Author: Stan Rezaee

Waiting to buy a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One could be the smartest thing you do

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The gaming industry is going to enter the eighth generation of consoles this month, but it may be better to wait before wasting your hard-earned money on a product that will probably be defective.

Like all new technology, the first models will suffer from software glitches because the development team was under pressure to release them on the market around the same time as the competition. Looking back at past trends and current problems in the industry provides a strong case for waiting to purchase these systems.

Xbox gamers will recall the early days, when some of the first models of the Xbox 360 had a defective disc reader. This flaw resulted in a circumferential scratch on the disc that rendered it unusable. It was discovered that some disc drives lack a mechanism to secure the disc solidly in place.

If an Xbox 360 owner was lucky enough to have a proper disc reader, then he risked facing a hardware problem that resulted in the system crashing and the console becoming inoperable: the Red Ring of Death. Affected gamers had to mail their defective console to Microsoft to have it repaired. Microsoft never officially revealed what caused the Ring of Death, but speculation was that it was either a central processing unit (CPU) failure or the use of a poor-quality solder.

Meanwhile, the first models of the PlayStation 3 had hardware that was difficult for developers to work with, which resulted in fewer games being released at launch. Also, the new software was incompatible with so many PlayStation 2 games that the feature had to be abandoned in the slim models.

Back when PlayStation 2 dominated the market after the failure of the Dreamcast, the first models had a disc reader that would wear out and result in the system being unable to read any disc inserted into the console. Sony offered to fix the disc reader and provide a free game while some retailers offered a trade-in for the new PS2 slim.

So has the game industry learned how to minimize potential hardware failures? Of course not! The market has grown so that highly anticipated games will compete and outperform movies at the box office. However, the industry is under such great pressure to move products that testers may overlook serious hardware flaws.

Rumors have emerged that there may be major problems with the Xbox One’s operating system and that Microsoft will be unable to resolve it in time. Adding to the speculation are several games journalists claiming that Microsoft is allegedly pressuring them to not publish reviews until after the official launch.

Supporting the rumors is the fact that Microsoft had to redesign the Xbox One after its Orwellian features and draconian style of digital rights management (DRM) caused an uproar in the gaming community. The system had been in development since 2011, but after its controversial unveiling, the development staff had eight months to remove the unpopular features and ensure the console could function properly. Hence, it’s very likely that gamers might experience major system problems with the first models of the Xbox One.

On a smaller scale, there have been countless examples of how ill prepared the industry has been for highly anticipated launches. Most of these nightmares have been in the last few years.

The most recent example would be last month’s launch of Grand Theft Auto Online, which suffered from technical glitches on day one of its release. Due to system problems, gamers were unable to play the game, and the few that could ended up losing their characters after developer Rockstar fixed the glitch.

In March 2013, Electronic Arts had major problems with the release of Sim City. The game suffered from gameplay glitches while server crashes made it unplayable for a weekend. Worse is that the DRM required players to be connected to a dedicated server even if they were playing the single-player game. This contributed to EA being voted “Worst Company in America” by The Consumerist readers for the second year in a row (beating Bank of America).

That pales, however, to how ill prepared Blizzard Entertainment was with the highly anticipated PC release of Diablo III in 2012. After a decade in development, the game suffered from major glitches when players tried to create a profile and was followed by multiple server crashes. Blizzard underestimated how well the game would sell. Even though Diablo III was a major hit, its success was overshadowed by its disastrous launch.

The first models of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are going to have some major problems while later models will have those resolved. It’s better to wait until they do rather than have a system crash just as you’re about to play a brand-new game.

Written for GameBeats 
11/5/2013
Original Article: Waiting to buy a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One could be the smartest thing you do

Metal Gear Solid V: Will gamers be playing as Snake or Jack Bauer?

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Konami shocked the gaming community when it unveiled that actor Kiefer Sutherland will play Snake (aka Big Boss) in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The news comes after months of speculation when its was learned that David Hayter, the actor who has provided the iconic voice of Snake since Metal Gear Solid, will not return.

Obviously fans were shocked by the change up and have been sharing their mixed reactions. Some have welcomed the change as a new perspective on the character while others are furious that the game has rejected the spirit of Snake. Its common to find gamers having some doubt that Sutherland could bring the same character motif as Hayter. The fans do have a valid point.

When gamers get the chance to play Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain; will it feel like they are taking the role of Snake (aka Big Boss) or the role of Jack Bauer?

Despite his reputation as an respected screenwriter; Hayter’s performance as Snake has been engraved into his legacy (like Sean Connery as James Bond). Meanwhile Sutherland is iconic for his role as Jack Bauer in the acclaimed series, 24, an espionage-themed drama that focus on the 24-hours time period of Agent Bauer and members of the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU).

The linguistic dialect and its personal traits of a character have always been driven by the actors who have portrayed them. Yet the problem presented is the actor who has been synonyms with Snake is being replaced by an actor who is synonyms with another iconic character. While they may be iconic heroes admired by action buffs; Jack Bauer and Snake are two different characters.

On the surface; Snake was influenced by the character Snake Plissken (played by Kurt Russell) from the classic John Carpenter film, Escape From New York. After the events of Snake Eater, Snake (aka Big Boss) has become a character driven by resentment who at first is trying to find a purpose to fight. By the start of Peace Walker; Snake has established his own private army to provide needed service regardless of nations or ideologies. Meanwhile he seeks to fight for a cause that he believes in which brings him into conflict with his former colleagues. Hayter’s performance gave Snake the same kind of tone projected by Kurt Russell but with a more dramatic respectability.

Unfortunately Bauer as a character is nothing like Big Boss.

Jack Bauer is the personification of a hero America needed to look up to in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. He is a loyal government agent who has to do what is necessary to protect American citizens from terrorist threats. Like Snake; Bauer shares a similar military background with his involvement in clandestine operations as a member of Delta Force. During the series, he has made so many personal sacrifices while his loyalty has been tested at the hands of incompetent bureaucrats, trusted colleagues and crooked men of power. Sutherland’s performance as Bauer has developed a character that is guilt ridden and trying to overcome past regrets.

Therein lies the problem; Sutherland’s performance as Snake may not be the character gamers want but instead a projection of Bauer. For gamers who have been playing the series from the beginning we have grown accustomed to having Hayter as the voice of Snake. But by using Sutherland; gamers are going to have a radically different mental projection of Snake. At best gamers could play a Snake that has become more battle harden in a way that only Sutherland could depict. Or gamers may have a mental projection of two characters morphed into one.

In the end all speculation games have will be put to rest upon the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Written for GameBeats
06/9/2013
Original Article: ‘Metal Gear Solid V’: Will gamers be playing as Snake or Jack Bauer?

Review: La Aurora 1903 Preferidos Diamond

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Campbell Cigar Club is happy to be open for business once again after two weeks of remodeling. Hope most of you fellas survived the time.

To prepare for the re-opening; Bass visited his buddies at J.M.G. International when he was given some good news, the  La Aurora 1903 Preferidos Diamond had finally arrived.

We first learned about the La Aurora 1903 Preferidos Diamond back in October. It was during a special dinner at Taverna Bistro with Guillermo Leon, President of La Aurora S.A. The event was an opportunity for Bay Area cigar merchants to learn about current La Aurora products and what to expect in the future.

The La Aurora 1903 Preferidos was released during the 2012 Holiday season but due to popular demand we were unable to acquire a box until now.

La Aurora 1903 Preferidos Diamond is a full body cigar made using a Dominican filler with a Dominican Maduro binder and wrapped in a Connecticut Broadleaf. The cigar comes in a collectible tubos that is colored metallic black and decorated with an oval that bares the La Aurora logo.

The guys at Campbell Cigar have always enjoyed a cigar from La Aurora while the La Aurora 1903 Preferidos line has always been an excellent cigar. The Diamond is no exception as this was our overall rating:
Bass – 9/10
Stan – 9/10
Random Customer 1 – 8/10
Random Customer 2 – 10/10

One has to admire its dark wrapper and oily texture before lighting it. At the first puff we already were intrigued by the mix of hazelnut and chocolate flavor of the cigar. As the cigar progressed the hazelnut and chocolate flavor would fully develop while an ceder flavor can also be tasted.

La Aurora 1903 Preferidos Diamond was the perfect cigar to smoke in honor of the grand re-opening of the store. Campbell Cigar will be selling the La Aurora 1903 Preferidos Diamond for $29 (not including tax) per cigar and supply is very limited.

Written for Campbell Cigar Club
06/4/2013
Original Article: Review: La Aurora 1903 Preferidos Diamond

Review: Umami Palo Alto is a burger joint without the burger experience

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Located on University Ave., Umami Palo Alto is the newest culinary experience to come to Palo Alto by offering a new take on the classic burger.

I first learned about this place from my friend Refugio Garcia, local freelance writer and avid burger enthusiast. Having opened only a few months ago, we were down for our regular evening of beers and burgers.

For our meal we started with Truffle’em Thin Fries along with Thin Fries while for our main meal we ordered a Manly Burger and a Truffle Burger. All of this enjoyed with a few bottles of Stone Pale Ale and Coke.

Neither one of us are fans of thin fries but we did appreciated how well it was cooked and salted. The burger was exactly to my standards with quality meat that was properly marinated and grilled. Helping the flavor was the bacon, truffle cheese and mix of veggies that took me to burger nirvana.

Despite serving a perfect burger, Umami Palo Alto has a lot of issues with the atmosphere and presentation that keeps it from becoming a good burger joint.

The most obvious would have to be the “fish out of water” decor. Walk in and you will be stumped to see the place decorated with book shelf’s packed with some of the greatest works of literature. This kind of decoration may work if this was a classy coffee shop, not a burger joint.

Its understandable that they have an urge to be original and attract the Palo Alto crowd; but there is a major difference between cliche and traditional. So obviously who ever planned the theme could not tell two apart.

With its unusual choice of decorations resulted in attracting a crowd that is out of place at a real burger joint. The crowd was mostly made up of either obnoxious vegetarians or food snobs whose idea of a “good burger” can be described as blasphemous.

The next issues has to do with the poor presentation of the meal. When our burgers were served it was just a burger on an empty plate – that is it! For restaurants in Palo Alto, presentation is everything and so it comes as a total shock when such a good burger is given a very bland presentation.

Finally to top-off all that is wrong with the setting; the final nail on the coffin is the moment when you realize this burger establishment has no bar. Sure they have an good selection of beers (like every restaurant in Palo Alto) but no bar. Also fountain drinks was not an option and we were forced to pony-up $3 per soda bottle.

The service at best was mediocre as our waitress only attended to us just to take our order and to bring out our order. Also most the waiting staff gave a vibe that feels like they are Stanford students who are upset that their parents forced them to get a job and they lacked the tech skills to join a start-up.

With great burgers but an empty meal presentation and an out of touch atmosphere makes Umami Palo Alto only good for an exploration by burger enthusiast. After that its back to the many other burger joints in the area that actually have a burger atmosphere.

Final Score: 2/5

Written for Digital Journal
02/13/2013
Original Article: Review: Umami Palo Alto is a burger joint without the burger experience

Why shooters should stop imitating Modern Warfare

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Call of Duty is a unique franchise, for twice in one decade did its revolutionary game-play redefine a genre and set the new standards for other games to follow. One has to appreciate the first time when it broke with the “lone wolf” concept while pushing the Quake III-engine to its limits.

The second time; Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare took what made the franchise successful and introduced a fast-paced action game-play set in a visually detailed environment while making the game itself user friendly. This was the final push that made video games a respectable media and a major part of mainstream culture.

However it became less about making an actual game and more about making a game that tries to be an action movie (an issue pointed out by Luke McKinny in 6 Video Games That Just Didn’t Get It). Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was great the first play through but over time it loses the fun and it feels like you have no say in the action except for “kill or be killed”.

Unfortunately because of Call of Duty’s popularity; FPS (first person shooter) franchises have attempted to imitate its success. A few have done it successfully by borrowing some of its desired elements while many have just done a “copy & paste” the content into their games.

Medal of Honor, Crysis 2 and Killzone 3 are good examples to look at for games that have borrowed elements of Call of Duty successfully. Both used what they felt was needed to enhance the game-play without having to compromise the aspects that made it a unique game.

On the other side of the spectrum you have games like Homefront, Battlefield 3, and Goldeneye 007 that took the “copy & paste” approach. Homefront was over hyped as a new style of shooter created by John Milus only to be nothing more but a watered down Call of Duty. Battlefield 3’s single player campaign was heavily panned for being too much like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at a slower pace. It was the Call of Duty-aspects in the Goldeneye 007-remake that robbed gamers of what made the original so unique.

Like with the sand-box / crime trend that was started with Grand Theft Auto III; developers are taking a style that is popular and imitating it in the laziest way possible. Also like Grand Theft Auto III; for every original work that was released the market was flooded with five clones.

The harsh point is that, just like Grand Theft Auto, the game-play aspects that have made Call of Duty a success only works with Call of Duty.

Sadly one could not expect for this trend to fade away soon due to the volume of success and cost effective production. For example: 24 hours after its release; Call of Duty: Black Ops sold 5 million units while earning $360 million, that is double the success of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt.1 on its opening weekend. Meanwhile: Grand Theft Auto IV made $500 million during its release week but was produced on a budget of $100 million (making it one of the most expensive games developed). Call of Duty: Black Ops had an estimated budget of $10 million.

With this volatile market; the gaming industry is taking a cue from Hollywood and playing it safe. So while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 may not have added anything new for the FPS-genre; it has made Activision a lot of money at a small production cost. Unfortunately too many developers will very poorly try to imitate Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in 2012 thinking it will produce the same results

Written for GameBeats
12/12/2011
Original Article: Why shooters should stop imitating Modern Warfare

Why is gaming culture misogynistic?

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The question was brought up recently in the Mother Jones article “Why It Sucks to Be a Woman in the Video Game Industry” by Interactive Editor Tasneem Raja.

Raja’s article examines the sexism women deal with in the gaming industry from sexual harassment and disparity in the compensation structure to having female developers go unacknowledged for their accomplishments.

One could just brush all that off as some liberal publication trying to preach about feminist ideology. Unfortunately, Raja is not the first writer to bring up the misogynistic aspect of video game culture.

Back in 2010, David Wong, Senior Editor of Cracked.com, examined the gaming culture’s attitude toward women and the industry’s depiction of them in “5 Reasons It’s Still Not Cool to Admit You’re a Gamer”.

Most notably, Wong cites an article from The Guardian about the sexual harassment women gamers are subjected to online. The best example of this is when females play with male avatars just to avoid the “Tits or GTFO” remarks.

Several months after Wong’s article, Seanbaby (iconic humor writer and avid gamer) wrote in his column about the misogynistic undertones of Red Dead Redemption. He even explores the obvious sexism in the “Dastardly” achievement/trophy, which is unlocked after the player sets a hogtied woman on the train tracks and witnesses her death.

Flash forward to July of 2012 when Cracked writer J.F. Sargent wrote “5 Prejudices That Video Games Can’t Seem to Get Over“, which had a section dedicated to games that degraded strong female characters. The article gave a lot of attention to the feminine traits displayed by Samus Aran in Metroid: Other M (a lot of it based on Abbie Heppe’s review for G4).

Why is gaming culture so misogynistic?

The best answer regards the upbringing many gamers had during the ’90s up until the mid ’00s. During this era, gaming was part of geek subculture and so was often ridiculed by mainstream culture.

Gamers were more likely to be outcasts in high school, which made them the victims of taunting and teasing. It’s likely that many had bad experiences with women or relationships in their youth while being stereotyped as “virgin for life.”

Later in life, these gamers became adults and entered this industry just as video games became accepted by mainstream culture. Unfortunately, these gamers still harbor the old animosity toward women.

Their life experience has conditioned them to see women as nothing more than useless sources of pain and pleasure.

Another perspective is the influence of pop culture on the narratives of video games. Cinema and comics of the mid ’70s to late ’80s has had a major impact on the development of video game stories; however, most of these films often placed women into the “useless chick role” or had strong but overly sexualized female characters.

Sure, there’s exceptions to the rule that gaming culture is misogynistic. But trying to write up a list of “strong video game heroines (not overly sexualized)” tends to be limited when all you have is:

· Jill Valentine (Resident Evil & Resident Evil 3)
· Rebecca Chambers (Resident Evil 0)
· Claire Redfield (Resident Evil 2)
· Samus Aran (Metroid)

End of list!

Gaming is supposed to be a fun way for people to escape their boring and mediocre life for a few hours (or more). Video game culture has recently become part of pop culture, but it won’t become socially progressive if it continues to have such a demeaning outlook toward women.

Written for GameBeats
12/3/2012
Original Article: Why is gaming culture misogynistic?

Laura Bush visits De Anza

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With ongoing budget cuts that are affecting schools nationwide, former First Lady Laura Bush addressed issues regarding education, along with topics involving global affairs as part of the 2009-2010 Celebrity Forum.

Prior to her arrival, traffic around the Flint Center backed up as buses dropped off attendees and motorists entered the Flint Center garage. Some tried to get a quick glimpse of. Bush at the side entrance.

The event may have had an open atmosphere, but security was tighten around the Flint Center.

Secret Service agents patrolled inside, the district police had uniformed and plain clothes officers on duty and the CHP patrolled the area with bomb sniffing dogs.

Dr. Richard Henning, founder of the Celebrity Forum, started the event by presenting the list of speakers available for the next season, then gave a small speech about Bush and her achievements before introducing her to the audience.

Mrs. Bush began the event with a joke and a bobble head of herself then.

She told a brief story about how her family is doing after leaving the White House. She gave support for the Clinton/Bush Haiti fund along with Bill Clinton’s work in Haiti.

With a variety of issues affecting the world, Bush focused on the importance of encouraging literacy in America along with the struggle of women’s rights around the world that she witnessed during her time as first lady.

“I believe every child should be able to read as literacy is the foundation of democracy,” said Bush.

This was followed by her appeal to bring awareness to the understanding of breast cancer, along with awareness of the risk of heart disease among women. “Breast cancers do not respect borders and neither should we when fighting it,” said Bush.

She told about her personal experience during the Sept. 11 attack and how the events of the tragedy impacted her. She spoke about the shock she endured by the attack and the calmness she witnessed in Sen. Ted Kennedy.

“I woke up on Sept. 12 to a new life,” said Bush. “I was no longer addressing literacy but condemning the brutality of the Taliban.”

She also spoke about the variety of criticism George W. Bush received when he was in office, but despite personal feelings she referred to them as the “clanking gears of democracy.”

Bush concluded her speech by discussing the upcoming Bush Foundation that she is working on. After the discussion, audience members submitted questions to be asked by Henning.

Several questions were presented regarding her viewpoints about the Obama administration, her confidence in Sarah Palin and comments made by Dick Cheney. She kept the response mutual and respectful. “Anyone who wants to be president should try it,” said Bush on her thoughts about Palin.

The discussion ended with a standing ovation from the audience while Bush walked of stage to attend a private function at the California History Center.

“She had a compelling story that was well written and well delivered,” said Gene Plevyak, an audience member. “She was so articulate and cleverly avoided political commentary.”

Written for La Voz Weekly
2/24/2010
Original Article: Laura Bush visits De Anza

Student sexually harassed inside Learning Center

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An unknown male caused a disturbance in the Learning Center last Wednesday by committing a sexual act of indecent exposure in front of a student.

According to the police and a witness, David Bryars, the incident began when an older man was looking at a female student for an extended period of time on the south side of the first floor. The student was disturbed and she gathered her belongings and left. As she walked by the man, she noticed that the man was masturbating.

The student notified Bryars at the front desk, who then called the police at 7:10 p.m.

The man was seen a few times trying to find an alternate escape route on the second floor before slipping out through an emergency exit on the first floor.

“It was a discomfiting thing because of the utter lack of regard for everyone involved,” said Bryars.

Foothill-De Anza Campus Police Officer Jeff Meade and Officer J.R. Dorcak responded to the incident at 7:12 p.m. The officers searched the area but were unable to locate the suspect.

As a standard practice for all victims for sex crimes, the student was offered a referral by the officers to see a counselor.

The suspect has been described as a white male in his fifties who is about six feet, 200 lbs. with short gray hair and balding on top. He was last seen wearing a light blue short sleeve shirt and light blue denim pants. It’s unknown if he is a student or has been caught doing similar acts before.

“Our officers are actively investigating this case and pursuing several leads. We hope to identify a suspect based on witness descriptions and statements,” said Ron Levine, Chief of the Foothill-De Anza Campus Police.

The investigation is ongoing, but despite the nature of the crime, such incidents rarely happen on campus. According to police data, on average, an act of indecent exposure happens between once to twice a year in a five-year period.

Published for La Voz Weekly
1/25/2010
Original Link: Student sexually harassed inside Learning Center

San Jose Police’s action against Phuong Ho was justified

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Every time law enforcement is doing its job properly, their is always a cry of “police brutality” that follows. The latest involves San Jose Police arresting SJSU student Phuong Ho back in October.

Ho was arrested by SJPD for making a threat to his room mate. Apparently the room mate spilled some soap and Ho threated him with a knife in response. When SJPD attempted to arrest Ho (rather then cooperate), went for his glasses and provoked the incident.

One could already sense that the SJPD acted appropriately and that Ho is greatly to blame for the beating that he received.

For one, he threaten to kill some one on a school campus. Schools have a zero tolerance for such actions. Why? Because of Columbine. Remember the murders made a few death threats that were largely ignored until they came to school with an intent to kill. Second, because he over reacted to a trivial accident just shows how violent or unstable he is.

Hence, his room mate just tipped of the campus administration along with law enforcement to a possible time bomb and now they prevented a future massacre from happening.

As for the excuse about his glasses, common sense indicates when the cops are after you then you should just get on the ground and cooperate. Ho may have been going for his glasses, but the officers had to assume it was a weapon. Cops have to deal with street gangs and drug dealers who pull the same stunt only they try to pull out a knife.

So rather then for all the community groups, activists and opportunists to start crying about “police brutality”, its wise to look into the issue for a view point the involves common sense rather then primitive reaction.

Written for Examiner.com
11/24/2009
Original Article: San Jose Police’s action against Phuong Ho

Chase on campus ends in arrest

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The officer yelled, “Stop!” but the man in black kept running.

Students watched silently and without expression as Foothill-De Anza police officer Manuel Respicio, dressed in a brown khaki uniform, ran fast and close behind the fleeing man. The two men darted through groups of students huddled to smoke at the front of De Anza College. Just as soon as they passed, those same students were using their cell phones to call their friends and tell them what had happened, even as they continued to watch the chase speed across Parking Lot A.

“He just ran right past me, like, pushing me aside,” said one student into her cell phone after the two men ran past. “They’re still chasing him, too!”

Many lost sight of the two running men, but at the far end of Parking Lot A near the north entrance to Stevens Creek Boulevard, another officer who had heard of the pursuit on his radio stood waiting. As the fleeing man approached, the officer drew his weapon and moved in to apprehend him. The confusion, the flash pursuit, the adrenaline rush that had started just minutes prior ended just as abruptly at 10:54 a.m. Wednesday.

Officers on the scene breathed heavily in the calm that followed the chaotic pursuit. They had a wanted man in custody. Roozbeh “Rooz” Enayati, a 28-year-old De Anza student, had two outstanding warrants out for his arrest; one in San Mateo County for failing to appear in court on charges of domestic violence, and the other in Santa Clara County for violating his probation.

Several campus and county police units responded to the back up call, and Enayati was placed under arrest at 11:11 a.m. The police searched his person as well as his backpack before locking both inside a Foothill-De Anza police car. Campus police delivered Enayati to Santa Clara County Jail, where he is being held until he can appear on trial.

Interim Director of Campus Safety and Security Bob Cancilla was one of the first officers to respond to the call for back up. “I was very impressed with the other officers’ handling of the situation,” he said. “It was all done very professionally. Our job is to make this a safe environment for the students and faculty, and I feel we have accomplished that today.”

According to the Belmont, Calif., police department, Enayati was arrested July 18, 2006, in Belmont in San Mateo County on a “Battery On Spouse, Cohabitant, Or Former Spouse” charge.

Campus police first received word Tuesday from San Mateo County of the bench warrant that had been issued for the De Anza student’s arrest. The police used his schedule of classes to determine his location Wednesday morning.

At 10:30 a.m., Enayati was attending a journalism class on news writing in room L-42. Two officers, one in a tan uniform and the other in plain clothes, approached the L4 building where Enayati waited unsuspecting.

The plain-clothes officer entered the classroom and, standing near the doorway, asked if Enayati would step outside to speak with him.

“It was probably about ten minutes into class,” said Aiselle De Vera, also a student in the news writing class. “He got up and went towards the door and they just left. The whole class kinda looked as they left. We didn’t know what happened after that because Rooz never came back.”

Once outside the classroom, the plain-clothes officer attempted to speak with him when Enayati, possibly spotting the uniformed officer, turned and fled toward the parking lot.

The officer in uniform, Respicio, followed closely behind while calling into his radio for back up. Units from the Foothill-De Anza police department and Santa Clara County responded to the call, and the North end of campus was soon flanked by several police cars and vans. Campus police were informed of the second arrest warrant after Enayati was apprehended.

“He seemed pretty normal,” said De Vera about Enayati. “He’d talk about homework, like what’s the answer to this question, or what did you do over the weekend or what classes are you taking. He never really said anything about himself personally.”

Co-written with Shawn McGann
Written for La Voz Weekly
10/23/2008
Original Article:  Chase on campus ends in arrest