Detroit: Indifference to Dead Man Encased in Ice

DETROIT (AP) -- In an abandoned warehouse, the image was stark and shocking: two denim-clad, lifeless legs poking up through trash-choked ice.

Investigators who took three 911 calls over two days before finally going out to retrieve the body will now try to figure out what killed the man, but this much is clear -- it's become another symbol of Detroit's decay and indifference.
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"Most of us grew up with this," said Mike Corbin, 34, pointing toward the old warehouse and brooding, dilapidated Michigan Central train depot nearby. ''It's depressing. Chicago and New York have their own problems, but those are in certain areas. But in Detroit, it's the entire city."
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"When you hear somebody say it's a dead body near a train station, you say 'and?'" said 28-year-old Bianca Glenn over her vegan Jamaican stew at the Mercury Coffee Bar near the abandoned warehouse. "I'm kind of desensitized to it."


Scott Ruben, 38, one of the homeless men living in the building, had noticed the body for weeks but didn't report it.

Detroit News:

A colony of homeless men live in the warehouse. Wednesday morning a few fires were burning inside oil drums. Scott Ruben, 38, huddled under filthy blankets not 20 paces from the elevator shaft.

His shack mate, Kenneth Williams, 47, returned at that point with an armload of wood.

"Yeah, he's been down there since last month at least... I thought it was a dummy myself," he said unconvincingly. Besides, Williams said, there were more pressing issues like keeping warm and finding something to eat. "You got a couple bucks?" he asked.
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There are at least 19,000 homeless people in Detroit, by some estimates. Put another way, more than 1 in 50 people here are homeless.

The human problem is so bad, and the beds so few, that some shelters in the city provide only a chair. The chair is yours as long as you sit in it. Once you leave, the chair is reassigned.

Thousands of down-on-their-luck adults do nothing more with their day than clutch onto a chair. This passes for normal in some quarters of the city.

"I hate that musical chair game," Ruben said. He said he'd rather live next to a corpse.

CA Court: Private Schools Can Expel Gay Students

LA Times:
By Maura Dolan
January 28, 2009

After a Lutheran school expelled two 16-year-old girls for having "a bond of intimacy" that was "characteristic of a lesbian relationship," the girls sued, contending the school had violated a state anti-discrimination law.

In response to that suit, an appeals court decided this week that the private religious school was not a business and therefore did not have to comply with a state law that prohibits businesses from discriminating.
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Kirk D. Hanson, who represented the girls, said the "very troubling" ruling would permit private schools to discriminate against anyone, as long as the schools used their religious beliefs as justification.

"It is almost like it could roll back 20 to 30 years of progress we have made in this area," said the San Diego attorney. "Basically, this decision gives private schools the license to discriminate."

Michigan: Man Freezes to Death over Unpaid Bill

AP: Freezing Death of Mich. Man in House Sparks Anger

BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) -- When neighbors went inside Marvin Schur's house, the windows were frosted over, icicles hung from a faucet, and the 93-year-old World War II veteran lay dead on the bedroom floor in a winter jacket over four layers of clothing.

He froze to death -- slowly and painfully, authorities say -- days after the electric company installed a power-limiting device because of more than $1,000 in unpaid bills.
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City Electric Light & Power did not contact Schur face-to-face to notify him of the device and explain how it works, instead following its usual policy by leaving a note on the door. But neighbors said Schur rarely, if ever, left the house in the cold.

"I think the utility's policies are horrible and insane," he added. "For 50 years he paid the bill on a regular basis and never had problems. If people would know who their customers are and take concern for their customers, maybe they'd go knock on the door and see if everything is OK."
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One blogger noted that even a pet owner who leaves his dog outside to freeze can face charges.
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"I've said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbors need to keep an eye on neighbors," Belleman said. "When they think there's something wrong, they should contact the appropriate agency or city department."

3rd Economy Related Mass Murder in S. California

Neighbors attend a community meeting in Wilmington, Calif, after finding out about the death of a family in their neighborhood.

In Los Angeles' third family mass murder in six months, a man distraught over job problems shot dead his wife and five young children before turning the gun on himself.

BBC: In the fax sent to KABC-TV, the man allegedly claimed he and his wife had been fired from jobs as medical technicians and she suggested they kill their children and themselves.

"Why leave the children to a stranger?" the man wrote, according to KABC.

"We have no job and five children under eight years old with no place to go. So here we are," the fax continued.

"Oh lord, my God, is there no hope for a widow's son?" it concluded.
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"Unfortunately, this has become an all too common story in the last few months but that does not, and should not, lead people to resort to extreme measures. Help is available. Resources exist," the mayor (of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigrosa) said.

Did anyone ask the fair Mayor WHAT help exactly does the City, State or Country provide to a man and woman who loses their jobs (both at my and can't provide a home, food or basic dignity? WHAT? In the Empire you lose your job with your wife and you are out on your ass. With 5 kids you are basically f'd - having to give the children up or living on the streets or a shelters if they are lucky?

UPDATE: The LA Times is reporting that the husband (Lupoe) and his wife (Ana) recently were fired from their hospital jobs after being investigated for lying about their income to qualify for cheaper child care.

I did not think the story could get more depressing. I was wrong.