Kokua Line June Watanabe

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Diamond Head trail fee applies to athletes like ‘everyone else’

Question: I often run around Diamond Head and would like to know if the trail up to the lookout in the crater is open to athletes, or are we subject to the same entrance fee as everyone else?

Answer: If you want to get into the Diamond Head State Monument, you have to pay a fee -- either $1 if you're walking in or $5 per private car ($10 to $40 for commercial vehicles).

However, you can save money by purchasing an annual pass -- $10 per person or $30 per vehicle.

Many residents, including "seasonal" ones, purchase annual passes to exercise and/or train on the trail, said Yara Lamadrid-Rose, coordinator of Diamond Head Park, which is part of the Department of Land and Natural Resources' Division of State Parks.

She noted that a favorite activity is running up and down the 99 stairs at the upper end of the trail -- repeatedly.

Most frequent users of the trail come either in the early morning or late afternoon, thereby avoiding most of the heavy traffic of visitors, she added.

She also pointed out that the park/trail corridor is the only part of the monument open to the public, and only from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Except for the summit lookout, most of the monument area, including the rim, is closed to the public.

DLNR shares jurisdiction of the area with the state Department of Defense, which includes the National Guard and state Civil Defense.

Jurisdiction reverts to the Department of Defense from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Q: Regarding checking criminal backgrounds online ("Kokua Line," March 23): Our daughter was arrested last year on Oahu. She went to court for sentencing for a felony, which was dropped to a misdemeanor. She was required to meet certain conditions, with one year of probation, yet she does not show up on the eCrim site. Why not? Does one not appear until one's probation period is done? Or if not convicted and sent to prison, then one does not show up?

A: An individual's record would appear on ecrim.ehawaii.gov/ahewa only after a finding of guilt, said Liane Moriyama, administrator of the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, which oversees Hawaii's Adult Criminal Information site.

It might be that your daughter was given a deferred acceptance of guilty plea, she said.

The judge, in granting the deferral, defers accepting the guilty plea for a determined amount of time and sets conditions that the defendant must comply with.

During the deferral period, the case is considered "pending," Moriyama explained. At the end of the period, if the defendant has complied with all conditions, the judge will dismiss the case.

"If the defendant has not complied, the judge will find the defendant guilty, and the record will appear on eCrim," Moriyama said.

She said you can find more information about the case by going through the state Judiciary's Ho'ohiki Web site: hoohiki2.courts.state.hi.us/jud/Hoohiki/main.htm.