Businessman Wins Town’s Praise With Building Remake

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Shawn and Shane Murray of Aloha Termite and Pest Control.
Photo by Byron Lee, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

A beautification effort by a local businessman at the entrance of Wahiawa is turning heads.

Leilehua graduate Shawn Murray said he’s already spent about $100,000 fixing up the building at the corner of Kamehameha Highway and Ohai Street, which was “an eye-sore” in the community.

“The whole building is changed,” said Murray, the president and owner of Aloha Termite & Pest Control, which plans to move in once office construction is complete. “It’s been remodeled, repainted, there’s a new parking lot, new fences. Everything is new.

“I get a call once a week from people thanking me for making it nice.”

Wahiawa Neighborhood Board chairman Ben Acohido said the building “was kind of run down ... raunchy,” and stood vacant for a few months until Aloha Termite took up a lease in February. At the suggestion of Wahiawa Rainbow Seniors’ member Noel Sutherland, Acohido said the board will commend Murray at its May 21 meeting with a letter of welcome to the community thanking him for beautifying the building.

The 8-year-old company is moving from its slightly smaller location in Mapunapuna, where the building it rented space in is up for sale.

The company has 25 full-time employees, including Murray’s wife, Tammy, who serves as bookkeeper, and some of Murray’s high school classmates.

The Murrays’ two children, Shane, 10, and Kyllie, 9, are company spokespeople in its TV and radio commercials. (A recent commercial has them acting as scientists.)

The company suffered a setback when a former office manager embezzled more than $800,000 from the company over three years starting in 1999.

The former employee, the godmother to one of the Murrays’ children, spent a year in jail and repays the company $100 a month, Murray said.

“It’s not something you get over real quick, but we kept going,” Murray said. “We had a lot of family and friends help us stay in business.”

The company’s slogan is “Service with Aloha” and, Murray noted, “We’re probably the only company in Hawaii where you can get the owner on the phone any time of day or night.”

For more information, visit www.alohatermite.com or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)