I received a text on the afternoon of Nov. 30 from my daughter-in-law asking if I had removed my son's memorial on Kahului Beach Road. My response to her was, "No."
I left work immediately and went down to where his memorial had stood since 2005. Imagine the rage and hurt that I went through when I got there and all I saw was a single glass rose. I sat in the car and cried. How could someone be so cruel to remove his memorial? Especially when it's the holiday season and it's so hard to enjoy when your child/brother is gone and not because of an illness; he was taken before his time.
Through Facebook, I found out that the state Department of Transportation was taking the memorials down all over the island. I called the department Dec. 3, and my husband went down to the baseyard to collect all of our belongings. The guy there was really apologetic, saying that he was just following orders.
My question is: Why didn't anyone inform the people of Maui who have memorials set up? Whether it be through newspapers or Facebook, there are a lot of ways that they could have gotten the word out and families could have gone and taken the memorials down themselves instead receiving a text or phone call that their memorial is gone.
I feel that this was not thought through regarding the effect it has on the families. Very insensitive.
Nona K. Johnson
Kahului
