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Since 1960 Volume 83, Issue 7
United Against Hate
Cross Country attends its first meet SPORTS, p. 8
On-campus gay group appeals to ASI after assault news, p. 2
Daily Titan
Wednesday September 13, 2006
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Student Says He Drowned His Son By ADAM LEVY & JOEY T. ENGLISH Daily Titan Staff news@dailytitan.com
Gideon Walter Omondi, a 35year-old Cal State Fullerton student, appeared Tuesday afternoon in the Orange County Superior Court, North Justice Center Fullerton courthouse for his first arraignment hearing on charges of first-degree murder. The mechanical engineering major turned himself in to the Fullerton Police Department Sunday night after he had allegedly drowned his 4-year-old son Richard in the bathtub of their Fullerton apartment. The short and stocky Omondi, clad in an orange jumpsuit, appeared calm from behind the caged links of the court holding cell. He accepted Judge Roger B. Robbins’ offer of a public defender as his legal representation and was held without bail upon continuance of the arraignment, which is set for Sept. 29. Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevey detailed the district attorney’s early outlook on the Omondi case on the courthouse steps following the proceeding. Omondi “is going to be charged with first-degree murder,” McGreevey said. “He is eligible for the death penalty.” The homicide prosecutor intimated that the Omondi case is going to be handled under special circumstances known as “lying-inwait,” which refer to heavier penalties on premeditated acts of crime. Fullerton Police Lieutenant John Petropulos explained the chain of
events that led to the arrest and arraignment of the CSUF student. “He came into the front desk [of the Police Department] on 9:30 Sunday night and told the desk officer that he had killed his son,” Petropulos said. “He just came in a matter-of-fact tone and told the officer what he had done – we don’t usually get that.” Petropulos described the procedures then taken by the police department following O m o n d i ’s startling revelation. The onduty officers “asked him a few qualifying questions, then got into the apartment and located his son tucked away into the bed. [Omondi’s son] was officially pronounced dead at the [Placentia-Linda] hospital.” Placentia- Linda hospital officials would not comment on the case. Petropulos divulged the next sequence of events, which consisted of the investigation of the apartment and autopsy performed on Richard Omondi following the incident. “From what he told us, he drowned his son – the evidence doesn’t dispute that,” Petropulos said. “For all intents and purposes, it looks like a murder.” Omondi married his wife Helen in his native Kenya, and then arrived in the states on a student visa. He had been living with his brother at the Tribeca Apartments in Fullerton since March of 2006, according to one of Omondi’s downstairs neighbors who spoke with the Daily Titan under condition of anonymity. SEE COURT - PAGE 2
The Three Percent
Arrest Stuns University Professors, Students smiling with joy, Kreiner said. “He was beaming with happiness that he got his family together.” Kreiner said. “They were going to make a good life here.” Omondi was a very hardworking and organized student By laura lujan & Harmony trevino who was very accurate in his work Daily Titan Staff and was held in high esteem by his news@dailytitan.com peers, Kreiner said. Gideon Walter Omondi’s Cal “He was very kind, helpful and State Fullerton academic adviser always willing to assist others,” he and final design project professor said. knew Omondi as a man who loved Kreiner said he was unaware his family, especially his 4-year-old of any mental problems Omondi son, Richard Omondi. may have had. Mechanical “He never engineering seemed to display professor Jesa He was beaming with any anger over Kreiner said anything,” he said. that he was happiness that he got Around campus, h e a r t b r o k e n his family together. professors and to hear of the They were going to students alike were arrest. make a good life here. also stunned by O m o n d i ’s – Jesa Kreiner the news. arrest “came to George I. Mechanical Engineering Professor me as a shock Cohn, a professor because I knew of electrical he adored and engineering at worshipped his CSUF, expressed son,” Kreiner said. “He talked his sympathy. about his son with so much pride “I think it’s a shame that that and so much joy.” kind of things happens,” said Kreiner recalled Omondi coming Cohn. “It’s just a sign that there is into his office one day and sharing something very unbalanced.” his grief over being separated from Cohn did not believe that the his family. Omondi had moved pressure of being an engineering to America, while his family had student was a factor, and said that stayed behind in Africa. people who opt for engineering do “When he came, he was very so because they like the subject. lonesome for his wife and his Pasha Abousaeedi, an electrical son,” said Kreiner. “He brought in engineering student at CSUF, was pictures of them and was hoping in shock to hear the news. he could bring them.” When he finally did bring his family over, Omondi walked SEE REACTION - PAGE 3 into Kreiner’s office, thrilled and
Gideon Walter Omondi ‘worshipped’ his son, academic adviser says
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Mechanical engineering student is being held in police custody
By HARMONY TREVINO & BENJAMIN WEINER Daily Titan Staff news@dailytitan.com
T
im Gomez still remembers where he was and what he was doing when he heard Tupac Shakur had been
shot. He was 11 years old at the time, and the Cal State Fullerton English major was riding on a YMCA bus with friends when the news came across the radio that Tupac had been gunned down on the streets of Las Vegas. “We were all stunned,” Gomez said. Tupac was loved and admired by his fans while criticized by politicians and others over his lyrics and actions. Ten years after his death, people still don’t seem to know if the rappers influence was a positive or a negative one. And some can’t even figure out if he is dead or not. “He was morally schizophrenic,”
Gomez said about Tupac. “He’d be rapping about … disrespecting women and then his next song would be ‘Brenda’s Got a Baby.’” Tupac’s wide range of social topics was puzzling to some people. Was Tupac the sensitive, socially conscious artist who went to performance school in Baltimore, performing songs such as the female-empowerment shout-out “Keep ya Head Up”? Or was he the rapper brandishing guns and glamorizing “Thug Life” with violent, misogynistic lyrics? asked David Menconi of The News and Observer in a 10-year obituary for Tupac published recently. Tupac’s life and music are emblematic of rap and the lifestyle associated with the genre. His own life was so tumultuous that it is easy to ignore his musical accomplishments altogether. However, it was his lyrics and musical style that made him famous, and many consider Tupac to be among the very best, according to Web site hotshotdigital’s tribute to Tupac. Hearing Tupac’s messages allows people to connect with another culture, even if they never lived it. It helps them to understand it, Gomez
Tomorrow News
ONLINE www.dailytitan.com
The Three PErcent
Titan Live
Part three The series’s final article examines what Cal State Fullerton is doing to increase black enrollment.
University Strong, Still Room to Grow President Gordon lays out a triumphant year and a bright future By Joe Simmons Daily Titan Copy Chief jsimmons@dailytitan.com
Cal State Fullerton had a banner year in 2005, and is looking forward to more of the same this academic year, said CSUF President Milton Gordon in his speech at the 2006 University Convocation. Convocation is something of a State of the Union speech for the campus. In his speech, Gordon stressed “the importance of pulling together and cherishing our differences,” and said that civility is essential to both the democratic and academic societies. The immediate future for CSUF includes the school’s 50th anniversary in 2007. Gordon has earmarked $400,000 to implement ideas, and has already scheduled a robotic elephant race. The real elephants Gordon
brought in 1991 caused too many complaints, he said. Among the highlights of the 2005 to 2006 academic year were several strong finishes for Titan athletics. Women’s soccer had the strongest finish of any Big West team ever, and Baseball reached the semis of the College World Series. Academically, the college was able to fill 93 tenure-track positions as part of CSUF’s plan to hire 100 new faculty members a year from 2005 to 2010. “I estimated ... that if we got 80, we’d be successful,” Gordon said with a laugh. CSUF’s nursing master’s degree has attracted several students, and the education doctorate program should be accepting applicants in 2007, Gordon said. Gordon said that fundraising was particularly successful, with a 248 percent increase in donations since 2001. The college received more than $16 million dollars in the 2005 to 2006 academic year. The university’s goal for next year is a 7.5 percent increase in donations.
Tupac Shakur May Be Gone, But Not Forgotten 10-year aniversary of controversial rapper’s death is remembered
READ PART II ON PAGE THREE
By Karl THunman/Daily Titan Staff Photographer
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE - President Milton Gordon spoke with students and staff alike at the Convocation about the many benefits and advantages of attending Cal State Fullerton.
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said. “ T h e people who know him, know him well,” Gomez said. “The people who don’t really know about him should sit down and watch a movie like ‘Tupac: Resurrection’ and read his poetry. Then maybe they’ll get an idea of what this is all about.” One message has even made its way to the battlefield. A recent poll by Rolling Stone magazine listed Tupac’s 1996 song “Hit ‘Em Up” as No. 4 on a list of the top 10 songs that U.S. troops listen to while in Iraq. Tupac has sold over 73 million albums worldwide, more after death than while alive, and according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is the top-selling rapper of all time. Tupac released so much new material after his death that Gomez decided “He’s Alive” would be the quote he used in his yearbook.
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Whether Tupac is dead or not has been the source of many conspiracy theories. “It’s hard to imagine that a guy rapped that much,” said Gomez, who stopped believing Tupac was alive after 2003. “I think it’s intriguing, the conspiracy theories and the fact he’s released more albums since death than while alive.” The theories surrounding Tupac’s death are popular among fans. Besides the fact that so many songs and videos were released after his death, the most common rumors include the theory that the government had him assassinated and “The Seven Day Theory.” The theories started after his Makaveli “Don Killuminati: The Seven Day Theory” album was released just two months after his death. Tupac created the alias “Makaveli.” The name is an allusion to the political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli who said, “A prince who wishes to achieve great things must learn to deceive.” SEE TUPAC - PAGE 3
TOMorrow
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