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Kihei cares about its library. Library vandals
spur Kihei to actionBy Pat Gee
Star-BulletinAbout $1,000 worth of damage has been caused in seven vandalism incidents at Kihei Library in several months.
Already an anonymous volunteer has given $250 to help replace damaged books and tapes, and another person scrubbed off graffiti on the building in the latest attack, said state Librarian Virginia Lowell.
"They are little gestures to show people do care," Lowell said.
John Penebacker, special assistant to Lowell, met Tuesday on Maui with Kihei library manager Janet Fehr, a state Department of Accounting and General Services representative, and Meyer Ueoka, Maui's Board of Education representative, to discuss what could be done to deter vandalism.
"Community awareness -- that's what we really need. It's YOUR money," Lowell said.
Future plans call for increasing security with additional lighting, redesigning the parking lot, and adding thorny hedges and other types of landscaping to deter entry into the locked parking lot, she said. Firemen stationed at an adjacent building also attended the meeting and volunteered to help keep closer watch over the library.
Lowell said Fehr will try to solicit public help by putting out letters and asking neighbors to organize volunteer patrols in the area. Apparently the library hasn't been the only target of vandalism in the community, so the neighborhood patrols will be beneficial to everyone, she said.