With Christmas just yesterday, I’m giving a special holiday greeting to the Wal-Mart shoppers - the frantic, greed-driven Black Friday bargain hunters - who shoved and/or stepped on Wal-Mart worker Jdimytai Damour, or saw him knocked down and did nothing to help him.
The 34-year-old Haitian-American temporary employee at Wal-Mart in the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, L.I., died of asphyxiation after being trampled by out-of-control shoppers rushing to purchase cut-rate HDTVs and other items. A recent Daily News editorial asked, “How many are guilty? Morally, everyone in the crazed throng who, in a frenzy to save a few lousy dollars on a flat-screen television, stepped on a fellow human being as he lay helpless, struggling unavailingly for air under a maelstrom of greed,” it answered.
Police hunted for the guilty shoppers, but after going through videotapes of the incident, they were doubtful that individual shoppers could be identified and face criminal charges. However, there have been some developments.
The dead man’s relatives have sued Wal-Mart, charging the retailer’s flawed planning for the predawn sale and an untrained security staff contributed to Damour’s death. City Councilmember James Gennaro has proposed legislation to require big stores to have adequate security in such situations.
But all this can’t quell the grief Damour’s family and friends have to cope with, or diminish the heartlessness of the act.
There were other factors, but the thoughtless surge of customers was the major contributor to the tragedy.
So those of you who shoved, stepped or saw and did nothing that tragic Black Friday morning should look long and hard at that spanking new flat-screen TV when you use it. Yes, you caught the sale, but was it worth a man’s death? Merry Christmas.
Big acts at Jamaica jazz & blues fest
A vibrant and unique New Yorker entertainer - Hasidic Jewish reggae star Matisyahu - will be among the headliners at the 2009 Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival, which will take place January 22-24 in Rose Hall, Jamaica.
Maxi Priest, the O’Jays, Lionel Richie and Chicago - one of the best-selling American music groups in history - are among the entertainers who’ll make music at the festival.
The anticipated three-day event will go into gear on opening night with performances by the Crown Heights, Brooklyn-based reggae star Matisyahu, multiplatinum-selling award-winning performer Robin Thicke, dynamic London-born singer/songwriter Estelle, the Reunion Jazz Band from Beloit, Wisconsin, featuring saxophonist Bob Corbit, and the influential Cuban pop music band Los Van Van.
Over the next two days, the festival continues to explode with talent. The January 23 lineup will feature superstar Lionel Richie, the jazz duo of singer Randy Crawford and pianist Joe Sample, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, saxophonist Alto Reed, Lou Gramm, the former lead singer of the rock band Foreigner, teenage jazz songstress Nikki Yanofsky, and Jamaican-born comedian Tony Hendriks.
The festival closes with a big bang - performances by the ‘80s super R&B band Atlantic Starr, the legendary O’Jays, Chicago and Maxi Priest.
Tickets are $80 per night, or $155 for a weekend pass (Friday-Saturday) and $235 for all three days. For tickets and information, visit www.jamaicajazzandblues.com.
Learning is fun and games
Donations of educational games - such as Brain Quest, Monopoly, Picture Dictionary, Bingo, Scrabble and chess - are among school supplies being shipped to Grenada’s islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique by the Carriacou and Petite Martinique 2000 organization.
The Brooklyn-based organization is also providing scholarships in its effort to improve primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions on the islands. For information and a full list of accepted educational games, call 347-277-4517, 646-236-8708 or visit the group’s web site, www.cpm2000.org.
On the right track
Ladies and girls from around the New York area will be flocking to the Colgate Women’s Games, which kicks off on Friday, December 26 in Brooklyn at Pratt Institute.
The nation’s largest amateur track series, the Colgate Games is celebrating its 35th anniversary of providing an athletic outlet for female athletes - from elementary school-age girls to adults.
The competitors, vying to make the Games finals at Madison Square Garden on January 21, are involved with more than athletics in the series. The participants must submit their school attendance records and write an essay on a peer-related topic. And top finalists get educational grants-in-aid from Colgate-Palmolive Company, the meet sponsor.
For entry forms and ticket information, visit www.colgategames.com.
Grenadan education gets boost
Secondary education in Grenada will benefit from $1.9 million in interest-free credit from the World Bank.
The recently approved funds will be used by the Grenada OECS (Organization of Eastern Caribbean States) Education Development Project to get teacher training, implement a national teaching strategy in math and language arts, get training for school counselors and for other measures to improve the quality of secondary education.
This column is reprinted from the December 14 Sunday editions of The New York Daily News. If you have items suitable for this column please e-mail them to jmccallister@nydailynews.com.
