• The Waimea murder The Waimea murder Unlike Waimea homicides in big cities, a murder on Kaua‘i is a rare, shocking event. The senseless murder of Dr. Jon Kerns of Valley on Sunday night was a waste of a valuable
• The Waimea murder
The Waimea murder
Unlike Waimea homicides in big cities, a murder on Kaua‘i is a rare, shocking event.
The senseless murder of Dr. Jon Kerns of Valley on Sunday night was a waste of a valuable life. Dr. Kerns brought years of experience in medicine to the Westside, and he and his wife were caring people, helping those less fortunate then themselves who were in need.
The couple’s kindness may have led to his murder, and that’s a sad thing.
With Dr. Kerns’ death another rock in Kaua‘i’s foundation of aloha has been removed.
Who can sleep well with an unlocked door today if we sense that a murderer could be in our town or neighbor-hood?
What did our children feel when their school prepared for lock-down Monday as police pursued a suspect who lived among them? Will this incident instill fear in the children? What does one say to a child who knows a murder took place in his quiet town — that it won’t happen again?
Thankfully, Westside police officers went all out to catch the fugitive suspect. Fearful memories of the still-at-large serial killer who plagued the Westside in the 1990s remain. The quick closure that came with the capture of the suspect brought peace to the Waimea area, as well as to the rest of the Island before the story became a news item.
As a community we need to be aware that the times have changed and that Kaua‘i is in too many ways not the same safe community many of us knew for decades. Though it may, or may not, have been a factor in this case, the onslaught of drug abuse is a critical factor in the rise in crime. If drugs were involved in this crime the community needs to know. That knowledge may be a deterrent to crime, and a fact that will wake up more people to the dangers of looking the other way at drug abuse.
