THE PIONEER Covering the East Bay community since 1961
California State University, East Bay
News, Art, & Culture for the East Bay
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¡EDICION EN ESPAÑOL! PAGINAS SEIS Y SIETE
THURSDAY JULY 28, 2016 Summer 2016 Issue 6
Suspects arrested in murder SEE OPINION PAGE 2
BLACK LIVES DO MATTER
SEE NEWS PAGE 3
PHOTO COURTESY OF DUGGAN'S SERRA
UNION PICKETS LOCAL CEMETERY
ILLUSTRATION BY ARIANA GONZALEZ/THE PIONEER
PokemonGo: a key to another universe By Ira Lazo
CONTRIBUTOR
SEE ESPAÑOL PAGE 7
HISTORIA LGBTQ AGREGADA A ESCUELAS PUBLICAS
SEE SPORTS PAGE 8
WARRIORS BOND THROUGH OLYMPICS
#PIONEERNEWS
I am proud to say that I am one of the 9.5 million users gleefully wandering around in city parks and libraries trying to catch all of the Pokemon who magically appear in the area using my smart phone. The PokemonGo craze has swept the Internet up in a storm, because it’s allowed many millennials to reconnect and reminisce with an old childhood fantasy. As I’m catching these creatures, I tiptoe the line between reality and fantasy as I’m transported back to happier days. PokemonGo is the love child of Nintendo and San Francisco-based software development company, Niantic Labs and is an augmented reality mobile game that was released July 6. It has since continued to crush records as the
most downloaded mobile app on iTunes and Android market, and it overtook Twitter and Tinder as the most-used app daily in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, where it initially launched, according to TechCrunch, a tech news site. For those who didn’t grow up watching the show, the word “Pokemon” is short for pocket monsters. The TV series started in 1996 as a Japanese animated television series written by Takeshi Shudo about a ten-year old boy named Ash Ketchum who dreams of becoming the ultimate Pokemon master; a task that takes him around the world to make new human and “animal” friends. To play the game, you need a smartphone and maybe an external battery, just in case. By using your phone’s GPS location, the game knows where you are in real life. As you walk around to different locations, wild Pokemon appear in real life through the camera and augmented reality. To catch them, you have
to flick a red and white pokeball at them, all while keeping one eye on the pedestrians in front of you. The more creatures you catch, the more you level up, and the stronger they evolve so you can ultimately battle with other players, aka trainers, at different gyms. There’s a sense of urgency as you hunt for the Pokemon in different locations, and businesses have started to take notice. Different PokemonGo urban pub crawls are popping up in San Francisco and Oakland, with one Facebook event attracting at least 50,000 RSVPs on the Facebook event page. I choose to play PokemonGo despite the criticism of many who say that this app is a distraction from important breaking news, such as this crazy election cycle and the international terrorist attacks. Rather than deal with these issues head on, I’ve found a way to run away and hide in my own world of magical creatures. PokemonGo is a game, an addiction, a key to another world where I can just be a kid again.
Roads repaved at Hayward campus
/thepioneernewspaper @thepioneeronline @newspioneer
BART can’t find engineers By Louis LaVenture EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Jobs can be hard to come by in the Bay Area, but not for engineers. Bay Area Rapid Transit has been trying to fill more than 200 positions in the engineering and maintenance departments for “months” according to BART Communications Department Manager Alicia Trost. Some of the openings include positions with salaries of more than $100,000 per year and a benefits package, but the transportation is still having trouble filling those roles. The situation has gotten so dire, last week BART’s board of directors approved a $500,000 contract with a staffing agency to help fill the vacant positions. BART officials said they plan to fill at least 60 positions by November through the relationship. Many BART officials including Chief Engineering Officer Lori Lovett and Board President Tom Radulovich have cited the high rent prices in the Bay Area as a detriment to potential hires.
PHOTO BY TAM DUONG JR./THE PIONEER
Crews repair Hayward Road near West Loop Road in front of Greek Hill at the Cal State East Bay Hayward campus yesterday.
Adan Farrid Katami was shot and killed in unincorporated North Hayward on July 13.
• Adad Farrid Kafami, 38, shot and killed. • Sheriff's arrested two suspects. • Johnny Will Wright Jr., 46, Chariott Louise Burks, 25, charged with murder. By Louis LaVenture EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Things took a deadly turn on July 13 for Adan Farrid Katami, 38, from Antioch. According to several family members, Katami was on his way to pick up his four-year-old daughter when Memphis, Tenn. native Johnny Will Wright Jr., 46, shot and killed Katami at an intersection in Cherryland, an unincorporated area of North Hayward. Another Memphis native, Chariott Louise Burks, 25, was in a vehicle with Wright Jr., and was also charged with the murder of Katami, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. Wright Jr. and Burks were both charged with murder on July 15 and will appear for arraignment and to enter pleas at the Hayward Hall of Justice at 9 a.m. on Aug. 5. According to Alameda County Sheriff’s Sergeant Ray Kelly, Katami was stopped in his red Dodge truck, traveling south on Meekland Avenue around 1 p.m. While he waited to make a left turn on Blossom Road, a man got out of a red Jeep Wrangler, walked up to Katami and shot him multiple times at point blank range. Wright Jr. fled the scene, but the report filed by Deputy Nicholas Paxton said sheriffs eventually caught him in San Lorenzo with help from K-9 units and an Oakland Police Department helicopter. According to Kelly, it is unclear how the suspects knew the victim. However, in addition to the murder, both Wright Jr. and Burks were charged with crimes that allege that they waited for the victim, who was an intended target. According to Paxton’s report, after her arrest, Burks made a statement that implicated herself and Wright Jr., who did not make a statement. The hashtag #RIPAK had a number of posts on social media platforms following the murder. According to family members of Katami, he was a San Francisco native and “AK” was the name he was affectionately referred to by friends and family.