Question: The Waikele Premium Outlets charged customers for parking the day after Thanksgiving. Will they continue doing this for future sales? I do not recall seeing any notice about parking fees at Waikele.

Answer: Don't blame us!

That's the word from the management of Waikele Premium Outlets, who said they had nothing to do with the charges and had strongly argued against them.

Although Waikele Premium Outlets and Waikele Center are adjacent to each other, they have different owners, explained Waikele Premium Outlets spokeswoman Michele Rothstein.

However, she acknowledged that shoppers don't necessarily know the distinction and those shopping at the outlets may end up parking at the center.

Because of that, she said Waikele Center management informed Waikele Premium Outlets that it intended to charge for parking to prevent encroachment into its parking lot during that extremely busy “;Black Friday”; shopping day after Thanksgiving, beginning at midnight.

We were not able to get in touch with Waikele Center's general manager, after leaving two phone messages and sending an e-mail.

“;We urged them not to do it,”; especially that day, and because some of Waikele Center's merchants also were opening at midnight, Rothstein said of the parking charge.

However, “;They started charging; we started getting complaints,”; she said. “;The bottom line is we have spent quite a bit of time apologizing to our customers and explaining to them that Waikele Premium Outlets has never charged and does not charge for parking.”;

Q: I am handicapped and would like to know what TheBus rules are on walkers. I have a four-wheel walker with a seat and it is wider than your standard walker, which collapses. Mine does not collapse like a standard walker. When I try to collapse mine, it doesn't close completely and it slides. I'm afraid of hurting another passenger or myself because when I try to collapse mine, it presses on my legs, which causes a lot of pain. Can you please help me find out what can be done? I'm sure there are others with the same kind of walker that I have.

A: Your type of walker would be treated as a wheelchair.

As a “;mobility device,”; it would be eligible to be secured in the securement area of a bus, said Michelle Kennedy, spokeswoman for Oahu Transit Services, which operates the city's buses.

However, Kennedy warned that if both securement areas on a bus are occupied by other mobility devices, and if you do not want your walker folded, then you will be treated the same as a passenger in a third wheelchair.

That means you would have to wait for the next bus with an available securement area.

Asked whether bus drivers could assist someone like you, Kennedy said drivers are required to ask passengers with disabilities if they need assistance.

However, they are not supposed to assume someone's needs by appearances only.

“;They are instructed to only touch patrons or their mobility devices with the patron's permission,”; Kennedy said.