DEL.ICIO.USSon of local couple scales Times building after famous climber pulls off same feat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/05/08
Renaldo Clarke Sr. never thought highly of daredevils.
So he didn't think twice when he saw a TV news report about two men scaling the New York Times building in New York City.
 David Goldman/AP | ||||
| Renaldo Clarke Jr., whose parents live in Atlanta, slowly climbs up the New York Times building. | ||||
 Family photo | ||||
| The younger Clarke was no stranger to daring deeds, his parents said. | ||||
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Until he learned one of them was his son.
"That's my youngest son," the retiree told a New York reporter who called Clarke's southwest Atlanta home Thursday evening.
Renaldo (Ray) Clarke Jr., 32, climbed the 52-story Manhattan building Thursday, behind another better-known climber: the notorious Frenchman Alain Robert, also known as Spider-Man.
Both men were quickly arrested by New York police. Clarke is undergoing psychological evaluations in the mental ward of city's Bellevue Hospital Center.
But the senior Clarke won't have anyone calling his son crazy.
"I just want you to know my son is not a nut!" he said.
The younger Clarke is a native New Yorker who works as an artist at an engineering firm in Manhattan.
As news helicopters hovered overhead, broadcasting the feat live on TV, Clarke eventually made it to the top, where he was handcuffed by detectives and hauled away. The Times newsroom broke into applause.
"He did seem apologetic," said Detective Peter Kecthely, who arrested Clarke. "He knew that he was endangering us and the public."
Both men climbed the latticework facade without safety harnesses or ropes to draw attention to separate issues: global warming and childhood malaria.
Clarke's dad watched the climb on TV in his Atlanta home but had no idea it was his son on the building.
"When (the reporter) started mentioning the malaria issue, I knew that was him," Clarke said.
Clarke said his son became passionate about preventing the mosquito-borne disease when the head of the engineering firm he works for began championing the cause. During his climb, Clarke wore a shirt reading "Malaria No More," the name of an organization that promotes awareness about malaria and raises money for bed nets. Martin Edlund, a spokesman for the organization, said the climber was not affiliated with the group.
"My son was attempting to make a statement," said Renaldo Clarke Sr., 61, a retired Con Ed worker.
Renaldo Clarke Jr. was no stranger to daring deeds, his parents said.
His mother, Constance, said he kayaked from their home in the community of Far Rockaway in the borough of Queens, N.Y., to Brooklyn, just across the East River from Manhattan.
"He started rock climbing and wall climbing when he was maybe 20," she said. "He keeps me on my knees (praying)."
A stunt in which he scaled the Brooklyn Bridge several months ago to cross the famed landmark at its highest point made his father call for a stop to the climbing.
"I spoke to him about it," the father said. "I thought this business was all forgotten."
The younger Clarke grew up in Queens with his parents and three siblings. His parents retired and moved to southwest Atlanta three years ago.
They say he's always had a drive to help others, and that is what spurred him to pull this stunt.
"When he gets involved in something, he's very passionate about it," Constance Clarke said.
A chagrined Renaldo Clarke Sr. said he learned Thursday night that this was the third building his son has scaled, though he doesn't know where the first two buildings were.
There won't be a fourth, he said.
"That's not going to happen again," he said.
The New York Daily News and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
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