Newswatch
Hundreds of men gathered at Kawaiahao Church before dawn Saturday, their spirits undampened by the morning rain, to "Stand in the Gap" as this year's Promise Keepers theme indicates, to pray for their family, community and nation. Promise Keepers
meet at KawaiahaoThey are just a small part of a nationwide collective of more than a million men who fill stadiums and churches in an annual rally of prayer and song for their families, community and national leaders.
Kahu William Kaina, senior pastor of Kawaiahao Church, attended the rally and said, "These are men trying to turn their lives around in a world where evil runs rampant."
Kaina said there is biblical precedent for what Promise Keepers is working to achieve, and that if you want to change the moral vision of a nation, you must first change its men.
But some have criticized the message of men providing the spiritual leadership in households and wives submitting to their authority.
A shortage of secured residential treatment programs has created serious overcrowding at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility for most of this year. Correctional facility
has too many kids"The obvious cause is the lack of diversion programs," civil rights attorney Dan Foley said. "The original concept was to screen kids, find out what kind of help they needed, and get them into treatment programs.
"The 30-bed facility was designed for those kids who cannot live in the community without being a danger to public safety, and it's large enough if you have the other programs in place," he said.
State lawmakers, however, are now steering the plan in a different direction.
"The last Legislature reversed the course and set up a more punitive system," Foley said. "We're now using HYCF as punishment, and that only serves as a prep course for OCCC.
"The system isn't working because the programs are not there."
As of yesterday, 80 juveniles were being held at HYCF - 50 at the 30-bed, male-only secure-custody facility located on the mauka side of Kalanianaole Highway next to the Olomana subdivision, and about 30 at the Hookipa coed cottage on the makai side next to the women's prison.
More than 300 people came to Kawaiahao Church to pay tribute to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, founder of the Kamehameha Schools, as the rain fell and the late afternoon traffic inched past. Hundreds pay honor
to legacy of PauahiLeaders of Na Pua A Keali'i Pauahi said they organized Friday's "Living the Legacy" event to honor Kamehameha's founder without regard to allegations that trustees for the $10 billion Bishop Estate are mismanaging its finances and the schools.
Veiled references, however, were plentiful.
Jan Dill, a 1961 graduate now with the Oceanic Institute, urged fellow alumni and others in the Kamehameha family to speak out for what was right.
"In our world full of hate, poverty, exploitation, arrogance and greed, the beneficiaries of Pauahi need to be, as our princess was, the salt and the light that brings truth, hope, healing, reconciliation, accountability and health to our land," Dill said.
At a dinner afterward, businessman Dave Chun agreed. "I look around this room and what I see is Hawaiians who've been quiet," said the 1970 graduate. "They're saying enough is enough - enough politics, enough deviation."
