Economic quake didn't displace all | Attack's effects still felt
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Charlzetta and Arthur Croker and their children -- left to right, Kale, Kahokunani, Kapua and Kawai -- have managed to stay together as a family despite adversity.
Life had dealt the Croker family more than its share of adversity even before Sept. 11. The economic quake of Sept. 11
displaced many, yet the Crokers
proved it can be difficult to crumble
a strong family's foundation
By Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.com
Bucking the odds, Arthur and Charlzetta had two sets of twins born just 14 months apart. But just as improbable, all of the twins, now 6 and 5 years old, turned out to have disabilities that have made everyday living a challenge.
Of the first pair, son Kale is autistic and nonverbal, while daughter Kahokunani has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, as well as Triple X syndrome, meaning she has one extra X chromosome. Kale stopped talking at 2 1/2 and now communicates using picture symbols and sign language.
The second pair of twins, daughters Kawai and Kapua, are both autistic, and Kawai also does not speak.
Into this challenging environment flew the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks; and the Crokers felt as if the rug had been pulled out from beneath them.
Arthur, who had just less than eight years of experience as a ramp worker with United Airlines at Honolulu Airport, was furloughed when the carrier cut flights due to the travel slowdown. He was then faced with a choice: Either transfer to San Francisco for an indefinite period of time, or be without a job.
Given the fact he was the family's sole wage earner and needed health benefits for his children, Arthur and Charlzetta decided he would take the transfer.
He relocated to San Francisco in November and began a series of trans-Pacific flights that eventually wore down the family.
Arthur would work a weeklong graveyard shift at San Francisco International Airport and then, after finishing at 6:45 in the morning, would board the first flight to Honolulu to spend a few hours with his family in Maili before getting on a plane the next day to make the return trip to California.
"The four months of coming home from San Francisco really started to take its toll on me and my family psychologically," Arthur said. "I'd come home, and my children would be so happy. And then when I'd leave, they couldn't go to the gate to see me off (because of the new post-Sept. 11 regulations). We'd drive up, and I'd tell my children to listen to Mommy and instruct them to be good. I tried not to look back because I could hear my kids crying. If I looked back, I'd be a mess."
Expenses mounted, too. Even though Arthur, as a United employee, was able to fly for free, he still had to pay rent at his wife's cousin's house in San Francisco, as well as pay a big cellular phone bill since Charlzetta's cousin had no home phone.
Finally, in April, Arthur's trans-Pacific odyssey ended.
"I was so overjoyed," he recalled. "The manager in San Francisco called me in, and my manager in Honolulu called me and told me the good news that they're going to be adding back flights to Honolulu and we're coming home. I was, like, weak in the knees, I was so overjoyed. I started actually crying in excitement to come back home."
Arthur calls Charlzetta the hero throughout the ordeal.
"I can't overthank her for all she's done," Arthur said. "She's been both mom and dad to our children while I was gone. I wish that on nobody if there was only one disabled child, but we've got four with special needs. I'm blessed to have a wonderful person like her."
Charlzetta, whose work is to stay home with their children, admits it wasn't easy.
"It was just the daily handling of the children," she said, "getting up at 5 every morning to get them ready by myself and send them off to school. When they came home at the end of the day, I'd feed them dinner, give them baths and get them down to sleep.
"Their dad being gone had a big impact on them, and they would cry for him. It was so hard to explain why Daddy couldn't come home tonight because he's in California. One of the children in particular, Kawai, would get up in the night and scream and would run around the house. I'd have to calm her down. My son, Kale, would then get up and start crying because of the high scream and would hit his head on the wall.
"I was juggling things to keep peace and harmony and to keep the children as comfortable and quiet as possible. All four of them require assistance taking a bath, changing their clothes and helping them use the bathroom. Three of them are still potty training. My husband would help out when he was home and not working. Otherwise, I'd have to handle it myself.
"We were praying so hard for him to come back."
Both Arthur and Charlzetta say the one good thing to come out of his absence was that their daughter Kawai called him Daddy for the first time.
"When he left the first time, he was able to come home, and she was so happy when she came home from school, hugging him and laughing," Charlzetta said. "She laid in his arms, and that was the first time she called him Daddy. She (only makes sounds and) doesn't talk, but something motivated her that day."
Arthur doesn't hold any grudge for the events that forced him to leave his family.
"I don't really blame anybody," Arthur said. "I'm a strong believer things happen for a reason, and Sept. 11 was one of those incidents that was beyond my control. It was from a higher power. I don't look at it as a way to blame anybody. I look at it that it gave me some time to grow as a parent, to appreciate my wife and my children and how much they mean to me."
But there's one dark cloud hanging over Arthur's head. United and the unions are in labor talks that could result in job cuts.
"There's a chance I could be bumped again to another station (on the mainland)," Arthur said.
"This whole dilemma of 9/11 could happen again. I have a feeling if it does, it could be for a longer time."
BACK TO TOP |
The deep impact of Sept. 11 on Hawaii continues to show up in the economic data, though there are signs of improvement. Attack’s effects still felt
in loss of jobs and touristsBy Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.comHawaii's total work force took an immediate dip that continued through July, according to data from the state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations. A total of 575,200 people were employed in July, down 1.1 percent from 581,700 people in July 2001. That's a loss of 6,500 jobs.
Unemployment jumped 27 percent to 34,600 in November from 27,350 in August 2001, then relaxed back to 27,200 claims in July. Since employment has fallen at the same time, people have likely left the work force, according to Byron Gangnes, director of the Hawaii research group of the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization.
"It's not that unemployment is up; it's that people in the labor force are down," Gangnes said. Hawaii's unemployment rate in July was 4.5 percent, well below the national rate of 6 percent.
Nonprofit job-placement organization Goodwill Industries of Hawaii is not seeing job openings in the tourism industry, other than some entry-level positions, said Karen Laumoli, marketing manager. In response, Goodwill Industries has geared itself toward training workers for computer repair and health care jobs, which are still in high demand, said Laumoli.
For the first six months of the year, Goodwill Industries had 707 job placements, more than double last year's 321 placements, Laumoli said. She credited the organization's expanded services and an increase in walk-in placements.
Hawaii bankruptcies have remained relatively flat since Sept. 11. Hawaii has already absorbed a decade of rough economic times, during which bankruptcy filings skyrocketed. Gangnes noted that "things have not been terrible here." Personal income rose in the first quarter, he said. Lower interest rates may be helping with credit card debt. Plus, bankruptcies were boosted early last year on fears of tightening in federal bankruptcy laws.
Stocks of Hawaii-related companies took a hit after Sept. 11 but bounced back right away. Cumulative Hawaii stocks fell to 128.67 in October from 140.66 in August. Stocks returned to 133.46 points by November. In July of this year, Hawaii stocks were at 141.79, up 5.6 percent from 134.32 in July 2001, while national stock indexes were down.In the state's No. 1 industry, visitor arrivals from domestic and international markets were down all the way through the end of 2001. Domestic arrivals have since recovered, but international tourism numbers are still lagging the year before.
The impact on hotel room revenue has been obvious. Revenue per available room, a key financial indicator for hotels, fell to a low of $81.17 in October from an average of $137.17 in August. As of July, room revenue stood at $115.24, still down 12 percent from the year before.
The one bright spot has been residential property resales, which were immediately down after Sept. 11 but have benefited from a continuing drop in interest rates since January 2001. In July there were a total of 894 homes and condominiums sold, up from 735 a year earlier.
"I'm kind of guardedly optimistic about the local economy, but we've got some work left to do," Gangnes said.
