Inappropiate Haunted House

An article from the San Bernardino Sun on 23 October, 2009 was posted online with the title "Rialto mother turns home where sons died into haunted house." It caught my attention because it sounds disturbing just by reading the title. Josh Dulaney reports that a a fire in a Rialto home killed the two sons of Viviana Delgado, who is making a haunted house out of the remains of the burned house. According to the city planning department, it is safe to enter the house as long as it is not red-tagged.
Some neighbors consider it to be a "macabre memorial." "It's not cool," said Harry Cass, 49. "I disagree with it." "People don't know what I'm going through, they don't know how I feel," Delgado said. "This is how we're going to spend Halloween together."
I think everyone has the right of mourning the way the feel it is the right way for them. Some ways seem inappropriate or disturbing. I personally think it should be just a memorial and not a haunted house with sounds and lights.

Counterfit sellers

On Sunday October 18, there was a news article that talked about counterfeit sellers in the inland center and what the police is doing about it. "Inland police targeting counterfeit sellers" is the title of the article by John Asbury of The Press-Enterprise.
In the article, Asbury describes that law enforcement people have found sellers of counterfeit merchandise in swap meets and outside of markets. Brands like D&G, Coach and Ed Hardy are among the top most seized by authorities.
According to an interview with Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Zachary Hall, "A lot of this counterfeiting is what funds terrorist activities and narcotics."
Asbury explains that the sales of counterfeit items hurt sales of local businesses and that retailers loose thousands of dollars. I think that most of the people who buy counterfeit clothing, shoes, bags among other things are people who can't afford to buy the brand named items at regular price, so in a way it is not really a loss to the retailers because these people who buy counterfeit would otherwise never buy original. I am not saying that it is ok to sell counterfeit products, I am only suggesting that the price of original merchandise shouldn't be too high, specially at times of economical crisis.

Riverside's all-over web

approximately three years ago there was a plan made to provide the entire city of riverside with free wireless Internet access by placing access points all over. In and article of the Press Enterprise "Riverside goal of all-over Web access falls short so far," Alicia Robinson details how the plan is doing and what problems have surged so far.

Robinson tells us that the current "WiFi" coverage is about 70% of the city in the three years they have been working on it and to have the full coverage the city would need $5.1 million in stimulus money. 

A few other issues that arise are that the wireless coverage that is currently provided by AT&T has a contract until the year 2011 so it is unsure of what will happen to the plan after that. Also the Internet service is not as good as it would have been to have individual wireless access points at home. Although Robinson gives us a clear story, i would have liked to read interviews about the subject from people in favor or against it.

It is a good idea because people that don't have Internet access because it is expensive would benefit from the plan but I think that they should not use more of the stimulus money for a service that is not really good and unreliable because of weather conditions and trees blocking signals.

Ready, Set, Believe!

On 10/4/2009 The second annual Believe and walk for the cure for cancer took place in Redlands, California. I am pleased to say that I participated in this walk along with over 4,000 others that attended. 

As it was reported in a Press Release on 10/1/2009 by the Stater Bros. Charities "4,000 Registered for Redlands' 2nd Annual Believe and Walk for the Cure," the walk began at 9 a.m. on the corner of 5th st. and State st. and there was the option of a 5k or 10k distance walk. Compared to last year's 1,700 walkers, there were more than double the participants. The Stater Bros. Charities and Inland Women Fighting gathered approximately $250,000. After the walk, there was a celebration at the Redlands bowl with kids activities, musical presentations and free food from Baker's, California Pizza Kitchen and other local fast food chains.

I could not find a news report of the event but as I mentioned before, I had the privilege to participate in this event. Before the walk took place, we heard a few words from the people who made this event possible like: the three founders of this event (which told us a brief story of how the foundation started), The C.E.O of Stater Bros. who mentioned the importance of why we were there, The Mayor of Redlands who's speech was like a heartwarming welcome and a few others.

It was a very emotional day for some that have experienced the battle for cancer, either themselves or their families. Some have lost loved ones, others are still fighting for a cure, but we were all there united because we want to help each other, not just help ourselves. During the walk, there were signs that read "Go walkers" and "Start Believing", and also people motivating you to keep going . 

To me, the walk represents the struggle that people go through and on that road, nobody should be alone, that is why everybody walks together. The end of the walk represents making it out of the struggle and a sense of relief for everyone. I Hope that next year we can unite even more people so that soon enough we can find a cure for cancer.