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Remembering Bill Kapoun....

 
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Adventurer



Joined: 28 Jan 2006

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:10 am    Post subject: Remembering Bill Kapoun.... Reply with quote

I was going through some old magazines I have from Korea, and I had kept one with Bill Kapoun on the cover. I had kept it for so long. Recently, I tossed it in the recycling bin, and I remember the guy.
I also remembered how many foreigners donated money to his family, which was great. I can't remember if I donated money or not, but I donated money for other causes. Of course, there was also that South African girl who died, bless her soul.

http://savebillkapoun.blogspot.com/2008/03/sad-news.html

May Bill Kapoun rest in peace... Some of us complain, but we are lucky to be alive!
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Caro wack



Joined: 13 Oct 2008

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It was cool to put that up. You can see from the picture of
him with his students the kind of guy he was.


Last edited by Caro wack on Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:55 am; edited 1 time in total
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Caro wack



Joined: 13 Oct 2008

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It was cool to put that up. You can see from the picture of
him with his students the kind of guy he was.

There is a very old , obscure pop song by the Tams, a group
no one on this board knows, that has a line I think about every day...

"Life is too short to worry about unimportant things..."
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Jane



Joined: 01 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 4:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I still think of him from time to time, same for the South African girl, particularly when I've had it with Korea. It puts things into perspective.
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sokocanuck21



Joined: 16 Mar 2009
Location: Ansan

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's awful how something like that can happen. Truely sad.
On a related note; do many of you have fire safety in your apartments, other than the standard extinguisher?
Last year I lived on the 10th floor and there was no sprinklers to be seen.
Luckily, I'm on the 3rd floor of a villa this time around.
You'd think that would be a top priority here, considered most apartments have gas stoves and space heaters running all the time.
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Adventurer



Joined: 28 Jan 2006

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jane wrote:
I still think of him from time to time, same for the South African girl, particularly when I've had it with Korea. It puts things into perspective.


I believe the South African girl's name was Vereen. Yeah, it was kind of sad. How does it put things into perspective for you? You mean it makes you feel you don't really have it so bad in Korea? I wish Bill were around. He seemed like a great, stand-up guy, and, of course, I wish his Korean girlfriend were around, too. I am sure she is sorely missed by her family as is the South African girl, Vereen. It's hard to imagine what Bill went through and what he was thinking through his ordeal, and it's hard also for a mother to watch her son that way. Yes, we are rather lucky.

I talked to a fellow recently who said three people in his university some years back (in the US) died under similar circumstances. There were no smoke detectors or something. I am not sure what happened. I am sure there is a lot less precautions over here in Korea. Human safety is not a major thing, yet, in Korea.
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marlow



Joined: 06 Feb 2005

PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Bill Kapoun tragedy made me really depressed for a few weeks. It was just something that so easily could have happened to me. I remember living in a first floor apartment with a kitchen and a porch between me and the ONLY exit. All other exits were barred windows. No smoke detectors, sprinklers or fire extinguishers.

Now that I have a family and have to think about more than myself I have become a fire safety freak. Especially after the Kapoun tragedy. After my first son was born we got smoke detectors for the apartment, but after last year we got more, so that every sleeping room and the main exit routes have detectors. We also have fire extinguishers in the rooms we sleep in because waking up to a fire doesn't mean you can escape through it or get to the building hose, extinguishers or exits. I also thought about how dangerous just the heat of fires must be so that obviously the risk isn't just clothes catching fire but heat burns from an intense fire.

I'm still curious how the fire investigation went. I have no idea how the Bill Kapoun fire started, if it was arson, or if it was accidental and opened the gas valve or what.
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Adventurer



Joined: 28 Jan 2006

PostPosted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 9:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

marlow wrote:
The Bill Kapoun tragedy made me really depressed for a few weeks. It was just something that so easily could have happened to me. I remember living in a first floor apartment with a kitchen and a porch between me and the ONLY exit. All other exits were barred windows. No smoke detectors, sprinklers or fire extinguishers.

Now that I have a family and have to think about more than myself I have become a fire safety freak. Especially after the Kapoun tragedy. After my first son was born we got smoke detectors for the apartment, but after last year we got more, so that every sleeping room and the main exit routes have detectors. We also have fire extinguishers in the rooms we sleep in because waking up to a fire doesn't mean you can escape through it or get to the building hose, extinguishers or exits. I also thought about how dangerous just the heat of fires must be so that obviously the risk isn't just clothes catching fire but heat burns from an intense fire.

I'm still curious how the fire investigation went. I have no idea how the Bill Kapoun fire started, if it was arson, or if it was accidental and opened the gas valve or what.


I don't think it was arson from what I understood. The South African girl died due to arson, that we do know. I am not sure what happened to wonderful Bill Kapoun and his girlfriend, but I am guessing they were in another room, and somehow they did something that caused a fire and
since there was no smoke detector, by the time they found what was going on, it was too late. That's my speculation based on what I read because there was some mention of a fire in another room. We all can do things that are careless that can lead to our demise. Again, I am going based on what I read. He was with his girlfriend in another room when it happened. It was a tragedy for two families at least, and I was glad that many foreigners donated money to help Bill Kapoun's family.
I wish he didn't suffer the way he did. He seemed like a righteous guy.
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hugekebab



Joined: 05 Jan 2008

PostPosted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 7:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

marlow wrote:
The Bill Kapoun tragedy made me really depressed for a few weeks.


Me too. It happened bang in the middle of a real culture shock phase for me, so for some reason it really resonated with me. I just felt really, really sorry for the bloke and his girlfriend. I don't think I'll ever forget that accident.

The story about the South African girl in Mokpo was horrible too, but the Kapoun story sticks in my mind, mainly because of my own psychological state at the time.

Best wishes to his and her (the Korean girl and the South African girl) respective families.

I think they should take down the photo of him in bandages now; best to remember the other photos.
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ChinaBoy



Joined: 17 Feb 2007

PostPosted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 7:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Adventurer wrote:
I am not sure what happened to wonderful Bill Kapoun and his girlfriend, but I am guessing they were in another room, and somehow they did something that caused a fire and
since there was no smoke detector, by the time they found what was going on, it was too late. ....
I wish he didn't suffer the way he did. He seemed like a righteous guy.


Everyone's a saint after they die, it seems.

I didn't know him and he didn't affect my life in the slightest. I shouldn't have even read this thread.
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rowdie3



Joined: 22 Sep 2003
Location: Itaewon, Seoul

PostPosted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Really? It didn't affect you at all??? I feel sorry for you if that's true.

I live in Itaewon. Bill's story affected everyone I know here and even people back home who followed the story on Facebook. It made everyone think that this could have just as easily happened to them. Scary stuff. My thoughts continue to be with all three families involved in these two stories.
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Enrico Palazzo
Mod Team
Mod Team


Joined: 11 Mar 2008

PostPosted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ChinaBoy wrote:
Adventurer wrote:
I am not sure what happened to wonderful Bill Kapoun and his girlfriend, but I am guessing they were in another room, and somehow they did something that caused a fire and
since there was no smoke detector, by the time they found what was going on, it was too late. ....
I wish he didn't suffer the way he did. He seemed like a righteous guy.


Everyone's a saint after they die, it seems.

I didn't know him and he didn't affect my life in the slightest. I shouldn't have even read this thread.


Well, when someone posts in a thread title the word remembering before someone's name, it means they are referring to someone who was alive just like you who isn't now. Instead, you chose to click on it and say what you said as if you were surprised that it was about someone who passed on. Okay?

Well, the way I see it, we're all Bill Kapoun in a way, because it could have happened to anyone of us. If you feel that you don't care or feel you weren't affected. Okay, then you weren't affected, you said your opinion. As far as him being a saint, no one said so from people in Korea who said they knew him said. People who knew him said he was a rather nice person, and that they liked him. He seemed well-liked. People who are well-liked are well-liked usually because they do and say nice things about other people or do nice things for 'em. Bill Kapoun seemed to be one of those guys.

I think it's nice to remember him in our prayers, to remember his family, to hope that their hurt is easing. It can't be easy.

I hope the guy is happy wherever he's at.....

'Rico...
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