Chinatown Tragedy

[Geary]

About 30 years ago, I was walking up one of San Francisco’s steepest streets, leading directly away from downtown Chinatown. I had walked about 175 yards uphill from where the street levels off among primarily Chinese shops below. As I walked uphill, I noticed an old dump-truck headed downhill in my direction, obviously picking up speed. As the truck approached, I heard the driver grinding gears, trying to engage a lower gear, or ANY gear. I will never forget the terror in that man’s eyes as he went by me, wilding trying to force the stick into gear, with brakes that were obviously failing to slow his acceleration. As the truck sped by, I saw his load .. broken up concrete slabs stacked haphazardly .. WAY to heavy a load for ANY truck to be driving, especially downhill in an old, POS truck, on one of San Francisco’s steepest routes.

It was like a slow motion movie .. that truck must have been doing 60+ mph as it reached the level portion of the road, slamming into a stopped full-size passenger bus which was dropping off / picking up passengers. The bus shot straight forward like a huge cannon ball, sending pedestrians flying to either side like bowling pins. I was in the middle of the road at this point, sprinting as fast as possible toward this horrifying scene. By the time I got there, most people around were in shock, not doing much, if anything, to help. I crawled under the bus and helped a very road-rashed & dazed Chinese man out from beneath. Another elderly Chinese woman was deceased, literally crushed and dragged under the right front tire.

Others individuals were by this point responding, and it didn’t take long for police, fire, and ambulances to arrive. I gave my statement and contact information to the police, and headed back up the hill to my parked car.

A few weeks later, back on Maui, I received two or three phone calls regarding the incident. If I remember correctly, these were insurance investigators / attorneys. I must not have provided an account that they wanted to hear, as I was never called to testify in any civil or criminal case.

Here’s the point: Not a single victim of (nor people close to) this accident saw it coming, nor did they even know what hit them. EVERYone around was in a daze or momentarily confused. I was the only eyewitness who saw the entire movie, from the terror in the skull-capped driver’s eyes, to the people flying left & right like bowling pins, to the victims who needed immediate aid. Not a single person at the point of the tragedy saw the picture in its entirety. I had been in a unique position.

Around the same time, I knew two individuals working directly on the Maui Star Wars project, one of them quite intimately. While the work itself was obviously top-secret, their work progress was openly reported in the Maui News. The only reason I kept newspaper clippings from the day (post #45) was because it was of personal interest to me .. so my personal perspective on the Maui fires is this: Both of these individuals were younger (and a lot prettier) than I. One of them was still active and pushing buttons in 2011. Since I’m still working, there is a distinct possibility of active participation in the Massacre that occurred in Lahaina. What bolsters this possibility in my mind is my distinct perception of this individual’s eventual shift “to the dark side”, if you will. That’s as much as I can say on that.

Having grown up on Oahu, and spending 29 years on Maui before moving to the mainland, I knew a fair number of Lahaina local people. Not haoles, but true locals. My best friend in Lahaina was a wonderful Filipino man, who unfortunately was run over and killed by a motorboat (perhaps 10 years ago), while he was setting up flags for an upcoming canoe race. HIs wife is now homeless, as are quite a few other folks from Kahana Canoe Club (which I visited two weeks ago).

My Dad’s family goes back (and is meticulously documented in The Hawaiian Journal of History #8; Hawaiian Geneologies, vol 1) to the beginning of Hawaiian history. Kamanawa I, the gentleman on the left side of the Hawaiian seal, was my Dad’s direct ancestor. I owe my Dad & Tutu a tremendous debt, on both the Chinese and the Hawaiian sides.

Yeah, the Maui Massacre is personal to me. The reason I snapped at a few on this board is 2-fold: Over the years I’ve seen a tight little group who loves to ridicule anything they don’t agree with or understand. This is to the detriment of everyone else on the board. It’s OK to talk about mundane topics or even something controversial, so long as it’s somewhat Mainstream. To me, the blathering on about vaccines and face diapers was maddening. So be it. The truth is slowly coming out about all of that.

Secondly, the push to send topics you don’t like to PARF. I’ve seen this time & again, so I was making sure I got as much out as I could, as rapid fire as I could, before what I assumed was the inevitable occurred. (Thank you SO much, Seahawk.) I’ve seen these fire tragedies happening up & down the West Coast for over 10 years now, and it seems like everyone moves on like it’s no biggie. It was a biggie to those who lost their lives and to those whose families were affected. Now we have the “worst wildfire in US history”. It’s bull****. Every one of those County & State officials is lying, and most of them are afraid (except perhaps that bully Peletier). You can understand why I will continue to post on the Lahaina Fire thread, and why I call BS on attempts to derail me with demands that I be an expert before being allowed to have an opinion on, or post a link to, this or that.

NONE of the above means I demand agreement. I don’t. Just please don’t ridicule me, and please understand why I will never “give it up”.

So, olive branch offered .. whether accepted or not, you can keep it to yourself and that’s OK with me.

[KFC911]

I've only casually glanced at that other thread ....

This forum is great .... warts & all, and most of us are passionate about some things... and "go at it" from time-to-time.

Thank you for this thread ... I can't fathom that experience that you "lived" .... and it shows.

Be well...

[Baz]

I've spent plenty of time on social media platforms and one thing I've noticed is the variation in how each person handles their persona in the public eye.

The ones I admire the most are the ones who don't spend their time attacking others.

In many cases it's only a small handful who attack others. We all know them.

Forum members should be free to post their thoughts, ideas, and opinions without being attacked.

A friendly debate is one thing.

Name calling and personal attacks are not.

At the end of the day you have to ask.,....how would McQueen, Eastwood, or Newman handle it?

They'd be cool.....

I will also add my respects to Paul (Seahawk) for handling things the right way...thank you Paul.

And thank you, Geary for continuing to add your interesting contributions....I really enjoy them, myself....