School to inspect copper find
Wiring ripped from field lights caused the cancellation of a Friday football game
Campbell High School officials today were to check coils of copper wiring found abandoned near Keehi Lagoon Park on Monday to see if they were stolen from the school's athletic field.
Thieves took copper wiring from Campbell, forcing the cancellation of the Campbell-Roosevelt football game Friday because the lights would not work.
"Everybody had a major headache," said Gail Awakuni, Campbell principal. "The students ... were devastated."
Copper thieves have hit public facilities, schools and churches, ripping off copper gutters, pipes and wires to resell because of the high cost of copper. Last year, thieves caused $300,000 in damage to state freeways by stealing copper wire.
On Monday, police found several coils of copper wiring in an abandoned car, and Campbell school representatives will inspect it today.
Kalihi district Capt. Moana Heu said the wire was found in the car on Nimitz Highway at about 11 a.m., near Keehi Lagoon Park and the Disabled American Veterans Hall. An anonymous caller had reported a man stealing street wires in the area.
Police arrived and did not find anyone, but noticed the coils of wire in a car. Heu described the wire as about a half-inch thick, looped in six separate coils and estimated to be worth $575. Two lengths were still insulated, possibly helping to identify the wire, she said.
Police called the state Department of Transportation, which checked and said no wire had been stolen but told police the wire was of a commercial grade for freeways or structures such as at Campbell's football field.
The car's owner, who told police her husband took the car a day before, gave police permission to search the car. Inside, police found, along with the copper wire, unmarked blue worker coveralls, insulated gloves and a pair of large pliers.
Police are not identifying a suspect, but have opened a second-degree theft case in the Campbell theft.
A Department of Education official estimated the damage to Campbell's football field at $25,000. Thieves took the wiring along one side of the field and some wiring on the other side, said Francis Cheung, director of the department's facilities maintenance branch. Repairs could be completed as early as Aug. 31.
Principal Awakuni said officials noticed the lights would not go on before the game and canceled it.
The lights had been working on Aug. 15 when school officials last checked, she said.
A new law makes it harder this year for thieves to sell stolen copper and increases the punishment of copper theft to a felony, while copper prices have dropped from $3 a pound last year.
Okuda Metal Inc., a metal buyer near Sand Island, was buying copper for $2 to $2.35 a pound yesterday. "The trend is going down," said Robert Okuda, a family member of the business.
Some officials said copper thefts have slowed this year.
Cheung said copper thefts had declined for three or four months before the Campbell school incident.
Scott Ishikawa, state transportation spokesman, said there have been fewer incidents this year.
"We've had smaller cases of copper theft here and there, but nothing on the level of the last couple years," he said. "I think people are more vigilant now."