Nobles and knaves

Nobles: “China” the trans-Pacific, trans-continental cat.

Eight-month-old China has traveled more of the world than even nine feline lives would normally permit. Unfortunately, China didn’t see much more of it than the inside of a shipping container. Around March 5, China jumped into a shipping container at a Chinese factory. Perhaps the calico was curious, or simply hoping that there might be a few meals in the package’s 400 parrot cages.

Instead, she was trapped. China’s container was sealed and put aboard a Los Angeles-bound ship. She was then sent by rail to Tampa, Fla., and finally arrived at the warehouse of Quality Discount Cages. Owner Norman Goldberg was shocked to see the skinny cat jump out when he opened the container on April 9.

China was about half a cat’s normal weight, but veterinarians are hopeful that she will recover. They still don’t understand how she survived the transit. China had chewed up several cardboard cages and probably took quite a few cat naps.

Although an animal lover, Mr. Goldberg is not a cat person. He’s given China to a local animal shelter, where she will be nursed to health and then put up for adoption — where, it is hoped, she will find a warm, less mobile home.

For proving that curious cats ought to keep their passports handy (or at least near their paws), the well-traveled China is the Noble of the week.

Knaves: The California 4th District Court of Appeals, for freeing a monster on legal minutiae.

Last week, Edward Harvey Stokes stepped away from a Santa Ana jail, free as the sunshine from his life sentence for the molestation of Blue Karak. Blue was a 16-year-old runaway when Stokes drugged and assaulted him. Blue committed suicide several months before the trial, but testimony was enough to convict Stokes.

Stokes appealed on the ground that he never had the chance to confront his accuser. Shockingly, the appeals court agreed, writing in its decision, “Aside from the victim’s testimony, little evidence existed to support the charges against the defendant.”

But the court also had Stokes’ own words. In a letter to his therapist, he had confessed to 212 molestations. That might have been an underestimate, since Stokes had a long history of arrests for similar charges. The appeals court could have also asked for the testimony of his sister. Shortly after her brother was freed, Susan Stokes e-mailed the Los Angeles Times: “It is appalling to me that a person with his criminal history has been released. He is dangerous.”

King County, Washington, Detective Casey Johnson said, “There’s no doubt in my mind he’s going to commit another crime. The question is when and to what extent.”

Stokes already has. He used a fraudulent address to procure a new driver’s license, and, on Thursday, the King County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for his arrest — before he destroys another innocent life.

For freeing a predator now in search of more prey, California’s 4th District Court of Appeals is the Knave of the week.