A Cup O’ Kapeng Barako
By Jesse Jose
By Jesse Jose
Mayor Cy Sun
America consists of little towns. There are towns everywhere that are govern and run by elected mayors and city councils.
I live in a place called Lakeland Hills in a little town, named Auburn, in Washington state. And right down the hill, a stone’s throw away from where I live, is another little town, called the city of Pacific.
The mayor’s name of this town is Cy Sun. He’s 82, but he looks fit, sturdy and healthy. I haven’t met him, but from the sound of his name and from news photos, I believe he’s a Korean-American. He looks like a Pinoy though. He’s a retired Boeing engineer, a veteran and a former master sergeant in the US Army, who saw fierce combat for three years with the 23rd Infantry Regiment in Korea.
He was severely wounded on three occasions, but despite of his wounds, he refused to come home and chose to stay with his fighting unit. He fought in the war’s bloodiest battle named Hill 851 at the so-called ”Heartbreak Ridge.”
To me, he’s an authentic living war hero, and his heroism and bravery in battle perhaps equals those of the war exploits of Audie Murphy, America’s most decorated soldier of World War ll.
Among Mayor Sun’s war medals include the prestigious CROIX DE GUERRE, as well as the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Korean Service Medal with three Bronze Stars and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
Cy Sun got elected as mayor of the city of Pacific as a write-in candidate, against the city’s incumbent mayor. According to news report, “corruption” was rampant under the administration of the ousted mayor and Sun pledged to the people of Pacific to clean up this corruption. Sun easily won. But for some reason the members of the City Council have not accepted him as their mayor and had refused to work with him.
So, this little town is now in chaos.
News stories after news stories in the Auburn Reporter, our town’s weekly newspaper, have been written, putting the blame on Mayor Sun as “incompetent and not fit to be a mayor,” per the members of the City Council.
Mayor Sun fought back and gave his own version of the story, which the Auburn Reporter reported as well. So, back and forth and forth and back, accusations were hurled against each other.
A FREAK AND A GOOK: A “war” ensued. The people of Pacific took sides. This war escalated to name callings. Mayor Sun was called a “freak” and a “gook.” And since, I am only a stone’s throw away from this war, I heard, loudly and clearly, the exploding and repeating words of ”shock and awe.”
And I was affected. So, I, too, took sides. I took the side of the war hero and fellow veteran. In his defense, I wrote this letter to the editor of Auburn Reporter:
Dear Editor,
I’ve been following the developing story on Mayor Cy Sun and the City of Pacific, and it’s very disturbing how the members of the City Council have been mistreating Mayor Sun. Since day one upon assuming office, the members of the City Council have been hostile to him.
Like, for instance, what council member Gary Hulsey, told the mayor on the first meeting with the council:
“Tomorrow at 8 o’clock you will report to my house and present your credentials and your medals … and if you’re not there, I’ll have the FBI arrest you.” What kind of a welcome is that for the new mayor? It was as if Hulsey was talking to a hired houseboy to come to his house to clean it.
And the “sneers” and the “bad looks” that the new mayor had received from the other members of the council … that must had been a horrible welcome for this new mayor. Where is the so-called ”honeymoon period” that’s usually accorded a newly-elected public officials upon assuming office?
I have a strong suspicion that the members of this council are the “good old boys” of the former mayor and of the City of Pacific and the presence of an outsider is anathema to them. Or perhaps, it could be that the mayor’s name is Cy Sun and his ethnicity is Asian? Well, I hope not. But it seems, from my point of view, that those could be the reasons.
Also, if the former administration officials of this city were really a fantastic team as they claimed to be, how come they were voted out by the people of Pacific and Cy Sun won the position? In fact, even won it as a write-in candidate. From what I heard there were rampant corruptions, inefficiencies, and that a “good old boy” system prevailed in the former administration. And those were the reasons the people of Pacific needed to change their mayor.
For instance, when the chief of police then was arrested for DUI, the former mayor and the city council turned their heads the other way, and the chief got to keep his job. Another thing: when a known felon (murdered his wife, I heard) became a member of this council nobody within the council questioned that fact.
Yet, they questioned Mayor Sun’s credentials and war medals he had won in the Korean War upon assuming his office. And rudely and offensively, too.
The people of Pacific City have spoken: they ELECTED Cy Sun as mayor! Let him do his job and the members of the city council should give their all-out support and cooperation to their mayor. That’s the way it should be and that’s the way it had been in every city all over America. There’s something suspiciously malevolent if this can not happen in the city of Pacific.
Sincerely,
(Signed) Jesse Jose
PS: When this letter was published in the Auburn Reporter, Mayor Cy Sun was ARRESTED by his own police officers, ordered by the town’s City Attorney, for “breaking” down a locked office door inside City Hall. The mayor said he wanted to retrieve some “documents” he needed in the performance of his office. It’s Mayor Sun’s City Hall….
The plot thickens in this developing story. I’ll have more on it in my next column. Abangan. JJ
Hesusmariahosep naman. How can this happen in this good ‘ol USA? Good job JJ. Gofer.
Mr Salinas,
Unfortunately, it still happens. Ang mga Puti, I think, ay mga inggitero. Ayaw nilang nasasapawan ng mga minorities, kaparis natin. They hate that a minority is better than them or more accomplished than them. I’ve seen that when I was in the Navy and when I worked as a deputy sheriff in Florida. In the Navy, it wasn’t too bad. I was able to surpass the discrimination. Several of us did. You’re of them, if I may say so.
But as deputy sheriff, I have been passover in promotions several times by less qualified and less experienced co-workers, simply because they were whites and were members of the “good old boys” clique.
But I am not really that resentful of white people because of that. I’ve made a lot of friends, who are “whites.” I’ve met a lot of them who are truly good people, and whose frienships were truly sincere. I’ve kept them as friends, up to now. Through the years, we would correspond to each other to stay in touch.
But the fact remains that white people would always want to rule this world. It’s in their culture and in their nature.
Thanks for your feedback, Mr. Salinas.