A tweet from parents sitting-in at Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle's inner sanctum reports that a deputy sheriff shares fries with the kids. Earlier, another deputy issued trespassing citations to seven of the parents. Otherwise, little has changed in three days: no one can get bathroom privileges even if they raise their hands, and supplies are being blocked.
In the outside world an AP story on the citations has caught the eye of editors preparing their Saturday editions. The story has spread like wildfire. A Google News search turned up 166 instances. It's already on websites of the New York Times, Fox News, even the Guardian of London, and the night is young.
Aside from their media prowess, the parents are proving themselves masters at social media.
The tweets at hashtag #sos808 (Save our Schools and Hawaii's 808 area code) are followed widely across the state. Facebook, email, text, you name it, they are using it. The parents probably maintain better contact with the world from the Governor's digs than if they were home distracted by TV and spouses demanding dinner.
It's hard to tell if they are getting through to the gov, though. Since the protests have started she has ducked out the back way from her offices and has never spoken with the parents.
Besides cutting off bathroom privileges, she has denied them food and drink. A supply of fruit sent by former Congressman Neil Abercrombie was reportedly turned back.
The trespass citations may have been effective, though. Parents tweet that they will move to a different location, most likely in front of Washington Place, a major tourist attraction directly across from the State Capitol. It's the former residence of Hawaii's governors and is presently a museum. Lingle lives in a small mansion behind the historic building.
Furlough Fridays have decimated Hawaii's already teetering education system, leaving it with the fewest instructional days in the country. The parents want the forced holidays ended.
And they seem determined to get some action out of this governor.