SEATAC — Police are investigating a possible hate crime after a SeaTac motel owner who is a native of India was beaten at his motel.
A 60-year-old Seattle man was arrested Friday and booked into jail for investigation of second-degree assault. King County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Urquhart said the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
Kail Singh, a Renton resident and U.S. citizen, was beaten Friday morning by a man who walked into the lobby and shouted: "You still here? Go to Allah!"
He hit Singh twice on the head with a wood-and-metal cane, striking him unconscious.
Singh, who was born in India but has lived in the United States since 1972, was treated and released from Valley Medical Center.
He said the same man had threatened him about three weeks ago, telling him, "Go back to your country!"
"I didn’t take it seriously at the time," said Singh. "I think he doesn’t understand. He just looked at me and I look like I’m from (a Muslim) country, and that’s it."
Singh said he appreciates an outpouring of support from residents and local officials who oppose backlash against Sikhs, Muslims and Arab Americans because of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"But it’s still happening," he said of the backlash. "You can’t do anything. You have to keep safe yourself if you can."
Tribe plans center with hotel: The Nooksack Tribe plans to build a natural science center, hotel and softball fields near its casino in this small town on the Mount Baker Highway. The tribe says it will pay for the five-year, $20 million community development project with a combination of casino profits, grants and donations. Officials with the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce have praised the plan, noting the tribe says it will add 150 new jobs and provide an $8.5 million annual payroll. The introduction of slot machines into the casino in recent years dramatically boosted profits and made the project feasible, said Nooksack River Casino General Manager Kevin Hogan. "The casino is performing well above industry standards and has been for the past couple of years," Hogan said.
First-ever shipment of apples as food aid: Orphans in eastern Russia will receive the first apples ever shipped by the United States as foreign food aid. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to send apples to Russia may pave the way for other fruit shipments for foreign aid, and that could help beleaguered growers. The agency spent $1.2 million on its first shipment, which should leave Seattle’s docks on Saturday. The Red Delicious and Gala apples are to arrive in orphanages next month. The aid is a victory for Paul Thomas of Woodinville, who made it his crusade to bring apples to eastern Russian orphans. "Some have never had a bite of an apple in their life, of any fruit. It’s pretty grim," said Thomas, special projects director of Oneonta Trading Co. in Wenatchee.
Hundreds gather to remember slain prosecutor: Slain federal prosecutor Tom Wales was remembered Saturday as a principled public servant, a dedicated gun-control activist and an incorrigible baker of fruitcakes. Hundreds of friends, relatives and colleagues filled the Plymouth Congregational Church, one block from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where Wales worked prosecuting fraud cases and other white-collar crime. "He campaigned for long-shot causes," said his brother, Rick. "You could goad him into doing something by telling him it would be hard." Wales, 49, was gunned down in his home Oct. 12 in what authorities have described as an assassination. Investigators have yet to disclose a motive for the killing, but point out that Wales made many enemies during his 18 years with the office. They have been checking his cases for suspects. U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., placed Wales in a tradition of leaders slain for their beliefs, including Mohandas Gandhi, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
From Herald news services
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