For archers, safety must come first

Olympian archery medalist Khatuna Lorig trained 16-year-old actress Jennifer Lawrence for her bow-and-arrow role as Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games," which has lured many newcomers to the nearest range. Proficiency is not so immediate for them, however, and concern about errant arrows landing outside the archery range at Queen Kapiolani Regional Park is justified.

The range has been closed since April 24, after an arrow landed more than 500 feet away — and only a few feet from Mike Stelmach, racquet in hand in a doubles match at the Diamond Head Tennis Center. The arrow apparently flew over a parking lot, a clubhouse and several other tennis courts. The city’s archery should remain closed — perhaps permanently, as originally planned, unless a safety system is put into place.

Danelle Pulawa, owner of The Island Archer, asserts that since the archery range preceded the tennis courts, "the tennis courts encroached on the range" so should prevail. That is a peculiar get-out-of-the-way viewpoint that would make everybody nervous within a few hundred feet of the range.

One of the most frequent dangers of outdoor ranges is a "non-backstopped target positioned on a brow of a hill, such that a missed shot becomes a flight-shot," according to the National Field Archery Association. Obviously, that danger is greater when the archery is in an urban context, especially with novices at the bow.

USA Archery, which selects American archers for the Olympics, received 17,770 hits per month on its website in 2011 and was visited 23,885 times a month this January and February. The popularity of the book-turned-film "The Hunger Games" obviously has caused a buzz, although the enthusiasm of youthful archers may be temporary.

The truly resolute archers should not be inconsolably bothered about having to take their bows out of the city: there is still Central Oahu Regional Park at Waipio, Koko Head Shooting Complex and the Kapolei Archery Range at the old military site of Fort Barrette, with range distances up to 100 yards plus an indoor range.

Gary Cabato, the city parks and recreation director, said the Kapiolani range was "closed because the errant arrow must have come from the archery range," and noted that Stelmach is not the first tennis player to have found arrows on the court. Kapiolani Park’s urban outdoor venue attracts myriad of recreation uses, and safety within that environment should be paramount.

The Parks Department will conduct hearings on the issue in hopes of hearing an innovative solution, but Cabato said he believes the archery range has "outlived its life." That looks to be the case, with the odds decidedly not in its favor.