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u.s news Dialuna 4 Juli 2022

Uvalde schools’ police chief resigns from City Council

(AP) - The Uvalde school dis- city leaders to fire him.
trict’s police chief has stepped
down from his position in the The Uvalde City Council released
City Council just weeks after be- Arredondo’s resignation letter Satur-
ing sworn in following allega- day, after city officials received notifi-
tions that he erred in his response cation of his intent to step down via
to the mass shooting at Robb El- email, but did not comment further.
ementary School that left 19 stu-
dents and two teachers dead. Representatives of Uvalde Mayor
Don McLaughlin have not respond-
Chief Pete Arredondo said in a letter ed to AP’s requests for comment.
dated Friday that he has decided to
step down for the good of the city and Col. Steven McCraw, director of the
“to minimize further distractions.” Texas Department of Public Safety,
He was elected to the council on May told a state Senate hearing last month
7 and was sworn in on May 31, just a that Arredondo — the on-site com-
week after the massacre, in a closed- mander — made “terrible decisions”
door ceremony. as the massacre unfolded on May 24
, and that the police response was an
“The mayor, the city council, and the “abject failure.”
city staff must continue to move for-
ward to unite our community once Three minutes after 18-year-old Sal- waited in a hallway. Officers from police and campus radios but that he
again,” Arredondo said in his resig- vador Ramos entered the school, other agencies urged Arredondo to used his cellphone to call for tactical
nation, first reported by the Uvalde sufficient armed law enforcement let them move in because children gear, a sniper and the classroom keys.
Leader-News. were on scene to stop the gunman, were in danger.
McCraw testified. Yet police officers It’s still not clear why it took so long
Arredondo, who has been on admin- armed with rifles stood and waited “The only thing stopping a hallway for police to enter the classroom, how
istrative leave from his school district in a school hallway for more than an of dedicated officers from entering they communicated with each other
position since June 22, has declined hour while the gunman carried out room 111 and 112 was the on-scene during the attack, and what their
repeated requests for comment from the massacre. The classroom door commander who decided to place body cameras show.
The Associated Press. His attorney, could not be locked from the inside, the lives of officers before the lives of
George Hyde, did not immediately but there is no indication officers children,” McCraw said. Officials have declined to release
respond to emailed requests for com- tried to open the door while the gun- more details, citing the investigation.
ment Saturday. man was inside, McCraw said. Arredondo has tried to defend his ac-
tions, telling the Texas Tribune that Arredondo, 50, grew up in Uvalde
On June 21, the City Council voted McCraw has said parents begged po- he didn’t consider himself the com- and has spent much of his nearly 30-
unanimously to deny Arredondo a lice outside the school to move in and mander in charge of operations and year career in law enforcement in the
leave of absence from appearing at students inside the classroom repeat- that he assumed someone else had city.
public meetings. Relatives of the edly pleaded with 911 operators for taken control of the law enforcement
shooting victims had pleaded with help while more than a dozen officers response. He said he didn’t have his

Distrust remains after Navy report on tainted Hawaii water

(AP) — Lauren Wright lulu hotels, but they con- families and everybody in- permanently, setting aside the people of Hawaii, includ-
continues to be leery of tinue taking safety measures volved in this,” Wright said. funds to remediate the water ing Native Hawaiians — and
the water coming out of including taking short, five- systems all across Oahu and it is committed to rebuilding
the taps in her family’s minute showers. They don’t She said the ordeal has replant our forests — when that trust,” Gordon Trow-
U.S. Navy home in Ha- drink their tap water or cook changed her view on the mil- I see steps like that happen- bridge, acting assistant to
waii, saying she doesn’t with it. itary from a decade ago when ing — that’s a tangible step the Secretary of Defense for
trust that it’s safe. her husband first joined. toward rebuilding trust.” Public Affairs, said in a state-
A Navy investigation released ment.
Wright, her sailor husband Thursday blamed the fuel “I was the proud Navy Some Native Hawaiians said
and their three children ages leak and the water crisis that spouse, you know, stickers the report only deepened a The investigation report
8 to 17 were among the thou- followed on shoddy manage- and T-shirts,” she said. “I distrust in the military that released Thursday listed a
sands of people who were ment and human error. Some feel like the Navy has failed dates to at least 1893, when cascading series of mistakes
sickened late last year after Hawaii residents, including at what they promised every a group of American busi- from May 6, 2021, when op-
fuel from military storage Native Hawaiians, officials service member. They failed nessmen, with support from erator error caused a pipe to
tanks leaked into Pearl Har- and military families said the at a lot of things. And I’m not U.S. Marines, overthrew the rupture and 21,000 gallons
bor’s tap water. report doesn’t help restore so proud.” Hawaiian kingdom. More (80,000 liters) of fuel to spill
trust in the Navy. recently, Native Hawaiians when it was being transferred
The family has returned to It’s difficult to trust the Navy fought to stop target practice between tanks. Most of the
their military housing after “I was at least hoping for partly because Hawaii resi- bombing on the island of Ka- fuel spilled into a fire sup-
spending months in Hono- some sort of remorse for the dents and officials for years hoolawe and at Makua Valley pression line and sat there
have questioned the safety of in west Oahu. for six months, causing the
the giant fuel storage tanks line to sag. A cart rammed
that have sat above an im- “There’s no proof I should into this sagging line on Nov.
portant aquifer since World have faith in them,” said Kale- 20, releasing 20,000 gallons
War II, said Kamanamaika- hua Krug, with Ka’ohewai, a (75,700 liters) of fuel.
lani Beamer, a former trustee cultural organization advo-
of the Commission on Water cating for a clean aquifer for The report said officials de-
Resource Management. Oahu. “They’ve done noth- faulted to assuming the best
ing but lie for generations.” about what was happening
“Releasing a report saying when the spills occurred, in-
that they were lying to us is The Department of Defense stead of assuming the worst,
not a step towards building recognizes the water prob- and this contributed to their
trust,” he said. “De-fueling lems “have damaged trust overlooking the severity of
and getting the tanks out between the Department and situation.