Paradise Driver: 03/23/07

Friday, March 23, 2007

WHAT IS WRONG

WITH THIS PICTURE?

~ Brittney ~ Lindse ~ Tara ~
I took it at 2:57am this morning, at The Sheraton, in Ka'anapali. I had picked them up from a private residence in Kihei at 2:09am. The oldest one is a "Junior" (11th grade) and the other 2 are "Sophomores" (10th grade) in high school. They are here on "spring break" from Dallas, TX, USA. All three girls were sober, for which the parents should be grateful, and not under the influence of any drugs. They were very polite and well mannered. This was their first visit to Mau'i.

So what is wrong with the picture?

All the facts I just related is what is wrong.

What were the parents, or chaperons, for these very young girls (15 and 16 y.o.) thinking? G-I-R-L-S this young, and especially this pretty, are fair game for the lowlifes that habituate Mau'i. People blindly come here thinking that Paradise is benign.

It isn't!

Oh, well. I did what I was hired to do. Get them back to their hotel safely.

It was nice to meet some well mannered teenagers for a change though. That is something seldom seen on Mau'i.

***

The earthquake last October caused some fracturing of the rock faces along the Pali.

The Pali is that section of SR-30 (Honoapi'ilani Highway) that runs past McGregor Point along the road between Central Mau'i and West Mau'i. You can check the maps on the sidebar. The north side of Ma'alaea Bay.

To prevent rocks from cascading onto the roadway, the State DOT contracted to have the face of the roadway cuts cleaned up and new steel netting placed on the cliff.

Took these images on "the fly" as I passed by on the detour.

It was a profitable shift. The girls were my final, most enjoyable and longest run of the night. Started the shift with "Crazy" Brian (#09), Maui Jim (#17), Prima Donna (#18), "Dipshit" (#05) and me (ONE-NINE). Alex-TMR (#27) will be back from vacation on Saturday. Tina (#11) was a "no-show" (feces occurs). At 9:00pm, I took over dispatch duties. Brian covered it last week, so it was only fair that I cover it this week. Normally, Thursdays are #27's night for the phone. By 9:15pm both #05 and #18 had folded up shop for the night. #17 stayed around until 10:30pm. After that it was just Brian and me. We were never overwhelmed but we didn't sit idle very much either. By the time Brian left I was pretty satisfied with my "meter". The Ka'anapali run was "icing on the cake".

Around 1:30am I get a call to pick up at a private residence in far north Kihei for a decent trip south to a private residence in Maui Meadows, a subdivision on the Kihei/Wailea border. I tell the caller that I will be there in less that 10 minutes. I was making a drop at the Maui Lu and wasn't too far away. Arrived 9 minutes after the call. It was obvious which house on the cul-de-sac it was. A party was going on inside and it looked like every light in and on the house was illuminated. I sit and wait. I waited for 7 minutes and no one ever came out. 10-13'd (no load-no show) it and headed back to the "Triangle", about 4 miles away. They call back a bit after 2:00am and were dumbfounded when I told them that I had already been there once and wasn't coming back again. The usual "four-letter word" banter occurred between us until they decided that I was extremely anal retentive, my parents probably weren't married on my conception and mom was a canine. When his lack of an adequate vocabulary became repetitive, I just went [click].

While cruising the "Triangle", a fight broke out, in the street, just outside of LAB. There was a MPD car about 25 yards away. The officer activated his "blues", tapped the siren, stepped out and ordered the guys to STOP. He was ignored. 5 "backup" units were rolling his way from 1 mile north. He brought the fight to an abrupt end when he Tazered one of the guys. When it didn't seem to have an immediate affect, the suspect was "zapped" a second time. A Tazer makes a popping, sizzling, staccato sound when used.

I wish we had those back in my "day".

No arrests were made and the cops eventually put the pugilist in Brian's cab, for his final run of the shift.

Prim (#22) logged on at 3:50am and I was back in Kihei at 4:00am. Refueled and handed the phone over at 4:30am, which is also when Flor (#27) checked on.

With a little luck, Friday will continue this week's trend of being active. Unfortunately, I also will have dispatch again.

Y'all come back now, hear.

Mahalo

Aloha

THE PICTURE GALLERY

West Mau'i