"Boy, 13, 'Played Dead' After Gunman Shot 5 in His Family" by Richard Winton, Ruben Vives, and Wesley Lowrey

In the Los Angeles Times there was an article about a thirteen year old boy who played dead after a gunman shot him and four members of his family. The boy is now recovering from the shooting, and a family friend told officers that the boy played dead, and so the gunman thought he shot everyone. According to the Downey Police Department, they arrested Jade Douglas Harris, 30, for manslaughter and murder, he is being held in Men's Central Jail and the bail is one million dollars. Harris was booked Friday after being taken into custody and questioned the day before. The police say he matches the gunman's description. Even with Harris being booked, Police do not know the motive for the shootings, relatives of the family stated that it was like a violent car robbery. A family friend stated that Harris responded to an ad for a Camaro, when he arrived at the family business, the United States Fire Protection Services, he was allowed in through the front door which is usually locked. When he entered, he took out a handgun and demanded the car, he forced a male worker to tie up two women. One of the women was the mother of the firm's owners, Robert and Antonio Salinas. The gunman was told by an employee that the car was not at the business but at the family home down the street. Then Susana Perez, another family member walked into the store with her thirteen year old son, whom she had picked up early from school for a dental appointment. Harris shot and killed two employees, Josimar Rojas, 26, of Downey and Irene Cardenas, 35, of Cudahy. A member of the Salinas family, Maria Fuentes, 52, was shot in the face and hand and is in serious medical condition, and hospitalized. Perez and her son, were demanded to take the gunman to the family home where the car was said to be. At the home Harris put a gun to the boy's head, and when the mother tried helping her son, she was shot and killed. Before leaving with the Camaro the gunman shot the boy, who pretended to be dead. An attorney for the family, Mr. Bartoumian, at a press conference on Friday said that the family has not been able to fully recover, grieve, and they are in shock. The little boy was smart to pretend to be dead which made the gunman leave him alone, that decision saved his life. It is truly sad what happened to those five people, may their souls rest in peace.

The Scarlet Letter #3

The Scarlet Letter gives one a full range of emotions, from sadness, anger, to happiness. It includes characters who surprise and intrigue you, like Hester a women who committed adultery with a man who was not her husband, and had a child named Pearl. She was the only one punished for her sin, by being forced to wear the scarlet letter "A" on her chest for the rest of her life. Her partner in crime Reverend Arthur Dimesdale, whom she committed adultery with was the father of her daughter Pearl, is also to blame but was not punished because Hester kept the truth a secret. Hester's husband, Roger Chillingworth had just come into town and was looking forward to seeing his wife who he had not seen for two years, found out about her sin and that she had a daughter from another man. He wanted Hester to keep his identity a secret, because he did not want anyone to know he was her husband. Roger Chillingworth felt that Hester was being punished, but the other man was getting away with sin. Therefore he took matters into his own hands and tried to uncover the secret, find out who Pearl's father is and get revenge. Dimesdale was slowly getting sick because of his guilty conscience, and Chillingworth being the town doctor, offered to move in with Dimesdale and take care of him. Chillingworth had a suspicion that Dimesdale was the father, and so he took advantage of the opportunity to get closer to him. Now if I were to ask myself, "Who do I feel more sympathetic for?" I would have to say Chillingworth, for the simple fact that he was cheated on. Roger Chillingworth, coming back from a trip, missed his wife and wanted to see her, finds out that she committed adultery and has a child with someone else. I do not blame him for wanting revenge and trying to make the other man's life miserable. I do not however, agree with the fact that he went too far, once he found out who the father was, and noticed how guilty Dimesdale felt and was getting ill he should have backed down and realized that he was too being punished emotionally. The novel came to a tragic end when Dimesdale died, Hester was left without someone she loved, and Pearl was left without a father. Both characters, Chillingworth and Dimesdale were hurt emotionally, because of two different reasons, and handled them in different ways. Chillingworth and Dimesdale made mistakes, one took matters into his own hands and tried getting revenge, and the other, committed adultery and kept it a secret causing him to have a guilty conscience, but one had a greater consequence then the other which resulted in a tragic death.

The Scarlet Letter #2

"Hast thou not tortured him enough?" said Hester, noticing the old man's look. "Has he not paid thee all?"(118) This quote was said by Hester Prynne on the beach to Roger Chillingworth. Pearl playing by the water not minding Hester and Roger's conversation about Mr. Dimmesdale. Roger Chillingworth felt in his heart that Mr. Dimmesdale being the father of Pearl also needed to be punished the same way Hester was being punished for adultery. Hester not wanting the community knowing who the father of Pearl was and Roger not wanting the community knowing he was Hester's husband took revenge and punishment into his own hands and felt he had to punish Dimmesdale himself. Dimmesdale, because of guilt was becoming very ill and Roger being a doctor lives with him. Roger wants to get revenge on Dimmesdale for committing adultery with his wife and begins slowly torturing Dimmesdale which Hester does not approve of. This quote shows Hester's disapproval and her plea for Roger to stop the torture. She asks him the question of his the torture you have begun not enough, have you not hurt him, punished him enough. She does not want the whole community knowing it was Dimmesdale, that he is the father, that he committed adultery, she wants to protect him, and the motive Roger has is revenge and punishment. Hester believes that since Dimmesdale feels guilty and is becoming ill from that guilt and remorse he has paid the price, and that should be punishment in and of itself. Therefore she makes it clear to Chillingworth that she wants the torture to stop and she is aware of it. This quote is an important one because it is the first time that Hester has confronted Roger about the torture and that she knows his motive and was he is slowly beginning to do. It is the first time she has showed Roger she is trying to protect Dimmesdale from pain and punishment from not just Chillingworth but from the entire community. Chillingworth may feel the need to take punishment into his own hands because he feels it takes two to make a baby and Hester should not be the only one being punished, so should Dimmesdale, Pearls father.

"Worker Cooked To Death In Oven 'Tragic Loss,' Bumble Bee Says" by Ann M. Simmons

In the Los Angeles Times there is an article about a Bumble Bee seafood plant worker who was cooked to death in an oven. The victim was a 62 year old man named Jose Melena who worked at the Bumble Bee seafood plant for six years. The Whittier Police Department said they received a call at 7:00 am Thursday regarding an industrial accident involving a worker at Bumble Bee Seafood's at 13100 Arctic Circle in Santa Fe Springs. The Police and local fire department responded and found the 62 year old man dead at the scene. They did not describe the nature of the accident, but the  California Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the issue. Officials at the state agency could not be reached, and neither could Bumble Bee Foods officials, but they identified to the Whittier News the employee as Jose Melena. A spokeswomen Erika Monterroza told the paper that an initial investigation indicated that Melena was fatally injured when he was cooked in the oven, but it was unclear how he ended up in the oven. "The entire Bumble Bee Foods family is saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Melena family," Bumble Bee Foods spokesman Pat Menke said in a statement to KTLA News. This is a very interesting and mysterious article, in the fact that it does not all add up to me. The man was fatally injured prior to being cooked in an oven and I do not fully understand how he ended up in there. I have a gut feeling this was not a freak accident it was murder, a 62 year old man does not just accidentally fall in an oven someone must have hurt him and put him in there. But however it happened it is still tragic and may he Rest In Peace.

"The Scarlett Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

"The Scarlett Letter" can have many endings but I believe the ending will be a sad one. Hester Prynne has a big secret she does not want anyone to know, and by the end i feel that secret will be uncovered and she and Pearls father will have serious consequences to face. As for Pearl, she has some unusual qualaties and characteristics that point her in the direction of witchcraft and by the end everyone is going to figure out what she is which will cause the people of Salem to make accusations of Pearl and her family. Roger Chillingworth who is Hester's husband does not know who the father is but in the end he may find out and not like who the fahter is. he may want to take punishment into his own hands and control the fate of the mystery man. This may cause tension between him and Hester who did not want to tell her husband who the mystery man is. There may even be death, heartache, consequences, and decisions to be made on some of the characters parts. Overall the story will have a sad ending which some of us might not have seen coming. This is my hypothesis of the ending of "The Scarlet Letter".

"Border Agents In Likely 'Friendly Fire' Were About 20 Yards Apart"by Cindy Carcamo and Richard Marosi

In the Los Angeles Times there is an article about a Border Patrol Agent that was killed because of a shooting in Southeastern Arizona. In a rugged canyon three agents including the victim Nicholas J. Ivie were involved in a shooting that included on the three agents, whom were responding to a tripped sensor. Officials say that the three agents responded to the tripped sensor from different directions in a dark canyon and misinterpreted their colleagues actions on approach. FBI officials say that the shooting was most likely a 'friendly fire' that killed one agent, injured another, and one was not harmed. Ivie was a six year agent, who was patrolling the area with two other agents when he was shot. The area they were patrolling was a few miles north of the US Mexico border, where drugs and human smuggling occurs. Ivie had communicated with the two other agents, and they were all in the same area, but Ivie was twenty yards away from the two agents and interpreted their defensive postures for aggressive ones. George McCubbin, union president of the National Border Patrol Council, elaborated. He said, "Agents converged from opposite directions, descending down hills into a relatively level area thick with brush." “They were dropping down into this saddle area, coming in from two different sides,” “This happened between 1 and 2 in the morning, and then with all the brush they may have never even seen each other…maybe they tried to reach each other but couldn’t. They have lots of dead spots in the desert.” A high-powered rifle and a handgun were found at the scene but investigators are not sure if it is connected to this incident. A .223 Bushmaster rifle was discovered on Wednesday in the area where the agent was murdered, and it says that the weapon was purchased in the United States. A .38-caliber Titan Tiger revolver was recovered on Tuesday and included this alert, “Urgent High Profile Border Agent Shot.”(La Times). That weapon was purchased February of 2009 in Tucson.