From left, Tom Sugita is joined by Renee Coester, Breene Harimoto, Marie Sugita, Phil Kishimori and Carole Yamamoto at the corner of Waimano Home Road and Komo Mai Drive in Pearl City. The group is waging a battle against graffiti. Photo by Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin

Yes, it's frustrating, but Tom Sugita said the group will do it for as long as it takes to keep graffiti off the walls.

Since the last painting on June 9, graffiti on Kamehameha Highway, Waimano Home Road and Komo Mai Drive has quadrupled. Sugita said he believes it is largely in response to the fatal shooting of a teen-age, auto-theft suspect by police.

"It's a clear sign of kids taunting the officers. Allowing the graffiti to remain sends a message that no one cares.

"Instead of being paranoid, we should turn it around. If you give up, you give them the opportunity to come back."

There's only one way to attack the problem, Sugita said.

"It's our community, our walls and our streets and we have to fight for it."

To get their message across, the paint- out is to be held tomorrow night rather than on the weekend. The group plans to meet at Momilani Community Center at 5 p.m.

"We're doing this at a time when traffic is heavy, but tooting their horns in support is not enough," he said. "Parents set an example for their child. If they care, we want them out here the next time.

"There are 800,000 residents on this island and 105 gangs with about 2,000 members," he added. "Yet we can't get 2,000 people to volunteer for a paint-out."

Sugita, a Kau native, is used to tackling challenges.

At 5 feet 5 and 125 pounds, he turned himself into a solid senior league baseball player and tennis champion.

While visiting San Francisco with the Jolly Roger softball team in 1968, Sugita was shocked by the widespread use of illegal drugs in Haight-Ashbury.

Through his job as supervisor of Amfac's Drug Division, he organized a drug education program.

"In those days, it was illegal to even show a picture of marijuana," he said. "But we were able to put something together and did 32 presentations in the schools from 1970-72."

Sugita also organized a tennis benefit that has raised over $50,000 for the Toys-for-Tots program in the past 15 years.

And at age 59, his sights are set on eliminating graffiti from his community.