LIHU‘E — Four Kapa‘a High School boys had a reunion with one of their teachers Sunday. Gordan Muramaru, a teacher at Kapa‘a Middle School, had his Suzuki filled to capacity as the four boys and the teacher visited several sites
LIHU‘E — Four Kapa‘a High School boys had a reunion with one of their teachers Sunday.
Gordan Muramaru, a teacher at Kapa‘a Middle School, had his Suzuki filled to capacity as the four boys and the teacher visited several sites around Lihu‘e that had been victimized by graffiti.
“The boys called and said they wanted to do this,” Muramaru said. “When they called, they said, ‘Mister, there’s graffiti around the place. I think we need to go out again.’”
Three years ago, Muramaru enlisted the help of the now-10th graders while they were in middle school. That led to a trip to the quonset hut adjacent to the former Lihu‘e Plantation Sugar Mill on Haleko Road as well as a building on the highway on the Wailua River and various sites around Kapa‘a.
There, the students wielded paint rollers and brushes and waded through underbrush higher than themselves as they obscured graffiti appearing on the old building on Haleko Road.
Sunday, the students, Austin and Anthony Delos Santos, Tyrus Moises and Rylan Labuguen, returned with Muramaru to attack the various graffiti that had been accumulating on the wall of the former sugar mill, the original masking on the adjacent quonset hut still obscuring graffiti.
Motorists passed in silence and heads turned in wonder as the four boys again overcame tall overgrowth and took out their paintbrushes.
“You have to cover graffiti as soon as it comes out,” Muramaru said. “That’s one of the ways to tackle the problem.”
The four boys never forgot that lesson, and since their community service outing three years ago, have been observant of new graffiti, discussing the issue in conversations with Muramaru.
On Sunday, Muramaru said the boys started with the electrical box located near the Kaua‘i Economic Opportunity office, moved down to the sugar mill, and were even hopeful of redoing the covering of the graffiti that appeared on an apartment screening on Rice Street near the Lihu‘e fire station.
They had plans of visiting a bus stop in Hanama‘ulu where Peter Rayno said graffiti had also appeared.
“These are good boys,” Muramaru said. “They can sure eat, but they do good things. They’ll be the right side of the Kapa‘a High School football team next year. Just look for them.”
