Huy Pham Remembered
A DIFFICULT YEAR
A year ago tomorrow young Huy Pham, a city maintenance worker, jumped to his death from the roof of City Hall after having been called to work from a medical leave to receive a 6 month layoff notice.
A BRIEF TREE-PLANTING CEREMONY
Today at noon the Costa Mesa City Employees Association had a brief service on the lawn at City Hall at which a tree was planted in remembrance of Pham. Dozens of his friends and co-workers took time to join the family in this remembrance. Some wore lapel pins with Pham's photo on it. I was honored to have been invited to this short, poignant service and have captured a few photos from this event.
LEECE OFFERED A FEW WORDS
Costa Mesa City Employees Association President Helen Nenadal introduced the Pham family and councilwoman Wendy Leece read some relevant passages and encouraged the assembled city staffers to continue to pull together and keep on doing their jobs. Balloons were released as a symbol of letting go and moving forward.
A GRATEFUL FAMILY
I had a chance to meet Huy Pham's mother at this ceremony. She also spoke to the assembled employees and friends and expressed her gratitude for all they have done to remember her son.
A WORTHY REMEMBRANCE
I'll write more on the events that began last St. Patrick's Day in another entry later today. For now, I'm glad the employees were permitted by City management to plant this lovely tree in Pham's honor and hope to soon see the placement of a memorial plaque at that site in his honor, as well.
A year ago tomorrow young Huy Pham, a city maintenance worker, jumped to his death from the roof of City Hall after having been called to work from a medical leave to receive a 6 month layoff notice.
A BRIEF TREE-PLANTING CEREMONY
Today at noon the Costa Mesa City Employees Association had a brief service on the lawn at City Hall at which a tree was planted in remembrance of Pham. Dozens of his friends and co-workers took time to join the family in this remembrance. Some wore lapel pins with Pham's photo on it. I was honored to have been invited to this short, poignant service and have captured a few photos from this event.
LEECE OFFERED A FEW WORDS
Costa Mesa City Employees Association President Helen Nenadal introduced the Pham family and councilwoman Wendy Leece read some relevant passages and encouraged the assembled city staffers to continue to pull together and keep on doing their jobs. Balloons were released as a symbol of letting go and moving forward.A GRATEFUL FAMILY
I had a chance to meet Huy Pham's mother at this ceremony. She also spoke to the assembled employees and friends and expressed her gratitude for all they have done to remember her son.
A WORTHY REMEMBRANCE
I'll write more on the events that began last St. Patrick's Day in another entry later today. For now, I'm glad the employees were permitted by City management to plant this lovely tree in Pham's honor and hope to soon see the placement of a memorial plaque at that site in his honor, as well.
Labels: Helen Nenadal, Huy Pham, Wendy Leece
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 3/16/2012 03:20:00 PM
13 Comments:
We will always remember Huy Pham.
The sad thing about this case is that no one will ever know how Huy Pham died.
Without a suicide note, no one (not even the coroner) can possibly know if this was a suicide, or a murder.
It was a murder....he was murdered by the reckless and pointless actions of the city councilmen and ceo Hatch.
His blood will forever be on their hands. They can deny it all they want, but it is the truth.
Angry White Man,
Good that you stay anonymous, spewing trash like that. Huy Pham's death was an unspeakable tragedy for his family, friends, co-workers and the public who came to know him through stories and memories shared. Your opportunistic crap, using this great tragedy to advance your own personal bias and agenda, is disgusting and pathetic.
The unions were the only ones who would have benefitted from Huy's death. He became the poster child for all their wants, wishes and irrational pension benefits. Methinks you are pointing your finger at the wrong crowd.
Nope, I stand by my statement.
Eddie, finger, crowd, pot, kettle, black.
Current Mayor Eric Bever is the one who made the motion to approve boosting general city employees pensions in 2008. He motioned to approve going from 2% @ 55 to 2.5% @ 55. Bever and Mansoor voted in favor in a 5-0 vote.
If the current pension formula is too high then Mayor Bever also has some responsiblility in that.
As a side note Eddie, Mayor Bever also complimented the city employees for caring about the residents and understanding the finances of this action enough that they (the city employees) took the responsibility to pay for the increase.
City employees aren't evil even if at this economic time it shows the pensions need some reforming.
Angry White Man, your inability to face reality is a tad scary.
People don't oft themselves because they "might" lose a job six months down the road (a job Huy was bored with anyway).
Huy had plenty of time to find another job and was under no pressure to do so, therefore there was no cause for him to take his own life.
More than likely, someone else chose to take Huy's life last March 17th.
"How Sad"...Nice try my friend. That dog isn't going to hunt. Two investigations have shown conclusively that Pham took his own life. It is a matter of mathematic, applied physics and bio mechanical fact. So yes it can be possibly known and in fact is known to be a suicide.
I know you are hung up about lack of a note etc. The only thing a note would answer is the "why." We will never know the answer to that. We can not scientifically conclude what is in the mind of an individual.
Investigator, the ship has already sailed and the victim has been shoved under the carpet. That's just the way things are done when people are anxious to move on. I can understand that.
The two investigations did nothing more than parrot the coroner to serve that purpose. No one person, no agency, and no amount of physics are capable of determining with 100% accuracy whether a person jumped, or was pushed, from a tall building. That is a hard fact, and one that you obviously choose to ignore
.
When you factor in the lack of mental illness, the lack of a suicide note, the lack of cause, the lack of evidence, the lack of witnesses, the lack of truth, etc., the more accurate consensus would have been "death by undetermined means". With illegal drugs in his system, Huy could have envisioned himself mountain climbing and simply fell off the edge of the roof.
This case really should remain open because there are still a lot of unanswered questions, a lot of public doubt and a total lack of transparency.
This is just my opinion. You are entitled to yours as well.
"Opinion"
Mathematics and physics are absolute. Whether someone jumped, fell, was pushed, or thrown can be absolutely proven and it gets done all the time.
By using both scalar and vector formulas, we can solve for angle of launch, launch velocity, peak height and range of trajectory. All of these can and will answer pushed, jumped etc. they are scientifically proven and accepted.
If you would like, I can even post the formulae for you, but I suspect it would be over your head based on your post. I could debate this with you all day long, but the other thing that is absolute besides mathematics and physics; is that you will not accept facts. I suspect that's because to do so shows this was a suicide and that is just another mark against the guys on council.
Perhaps it would be better if you (and they) just graciously acknowledged it was in fact a suicide, but the reason behind it is unknown. Lack of a note or lack of "mental illness" prove nothing. People who take their own lives are generally not mentally ill in a clinical sense.
I'm not ignoring any facts as you assert. I acknowledge all of them and rely on my academic training and professional experience to draw a scientific, unbiased conclusion (not opinion). I am not relying on emotion or unwavering allegiance to a political belief to form an opinion as you have.
Your turn.
Investigator:
Both investigative reports regarding the death of Huy Pham (city and private) need to be made fully accessible on the city's website.
Total transparency is what the taxpayers want. Keep in mind that we paid for both of those reports.
Please contact Bill Lobdell.
It's inappropriate to post reports; especially those reports on the city web site. Regardless of who paid for them (I'll gladly give you your dime back), they don't belong in the public domain to satisfy the conspiratorial inner workings of a few goofballs. If you really must satisfy some interest which verges on the prurient, march on down, make the request, pay the fee and get a copy.
Post a Comment
<< Home