In an odd coincidence of events, after The Epoch Times published an article about alleged collusion and corruption between Rose Pak and Ed Lee, hundreds of newspapers carrying the report vanished from boxes around the city.
The report, titled San Francisco Mayor’s Race Deeply Corrupted, Says Former Legislator, appeared above the fold on the front page in the local edition of the paper, on Thursday, Aug. 18.
Based primarily on an interview with former president of the Board of Supervisors Aaron Peskin, the article claimed that Pak, said to be Chinatown’s political boss, is attempting to keep Ed Lee in office in order to maintain her influence over city politics.
Quoting Peskin, the report also alleged that Pak has ties to the Chinese regime, and is promoting the interests of that foreign government in San Francisco.
The Epoch Times prints weekly in San Francisco, and the papers were placed in the boxes on Thursday morning before 7 a.m.
But mysteriously, between 9:15 p.m. on Friday evening and 6:40 a.m. on Saturday morning, hundreds of newspapers from over a dozen Epoch Times boxes simply disappeared.
Cornelia Ritter, while assisting The Epoch Times circulation manager in San Francisco, was checking 34 boxes in the Financial District morning and evening to monitor pick-up rates.
On Friday night when she finished checking the boxes at 9:15 p.m., every box had papers in it, many with more than 25, and some with more than 50.
But by Saturday morning, when she next checked, 19 of those 34 boxes were completely emptied, some with only the display copy remaining.
“Based on past surveys, it is highly unlikely that there was a sudden rush on the papers between 9:15 p.m. Friday and 6:40 a.m. Saturday,” Ritter said in a telephone interview.
According to California Penal Code section 490.7, it is illegal to take more than 25 copies of a free newspaper in order to “deprive others of the opportunity to read or enjoy the newspaper.” See: http://law.onecle.com/california/penal/490.7.html
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