This Maui News article put me back on my heels. Apparently a family of local toughs was shaking down visitors and even local residents for "donations" in order to access a public beach path.

Carrying bodyboards and a video camera hidden under a towel, two undercover police officers were walking toward the Honolua Bay shoreline when they were called back to a “donation” table set up on the trail last year.

This alludes to something I have long felt. Hawaii has a slightly menacing, somewhat violent overtone around the fringes. It's a very safe place overall but we are seeing more of these types of displays of brazen public criminality. So be careful in paradise, people.

—Alex, 11/29/07