Cross Country
Arson's Deadly Toll in the Mountains
The men and women who fight America's wildfires are a rugged, independent breed. They try to prepare for contingencies but know deep down that predicting the behavior of fire is often a fool's errand. Indeed, the 60 mile-per-hour winds that whipped through the San Jacinto Mountains near Cabazon, Calif., late last week were called "devil winds" by a U.S. Forest Service spokesman; they sent flames shooting over a crew of firefighters so fast that none had time to deploy their temporary shelters. Four were killed and one critically injured.
Officials said the so-called Esperanza blaze, which had blackened 24,000 acres by Friday, was apparently set on purpose. "A deliberately set arson fire that leads to the death of anyone constitutes murder," said Riverside County Fire Department Chief John Hawkins. A $100,000 reward for information leading to the perpetrator was announced. At week's end, more than 1,100 firefighters were struggling to construct fire lines, protect homes, and contain the blaze.
Retrial in a Grisly Smuggling Case
Jose Juan Roldan Castro knew his journey across the Mexican border was illegal but never thought it would end in such horror. In federal court in Houston last week, Roldan described how he and more than 70 other illegal immigrants were packed into a scorching, airtight tractor-trailer for four hours in 2003. Nineteen immigrants died after their body temperatures reached as high as 113 degrees.
The truck's driver, Tyrone Williams, is being retried in a case most likely to continue through this week; he's charged with 58 counts of conspiracy, smuggling, and causing injury or death. A previous jury convicted him on 38 counts, but an appeals court judge threw out the verdict because the panel failed to specify Williams's role; 14 people were charged in all, and seven have been sentenced to prison. Williams is the only person facing the death penalty. Prosecutors say Williams did not turn on the air conditioning, leaving people trapped in a "rolling chamber of death." Williams's attorney says he had no idea anyone was in danger.
A Gift in the Name of Civil Rights
Atlanta's leading corporate citizen stood up for Atlanta's legacy last week. The Coca-Cola Co. donated 2.5 acres of prime downtown land to the city for a civil rights museum, which is slated to house the papers of Martin Luther King Jr. "There is no more appropriate home for a civil rights museum than the cradle of America's civil rights movement," said Coke CEO Neville Isdell.
The land is next to the Georgia Aquarium and a World of Coca-Cola museum scheduled to open next May. But the gift is just the first step, because the museum is little more than a concept. Some $50 million to $100 million will have to be raised to turn it into a reality.
An American Jackpot Story
Any way you slice it, $55 million is a lot of money, but it sounds even more impressive when converted into 526 trillion Lao kips. It's a conversion Laotian immigrants Sommay and Xia Rattanakone, 52 and 44, respectively, may have been thinking about as they claimed their Mega Millions lottery winnings in Seattle. The two said a top priority is a visit to Laos. Xia, who was adopted and brought to the United States as a teen, said she plans to donate part of the jackpot to the Laotian Roman Catholic orphanage where she was raised and hopes to find her birthparents. The couple also wants to use the prize to buy a new home, put away college money for their two sons, and retire-he from an aide's job in the Seattle public schools and she as a temporary worker at Nintendo. After taxes, they will receive about $23 million. For the record, that's a mere 220 trillion Lao kips.
Those Pink Birds in the Red
So long to the perpetual summer of the plastic pink flamingo. The wobbly legged lawn ornaments once indigenous to south Florida became not only a symbol of regional pride but of American kitsch, and, for some, postmodern cool. But after producing about 20 million of the polypropylene birds, Union Products of Leominster, Mass., swooned under a cocktail of high energy prices, a jump in plastic resin costs, and a loss of financing. Its last brood of flamingos came in June. The company, which churns out other plastic products, will close for good November 1.
The plastic pink flamingo was hatched in the brain of amateur artist and Union Products employee Don Featherstone in 1957. While the original flamingo is gone, birds of similar feathers are still plentiful because of a flood of cheap knockoffs. In the meantime, management is hoping that the original bird might rise from the ashes. Two companies have expressed interest in buying Featherstone's molds.
With Will Sullivan, Danielle Knight, Bret Schulte and Associated Press
This story appears in the November 6, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.