I SAID IT WAS GOING TO BE SLOW

AND I WAS RIGHT

Yet, somehow, I still made money.

A lot of Christmas parties are taking place but we are getting very few calls for rides. People seem to want to risk a DUI or worse.

Picked up a lady from THE big box hotel. She and her husband had had a domestic. She wanted to go back to the closest hotel to the airport, which is a real fleabag. I was about halfway through Kihei when the hotel's switchboard called dispatch. The message was relayed to me and I called them back. They were kind enough to offer the lady a hospitality suite for the night, at no charge. The lady didn't know what to do. The operator spoke directly with her for a few minutes and then we turned around and returned to the hotel. The switchboard operator met us at the hotel entry and escorted the lady to her room. I think the hotel handled this very well. The lady tipped me $15 on a $35 meter. I was happy.

The only other incident of note was an MPD request for a pickup in Ma'alaea, coming back into Kihei. A group of people (employees) from one of the trendy bars had gone to Lahaina for a co-workers birthday party. They had hired "The Party Bus" to take them there and back. On the return trip the subsurface racism, that I have spoken of before, raised it ugly head and a young white couple, husband and wife, sitting in the back of the bus was assaulted by some locals. The bus driver kicked the couple off of the bus. I told them to file a criminal complaints with the DA's Office, The Hawai'i Commisiion on Civil Rights and with the FBI as a racial hate crime. I also told them to sue the company that runs "The Party Bus" for a variety of reasons. The young local punks are cowards unless they have their "brahs" with them and then it usually involves all of them "jumping" one victim. While this occurs on a daily basis, you never read about it in the paper nor will the visitor's bureau tell guests about the extreme racial tension that is just below the surface. Some get injured due to that lack of information.

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Azeka Place Shopping Center

St. Theresas Catholic Church

Life's A Beach (LAB)

Kalama Park

Cove Park

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"Let's all be careful out there!"