Sunday Window Cleaning News

Finding a quiet place, John Hughes sits at a desk he pulled from the bushes above Bennington Lake on Thursday afternoon. He created a mental workplace for himself where he could enjoy the day and mull over life before window washing season starts again. “I do a lot of praying, so what more ideal place could there be right now ... this is one of those moments you’d like not to end,” Hughes said.

BOSTON — The danger he faced in Iraq was constant, and that's reflected in how Erick Valiente remembers the M-16 rifle he took on patrol. "That was my right hand, pretty much," said the former Marine infantryman. "I don't think I ever let go of that weapon." The rifle is gone, but Valiente still carries burdens from his service that complicate his civilian life, including post-traumatic stress disorder and a restlessness that made finding work difficult. That is, until a friend who works for U.S. Sen. John Kerry mentioned an opening for a swordfish boat crewman. This month, Valiente returned from his first trip, a three-week stint 700 miles east of the Bahamas. He liked the military, but his post-traumatic stress eventually made it impossible to stay on as infantryman, so he left.
Recent times have seen Valiente try various things, including college, which he didn't take to, and a job as a window washer on high-rise buildings in Boston, which was more his speed. But that work shut down in the winter, and Valiente was left juggling unsatisfying odd jobs to support his longtime girlfriend and their 4-year-old daughter. To spur hiring of veterans, President Barack Obama last year signed the Vow to Hire Heroes Act, which includes incentives such as tax credits for employers that hire veterans. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, co-sponsored the bill. "Finding a job once you get out of the Marine Corps, you tend to get really bored, really, really fast," he said. Fishing for tuna and swordfish is not dull, but it's definitely not for everyone. Malley made that clear to Valiente when they met for lunch just after Christmas. He told him about the weeks-long trips with only short windows of time in port, and how hard that is on families. Then there's the brutal work of hauling and setting hundreds of hooks on up to 50 miles of line.

It is believed she was cleaning windows; elderly couple tried in vain to save her.

Maid falls to her death from 8th-floor window (Singapore): The maid is said to have fallen from this block (pictured) at Ivory Heights condominium. She was taken to hospital, but was later pronounced dead. A mid-afternoon drama ended at a Jurong East condominium when a maid fell to her death after a desperate bid to save her failed. The 26-year-old Indonesian was believed to be cleaning the windows of her employer's home at Ivory Heights condominium when she fell, neighbours said. 'I heard the screams, looked up and saw her at the window,' said a Filipino maid who declined to be named. 'There were two people trying to pull her in but she still fell,' she said on Saturday. Singapore seems to be having a lot of window cleaning accidents of late.

Maid falls eight floors to her death:  A mid-afternoon drama ended at a Jurong East condominium when a maid fell to her death after a desperate bid to save her failed. The 26-year-old Indonesian was believed to be cleaning the windows of her employer’s home at Ivory Heights condominium when she fell. Two people tried to pull her in but failed. Condominium residents said the incident was not the first: In 2007, another maid fell from the 21st floor of a neighbouring block. She was also said to have been cleaning windows when she fell. Between 2006 and 2010, a total of 27 maids died as a result of “falls from height”. The figure includes accidental falls and suicides. Several residents interviewed said that after the last incident, they had forbidden their maids to clean the exterior side of the window. Resident Elizabeth Chan, 65, said: “Just let the rain do the work. What’s the harm?”

Arrest made in fatal SoMa stabbing: An arrest has been made in the South of Market stabbing that claimed the life of Joseph Minozzi, a 30-year-old high-rise window washer who had appeared in a 2010 episode of A&E’s “Intervention,” police said. San Francisco police and U.S. Marshals detained Charles Robertson, 42, of Fairfield, in Sacramento without incident on Wednesday and charged him with San Francisco's first murder of 2012.
Robertson was booked into Sacramento County Jail and later transferred to San Francisco County Jail, where he awaits trial, police said. Minozzi was found lying near the corner of Sixth and Stevenson streets just south of Market Street about 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 12. He died about an hour later at the hospital. He was negatively portrayed in the tenth season of the A&E show "Intervention." A coworker described his character as “completely different” from how he appeared on the show. Previous blog on this story here.