Columns

Last Days

The Week in Review

by David Schmader

Tools

• Print
• Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
• 10 comments

SORRY ABOUT THE SUICIDE

MONDAY, JULY 20 This week picks up where last week left off—in Seattle's South Park neighborhood, where residents are reeling from last Sunday's murder of Teresa Butz, the 39-year-old woman who, along with her 36-year-old partner, was attacked by a knife-wielding intruder in her South Park home. Butz died at the scene, her partner survived, and the unfolding story will dominate the local news week, with Thursday bringing a packed memorial for Butz at the South Park Community Center and Friday bringing the arrest of a suspect (thanks in part to an eagle-eyed Metro driver). For full coverage of the South Park tragedy, click here.

TUESDAY, JULY 21 Today we turn to the too-ridiculous-to-be-true-except-it-is saga swirling around Henry Louis Gates Jr., the renowned African-American scholar, author, and PBS host who was arrested last week after a series of unfortunate events in his own goddamn home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The basics (compiled from countless news reports and one Cambridge Police Department incident report): After a stint of international travel, Professor Gates returned to his house near Harvard University, where he serves as director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. Upon finding the door jammed, Gates shoved it with his shoulder—a technique that opened the door and caught the attention of a neighbor, who called 911 to report a possible break-in. Police arrived and things progressively went to shit, with an increasingly heated Gates accusing the cops of racial profiling and the clueless cops arresting the increasingly heated Gates for disorderly conduct. Today brought some closure to at least the legal portion of the saga, as prosecutors dropped the disorderly conduct charge. Nevertheless, the super-legal implications will be dissected for the rest of the week and beyond, as countless people contemplate what it means to live in a country that can elect a black man president one day then fuck with Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his own home the next.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22 The week continues with the condolences offered today by Apple Inc. to the family of Sun Danyong, the 25-year-old Chinese factory worker who killed himself after losing an iPhone prototype. Details come from the Associated Press, which reports Sun recently finished his degree in engineering and went to work for Foxconn Technology Group, "a Taiwanese firm that makes many Apple products at a massive factory in the southern city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong." On July 9, Sun reportedly took possession of 16 iPhone prototypes. On July 13, Sun told his Foxconn superiors that one of the units was missing, after which his apartment was searched and—as Sun allegedly told friends—he was beaten by Foxconn security guards. On July 16, Sun Danyong leaped to his death from the 12th floor of his apartment building, and today Foxconn released a statement lamenting Sun's death, which "showed the company needed to do a better job helping its employees with psychological pressures." With its dramatic strands of suicide, technology, and whispers of corporate thuggery, Sun's story has already fueled a hundred and one conspiracy theories. But whether Sun was the victim of vigilante justice or just a worker cursed with fatal perfectionism doesn't matter, as now he is merely dead. RIP, Sun Danyong.

THURSDAY, JULY 23 In much more hilarious news, the week continues with the arrest of the entire state of New Jersey, where, as the Associated Press reports, "an investigation into the sale of black-market kidneys and fake Gucci handbags evolved into a sweeping probe of political corruption... ensnaring more than 40 people... including three mayors, two state lawmakers, and several rabbis." Among today's 44 arrestees:

Hoboken mayor Peter Cammarano III (charged with accepting $25,000 in cash bribes), Secaucus mayor Dennis Elwell (charged with taking a $10,000 bribe), Ridgefield mayor Anthony Suarez (charged with agreeing to accept a $10,000 corrupt cash payment), and Jersey City deputy mayor Leona Beldini (charged with taking $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions). And then there are the rabbis: New Jersey rabbis Eliahu Ben Haim and Edmund Nahum, and Brooklyn rabbis Saul Kassin and Mordchai Fish, each of whom stands charged of money laundering. The creepiest arrestee: Brooklyn's Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, who was charged with "conspiring to arrange the sale of an Israeli citizen's kidney for $160,000 for a transplant for the informant's fictitious uncle," the AP reports. "Rosenbaum was quoted as saying he had been arranging the sale of kidneys for 10 years." Stay tuned!

FRIDAY, JULY 24 Today brings a bad story that only gets worse, straight from the fiery hell of Phoenix, where last week four young boys reportedly lured an 8-year-old girl into a shed with promises of chewing gum, then tied her up and sexually assaulted her. As ABC News reports, officers arrived at the scene after receiving calls about the partially clothed young girl seen running out of the shed screaming. And before long, all four of the girl's alleged attackers—boys aged 9, 10, 13, and 14—were arrested on charges of sexual assault and kidnapping. Nevertheless, when the young victim's father was asked by authorities what he wants to happen to his daughter's alleged attackers, he said "nothing," citing the family's West African roots (they'd relocated from Liberia five years prior) and blaming his 8-year-old daughter for the attack that brought shame upon the family. Today the president of Liberia weighed in on the controversy on CNN. "This is not a question of shame on a family," said President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. "It's a question of assault on a young child... Clearly [the boys] are doing something that's no longer acceptable in our society." The victim remains in the care of Child Protective Services.

SATURDAY, JULY 25 Nothing happened today, unless you count the array of things Seattleites did in the glorious sunshine, including but not limited to the Capitol Hill Block Party, the Seafair Torchlight Parade, and the Mariners vs. Indians game at Safeco Field.

SUNDAY, JULY 26 This week ends like last week ended—with a horrible local murder. Today's victim: 28-year-old Manish Melwani, who worked as a clerk at Ballard's Pit Stop Express convenience store, where early this morning an armed masked man robbed the till and fatally shot Melwani. Tomorrow afternoon, a suspect will be taken into custody by a SWAT team. Again, stay tuned.

Send Hot Tips to lastdays@thestranger.com.