With No Job and 5kids, " Better to end our lives," man wrote

A man shot and killed his wife and five young children before taking his own life Tuesday, apparently out of despair after the couple lost their jobs at a hospital, the police and city officials said. Officers responding to 911 calls placed by the man, Ervin A. Lupoe, and by a television station to which Mr. Lupoe had sent a fax around 8:30 a.m., found seven bodies in a house in Wilmington, a working-class neighborhood near the Port of Los Angeles. A police spokesman said the bodies were identified as Mr. Lupoe; his wife, Ana; their 8-year-old daughter and two sets of twins (5-year-old girls and 2-year-old boys). Mr. Lupoe had telephoned and sent a fax to KABC-TV that indicated “he was despondent over a job situation and he saw no reasonable way out,” said Lt. John Romero, a police spokesman. The two-page, typewritten letter made clear he was going to kill his family and himself. The station quickly called 911 to report the letter and then posted it on the station Web site after the bodies were discovered. The letter said Mr. Lupoe and his wife had worked as medical technicians at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in West Los Angeles, but recently lost their jobs after a dispute with an administrator. The administrator, it said, had asked them on an unspecified day why they had come to work, and then added, “You should have blown your brains out.” Two days after the confrontation, the letter said, the Lupoes lost their jobs and began planning their deaths and those of their children. “Why leave the children to a stranger?” Mr. Lupoe said his wife had asked. “So, here we are,” he wrote. Kaiser Permanente officials issued a statement confirming the couple had worked at their hospital in West Los Angeles but would not say when they had lost their jobs or provide other details. “We are deeply saddened to hear of the deaths of the Lupoe family,” the statement said. Although the police are treating the case as a murder-suicide, Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner said the police were still sorting through a discrepancy. Contrary to his fax and reported call to the television station, the man told a 911 operator he had arrived home and found his family dead, Deputy Chief Garner said. But investigators found a revolver next to Mr. Lupoe’s body, the only weapon in the home, he said. The police said they found the bodies of the three daughters next to their father in a front bedroom upstairs. The boys were with their mother in a back bedroom on the same floor. “A man who recently lost his job allowed the despair to put him over the edge,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who held a news conference outside the house. “Unfortunately, this has been an all-too-common story in the last few months. But that does not and should not lead people to resort to desperate measures.” A man killed his ex-wife, her parents and friends at a Christmas party in West Covina last month after losing his job. In October, a 45-year-old father of three shot and killed his wife and children in their Porter Ranch home after describing financial stress in a suicide note. Mayor Villaraigosa urged Los Angeles residents experiencing financial stress to talk to friends and neighbors and seek counseling “to get back on their feet and keep their families afloat.” Cecilia Yvar, 68, whose grandson often played with the Lupoes’ 5-year-old twins, said the family moved to the neighborhood four years ago. The Lupoes added a second story to their home last year, Ms. Yvar said, and landscaping to their backyard. “Maybe too much money, too much stress,” she said while wiping away tears. Ms. Yvar said the couple kept to themselves, but greeted their neighbors warmly each day. On Sunday, she said, they appeared unhappy as they walked together outside. Yolanda and Oscar Lopez, who have lived in the area three months, said they had seen the Lupoes in the neighborhood. “There’s so much pressure from the economy and people out of work and stuff,” Mr. Lopez, 28, said. “But adults, they know there are other options. You don’t have to do this.” ********************************************************************** This is sad for the couple loses their jobs in the same time, but no matter how upset you are, no matter how desperate you are,  to take your whole family to death --this is unbelievable! We have a lot of resource in here to lives without it; food stamp, Medicare and Welfare. Feel sorry no one told him to talk his own life or lives of his family  This poor guy was mentally ill.

對兩個國家的忠誠（二）

現在回望，當年我只是一個被嚇壞的女孩吧了!

來美初初數年中，環境的改變令我急促成長。真是如人饮水 冷暖自知 ，

亦曾反思自己來美的決定，但嘅然是我選擇，就堅持向前進，不回頭走下去。

但真想念香港，我的家。

在宣誓成為美国公民后，拿了美國護照，我真的会在腦海中浮起"移民何价"這四字，真是一切盡在不言中。

其后我看到了九七回歸，金融大風暴后社会不安和失業、生意失敗、投資過熱、自殺、二奶等等各樣的社會問題，令我再次review自己的抉擇。

在這裡我漸漸開始打開了自己社交圈子、認識了很多朋友，生活亦隨之快樂起來。

但在這美的感覺仍總是一個外人，一個移民在美的第一代華人。

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最近經常逗留在電腦房中寫寫塗塗，冷落了我的愛女，令她非常不滿!

猶其今早，她搖身變成一隻母老虎，向我尖叫和吼唬，並踏着震耳欲聾的腳步走上走落樓梯，宣泄她的不滿和大發脾氣！

我為了安慰她，就只好將Laptop computer搬到飯廳陪陪她。

現在她又過來向我撒嬌了，真是教我如何不愛她呢！

年初三赤口

今朝瞓醒睇吓FB，先知是初三赤口。赤口亦為「赤狗日」，是一個不吉利的日子。傳說中赤狗是「熛怒之神」，會帶來不吉，故此農曆正月初三是凶日，不宜外出及宴客；另外，「赤」字含「赤貧」之意，外出沖犯赤狗會帶來貧窮。

其實都儿準! 原因就喺今天是公司請食大餐的日子。這道名菜稱為「無情雞」是非常聞名的。

昨日已在office裡面收晒風，今天有大餐吃，邊個受邀請就無人知。終於＋一点鈡叫所有人入meeting room 開會，入得房都無事！我託大是其中之一。我有三位同事收到邀請函。開完会大家都是悶悶不樂，因為這三位同事是在我們開会時已经執嘢走咗，連say Good-Bye and Good luck都無機會！而公司隨之call 管理處來換晒大門鎖匙 ～唉! 真實嘅世界是非常殘酷！我和他們相處了2年半，他們絕對是可靠和誠實，公司咁做，真是過份！

裁員並非他們的工作能力問題而係有好多複雜的因素來決定。其他女同事個個眼濕濕，有Ｄ仲喊出嚟...而我則回到自己工作崗位，「照常營業」。

老實講，我入咗呢行咁耐，遇到呢Ｄ事多到數都數唔晒‧‧‧‧連自己都試過，有乜出奇？冇話一份工一定可以打到老! 亦早就識得什么是： 生气、傷心，就是拿别人的過錯来惩罚自己。這是我的社会閱歷。況且，我是一個樂天的人，經驗亦告訴我～賽翁失馬焉知非福！亦即是老外佢地成日講嘅: "God closes one door he seems to open a better one." 我認為現在公佈咗，可以令其他人更安心工作、短時間內都唔駛憂慮份工。而被裁員嘅，就move on 並重新整理自己，揾一份更好嘅工作！最驚就係未揭曉，个心十五十六，吊上吊落，会令人六神無主、唔知点算！

但我Ｄ同事就並非諗啦! 他們見我「最唔正常」，講Ｄ嘢都儿晦氣，唉! 我又無嘻嘻哈哈、只不過公事公辦，咁都唔得！無咗三位同事我唔傷心只有小小不捨，但被人嗘落我会難受！所以，我話初三赤口，是一個極之不吉利的日子。不宜外出。尤其是一個下了四寸雪，落着冰雨的核突天氣嘅年初三‧更不應該外出! （為什麽我還‧‧‧‧)

傳說又話初三晚是「老鼠娶親」的日子，一般人都會提早睡覺，以免騷擾鼠輩親事。當晚亦會有「老鼠分錢」的習俗，在家中角落灑鹽、米、糕餅供鼠輩們享用，給老鼠的食物稱為「米粧」，寓意於新一年間與老鼠共享收成。

今晚叫唔叫Bella同我一齊早Ｄ瞓好呢？

P.S 今次真喺冇得返HK同老師吃飯兼唔駛向阿怪借錢啦！唔知佢会唔会鬆咗口氣呢？！

莞然一笑

從０８年初到今每天打開電台都是收聽到一些負面新聞，例如Micosoft , Google, Home Depot或什么Banking 要裁員、甚么公司倒閉，某某銀行周轉不靈要向聯邦一借再借，又或是房地產泡沬、失业各种向題﹔更甚是很多州政府的財政已迫在眉睫，就要破產‧‧‧‧‧真是令我感到厭煩和無耐，有時亦感到徬徨。

但這就是生活，總是要面對，我是不會因感到不安而放棄收聽新聞，這可是我的資訊渠道。(其實八掛就真!)

今天，我終於聽到一段令我莞然一笑的新聞報導，說: Connecticut(康涅狄格)州  的告票對比去年超出16%，令州政府收入多了儿億美元進脹。而 州政府更向傳媒發表致謝那些超速駕駛的司機對本州作出的貢獻，令政府百上加斤的財政獲得舒緩等等。這真是令我恍然大悟！原來飛車給罰單，不是用來警戒超速的司機要小心駕駛! 而是讓其對政府作出貢獻!

嘿嘿! 這就是美國人的幽默，他們的看法永遠是樂觀和正面！有時会覺得唔知好嬲定好笑啊! 亦因為此种態度，令他們不知道什么是積谷防飢，永遠是得快樂時且快樂！這樣的国與民就有這樣的改策‧‥‧‧Everything is " I owe You!"

有時會突發傻想: 我應該去揾過老外嫁而唔係揾个越南华僑。因為美國人的生活方式和性格 have so much fun! 當然這只是一剎那的不切實際想法吧了！(你個人鬼悶兼脾氣臭，英文又差，真喺揾鬼鈡意你咩!) 嘻嘻！咁又係!