By JOHN BURNETT
By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
While burglaries during the weekend’s tsunami evacuation shook residents of the Keaukaha community, another weekend theft in Hilo hit close to home for staff and clients of Hawaii Island Adult Care’s Hilo Adult Day Center.
Sometime between 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and 6:30 a.m. on Monday, a person or persons stole a 5-foot-long replica of a sea turtle with a shell brightly painted in various Hawaiian patterns by Puna artist Vicki Vierra.
The fiberglass and Styrofoam statue, titled “Kapakahi Honu,” greeted staff, clients and visitors to the adult day care center as it stood silent sentinel by the entrance ramp to the Rainbow Drive facility. The statue was in a small garden between the ramp and a lanai used by the center’s clients, mostly senior citizens.
“We didn’t even notice it right away because we’re all busy coming into work,” Paula Uusitalo, HIAC executive director said Wednesday. “We had thought about putting it inside, but it’s kind of large, so we put it outside and had it chained down. And they cut it with a bolt cutter.”
Uusitalo said the statue “wasn’t real heavy.”
“Two people could easily have picked it up; one big person could probably carry it,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll get it back. We considered cementing it in there, but we’re trying to get another building, so we’re not going to stay here forever.”
The honu was part of a 2008 art project called “It’s a Honu World,” the brainchild of Hilo artist Karen Kaufman. The project enlisted 35 Big Island artists, all of whom decorated large sea turtle forms in support of local nonprofit organizations. Koehnen’s Interiors donated “Kapakahi Honu” — so named for the patchwork of Hawaiian and Polynesian kapa and tattoo designs adorning the turtle’s shell — to the adult day center in 2010.
“It’s so sad, you know, because it was part of the center already,” said HIAC client Gayle Kudo. “It’s been there a while. It’s really pretty and added to the environment, because it’s a nice turtle. We were out there playing a game when we noticed it was missing. It’s awful that somebody did something like that.”
Vierra called the honu “one of a kind” and said she researched the motifs painted on the turtle’s shell for years.
“It’s a shame, because I’m sure people got a kick looking at it as they walked in there. It’s very colorful,” she said.
In addition to the honu, a number of wheelchairs donated to the adult day care center were later discovered stolen, Uusitalo said. She said that a police report was made on the turtle as soon as it was discovered missing, and that the center was in the process of reporting the missing wheelchairs, as well.
Lt. Greg Esteban of the Hawaii Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Section said a felony theft investigation has been opened.
“It’s disturbing that something which is there to bring some color into the eyes and hearts of the kupuna is there, and all of a sudden, somebody takes it away from them,” he said. Esteban added that he’s hoping the thief or thieves will “just return it somewhere where we can recover it, and we’ll deal with it after that.”
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the honu or the wheelchairs is asked to call HIAC at 961-3747 or the police at 935-3311. Those who wish to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.