The Daily Moth 12-6-19
Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Friday, December 6. Ready for news?
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Top News Briefs: Shooting at Naval Air Station in Pensacola; Four killed in UPS truck carjacking; Blind inmate executed in Tennessee
Here are three top news briefs.
The first — there was a shooting at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. A gunman shot and killed three people in a classroom building. He also injured seven other people.
Two deputies from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene and got in a firefight with the gunman before shooting and killing him.
Both deputies were shot, one in the arm and the other in the knee. Both are expected to survive.
The suspected gunman is reported to be a Saudi national who was in a Saudi military training program. Investigators will look to see if it is terror-related.
It is the second shooting at a military base in two days. On Wednesday, a sailor shot and killed two people before killing himself at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.
The second news — on Thursday night in southern Florida, two armed robbers who were dressed as U.S. postal workers stole from a jewelry store in Coral Gables. One of them fired a bullet that hit the floor, causing it to ricochet upwards and hit a female employee in the forehead. She had a minor wound and will survive.
The owner of the store shot at the robbers and they escaped from the store and then hijacked a UPS truck and drove it off with the UPS driver still inside.
There was a car chase on I-75 that was broadcast by news helicopters that ended with a massive firefight between multiple police officers and the robbers.
Four people died — both robbers, the UPS driver, and a person who was driving a car near the scene of the firefight.
The UPS driver’s name is Frank Ordonez, who was a father of two young girls.
The FBI is leading the investigation and did not say last night whether the two innocent victims died from the robbers or from police bullets. He said it is a very complicated crime scene.
The Miami-Dade police union said 11 officers opened fire after they were shot at by the robbers.
The third news — on Thursday night, the state of Tennessee executed a death row inmate named Lee Hall by using an electric chair.
Hall was 53 and was legally blind from glaucoma that he developed in prison. He is the second blind person to be executed since 1976. He chose to die by electric chair rather than lethal injection. A reporter said there were two jolts of electricity and that there was a small plume of smoke or steam that appeared above his head.
He was sentenced to death in 1991 for murdering his ex-girlfriend, Traci Crozier, by pouring gasoline on her while she sat in her car and setting her on fire.
Crozier’s family said they now have peace because this monster’s life is ended.
Tennessee is one of six states that allows inmates to choose the electric chair.
Pensacola Naval Base: https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/pensacola-naval-base-shooter/index.html
Armed Robbery: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/coral-gables/article238090049.html
Death Row: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/12/05/lee-hall-execution-death-electric-chair-tennessee/2626129001/ https://nypost.com/2019/12/06/blind-inmate-convicted-of-killing-girlfriend-in-1991-executed-by-electric-chair/
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Discriminatory job posting for ASL Teacher at high school
A job posting for a full-time ASL teacher at Fallbrook Union High School, located between Los Angeles and San Diego, requires applicants to be able to “conduct verbal conversation” and to be able to “hear normal range verbal conversation (approximately 60 decibels.”
Look at the screenshots from the job posting.
[Screenshot of three images. The first image has a job posting with the words, "World language, American Sign language Teacher (80%". The second image is a wall of text from the job posting with the words highlighted: "Able to conduct verbal conversation. Albe to hear normal range verbal conversation (approximately 60 decibels)." The third image is another wall of text from the job posting with the words highlighted, "The Fallbrook Union High School District prohibits unlawful discrimination against and/or harassment of district employees and job applicants on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ancestry, religious creed, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability,"]
The discriminatory job posting caused an online uproar with several deaf people.
A deaf alumni of Fallbrook, Krystill Brown, posted on her Facebook wall a call of action for members of the deaf community to stand up to this “blatant discrimination.” She is encouraging people to show up to a board meeting scheduled on December 16.
A deaf professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Dr. Rain Bosworth, tweeted that the job posting was ableist against those who use wheelchairs because the job requires the teacher to be able to walk.
The posting also requires the teacher to be able to see handwritten or typed documents, which excludes Deafblind individuals.
I reached out to the person-of-contact on the job posting, Jean Proctor, via email and asked her about the discriminatory language, but have not received a response.
The links to the job posting and social media reactions are below.
Job Posting: https://bit.ly/2rZTZLq
Brown Posting: https://www.facebook.com/fox5sandiego/posts/10157987930229940
Rain Posting: https://twitter.com/rain_bosworth/status/1202563569621065728
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“Intoxicated” off-duty police officer charged with breaking in Dawes House at Gallaudet
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that a Prince George’s County police officer was charged with breaking into the Dawes House building at Gallaudet University on Sunday, November 24.
The Post said according to charing documents, P.G. Officer Robert Grimes broke a first-floor window during early morning hours and destroyed property inside including a plastic globe, flags, and a door.
The Post said someone who patrolled the campus heard the glass break shortly before 3 a.m. and found Grimes without a shirt on and injures to his wrist, shoulder, and stomach. He said he was “sorry” several times and put his hands behind his back. He was highly intoxicated and he said he didn’t know what happened or how he got into Dawes House. A bloody shirt that is believed to be his was found in a second-floor bathroom.
Grimes was charged with second-degree burglary and destruction of property. He has pleaded not guilty and was released. His next court appearance is on December 30.
The P.G. County Police’s internal affairs division has started an investigation.
Grimes worked for the police department for three years and was off-duty at the time of the alleged break-in. WTOP News reported that Grimes is now suspended.
Dawes House is one of the oldest buildings on campus. It was designed by deaf architect Olof Hanson and built in 1895. It is located close to a Gallaudet Department of Public Safety kiosk on the campus’ main entrance.
The Daily Moth reached out to Gallaudet for official comment, and they said they have no comment because this is a pending law enforcement matter.
Dawes House was originally a dormitory for boys attending Kendall School and today it is used for several academic offices. It is the home of Gallaudet’s Office of Research Support and International Affairs.
Report from WaPo: https://wapo.st/2Rs1JAo
https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2019/12/an-off-duty-police-officer-is-facing-burglary-charges/
https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2019/12/an-off-duty-police-officer-is-facing-burglary-charges/
https://www.gallaudet.edu/about/history-and-traditions/olof-hanson
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Sold-out opening night of Deaf Austin Theatre’s “Next to Normal”
[TRANSCRIPT]
TOJ MORA:
Yesterday, at Deaf Austin Theatre, they just gave the first major performance in Austin, Texas. That performance was called “Next to Normal”. It’s a collaboration project where they worked with another group called Ground Floor Theatre.
[Cut to B-roll]
FEMALE ACTOR:
I’m a part of the DAT, Deaf Austin Theatre, as one of the Board of Directors. We wanted to team up with the Ground Floor Theatre here in Austin, Texas. Austin has a rather large deaf community so where are the theatres that include hearing and deaf actors? I’m not talking about ASL interpreting shows. I’m talking about actual actors. We just thought, “Why not go for it, without workshops, without experimenting or test piloting. We just jumped in and now that we did our opening, we did great with our show. We got a great response from the audience and they were grieving, laughing and crying. We need more of that, we need more stories that are authentic and real. We’re just getting started and we have many more to produce including you!
FEMALE ACTOR 2:
This experience has been the most intense. It’s deep, wonderfully done and beautiful to behold. This is a great comeback gig for me because I haven’t done this for awhile. To come back to Austin and to get rolling with this project and even the story itself has been amazing! I’ve made deep connections and I’ve seen people sobbing, grieving and connecting with the storyline, myself included! I highly recommend everyone to come and see this play. Working with DAT and Ground Floor Theatre has been incredible! We connected so well and this shows how hearing and deaf people can work together as one entity making meaningful impact on both worlds. That’s just a beautiful thing. I really, really enjoyed this experience so I hope that you all will come and see us!
MALE ACTOR:
In this play, there’s heavy emphasis on the topic of mental health. I learned a lot about mental health. I learned that grief has no time limit. I learned this the hard way when I used to push people to go see the doctor when I should have been supportive instead of pushing people to move on. With this experience, I would apply that approach to my real life scenarios where I’ll be supportive of my friends instead of pushing them to see their doctor. That’s made a lot of impact on me.
TOJ MORA:
The show has 2 directors: Brian Cheslik and Lisa Schepps. Brain is from the DAT while Lisa is a part of the Ground Floor Theatre. I did ask Brian to share a brief statement on film about his experience. Lisa sent me her statement through a text message that I will show you.
BRIAN CHESLIK:
We truly appreciate this opportunity. Deaf Austin Theatre (DAT) is a new company here in Austin. It’s about 2 years old, this is our first major production and it’s an enormous undertaking. We’ve done a few tv shows and a few online, Facebook Live shows among other platforms. This is the first time that we’ve done a full show and I’m so glad that we got to collaborate with such an amazing theatre company like Ground Floor Theatre. So, our partnership, the process of selecting our actors has been and giving our all to Austin has been one beautiful story. Austin, Texas has never seen a show like this one before. So, this will set the tone for future DAT productions and there will be more coming!
MALE VIEWER:
I just watched the show and wow, what a champ show! All the acting and the language blended well into a really amazing show! It’s a must-watch!
FEMALE VIEWER:
It was very, very heartfelt. The family and really everything about that show is definitely something you would not expect, you know? The production has hearing and deaf actors included in the show and just wow!
MALE VIEWER 2:
After coming here to see the production, I thought this was an amazing show! The show was above and beyond any performance that I’ve ever seen. Really, that show was very raw and authentic. There was plenty of clarity and it’s a really emotional experience too. So, it’s worth it for you to come out here to see this performance. You simply must!
TOJ MORA:
The show has already been sold out for this weekend. However, in the next weekend and the weekend after that, they still have tickets available for purchase. What really stands out for me is seeing how these deaf and hearing actors worked with each other. Typically, there would be hearing actors in the lead role with deaf actors stepping in as supporting roles to shadow, mirror or whatever you call it, with the hearing actors. That’s a nice thing to have such accommodations, but this show was different. I’m seeing more and more deaf actors out in the front. Now, it’s becoming more common to the hearing actors behind the deaf actors while signing and assuming more of supporting roles. I think this is amazing and it gives me goosebumps seeing these moments. It’s a very good show and I would definitely recommend that you watch the show when you can!
https://www.groundfloortheatre.org/normal
https://groundfloortheatre.buyplaytix.com/reserve/next_to_normal.html
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That is all for this week. Tomorrow I will be going to Italy to cover the 2019 Winter Deaflympics with a team and working in partnership with USADSF. We will still cover top stories from there. See you next time from Italy. Stay with the light!