kerrtoon.com Blog

Archive for January, 2010

Commissioned Work

Commissioned drawing finished recently

Caricature on Beale St.

The finished drawing

Add comment January 28th, 2010

Young Champions in the Phoenix New Times!

You may have heard about the fire at Young Champions June 14th 2009. (Just Google: “Young Champions” and “Fire” for details.)

Here is a front-page article in the Phoenix New times.

The staff went to court on Jan 8th for a sentencing hearing for Jon (one of the arsonists). They postponed the sentencing until March 5th. Seeing Jon in the stripped jumpsuit with a pink Tshirt & cuffs inspired the Joe Arpaio image I posted previously.

Phx. New Times Photo of Jon Antonucci in Jail.

Front door to the old office

The image above shows the office (pre fire). The shade awning is what they climbed onto. (And probably where Josh died.)

Phx New Times Photo of Office

Above is how the office currently looks.

Phx. New Times interior of YCOA offices

Above is where my office was located. You can see the tan spot where I painted the wall (That’s where my desk sat.)

Here is my take on everything. I talked to Jon a few weeks before the fire. I followed him to his “Red Dragon” class to see what was going on. He had several kids there wearing Young Champions uniforms and T-shirts. I asked why he was breaking his contract and he said “Teaching Martial arts is the only thing I know how to do!” He also claimed he had signed the contract as a minor, so a non-compete clause didn’t apply to him. He also asked if I would make some designs for his company. (I said no.) So, he was not only inviting kids from his old YCOA class, but he was asking me to make shirts to sell to them!

I later found out that he had asked other instructors to come work for him. Several people had seen or heard of him overcharging for class fees (testing). We knew he and Josh were “cooking” their books. For years they had complained about not getting fair payment – but I never imagined they would do something like this. With a down economy the 4 of them (Jon, Josh, Moniza, and Jeff), decided that they would start their own company, and eliminate the competition in one stroke. Eliminating evidence of their embezzlement was secondary in my mind. Putting us out of business so they could pick up the pieces was their main goal. Had the company gone under (which it nearly did) it would have not only affected dozens of instructors and staff, but thousands of kids.

I believe in forgiveness, but I also believe in justice. Jon could get from 7 – 21 years. He hopes to get less than 7! He will have a lot of friends, family, and church members at his hearing March 5th to plead for him. (There were several dozen at the hearing on Jan 8th.) I have heard the state is asking for 15 years. Since someone died in the fire I believe it is considered murder. Had he at any time before the fire developed a conscious he could have stopped it. Josh would be alive, the business would not be so far in the red, our livelihoods would not still be threatened. In my mind it is hard to place a number on how long he should go away for. (And when he gets out, he should not be allowed to teach martial arts!) We will be there March 5th (and any subsequent parole hearing) to ask for the max possible.

Link to the original New Times story. Over 70 comments (even some for the arsonists!)
Link to AzFamily story (Channel 3 I think)
Link to Fox 10 story.
Link to Channel ABC 15′s report. The story is interesting, but the comments even more so.
Link to Jon’s site.

Add comment January 23rd, 2010