In Loving Memory of Seferino Rosales: Nine year Anniversary 1981-2001

Today was a beautiful summer day in Los Angeles, it was not as hot as it been the last few weeks. I had made my way to San Pedro to run a few errands. I picked up my sister along the way after I finished my business we decided to go up to Green Hills Memorial Park as usual to visit " Pancho" who had passed away a couple of years ago. While going up to the cemetery I remembered about my homie " Bubba" He had passed away a while back and I had not gone to visit his grave since the funeral. I felt bad for not giving him one visit since then, but I decided to go ask now where his plot was at because I had forgotten. Me and my sister walked into the office and requested his information. The lady informed me where he was buried and gave me a map to find his plot. I had asked her how old was he when he died to my surprise he was 19 when he died a week before his 20th birthday. I had forgotten how young we all where when it happened. The trippy part is that the anniversary of his death is actually August 31, 2001 and he was buried September 5, 2001. I was kind of astonished that I happen to think of him right so close to his anniversary date. I think my instinct was right on point to remember my good old friend.

We made our way to his plot, after looking for ten minutes we finally found him! His gravestone was lonely with no flowers and dead grass growing around it. You could tell that nobody had gone to see him in a while. We sat by his grave and ate our lunch, and I just told my sister my memories of him. His flower pot hole was stuck in the ground and we had to dig for a bit to put it out, when we pulled it out the water was rotten and there was earth worms attached all along the pot.

My sister completely  washed it and filled it with fresh water, we then added some bright flowers we had found. I wrote him a note saying sorry for forgetting about him all these years. Now that i know where he is at I will definitely pay him my respects more often.

 After we cleaned it up.

Seferino was a dope homie. We knew him as "Bubba" and he wrote " Ham One." When I first met him  it was in high school  I was around 14, and he was 15. Everybody called him Bubba because he was always short and overweight. You would always catch him talking shit and clowning on something. He was always down with the cause, writing lyrics, rapping, and tagging on all the good landmarks in Pedro. He also was our stoner buddy always buying Garcia Vega's to roll a nice blunt. Bubba was actually the first one to say the words, " Doña Junta" out of his mouth lol. One day we where in Wilmington hanging out with some of our friends,  I remember we were in a parking lot across the street from Pecas house (another friend),and  Bubba had just finished rolling up a joint and was clowning as usual. He then  happened to look up at the apartment next to the parking lot and seen them nosy type of senora's peeking out the window trying to hide. He then said dam! fucken Doña Junta is looking out the window being all nosy hahahahha! I was like what the heck? but that made me laugh so hard just by the way he said it. Later on Mike adopted the name Doña Junta, but that's a whole different story, now I carry the name. I will never forget that moment.

When Bubba was around 16  he had gotten into some trouble and was sent to prison for a few years. Over that time I wrote to him and kept in touch. He still was the same old Bubba, but you could tell from his mail he had gotten a bit institutionalized. Being that he was so young going in I wasn't surprised he got like that. he still managed to keep his hip-hop roots and love for graffiti though.

When he came home in 2000 at 18 he looked completely different! he lost over 100 lbs and was actually skinny! He lost his baby face and looked older, but I guess prison does that to you. He was out for a little over a year enjoying life being the stoner that he was, he also had game and was catching girls,something he didn't do before. I was happy he was doing his thing, but unfortunately it was cut short. We will always remember you! Sorry for losing touch, but I will always be your friend. God Bless. Keep on clowning!

Here is the news article of the incident...

Shooting victim dies at hospital

Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) - Saturday, September 1, 2001

Author: Larry Altman

Shooting victim dies at hospital

A young San Pedro man was shot to death and another man was critically injured in an attack early Friday near Point Fermin Park.

Ferino Rosales, 19, who was in a car with two friends headed to the beach, was driven to San Pedro Peninsula Hospital but died outside the hospital, police said.

The motive for the shooting was not immediately known, but the suspects were four men who pulled alongside the victims in a car and opened fire, Los Angeles police Detective James Perkins said.

Rosales and his two unidentified friends were driving at Gaffey and Shepard streets shortly after midnight. The other vehicle tailgated them, then pulled alongside them. Occupants asked, "Where you from?"

"When the victims said nowhere, they opened up on them," Perkins said.

Rosales, who was sitting in the right front seat, was hit along with a passenger behind him.

The driver, who was not wounded, is lucky to be alive, Perkins said.

Officers said the driver headed straight to the hospital.

Police were looking into the background of the victims, but said they were not engaged in gang activities when the shooting occurred. They apparently were headed to the beach.

Anyone with information was asked to call Harbor Division homicide investigators at 310-548-7621.

Peace and love,

Dona Junta