A sausage thief has made nine-year-old Chiayi resident Tsai Shu-ting (蔡淑婷) want to study harder so she can become a prosecutor one day.
Tsai is among 32 students who received commendations and stipends from the Chiayi City God Temple (嘉義市城隍廟) on Sunday.
Tsai has been raised by her grandparents since she was eight months old, after her father reportedly abandoned the family and her mother died of illness.
Photo: Wang Shan-yen, Taipei Times
Speaking at the award ceremony, she said her grandparents operate a food truck and do odd jobs to make a living.
Someone broke into the truck in April, stealing 300 sausages and the freezer, which made her determined to become a prosecutor one day so she could help provide justice for the downtrodden, she said.
“The thieves are despicable. I hope to become a prosecutor when I grow up to catch those bad guys,” she said.
Her grandfather, Tsai Mao-yuan (蔡茂源), said the theft was a blow to the family because they did not have enough money to be able replace the stolen and damaged equipment and they are surviving on government subsidies.
However, he said he had told his granddaughter that the thief might be even poorer then they are and they should not mourn the loss of mere possessions.
His grandchild is smart and hardworking, he added.
She had previously been commended by her school, Chongwen Elementary School, for good conduct and reading competency.
Temple manager Yeh Yuan-chu (葉源助) said the temple’s education fund prioritizes children from single-parent and low-income families or those with elderly breadwinners.
Elementary students receive NT$2,000, junior-high students receive NT$4,000 and those in senior-high receive NT$60,000, Yeh said, adding that a total of NT$200,000 was given out.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A court has approved Kaohsiung prosecutors’ request that two people working for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Dai-hua (林岱樺) be detained, as a probe into two cases allegedly involving her continues. The request was made on Friday, after prosecutors raided Lin’s two offices and the staffers’ residences, and questioned five on suspicion of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例). The people included the directors of Lin’s Daliao (大寮) and Linyuan (林園) district offices in Kaohsiung, surnamed Chou (周) and Lin (林) respectively, as well as three other staffers. The prosecutors’ move came after they interrogated Lin Dai-hua on Wednesday. She appeared solemn following
RSS