(03-20) 18:07 PST BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) -- In an odd footnote to war, a man who survived a fall from the Golden Gate Bridge 15 years ago tumbled to his death from the landmark Wednesday while apparently opposing the impending attack on Iraq. "It is a very strange case," said Officer Julio Bandoni, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, which is investigating the death of Paul Aladdin Alarab. Officials offered very little information, other than that Alarab, who was of Iraqi descent, died after falling from the bridge just before noon. Before the fall, Alarab had tied a rope to the bridge, wrapped it around his arms and then stood outside the guard rail for about 40 minutes, reading from a statement, the Marin County Coroner said. In March 1988, Alarab fell while trying to get into a garbage can suspended from the bridge in which he planned to spend a week in protest of the way society treats the elderly and handicapped. Officials would not release Alarab's note from Wednesday or talk about it in detail, but according to a coroner's office statement he was "reportedly expressing his personal opposition to the impending war with Iraq." CHP officers tried to talk Alarab out of jumping. They were investigating the death as a suicide. "He let go and jumped," Bandoni said. Alarab's family didn't want to talk about the death Thursday. "The family is grieving," said older brother Chris Alarab. Some who knew Alarab said there was no way he would deliberately leave his two children, ages 9 and 12. "He was a very passionate, caring person and he certainly had many issues that he cared about deeply, but the thing that he most cared about in this world were his two children," said Sereta Churchill, the real estate broker who Alarab worked for the last three years. "They were the light of his life. He would not have done this." Court records show Alarab, who was born in Berkeley, had known tough times. He was divorced in 1994 and had had money problems, filing for bankruptcy in 2001. But people who knew Alarab described him as cheerful and personable, not someone overwhelmed by life. "He didn't seem to be a particularly troubled soul," said Lawrence Szabo, the attorney who handled Alarab's bankruptcy. Alarab lived in Kensington, an unincorporated town in the hills above Berkeley that is home to about 5,000 people. Kensington Police Sgt. Hussain Khan was aware that Alarab had survived a bridge fall but knew him mostly as someone who sold real estate, "nothing out of the ordinary." In recent months, Alarab had quietly opposed the looming war, wearing an anti-war shirt under his business suit, Churchill said. "He wasn't one to be loud and boisterous about it," she said. "He was just very concerned with the women and children and felt that this was just absolutely the wrong thing." Back in 1988, Alarab told the San Francisco Chronicle he was motivated to stage his one-man protest after seeing "the anguish in the eyes of senior citizens and handicapped people standing in long lines at banks, groceries and drugstores." "No sir, I certainly did not plan to fall," he told the newspaper. "I have too much to live for." Plunging 220 feet seemed to last forever, he recalled. "I was praying for God to give me another chance." He remembered hitting the water, losing and then regaining consciousness and struggling against the current until he finally made it to land -- suffering broken ribs and collapsed lungs, but alive. From his hospital bed at the time, Alarab said he planned to look for a sales job and "settle down with a family, just like everyone else's dream." Only a week ago, he sat in Churchill's office talking about how "his life was really coming together, the kids were well situated," she said. But on Wednesday afternoon, Alarab's children were calling the office wondering where their dad was. "It truly is a tragedy," Churchill said. "In many ways it's the first American casualty of the war."
oh thats right, it coldnt be ranger, he isnt an iraqi. he just has iraqi or middle eastern "friends" ... i bet the fuckin fbi loves you ranger.
you know how the FBI is about "hostile protestors" **** i would classify ranger as one, remember the bricks he threw through the windows in vietnam? whats next? firebombing starbucks?
"remember the bricks he threw through the windows in vietnam?didnt catch that one..." NO! Are you serious? Yeah right danger... its all the police's fault that protests get out of hand. LOL!
Muslims, Christins, Catholics, why narrow it down?Almost all relgions stand for death and "damnation" if your not the same as them, and all have been terrorist, or if thier the mainstream "Crusaders" or how about my favorite, "freedom fighters" at some time or other (Edited by Mamafingers at 5:23 pm on Mar. 26, 2003)
