The Daily Moth 7-11-19
Tropical Storm Barry brings threatening rains; Thousands of dollars of cash spill out on highway; Man eaten by his own dogs; Jeffrey Epstein child sexual assault and trafficking case; RID accepting applications for CEO; Guest #DeafBing: Next in Line
[Transcript] Hello, welcome to the Daily Moth! It is Thursday, July 11. Ready for news?
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Tropical Storm Barry brings threatening rains
This morning, the large storm in the Gulf of Mexico was officially named Tropical Storm Barry. It has 40 mph winds. It could turn into a Category 1 hurricane by tomorrow (Friday) evening or Saturday morning with 75 mph winds. Weather services are warning of a storm surge and heavy rains in Louisiana.
The Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency for the entire state. There are some parishes that have mandatory evacuation orders.
The biggest threat from Barry is its slow pace, which could bring pounding rains for long durations of time.
There are concerns about river levees being breached in the New Orleans area, as the Mississippi River is already swollen from rains from northern states.
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/11/740659899/hurricane-could-form-in-gulf-friday-putting-louisiana-into-a-state-of-emergency
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2019-07-10-barry-hurricane-tropical-storm-flooding-forecast
https://www.axios.com/developing-hurricane-threatens-new-orleans-major-flooding-6449da4a-9886-41bc-828d-1dc2005d11c9.html
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Thousands of dollars of cash spill out on highway
On Tuesday night near Atlanta, there was at least $175,000 in cash that flew on an interstate from an armored vehicle that didn’t have its doors securely shut.
A video showed over 20 vehicles pulled over to the shoulder with people walking around grabbing cash.
The local police department, Dunwoody Police, said those who took the money were technically stealing and asked them to return the cash.
Police said on Wednesday night, there were several people who came and returned a total of $4,400. They gave praise and showed a picture of Randrell Lewis because he brought $2,100.
Lewis said that when he was driving on Tuesday night, he thought the money was leaves, but when he realized it was cash, he pulled over and picked up as much as he could. He said when he saw on local news that it was theft and a crime, he decided he had to turn it in.
Many people commented that they would have kept the money.
Yesterday police asked people to stop pulling over and blocking traffic on the interstate to look for more money. They said there is no more money!
https://wapo.st/2JB8TwX
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Man eaten by his own dogs
In North Texas, police said that a 57-year-old man was completely eaten by his dogs at his property.
The man’s name was Freddie Mack. His family said their last contact with him was on April 19 and asked police to do a welfare check on May 6.
Police said when they went to his property, they initially couldn’t enter his home because there were 18 aggressive mixed-breed dogs. They had to somehow distract the dogs to do a search, but didn’t see Mack.
About two weeks later, detectives searched the property again and found a piece of bone on the ground. This led to more searches that found more bones. Authorities seized sixteen of the dogs and did a thorough search and found pieces of clothes, animal feces with bone fragments, and suspected human hair. A lab analysis confirmed that the bones belonged to Mack.
Police said Mack had serious medical conditions and that they don’t know if he died before the dogs ate him or if the dogs killed him. They said two of the dogs were killed by the other dogs, 13 were euthanized because they were aggressive, and that three were put up for adoption.
https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2019/07/10/57-year-old-texas-man-eaten-by-his-dogs/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/10/missing-johnson-county-texas-man-freddie-mack-eaten-own-dogs/1699044001/
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Jeffrey Epstein child sexual assault and trafficking case
Here are several updates with the Jeffrey Epstein child sexual assault and trafficking case.
He is still in jail in New York and has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking. Prosecutors say he is a flight risk. His defense lawyers are asking for a $77 million bail package that would allow him to stay at his New York City home.
A 32-year old woman, Jennifer Araoz, said in an interview with NBC that Epstein sexually assaulted her when she was 14 and that she was raped when she was 15 inside his New York City home.
Media reports say there are at least 100 women who reported they were sexually abused by Epstein when they were girls. Many, including Araoz, said Epstein would pay them to give him massages and that he would make increasingly sexual requests before assaulting them.
U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta is facing pressure to apologize and resign for making a plea deal with Epstein in 2008, when he was a federal prosecutor in Miami, on similar child sexual abuse charges. Epstein went to jail for only 13 months on state charges. He faced life in prison. The deal allowed Epstein to leave the jail during the day to work in his office. The deal stopped a FBI probe on if there were more victims and more abusers involved. The deal was kept secret from the victims until a judge approved it. Epstein paid restitution to 36 victims.
Several months ago a federal judge said Acosta violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by keeping the deal a secret.
Acosta defended himself yesterday at a news conference by saying he did his part in making sure Epstein faced jail time and registered as a sex offender. He claimed that he went further than what state prosecutors were willing to do. A Florida state prosecutor who worked in the case said Acosta was not being truthful.
Many are watching President Trump to see if he will ask Acosta to leave. On Monday he said he feels badly for Acosta because he is a hard worker and has done such a good job.
Trump used to be friends with Epstein. Trump said in 2002 that Epstein liked beautiful younger women, but said two days ago that the two had a falling out and haven’t spoken for 15 years. Epstein was banned from Trump’s clubs.
Epstein was friends with many rich and powerful people, including former President Bill Clinton, who issued a statement on Monday that the last time they worked together was in 2002 and that they haven’t spoken in over 10 years.
In separate news, an Alabama man who admitted to raping at least 5 young children under 16 years of age was sentenced to 615 years in prison.
http://bit.ly/2LPOLtp
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/11/us/jeffrey-epstein-more-accusers/index.html
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article220097825.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/us/politics/acosta-epstein.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/09/alexander-acosta-trump-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-charges
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/nyregion/bill-clinton-jeffrey-epstein.html
https://www.wsfa.com/2019/07/10/man-sentenced-years-sex-crimes/
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RID accepting applications for CEO
The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc (RID) is now accepting applications for a CEO position. The RID just completed their 2019 National Conference in Rhode Island. The keynote presenter was Evon Black. Nyle DiMarco was the banquet presenter.
The Daily Moth did an interview with the new RID President and interim CEO. Here it is.
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JONATHAN WEBB: Sure. Hello there, I’m Jonathan Webb. This is my sign name. I’m the current Board President of RID.
CHARITY WARIGON: I’m Charity Warigon. I’m currently the interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RID.
Jonathan here is RID’s first African-American president and that was inspirational to people in the audience. They wiped away their tears and were inspired to see people representing themselves. So, it’s a really diverse board which is just so great.
JONATHAN WEBB: This is historical.
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Alex: Webb’s term will last two years. He currently lives in Southern California where he owns a business and teaches interpreting at CSUN. His wife is also an interpreter.
Warigon has been serving as RID’s interim CEO for several months now.
This will be RID’s second CEO search in a year. The previous CEO, Joey Trapani, a CODA, stepped down after a few months on the job. His selection was controversial because he was picked over a Deaf candidate, Nicole Sheneman, who multiple people in the Deaf community thought was just as or more qualified.
I asked the two what would be different with this CEO search process this time around.
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CHARITY WARIGON:
So, what’s the difference now? It’s not going to be just the board or the committee making all the decisions for the RID CEO search.
The RID CEO search will consist a group including a majority of deaf people, a majority of people of color, and also will include stakeholders from the community.
This group will convene, and this is the first round of RID CEO candidates.
They will create a list of names that will be turned over to the RID board, actually no, it’ll be turned over to him, the board president.
Then the board will choose the final candidate in the second round. It depends on the number of the final candidates. I don’t know, there could be 2, 3, 4, 5 of them. Once the list is submitted to the board, they’ll proceed to the second round.
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Alex: You can check out who is on the search committee and their bios on the RID website. The CEO application does not specifically mention that a Deaf candidate is desired. I asked Webb and Warigon what value, what weight they put on a candidate being Deaf.
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JONATHAN WEBB:
We feel the most important factor, the top priority, is being qualified. Now, when they’re qualified, check, the next factor is the identity. People need to feel that RID can be trusted. People need, and by people, I mean the deaf community, need to know that RID understands my interests, what we need and how we navigate. Does that mean we can legally push for a deaf candidate? No, we can’t but it means we can prioritize language, cultural awareness and having the ability to communicate effectively. When we are able to implement these criteria then we’ll use that to filter out the right person for the job.
CHARITY WARIGON:
And if you’ve noticed the job requirements, that is what narrows down the candidates for RID CEO and opens the door to the interview. That’s where I think you need to look more carefully for the ASL fluency requirement. So, we’ll keep this open, but of course, deaf people who are ASL fluent would meet this requirement.
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Alex: The application and job description is on the RID website. I asked the two to share highlights from the RID conference.
JONATHAN WEBB:
The culture of this conference, the vibe, is truly unique. It felt like, the first time we came into this conference, many members felt like it was a very different place and they meant it in a positive way. It feels more open, feels more friendly and it feels welcoming. It feels like there’s diversity. People feel like, “You see me.”
They finally feel this pull, a desire to be more involved.
CHARITY WARIGON:
The theme of our conference was, “Come Together, Work Together, Thrive Together.”
What you’ve seen all week has really emphasized that. We’ve come and worked together. And we’ve thrived. It’s beautiful.
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Thank you both for your time. RID is expecting to announce the new CEO this October.
https://rid.org/rids-ceo-search/
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Guest #DeafBing: Next in Line
Dawn: Hi, I’m Dawn.
Kellie: Hi, I’m Kellie.
Dawn: Okay. You know how at various restaurants there is an outside area where you can order food and there is a long line of people making orders before your turn? How do I know if my food is ready?
Kelli: I look at the line and make sure to memorize the face and clothes of the person in front. When they pick up their food, it means my order is coming next. Right?
Both: That Deaf Bing!
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That is all for today! See you tomorrow and stay with the light
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