29.10.11

More on the funeral

http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/large-crowd-of-mourners-says-farewell-to-vintage-student/article_b31c9596-01e3-11e1-9ccf-001cc4c002e0.html

I was right in my assessment: a huge crowd, lots of Vintage students and lots and lots of white Tshirts.
Thankfully, there's a recap of the sermon because my Spanish just isn't up to it.
Still no news on who did this, but there's been yet another hit-and-run yesterday afternoon:
http://napa.patch.com/articles/child-airlifted-to-hospital-after-hwy-29-crash
I find that trend disturbing, very disturbing.

28.10.11

Today I went to a funeral

And I didn't even know the young man who had died nor do I know his family. Why did I go then? To show support for somebody who lost a child - unexpectedly, much too young, violently.
Ever since I read about the hit-and-run accident in which Ramon Ramirez was injured, I have been angry, sad and upset. Story here: http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/student-declared-brain-dead-organs-to-be-donated/article_802029d2-fea0-11e0-b012-001cc4c002e0.html
As of today, the driver of the vehicle has not been found, the reward has been doubled to $2,000.
The thinking in my house is that it's either a drunk driver (in which case the car will eventually be found and so will the driver) or an illegal alien (in which case all bets are off).
I can't comment on the service itself - it was almost entirely in Spanish (which is the only reason I didn't end up crying my way through every Kleenex in my purse) and 2 years of Spanish simply aren't enough to understand much at all.
What did impress me was the number of people in attendance: easily close to a 1,000 with every bench full and plenty of people standing in back, the majority teenagers. There were lots and lots of white Tshirts (dress code was very casual, I was overdressed in mostly black) many, many of them with Ramon's senior picture on the front and either "Ramon 36" or "Monchiz 36" or "Ramon forever" on the back.
I was very touched to see this kind of support.
I hope Ramon's family will find peace in time and I very much hope there will be justice done eventually.