the family counseling,
drug rehabilitation, crime prevention and judicial system, including patrol
officers, and fire departments.

With so much to focus on in the present it is, indeed, difficult to look
towards the future. The future is something that most likely will take care
of itself - if we can just close our eyes to it, and pretend.

The real planners are those who understand that fixing something today
without concern to that problem's tomorrow is no fix at all. Reconciling one
troubled family this week without providing a continuous support system next
month is only allowing the problem to become more volatile. This is like
fixing the roadway pot hole and ignoring the shifting road base itself. The
real planners have to be given access to the source of the problem and the
materials to remedy situations be they physical or social.

And who are these real planners? They are you. Every single individual of
this west side of the Big Island has within them the ability to make a
difference. You just have to believe in your own power, recognize your own
strength, and make the right choice. And the choices will not be easy. There
are those who will threaten you, attempt to intimidate you, and tell you to
mind your own business. Tell them that future of your island and the lives
of your children are your business and that those who would argue this will
know your anger and they should fear you.

Now on with the economics presentation.

I refer back to some time in the middle of October past, when my Captain
Cook farm was looted of more than $50,000 of tools, machinery, and building
materials. The value to me was over $50,000, it's just an easy number to
remember. The items stolen will enter into the local economy and provide the
thieves with a net of perhaps $30,000, of that about 80 percent will go
directly into some manner of drug manufacture and distribution. Distribution
is defined as creating new addicts for the product.

Borrowing from a recent political statement, "leave no child behind," the
drug industry is a growth industry. Without growth there would in a matter
of time be no industry. Addicts die, become dysfunctional, and live short
unproductive lives. They suffer from unemployment and become wards of
society either by public services, including prisons, or by stealing things
to support their habits. They are not invisible, except to themselves.

The $30,000 net profit from my items will have by this 60-day time frame
created an estimated 12 new addicts, mostly of ages from 12 to 18. These
hypothetical 12 addicts will enter into the social services dependents
system of society. They will within two years become certified thieves, they
will enter into young adulthood and find themselves becoming parents.
(Children of drug addicts will by the most current standards of genetic
probability will be born with a physical disposition towards become drug
addicts; and even born actively craving drugs.)

Unable to provide for their family their need to steal will become greater.
They, and their spouse, and child will also seek medical relief and other
social services which they cannot afford. That hypothetical 12, now each a
family, number 36, or more, humans in need of taxpayer-provided services.
This all began with the looting of my farm.

Every person who participated in the looting, every person who participated
in selling, or buying those stolen items, has contributed to this future I
have forecast. Every parent, aunt, uncle, brother, sister who has not
stepped forward and exposed the thieves has contributed to the misery of a
new youthful addict and the dismal future of the yet unborn children of
Hawaii.

So here is the economics: For every dollar of items stolen to support the
drug industry, the citizens of Hawaii will incur a $10 cost in the next 10
years. The $50,000 stolen from me will created a $500,000 deficit in the
future state budget. Even in reduced terms, the net $30,000 will result in a
10-fold need for social services. And I am just one event. Project this rule
and given a $20 million loss of personal property this year due to drug-
supported crime the real cost in 10 years will be $200 million. Impossible,
you say?

Without any great stretch of the facts, it was you who were robbed in mid
October of 2002. You haven't felt the pain yet, but you will.

So long as the people of Hawaii allow this to happen, they will all be the
ones who suffer. Letting a neighbor or a relative go about a life of crime
is not doing anyone any favor or patronizing the Hawaiian culture.

If the state and the county do not act, then it is up to you to act.
Ostracize, publicize, make their identities known so that all can cast shame
upon them.

I think I read, that some time ago that's the way it used to be here in
Paradise.

Viewpoint articles represent the views of individuals in our community and
do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the newspaper.