News
"ST.
VINCENT DE PAUL CHRISTMAS DONATION LETTERS DELAYED BY
VISALIA SHOOTING INCIDENT"
By Marilyn
Mattson, Development Director
December 16, 2003
Donations are needed for downtown Oakland St. Vincent de Paul Free Dining Room feeding the homeless.
What you will read below is the real news story breaking today behind the fire that destroyed the Society of St. Vincent de Paul's annual Christmas donation letter for the Dining Room (soup kitchen) in downtown Oakland that feeds 1,000 homeless and needy a day. It needs to raise $100,000 immediately for operating expenses.
St. Vincent de Paul Christmas Donation Letters Delayed by Visalia Shooting Incident
The annual Christmas Donation Letter by the St. Vincent de Paul Free Dining Room has been destroyed and delayed by a shooting and arson incident at a Visalia printing plant on December 9th. Normally, the letter is mailed well before Thanksgiving. It was already delayed, due to changes, and was waiting for shipment on the loading dock at the plant.
According to Brian Anderson of Anderson Resource Group, the shooter set fire to several items on the loading dock area following the shooting, including the Dining Room's Annual Christmas donation letter. Brian reported that he drove to Visalia Wednesday; obtained the printing plates and is having the letter reprinted. The delay is likely to result in a significant loss of donations for the Dining Room. *Paraphrased from message from Sister Mark Sandy, SVdP Dining Room Manager on December 16, 2003
HERE IS THE FRESNO BEE ARTICLE APPEARING TODAY:
|
Visalia
shooting victim mourned |
| VISALIA -- As pallbearers guided Jose Luis Manriquez II's casket out of Holy Family Catholic Church on Monday, the man's wife trailed behind with their newborn son. Manriquez -- the PrintXcel printing company employee killed during a shooting last week -- had glowed and bragged about his new son before and after the child was born Thanksgiving. Friends described Manriquez, 31, as someone who loved working on cars. Someone who loved tinkering with anything mechanical. But most of all, they said, he was a man who loved his family. His wife, Heidi Gano, and four children were among the 200 friends, family and co-workers who celebrated Manriquez's life during Monday's funeral Mass. Deacon Julian Ponce urged mourners not to be consumed by rage and hatred. "Do not become that which has caused us so much grief," he said. He said people such as Manriquez positively touch the lives of strangers and those around them without knowing it. All around us are people with bright souls, he said. Manriquez was working as a press operator Dec. 9 when John Gardner, 45, walked in through a side door, tracked him down and shot him. Gardner then set several fires before turning the gun on himself as police arrived. It was a scene described by co-workers as chaotic. Crews still are scrambling to clean the place and test machinery so the plant can go back online this week. Workers are supposed to meet at the plant today to talk. Visalia police say Gardner went there looking for Manriquez because of a dispute the two men had in 2001 that led to Gardner quitting his job. Police are investigating what Gardner was doing after he quit his job at the PrintXcel plant in June 2001. Estranged from family members back East, Gardner was known as a loner by former co-workers and neighbors. The reporter can be reached at jplemons@fresnobee.com or 622-2409. |