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.
And she better stay there. Please don’t put her back in the hands of her scumbag family.
President Johnson-Sirleaf rocks.
Uh-oh. You associated criminal activity w/ The Glorious and Peace-Loving State of Israel. The ADL is going to go postal on your ass, you horrible anti-semitic racist, you. When will you stop persecuting the Jewish People? They’re the most persecuted of any people to ever live & you’re responsible for the holocaust and blah, blah, blah….
“Clearly [the boys] are doing something that’s no longer acceptable in our society.”
Good for President Johnson-Sirleaf, and I feel I’m being picky here, but seriously? “No longer acceptable”? However factually accurate, that’s really weak. Appalling, in this case.
Re: Saturday, July 25th: Nothing Happened <…> and the Mariners vs. Indians game at Safeco Field.
Fuck the Mariners, Fuck the Indians, Fuck Safeco Field, and the 29,213 watching them. Across the street, at the same time, there were 32,405 of us watching the Sounders vs. Chicago Fire at Qwest Field.
@2. why did you say that. i cant believe a person could be that flippant. i understand you might not like israel or whatever you might feel but that comment was ridiculous. i am really offended and you should take a look at yourself.
When asked what should be done to the boys the father said “nothing”
and fuck me in the goat ass for not looking but he also said something along the lines of….and I do not quote….she brought shame to our family….
WHA’ THE FUCK HAPPEN?!?!
So getting RAPED brings shame….
DID THE KIDS THAT RAPED HER GET COOKIES AND A NEW XBOX GAME?!?!
The Henry Louis Gates Jr thing is total crap. The issue had nothing to do with race except as HLG made of it in a freak-out session. He broke into his own house, police were called to the scene, they RESPECTFULLY asked for ID and proof of residence to make sure that he was, in fact, the owner of the house. I don’t see how they could have done anything differently, whether the person was black, white, orange or purple. HLG refused to show any proof of residence and instead freaked out, threw a tantrum, insulted the police officers, and generally caused a problem WHERE THERE WAS NONE.
But he’s getting exactly what he wanted: A whole lot of attention and support for a martyr complex.
Dear Voice, and keshmeshi, et al
Are you seriously in this day and age not aware of how many East African & Muslim cultures treat women/girls? And much of the rest of the world. Wake up! Women in the USA are the most free and most safe females on the planet. Think about that “boys” . . .think on it good and long and deep. Better hope we don’t all get tired of this raping and beating and shaming nonsense, all at once. Basta!
You might want to get that well-deserved inferiority complex a break, bgix
@7: Rob, you couldn’t be more correct! Outside of, ahem, “hate radio”, I haven’t heard this sooo obvious conclusion. My liberal friends say the cop was stupid and had no right to arrest someone for mouthing off. I’d bet a limb that these same people would say that the cop did the right thing if He was black And the homeowner was white! Regardless, this incident has NOTHING do with Racial Profiling. Gates was understandably tired and frustrated, but his reaction to the police officer was way out of line.