The Daily Moth 11-7-19
Updates on Trump impeachment inquiry | Updates on family massacre in Mexico | Ohio woman mauled and killed by her two Great Danes | Man dies after falling in lava tube | Deaf team creates bike rack in sign language in Frederick
[Transcript] Hello and welcome to the Daily Moth! Today is November 7th. Ready for the latest news?
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Updates on Trump impeachment inquiry
House Democrats announced that they will have their first public hearings on the impeachment inquiry next week. The first witness called to testify will be William Taylor, a top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. Taylor recently said that he understood that the Trump administration withheld U.S. military aid to Ukraine until they agreed to investigate certain people that were political enemies of Trump’s. He said it was a “Washington snake pit.”
Republican leaders continue to criticize the impeachment inquiry. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC) said there was no “quid pro quo” and that the whole process is a sham.
President Trump, during a rally in Louisiana last night, said “it is all a hoax” and said the attorney that represented the whistleblower was very against him and talked about a coup since 2017.
President Trump and Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul have called on the media to identify the whistleblower. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted out a name, but there is no confirmation if this is actually the person who filed a complaint about Trump’s call with the Ukraine president.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-to-hold-first-open-hearings-in-impeachment-inquiry-of-trump/2019/11/06/90041c3c-00bd-11ea-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-louisiana-rally-duck-dynasty-eddie-rispone
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Updates on family massacre in Mexico
Here are a few updates on the U.S.-Mexican family that was killed on Monday when their three SUVs were shot upon. Three mothers and six children from a religious community died.
Eight children survived the attack. A relative said a 13-year-old boy walked about 14 miles to get help while others hid.
A Mexican army official said they suspect gunmen who worked for a cartel shot at the SUVs because they thought they belonged to a rival cartel.
But a relative of the family said they had some issues with cartel members on where they could travel.
There have been no suspects identified or arrested, so many things are unclear. Authorities have pointed to two different cartels, either the Los Jaguares or the La Linea, as possibly being responsible.
Many news articles showed images of members of the family visiting the site of the attack. They cried and hugged each other as they looked on the charred, ashen remains of the vehicles.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/11/06/mexico-massacre-james-dean-roger-stone-elections-wednesdays-news/2507355001/
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/07/americas/mormons-attacked-us-mexico-border-thursday/index.html
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Ohio woman mauled and killed by her two Great Danes
Last Friday, in Clearcreek Township, Ohio, Mary Matthews, 49, was found dead in her bathroom floor, partially naked from the waist down. She was covered in blood and had some bite marks on her body.
There was one missing chunk of flesh from her upper ankle area. The police also reports that there was blood on door frames, the laundry, and the walls leading to the bathroom where she was found dead.
Dale Matthews, Mary’s husband, was in a county jail since Wednesday then on Friday he was released to go home. That was when he found his wife dead and he called the police.
When the police came to the scene, they found two large, but thin Great Danes outside on the deck. After investigation, they determined that the cause of Mary’s death is “dog attack” due to the bite marks on her body matches the teeth of the dogs.
Dale mentioned that they adopted the two dogs two years ago. One of the dogs became more vicious lately and did bite Dale before. He said he tried to get rid of the two dogs, but Mary still wanted to keep them.
The police also found a pile of empty beer cans. The authorities said that Mary suffered from chronic alcoholism and had several prescriptions that she used. They believe that it affected her response of her possibly not realizing the dogs attacked her, putting them outside, and trying to clean up the bloody mess before going in the bathroom.
Based on a local article, it mentions that both of the dogs have been euthanized.
https://wtkr.com/2019/11/05/woman-found-dead-in-ohio-was-killed-by-her-own-great-danes-police-say/
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/05/us/ohio-woman-killed-by-dogs/index.html
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Man dies after falling in lava tube
Hilo, Hawaii, on the Big Island, a 71 years old man died after he fell into a lava tube underneath his property.
A lava tube is a natural formation that hardens after a lava flow. When it has cooled, it becomes a cave.
Last Monday, this man was trimming branches on his property, Poki Place. There was a soft ground and he fell through a 2 feet wide and 22 feet deep lava tube.
A friend of his was the one who reported him missing for a few days. The police decided to survey his property and found the hole and the man was beneath. The rescue team came and rappelled down to bring him up.
He was transported to Hilo Medical Center and was pronounced dead.
An autopsy said that he died likely because of the injuries from falling down. His name has not been released because his family has not been notified yet.
A volcanologist, Ken Hon, mentioned that lava tubes underneath the Hawaiian grounds is very common, but this was a rare situation that happened.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/06/us/man-dies-falling-in-lava-tube-trnd/index.html
https://bigislandnow.com/2019/11/05/elderly-man-dies-after-falling-down-lava-tube/
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Deaf team creates bike rack in sign language in Frederick
Last year, Downtown Frederick Partnership, in Maryland, had their first competition called “Pitchcraft” which allows people to participate and pitch their idea for what can better connect the people and places of the community in Frederick.
Two deaf women, Chanel Bonheyo and Tiffany Farias participated with this and pitched their idea about having a bike rack in sign language and they won.
Recently, on October 23rd, their idea has finally become a reality.
(Image of Frederick bike rack)
We contacted Farias and Bonheyo to share their experience.
(video)
CHANEL BONHEYO:
When I saw the advertisement during last summer, I thought it was really cool and something I’d want to be a part of! I’d be giving back to the community somehow and of course, there’d already be some influence with deaf people who know ASL since the city of Frederick has a huge deaf community. Even though I thought this was cool, with my background is in project planning, I don’t have much of an artistic mind. So it was then when I asked Tiffany if she wanted to be a part of it too.
TIFFANY FARIAS:
Yeah, she reached out to me and I was definitely up for it! So we had to submit our ideas online then Downtown Frederick Partnership created what’s called a Pitchcraft. They looked over the submissions then they picked the top 4 best submissions and we were one of the top 4. Then they hosted an event one night so all the 4 of us could do our pitches to an audience. That money from the ticket sales would go towards the projects. Then after we did the pitches, the audience voted on what they thought was the best ideas. So towards the end, they made the announcement that we’d just won.
CHANEL BONHEYO:
We were pretty thrilled that we’d won and I think it’s a really good way to show the people who work in Downtown Frederick how much deaf people contribute in the area. Lately there is some kind of disconnection. We know many deaf people here and Maryland School for the Deaf is right there! We know it’s there, but people still don’t realize how big of an influence ASL has on the local community here. We have communication access here. Now with our bike rack winning the competition, it’s been blowing up social media with tons of shares on Facebook. I took a look at Downtown Frederick’s Facebook page, and the average number of shares for news and the like is around 10, but the article about that bike rack got at least a thousand shares! So I think the people of Downtown Frederick were really impressed and are realizing how big of an influence this project has on us.
RENCA DUNN:
Regarding that design with “Frederick” hand spelt in ASL, out of all possibilities like a banner and whatever, why did you choose a bike rack?
TIFFANY FARIAS:
We felt that the bike rack is multipurpose, multifunctional and could be converted into an art as well. There are many purposes for the bike rack. I was also inspired by something I saw online. They have something similar in Fargo, North Dakota with “Fargo” in hand spelling. So I was inspired by that idea and incorporated that.
(Image of Fargo Street bike racks)
RENCA DUNN:
In 2018, the first bike rack that had a finger spelling of “Fargo” in sign language is in downtown Fargo, North Dakota. A hearing designer named Jeff Knight designed that bike rack. Farias and Bonheyo are the second people, but first deaf, to create a bike rack that finger-spells a city name.
(video)
CHANEL BONHEYO:
I do hope that more people will continue sharing our story. After doing this project, many people have said they’d love to have something similar in their hometown! I encourage them all to do that!
RENCA DUNN:
After they won, they walked around to pick a good spot for the bike rack to be most visible and decided the color yellow for the rack to stand out.
These two contacted a local deaf graphic designer for a commercial and federal contractor, David Magnabosco to help design the bike rack. We contacted Magnabosco for his comment.
(video)
DAVID MAGNABOSCO:
When they won the bid to design the bike rack, I was very impressed! Then they asked me to help them design the bike rack. I gladly agreed and was already comfortable with helping with the project. I set out my strategy and gave them 4 samples. Chanel reviewed the designs and chose what she thought was the best design which was the German Gothic font, but it was in ASL. It’s pretty simple. The nails in the design are sharper and more pronounced. We chose the German Gothic font style because Frederick’s sister cities are called Schifferstadt and Morzheim. Also, the architecture in the area has a strong German influence. So I wanted to try to blend that aspect into the design. I’m happy with the design. I tried to take a picture and the spot looked just perfect! I’m thrilled to see more of these spots for deaf people to assemble, take pictures and treat it as a tourist spot. I’m already seeing many people visiting and I’m proud of my work! I look forward to doing more projects in public spaces. I’m already coming up with tons of ideas and I’m really eager to get started!
They want to thank Shockley Honda for being their main funder that helped make this project happen.
We got a comment from Kara Norman, the Executive Director of Downtown Frederick Partnership, about this project.
(TEXT)
The bright yellow bike racks greet residents and visitors alike as they enter Downtown Frederick, providing a warm welcome and a sense of the vibrant deaf community that calls Frederick home. This project is the winning idea from Pitchcraft 2018, the Partnership's first ever placemaking competition…now that we have the bike rack project completed, the community continues to respond enthusiastically to this project - for its celebration of the Frederick deaf community, for its location near the train station and a beautiful City park, for its welcoming message to all who live and work here and for the amenity it provides to those who bicycle.
We asked how Bonheyo and Farias felt when they first saw their bike rack set-up.
(image of plaque: “This bike rack spells out ‘Frederick’ in American Sign Language. Chanel Bonheyo and Tiffany Farias were awarded the winning project from Pitchcraft: Downtown Frederick’s 2018 Placemaking competition. The bike rack was designed by deaf artist David Magnabosco.)
(video)
TIFFANY FARIAS:
It feels like a dream because our name is right there! We actually did that! I didn’t know if we could do something like this and make our dreams come true! It’s a trip, it really is! It’s just so surreal and people keep bringing it up. We actually made it happen!
CHANEL BONHEYO:
Yes, I really think the bike rack looked much better than what I had imagined! I just love it! I can see that bike rack inspiring other people too! That’s the whole reason why we wanted to be a part of this competition in the first place.
TIFFANY FARIAS:
I was on this shuttle at Gallaudet University and people kept telling me congratulations. I thanked them and at the time, I was actually on my way to the Pitchcraft in Frederick. People were telling me that at 4 o’clock in the morning, when they’re in their car, they’d see people taking selfies there. I’d tell them that it’s become a spot to take selfies, a tourist attraction, it’s amazing to me to see all this. That’s what I mean by the bike rack being multipurpose!
CHANEL BONHEYO:
Our next step is to challenge you all to go to Frederick to visit and take a selfie with a hashtag FrederickASLBikeRacks.
Let’s keep on tagging! Tag, tag away!
RENCA DUNN:
It’s really cool that three deaf people were involved with this project! So, whenever you visit Frederick, stop by Carroll Creek Park, take a selfie, and don’t forget to add a #frederickaslbikeracks.
https://www.facebook.com/DowntownFrederick/photos/a.10150723771418203/10158048010028203/?type=3&theater
https://downtownfrederick.org/pitchcraft/
https://www.westfargopioneer.com/news/4334946-new-sign-language-bike-racks-coming-soon-downtown-fargo-aim-unify-educate
https://www.facebook.com/FargoStreets/photos/a.996678500447242/1669785783136507/?type=3&theater
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That’s all for now. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
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Gallaudet University: [gallaudet.edu]