San Francisco Bay Area Tuesday News Roundup

Submitted by Reset News Feed on Tue, 02/21/2012 - 12:57pm

Bullying Victims And Their Families Rally At San Francisco City Hall

Victims of bullying and their families met on the steps in front of San Francisco City Hall Monday afternoon to rally people to join a youth-led fight against bullying.

Among those who attended the event was the family of Jamey Rodemeyer, 14, of New York, who committed suicide last September after being bullied for years. His suicide made national headlines and his family has fought ever since to prevent future suicides.

"One of the last things he said was 'Why doesn't anyone listen to how bullied I am?'" Jamey's mother, Tracy Rodemeyer, said.

The Monster March Against Bullying, organized by the Gay-Straight Alliance Network and YouthVoice, will be held in October and organizers are inviting gay-rights supporter Lady Gaga to join the festivities.

Following Jamey's death, Lady Gaga tweeted "Jamey Rodemeyer, 14 yrs old, took his life because of bullying. Bullying must become be illegal. It is a hate crime."

Jonah Mowry, 14, of Lake Forest, Calif., has also been a victim of bullying and his YouTube video, "What's Goin On...", went viral with more than 9 million views.

Since Mowry's video came out, his father, Kevin, said many of the comments posted on YouTube have been positive, but not all.

"The bullying continues today on YouTube on Jonah's video. And although the majority of comments are positive, there continue to be ugly, hateful comments," Kevin Mowry said. "Last week, there was a comment telling him if I ever see you I'd kill you and slit your throat -- and that written by a young teenage girl."

Jonah's father said he continues to delete negative comments on the video, leaving only the positive.

"Kids need to know bullying is so, so serious and it is nowhere near OK," Jonah said.

More than 160,000 students miss school because of bullying every year, according to YouthVoice and Monster March founder Christi O'Connor.

O'Connor said the group is expecting some 10,000 people to participate in the march in October.

Hundreds Protest Outside San Quentin State Prison

Hundreds of people gathered outside San Quentin State Prison Monday afternoon for a protest that organizers are calling historic because they say it merges the Occupy and prisoners' rights movements.

Between 600 and 700 demonstrators were protesting peacefully outside the prison's East Gate as of 2 p.m., according to the Marin County Sheriff's Office.

The protest began at noon and was scheduled to continue until 3 p.m. A prison spokesman said San Quentin was on lockdown and that prisoners are being kept in their cells.

Organizer Barbara Becnel said the protesters are calling for a number of reforms, including the elimination of solitary confinement, the death penalty and California's "three strikes" law, and an end to the practice of trying some juveniles as adults.

The crowd included activists Sara Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, who served time in an Iranian prison after being arrested by Iranian authorities while hiking along the Iraq border in July 2009.

Shourd was freed in September 2010, and Bauer and Fattal were released about a year later.

Bectel said the protesters have already achieved one of their goals: bringing the Occupy movement and the prisoners' rights movement together.

Occupy Oakland's website encourages its members to participate and lists carpool information for those who planned to attend.

She said the San Quentin rally is one of 15 taking place Monday at prisons throughout the country -- including in New York, Baltimore and Boston -- as part of National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners.

The groups are seeking change at both the state and federal levels, and are planning an "Occupy the Justice Department" action in Washington, D.C., on April 24.

Police Arrest Man Suspected Of Vallejo Parking Lot Rape

Police have arrested a man suspected of raping a 53-year-old woman in her car in a Vallejo parking lot near City Hall in September.

Maurice Vernon, 21, was arrested by Oakland police at around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday in the 300 block of Grand Avenue and booked into the Alameda County jail. He was transported to the Solano County jail Monday.

Vernon was wanted on a $2 million warrant for sexual assault, police said.

Vernon is a member if the Oak Park Bloods gang out of Sacramento and has prior convictions on weapons, theft and assault with a deadly weapon charges, Vallejo police Lt. Ken Weaver said.

Police arrested a second suspect in the Sept. 3 rape, Donshay Nichols, 18, on Jan. 18, Weaver said. Nichols' preliminary hearing on the rape charge is scheduled for March 5 in Solano County Superior Court.

The Vallejo woman, who was returning from a day trip to San Francisco on Sept. 3, was within sight of her car in the Vallejo Ferry overflow parking lot behind City Hall at 555 Santa Clara St. when two men grabbed her, Weaver said.

One of the men held a gun to her head and demanded jewelry and money. When she said she had no money, the suspects forcibly removed the rings from her fingers and tried to take her bracelet.

The suspects also took her wallet from her purse and after discovering her driver's license, told the woman they now knew where she lives and she had 'better not say a word about this or report this to anyone', Weaver said.

The suspects then forced the woman into her car, threatened to kill her and sexually assaulted her. The suspects then read back her name and address and threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone about the robbery and assault, Weaver said.

Vernon also is a suspect in an assault of a 60-year-old homeless woman in Vallejo in December, Weaver said.

The Solano County District Attorney's Office has filed a complaint against Vernon regarding the December assault of the homeless woman and also is reviewing a robbery in April that Vernon is suspected of committing in Vallejo, Weaver said.

San Jose Police Detain Armed Robbery Suspect

San Jose police detained a 16-year-old male suspected of armed robbery Monday evening.

Police were searching a creek trail Monday afternoon after the suspect ran away from officers when they contacted him in the 2000 block of Southwest Expressway at around 3:45 p.m.

The suspect was wanted in connection with at least one armed robbery in San Jose, police said.

When officers approached the teen, he ran toward a creek that runs parallel to the expressway, police said.

The creek trail was closed as officers search the area.

Police received information that the suspect was seen at a Valero gas station located near West Hedding Street and Coleman Avenue.

The suspect was detained there without incident at around 6:15 p.m., police said.

Rose Cliver, One Of Last Survivors Of The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, Mourned On Monday

Family and friends gathered in downtown San Francisco Monday to mourn the passing and celebrate the life of Rose Cliver, one of the last remaining survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Cliver, 109, who passed away in Santa Rosa on Saturday, was celebrated at John's Grill on Ellis Street with a lunch, the sounding of a fire truck siren and the ringing of a bell outside the restaurant.

"I figured she's going to go beyond 110," Cliver's nephew Herman Wyrsch said. "There's no way she's going to stop but everything comes to an end and I guess the parts got old."

Wyrsch, 79, of Walnut Creek, recalled the earthquake stories he heard from Cliver and his father, who also was alive for the infamous quake.

He said his father and Cliver went to the top of Bernal Heights, where the family lived, and could see the flames burning the city.

"[She] remembered sleeping outdoors like they all did for the first few nights, and they could go back into the house and sleep but all the cooking was outdoors," Wyrsch said. "She was three and a half. A little frightened that the fire was going to come in her direction."

Wyrsch also spoke about Cliver's sense of humor, which didn't waver, even in her later years.

Wyrsch's son, San Francisco Fire Department Battalion Chief Vic Wyrsch, was also in attendance.

With Cliver's passing, there are four remaining survivors of the 1906 earthquake.

Bill Del Monte and Winnie Hook are both 106-years-old, George Quilici was born in 1905, and the eldest member of the club is Ruth Newman, who was born in 1901.

Man Killed In San Jose Off-Ramp Crash

A man was killed Monday morning when a Chevrolet Trailblazer carrying a family on their way home from a trip to Mexico crashed and overturned on a San Jose off-ramp, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

CHP Officer DJ Sarabia said none of the eight people in the SUV was wearing a seat belt when the accident happened around 4:45 a.m. on the off-ramp from northbound U.S. Highway 101 to eastbound Capitol Expressway.

"It appears that either unsafe speed or unsafe turning movement caused them to lose control," Sarabia said.

He said the SUV rolled and that two people were ejected from the car, including the man who was killed.

The second person who was ejected suffered major injuries and was taken to a hospital along with a third victim, who had minor injuries, Sarabia said.

The other five people in the car suffered minor injuries but didn't require hospitalization, he said.

There were no children in the car, he said.

Sarabia said it appears that the family, who lives locally, was just getting back from Mexico when the crash happened. He said the man who was killed was sitting in the right rear passenger seat.

Investigators do not believe alcohol was a factor in the crash. Sarabia said the driver might simply have been going too fast on the slick roadway.

"It wasn't raining, but the roadway was wet at the time," he said. The crash shut down the off-ramp for about two hours.

South San Francisco Woman Robbed By Armed Suspect

A South San Francisco woman was robbed of more than $10,000 in cash Saturday afternoon by an armed suspect.

The victim had just cashed a check for more than $10,000 at a local bank and placed the money in her backpack when the robbery occurred around 4:15 p.m., according to police.

The woman was walking on El Camino Real near Southwood Drive when a red van pulled up next to her and a man, who she told police she did not recognize, jumped out.

He pushed her down, grabbed the backpack, and pointed what appeared to be a small handgun, saying she should not call the police or he would kill her, police said.

The suspect was described as a Hispanic male, 45 to 50 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall and 250 pounds. He was clean shaven with a dark complexion and black hair, and wearing a white jacket and white t-shirt, gray pants, sunglasses and a gold chain around his neck.

His vehicle was described only as a newer model red van, possibly a minivan.