4A z TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019z USA TODAY NEWS
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Darlene
Quinn, 60, has been walking 12 miles
home from work since her car broke
down three months ago. Now, thanks
to thoughtful co-workers and dozens
of strangers, she won’t have to.
Josh Lewis works with Quinn at Fe-
dEx. A few months ago, Lewis said he
and his boss started seeing Quinn
walking along busy roads.
Lewis said Quinn had someone who
would take her to work, but she had to
walk back home.
About a month ago, Lewis and his
boss began offering Quinn rides.
“We told her who we were and that
we also worked at FedEx,” Lewis said,
“She must’ve felt safe enough to get in
the car with us.”
Lewis said it was on those rides that
he and his boss began to learn more
about Quinn’s situation.
He said her car broke down three
months ago and she couldn’t afford to
fix it, so she began walking.
A couple of weeks ago, Lewis went
to his boss and suggested they start a
GoFundMe campaign to help Quinn
get back in a car. The page was posted
Oct. 22. Within a week, about 100 peo-
ple had raised enough to buy Quinn a
car.
Last week, Lewis said, organizers
worked with a local dealershipto buy
Quinn a car, then surprised her with it
at work.
In a video taken during the reveal,
Quinn is visibly emotional.
“It was amazing,” Lewis said. “She
just started bawling crying and saying
how she can’t believe that this is hap-
pening to her.”
Lewis said two locally owned busi-
nesses also reached out wanting to
help Quinn. One of them is offering
free oil changes, and the other is offer-
ing tire service as needed.
Lewis said Quinn told him she just
wished she could personally thank ev-
eryone who contributed. She even
gave Lewis a card to share with donors.
Darlene Quinn stands in front the car
her coworkers raised funds to buy for
her.PROVIDED/JOSH LEWIS
Generosity
ends 12-mile
walks home
Elizabeth LaFleur
The Greenville News
USA TODAY NETWORK – SOUTH CAROLINA
Just last week California Gov. Gavin
Newsom lauded President Donald
Trump as a “partner” in California’s ef-
forts to fight wildfires.
“Every request we made of the
Trump administration has been grant-
ed, and I just want to thank them again
for moving expeditiously as they have to
support our efforts here,” Newsom said
Wednesday.
That was then, this is now.
“We’re successfully waging war
against thousands of fires started
across the state in the last few weeks
due to extreme weather created by cli-
mate change while Trump is conducting
a full on assault against the antidotes,”
Newsom said Sunday.
What changed appears to be a series
of tweets earlier Sunday by the presi-
dent, kicked off with this: “The Gover-
nor of California, @GavinNewsom, has
done a terrible job of forest manage-
ment. I told him from the first day we
met that he must ‘clean’ his forest floors
regardless of what his bosses, the envi-
ronmentalists, DEMAND of him.”
Trump went on to lambaste Califor-
nia and Newsom for continually reach-
ing out to Washington for aid to combat
the fires.
“No more,” Trump tweeted. “Get your
act together Governor. You don’t see
close to the level of burn in other states.”
Newsom responded on Twitter that
Trump doesn’t believe in climate
change, so “you are excused from this
conversation.” Newsom’s office then is-
sued a lengthy statement detailing the
state’s efforts at fire prevention.
The statement noted that the federal
government owns 57% of California’s
forestlands, with most of the rest owned
privately. It added that California has
increased its investment in hazardous
fuels reduction, tripled the land man-
aged through vegetation thinning, and
streamlined permitting for vegetation
management on private lands.The U.S. Forest Service, however,
twice reduced it forest management
targets in the state this year, the state-
ment said.
In recent weeks, strong winds com-
bined with drought-like conditions
across much of the state to fuel a series
of wildfires that have burned hundreds
of square miles, forced evacuations of
hundreds of thousands of people and
triggered preemptive power outages to
hundreds of thousands more.
The latest round of fires began raging
just days after Newsom signed wide-
ranging legislation that aimed at im-proving California’s wildfire prevention,
mitigation and response. Newsom also
has pledged to ensure that the state’s
utilities better manage the outages they
put in place to lessen the risk of spark-
ing a blaze.
Some California Democrats leaped to
Newsom’s defense. Sen. Kamala Harris,
who is seeking the party’s presidential
nomination, also took a shot at Trump.
“Raking leaves is as effective at com-
bating the climate crisis as your phone’s
spellcheck is at fixing your tweets,” Har-
ris tweeted. “@GavinNewsom is doing
his job. Maybe you should try it.”Clash came after
Newsom lauded
Trump as partner
President’s tweets on
climate sour relationship
President Donald Trump talks with California Gov. Gavin Newsom during a 2018
visit to a Paradise neighborhood destroyed by wildfires.EVAN VUCCI/APJohn Bacon
USA TODAY
when Villalaz parked his truck outside
La Sierrita Restaurant and began to
head inside for dinner.
Villalaz said the man first ap-
proached him to tell him he had parked
illegally.
“You cannot park here. You are doing
something illegal,“ Villalaz recalled the
man saying.
The comments quickly adopted an
anti-immigrant tone.
“Why did you come here and invade
my country?“ Villalaz said the man
asked him.
Villalaz ignored the man and moved
his truck one block forward. As he re-
turned to the restaurant, the man began
accusing him anew of being in the U.S.
illegally.
Villalaz, who grew up in Peru and im-
migrated to the United States as a young
man, is a U.S. citizen.
When he told the man he was, in fact,
a citizen, the man “got mad,” he said. He
tossed the acid at Villalaz, who turned
his head. The substance covered the left
side of his face.
Villalaz then went inside La Sierrita
to wash the burning acid off his face.
“He came inside screaming and ask-
ing for help,” said waitress Brenda Her-
nandez, who was working that night.
“We didn’t see what had happened be-
cause we were working. When he came
in we did everything we could do to help
wash his face.
“It’s kind of scary that there are peo-
ple out there still like that.”making the arrest and thanked well-
wishers who reached out to them.
“My family and I want to thank ev-
eryone for all of the support especially
from the people that we don’t know. We
have seen your comments on Facebook.
You all have no idea how much we ap-
preciate it,” Priscilla Villalaz wrote.
Milwaukee police said they arrested
the 61-year-old man in connection with
an aggravated battery that happened
near the same intersection Friday night,
but have not confirmed that it was the
acid attack.
The attack occurred around 8:30 p.m.MILWAUKEE – A 61-year-old man
has been arrestedin connection with
an acid attack on Milwaukee’s south
side Friday night that police are inves-
tigating as a hate crime.
Mahud Villalaz, 42, suffered sec-
ond-degree burns to his face after a
man he described as being white and
in his 50s or 60s berated him and
threw acid at him.
In security video first obtained by
WISN-TV, the two men are seen talk-
ing in front of a restaurant when the
suspect points at Villalaz and then
tosses the acid at his face.
Villalaz can be seen stumbling away
from the man, who then slowly walks
toward Villalaz.
A GoFundMe page has been estab-
lished to help pay for Villalaz’s medical
bills and lost wages while he recovers
and gets additional medical treat-
ment. Villalaz is a welder and has
blurred vision in his left eye stemming
from the attack.
As of Monday morning, more than
$17,000 had been raised, surpassing a
$15,000 goal.
On the GoFundMe page, his sister
Priscilla Villalaz thanked police forMan arrested in Milwaukee acid attackVictim: Anti-immigrantrant preceded assaultJordyn Noennig and Meg Jones
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY NETWORKMahud Villalaz, 42, of Milwaukee
gestures to burns on his face Saturday.
A man threw acid on him Friday. SOPHIE
CARSON/ MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINELties and step up efforts to “get rid of abu-
sive host and guest conduct.” He prom-
ised to quickly follow up on complaints
of unauthorized parties at Airbnb rent-
als.
“We must do better, and we will,” he
tweeted two days after the tragedy.
“This is unacceptable.”
Orinda Mayor Inga Mil-
lerordered flags flown at
half-staff.
“This is a tragedy of un-
imaginable gravity,” she
said.
Those killed included
Tiyon Farley, 22; Omar Tay-
lor, 24; Ramon Hill Jr., 23;
and Javin County, 29. Tay-
lor’s brother, Omari, said Omar was the
party’s DJ. Omari Taylor said music was
his brother’s “happiness,” and Omar
used DJ jobs to help support his young
daughter.
“He was a good man,” Taylor told
KGO-TV. “If he was here right now, he’d
want everyone to stay strong.”
The Taylors’ stepmother, Laneisha
Epps, told the TV station the shooting
was a senseless act that overwhelmed
the family with grief.The manhunt for the killer or killers
who opened fire on a Halloween party
at a California Airbnb rolled into Mon-
day after the death toll rose, survivors
shared tales of horror and the short-
term rental industry faced a series of
rule changes.
The violence erupted Thursday
night at a partythat police in Orinda
said had drawn more than 100 people
to an Airbnb that banned parties and
had a maximum occupancy permit of
13 people. Three people died at the
scene; a fourth was rushed to a hospi-
tal and pronounced dead.
Orinda Police Chief David Cook
downplayed any ongoing threat to the
public, saying there was no indication
the attackers were from Orinda or
stayed in the area.
Saturday, the Contra Costa County
Sheriff ’s Office announced a fifth
death – Oshiana Tompkins, 19, of Val-
lejo. Since then, authorities have been
tight-lipped on the pursuit of the those
involved.
“There are no updates on the Orindashooting at this time,” the sheriff ’s of-
fice said Monday. “If that changes, we
will send out a press release and post to
social media.”
The Orinda City Council meeting
Tuesday will open with a moment of si-
lence for the victims. Then leaders and
residents will discuss the
future of Airbnbs in the San
Francisco suburb of 18,000.
Council member Dennis
Fay proposed a temporary
ban on short-term rentals.
“This whole thing of be-
ing able to rent a house and
then turn it into a party
house is ridiculous,” Fay
told the San Francisco
Chronicle.
The four-bedroom home had been
rented on Airbnb by a woman who
told the owner family members had
asthma and needed to escape smoke
from a wildfire burning in nearby wine
country, The Associated Press reported.
Police drew multiple calls complaining
about the party before the shooting
started.
Airbnb CEO Brian Cheskypromised
to slam the door on unauthorized par-Manhunt seeks Airbnb killer of4 at California Halloween partyJohn Bacon
USA TODAY“This whole thing of
being able to rent a
house and then turn
it into a party house
is ridiculous.”
Dennis Fay
Orinda City Council member