HPD’s Helping Hand
Wednesday - April 11, 2007
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Del.icio.usDear Pamela,
We are legal guardians for an almost-16-year-old niece, and while we were on the Big Island for a three-day weekend, she went amok. Going onto MySpace.com by getting around our normal parental controls, she actually gave out her cell phone number and talked with two guys from Vancouver, B.C., and Riceville, Iowa.
After catching her at this dastardly deed, we talked to her for four days before I called HPD. Officer Carroll Shifflett responded, and he spent more than a half hour with me on Friday, and we made plans to stage an intervention on Sunday morning. When we began the intervention, he arrived and not only echoed everything we had told her in the past, but got out some real issues and solutions, and through her tears found a way to make her smile.
For an hour and a half, he offered some real insight into what could have happened, and left her with the statement, “You owe these people big time!”
Time will tell if this was effective enough to turn around some dangerous activities on the part of this teenager, but he accomplished in his time here what we have not been able to do over the past five years. His demeanor was kind, thoughtful, right on target and totally understanding of the needs of all four of us. A HUGE APPLAUSE for him, along with HPD for having such a wonderful officer on the beat to intervene before she actually gets into the kind of trouble he sees all too frequently. We send him all sorts of hugs, as well as the thanks he so greatly deserves. Bless him forever!
Maggie Higgins
Honolulu
Dear Maggie,
Officer Carroll Shifflett says there’s nothing like the satisfaction you feel when you’re able to communicate with a youth at risk. “That’s my reward,” he says. “Being able to actually reach someone and guide them to a new understanding of the situation is very, very rewarding.”
Aloha Pamela,
A few days ago my car was towed away. I’m an elderly, handicapped woman and I had no way of getting around. Just then a lovely woman asked me if I was in trouble (I must have looked stricken). She said she would take me where I needed to be. The dear woman, Irene Dator, drove me to the bank to get
cash, then to Sand Island for my car. I wanted to give her money for gas, but she would-n’t accept it. Please give her some APPLAUSE.
Alyce Craft
Ala Moana
Dear Alyce,
Irene Dator and her husband are moving to the Mainland soon. Our loss is Florida’s gain. She says she’s had car trouble before and people have always stopped to lend a hand.
“I was parked at Kakaako Park and noticed she was at the pay phone,” says Irene. “I noticed she dialed 911 and overheard her say she didn’t know where her car was. I thought, this poor lady has no ride. I’ve been there before and know what a terrible feeling it is. I had some extra time so I asked her if she needed help. I’ve been so blessed with people helping me in the past so I just wanted to pay it forward.”
(If you know someone who deserves some Applause, send your letters to Pamela Young, MidWeek Applause, KITV, 801 S. King St., Honolulu, HI, 96813 or e-mail pyoung@kitv.com. Include your name, phone number and, if possible, the phone number of your “applaudee” so we can contact him or her.)
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