MARY VORSINO / MVORSINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kaaawa resident Dee Dee Plunkett yesterday showed her burned truck, which she believes was vandalized in retaliation for her leadership in the Kaaawa No Drugs Coalition.
Kaaawa activist
not cowed by
truck fire
Dee Dee Plunkett says she will continue speaking out against illegal drugs in Kaaawa -- even though her pickup truck was set afire earlier this month, possibly in retaliation for her activism.
"I'm not going to quit holding signs," said Plunkett, a founding member of the 9-month-old Kaaawa No Drugs Coalition and a member of the area's Neighborhood Watch program. "It'd be so easy to quit. But we're not going to let anybody intimidate us. If anything, we're going to continue the fight."
Plunkett woke up about 3 a.m. last Saturday to find her pickup ablaze.
Police found a plastic soda bottle full of gasoline next to her truck's front left tire and are investigating the fire as arson.
Flames from the pickup could have easily jumped to her home if neighbors and firefighters had not acted so quickly to put out the blaze, she said.
"A lot of people would say, 'OK, I got the message,'" Plunkett said, adding she's "going to stand up."
The fire came just days after Plunkett's 12-year-old dog, Chiquita, which has never wandered far from home, was missing. The Kaaawa homeowner believes the two incidents are related.
Nine months ago, Plunkett began rallying community members to protest drug -- especially crystal methamphetamine -- activity in her quiet Windward Oahu town.
Since then the anti-drug coalition has waved signs on Kamehameha Highway in Kaaawa weekly, circulated petitions and held meetings with law enforcement officials.
"We want to send the message that if we all stand together, we can fight the battle," said coalition member Rob Bellinger. "We want to see arrests. We want to see penalties. People (who use drugs) are going to know Kaaawa's too darn hard to be around."
Bellinger and Plunkett say crystal meth, or "ice," use in Kaaawa has skyrocketed over the past decade.
Coalition members have seen suspicious cars circling some homes and watched as their own neighbors were roped into the drug epidemic.
"I have four granddaughters. I don't want them being druggies," Plunkett said. "This drug is terrible. It's destroying families. It's destroying people."
A group of about 30 activists in the coalition are supporting Plunkett in her decision to remain active with the coalition. They hope the truck fire will bring some attention to their cause.
Anyone with information about the fire can call Major Crimes Detail Detective Nani Kaopua at 529-3086.
The coalition is also sponsoring a meeting Thursday at Kaaawa Elementary School starting at 7 p.m. on what can be done to combat the area's drug problem. Bellinger said Gov. Linda Lingle and others have been invited.
"We want to put together a total coalition effort that involves the community and law enforcement," Bellinger said yesterday afternoon, minutes after finishing an anti-drug sign-waving stint along Kamehameha Highway.
"This type of retaliatory action isn't going to deter our convictions."
