Ten-year-old Alex Kintner of Mayfair Court in Amity was killed in an unprovoked shark attack on Village Beach today that officials said may be linked to the death of Wendy Watson Monday.
Kintner had been floating on a raft among a large group of swimmers, when his mother Marian Ferguson and others saw a large shark pull him under. His remains have not been found.
Mayor Bob Farley expressed sympathy with the victims in a press release. “Now we know that these random acts of senseless violence, victimizing innocent, helpless citizens do not just happen in the city,” he said.
A black Labrador that had been in the waters was also found missing after the shark attack.
Officials have not identified the genus of shark responsible for the killings.
The attack may shed light on the Monday death of Wendy Watson, who was found severely mutilated after she disappeared. It is now thought that Watson was the victim of a similar attack to the one that was witnessed today.
Police investigations into Kintner and Watson’s deaths are in progress as is a search for a shark that might be responsible.
Police Chief Martin Brody, who was a witness to the attack today, has filed a request to close Amity Beaches.
Monday, April 27, 2009
The body of a teenage girl was found severely mangled on Amity South Beach by an unidentified attacker that some believe may have been a shark.
Wendy Watson, 16, of 23 Sharktooth St. was last seen leaving a party to swim on a remote corner of South Beach. She was accompanied by -----Harrity, a student at Trinity College that witnesses said she had been drinking with.
Harrity says that he did not actually see her enter the calm waters, but that “she must have drowned.”
The body was found buried on the coast after Watson was reported missing. Police were shocked by the advanced deterioration of the body.
The body has been transported to the coroner’s office for an autopsy. No charges have been filed and officials have not closed the beach.
Wendy Watson, 16, of 23 Sharktooth St. was last seen leaving a party to swim on a remote corner of South Beach. She was accompanied by -----Harrity, a student at Trinity College that witnesses said she had been drinking with.
Harrity says that he did not actually see her enter the calm waters, but that “she must have drowned.”
The body was found buried on the coast after Watson was reported missing. Police were shocked by the advanced deterioration of the body.
The body has been transported to the coroner’s office for an autopsy. No charges have been filed and officials have not closed the beach.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Thursday
A very death-centered issue. Markoff prostitute murders again, Freddie Mac suicide, Towson family suicide, transgender murder, NYC tax lawyer scheme that led to murder. It’s a little alarming, though each of the stories has a salacious, bizarre, or timely quality that makes it more than a gruesome, depressing episode. Still, seems like a lot for one A section.
Wednesday
The front photo does a nice job of creating the illusion that the indigenous Columbian women are half naked – or rather some of them actually are but the photo doesn’t actually show the private parts. A strategic blur that looks like it’s been added in the foreground covers up the only breast not hidden by the poses. It’s am intriguing front page picture that sent me to the story immediately. “Wider drug war threatens Columbian Indians” was the first story that brought what should have been obvious to my attention: there are still natives where drug cartels operate, they are in the way, and drug lords are not going to deal with them as we try to treat Native Americans in the US now. It is nice context to the frequent stories of drug violence.
The Philip Markoff story is a great reminder to anyone with smug ideas about American achievement – that so-and-so is a good person because they are well behaved when it counts, because they are a good student, because they seem to follow a pathway that is wholesome, or if not entirely wholesome, congenial and unobtrusive in departures from the ideal. Markoff, if he’s guilty, is a minor Dostoevsky character, the one that commits the crimes but without ideological crisis.
The obituary reminded me that Bertolt Brecht had a talented son, Stefan. I may look into his writings now thanks to the NYTs
Tuesday
I had to laugh when I read “Russia Serves as Musical Muse.” Russia is hosting a cheesy competition called Eurovision which it won last year, prompting Putin to proclaim “yet another triumph for all of Russia.”
A very death-centered issue. Markoff prostitute murders again, Freddie Mac suicide, Towson family suicide, transgender murder, NYC tax lawyer scheme that led to murder. It’s a little alarming, though each of the stories has a salacious, bizarre, or timely quality that makes it more than a gruesome, depressing episode. Still, seems like a lot for one A section.
Wednesday
The front photo does a nice job of creating the illusion that the indigenous Columbian women are half naked – or rather some of them actually are but the photo doesn’t actually show the private parts. A strategic blur that looks like it’s been added in the foreground covers up the only breast not hidden by the poses. It’s am intriguing front page picture that sent me to the story immediately. “Wider drug war threatens Columbian Indians” was the first story that brought what should have been obvious to my attention: there are still natives where drug cartels operate, they are in the way, and drug lords are not going to deal with them as we try to treat Native Americans in the US now. It is nice context to the frequent stories of drug violence.
The Philip Markoff story is a great reminder to anyone with smug ideas about American achievement – that so-and-so is a good person because they are well behaved when it counts, because they are a good student, because they seem to follow a pathway that is wholesome, or if not entirely wholesome, congenial and unobtrusive in departures from the ideal. Markoff, if he’s guilty, is a minor Dostoevsky character, the one that commits the crimes but without ideological crisis.
The obituary reminded me that Bertolt Brecht had a talented son, Stefan. I may look into his writings now thanks to the NYTs
Tuesday
I had to laugh when I read “Russia Serves as Musical Muse.” Russia is hosting a cheesy competition called Eurovision which it won last year, prompting Putin to proclaim “yet another triumph for all of Russia.”
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Thursday, April 16
Nice set of front page stories today. The Afghan women protesting newly passed Shiite laws against a crowd of violent, vulgar men had a lively scene, with pictures that made the story very engaging.
The update on Sarah Palin was a curiosity as well. It fit nicely over the Afghan story. She is so often a Fox News martyr, apparently on her way to future glory, or the butt of jokes that seem less like jokes and more like factual storytelling, that it’s nice to read about her in depth elsewhere, where she gets agenda-less coverage. What’s amazing is she still comes off as a woman out of some latter day Voltaire’s satire. Even the NYTs has to get information from her people to try to do a fair story with both sides on her, and everything they got is spun to death. It worries me. When I hear so much bs and no admittance of failure or insufficiency, I think she must be hiding some truth that’s even worse than what has been revealed.
The third-world country soot story probably shouldn’t have surprised me. Sure, black carbon…seems intuitive that it would contribute to global warming, but nevertheless thinking of some villager without a car, cooking, as a cause, is novel, at least for me.
And Gay Talese’s “Honor Thy Father and “Thy Neighbor’s Wife” are back in print!
Tuesday, April 14
The comical GM car show story and the Disney “kid whisperer” were the best reads today. This research that Disney uses, I guess like all media companies that want to minimize risks and make money as safely as possible rather than create avenues of genuine expression or ideas, sounded kind of like dedication until I thought of what comes on Disney, what their popular shows are, and what comes out of those after they’re gone. I almost threw up in my mouth a little bit, figuratively, when I recalled Hannah Montana, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, The Jonas Brothers, and realized that all those little kids who idolize these people have been so severely and intentionally manipulated. Every move their Disney heroes make is calculated from what a “kid whisperer” dug up in some other kid’s underwear drawer rather than genuine sympathy between them and Miley Ray Cyrus or Joe Jonas.
Monday, April 13
I had no idea that toilets were such a problem at baseball games. Guess it’s obvious that the same amount of toilets in the ladies and men’s bathrooms wouldn’t equal the same potty line wait time. Cool story that brings the seemingly unimportant to light and gives it the space it probably deserves. I’m sure if it’s a problem in ballparks it’s a problem everywhere that folks need to relieve themselves in mass.
On A16, there’s a nice story about immigrants from troubled countries learning to express those troubles through theater. It made me wonder whether go into a theater and acting problems out is better than keeping them to oneself. I’m still not sure after reading the story.
Nice set of front page stories today. The Afghan women protesting newly passed Shiite laws against a crowd of violent, vulgar men had a lively scene, with pictures that made the story very engaging.
The update on Sarah Palin was a curiosity as well. It fit nicely over the Afghan story. She is so often a Fox News martyr, apparently on her way to future glory, or the butt of jokes that seem less like jokes and more like factual storytelling, that it’s nice to read about her in depth elsewhere, where she gets agenda-less coverage. What’s amazing is she still comes off as a woman out of some latter day Voltaire’s satire. Even the NYTs has to get information from her people to try to do a fair story with both sides on her, and everything they got is spun to death. It worries me. When I hear so much bs and no admittance of failure or insufficiency, I think she must be hiding some truth that’s even worse than what has been revealed.
The third-world country soot story probably shouldn’t have surprised me. Sure, black carbon…seems intuitive that it would contribute to global warming, but nevertheless thinking of some villager without a car, cooking, as a cause, is novel, at least for me.
And Gay Talese’s “Honor Thy Father and “Thy Neighbor’s Wife” are back in print!
Tuesday, April 14
The comical GM car show story and the Disney “kid whisperer” were the best reads today. This research that Disney uses, I guess like all media companies that want to minimize risks and make money as safely as possible rather than create avenues of genuine expression or ideas, sounded kind of like dedication until I thought of what comes on Disney, what their popular shows are, and what comes out of those after they’re gone. I almost threw up in my mouth a little bit, figuratively, when I recalled Hannah Montana, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, The Jonas Brothers, and realized that all those little kids who idolize these people have been so severely and intentionally manipulated. Every move their Disney heroes make is calculated from what a “kid whisperer” dug up in some other kid’s underwear drawer rather than genuine sympathy between them and Miley Ray Cyrus or Joe Jonas.
Monday, April 13
I had no idea that toilets were such a problem at baseball games. Guess it’s obvious that the same amount of toilets in the ladies and men’s bathrooms wouldn’t equal the same potty line wait time. Cool story that brings the seemingly unimportant to light and gives it the space it probably deserves. I’m sure if it’s a problem in ballparks it’s a problem everywhere that folks need to relieve themselves in mass.
On A16, there’s a nice story about immigrants from troubled countries learning to express those troubles through theater. It made me wonder whether go into a theater and acting problems out is better than keeping them to oneself. I’m still not sure after reading the story.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Thursday, April 9
In addition to the specific news about the economy, the times had a great feature on the aspect of recession that is arguably what everyone really cares about—not loss of jobs, cut wages, difficulty finding work, home foreclosure, etc, but rather the misery that these concrete difficulties create. “Recession Anxiety…” discusses the real issue, interestingly using people who aren’t economically hit by the recession.
Tuesday, April 7
When I read the international article on the L’Aquila earthquake, I was expecting to see a quote from Prime Minister Berlusconi featured by Time as quote of the day: ~“families made homeless by the earthquake ought to regard it as a weekend camping trip.” I didn’t see it in the NYTs. Assuming they were aware of that public quotation, the exclusion of it in the story says something about focusing on the angle of a story even if that means leaving out more sensational information.
The article on Bloomberg’s push-polling tactics and the responses the NYTs got from his team really shows how gross hypocrisy becomes once spin tactics are put into play. First Bloomberg’s team denies push-polling, then when confronted with the specific push-polling instance says that it is not in fact push-polling since the negative information about an opponent is accurate, without however admitting that they were responsible for the push-poll.
Monday April 6
Times had the kind of article that immediately dominates full attention – a front page story on a neuroscience breakthrough that’s every bit as much of an ethical and practical question as cloning was about nine years ago. SUNY scientists, including an apostate from Columbia, have found a way to delete memory in rats. In humans, they say applications could include kicking addiction and forgetting traumatizing memories. They also foresee discovering a method for improving memory comparable to using steroids or gene-doping, with the same moral issues attached.
In addition to the specific news about the economy, the times had a great feature on the aspect of recession that is arguably what everyone really cares about—not loss of jobs, cut wages, difficulty finding work, home foreclosure, etc, but rather the misery that these concrete difficulties create. “Recession Anxiety…” discusses the real issue, interestingly using people who aren’t economically hit by the recession.
Tuesday, April 7
When I read the international article on the L’Aquila earthquake, I was expecting to see a quote from Prime Minister Berlusconi featured by Time as quote of the day: ~“families made homeless by the earthquake ought to regard it as a weekend camping trip.” I didn’t see it in the NYTs. Assuming they were aware of that public quotation, the exclusion of it in the story says something about focusing on the angle of a story even if that means leaving out more sensational information.
The article on Bloomberg’s push-polling tactics and the responses the NYTs got from his team really shows how gross hypocrisy becomes once spin tactics are put into play. First Bloomberg’s team denies push-polling, then when confronted with the specific push-polling instance says that it is not in fact push-polling since the negative information about an opponent is accurate, without however admitting that they were responsible for the push-poll.
Monday April 6
Times had the kind of article that immediately dominates full attention – a front page story on a neuroscience breakthrough that’s every bit as much of an ethical and practical question as cloning was about nine years ago. SUNY scientists, including an apostate from Columbia, have found a way to delete memory in rats. In humans, they say applications could include kicking addiction and forgetting traumatizing memories. They also foresee discovering a method for improving memory comparable to using steroids or gene-doping, with the same moral issues attached.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Financially failing Biddefort Airport, from open danger to the community that used its grounds for dangerous pleasures to over controlled, closed off nuisance, may now find itself losing more than the FAA license that was preserved to the provocation of the Biddeford residents now considering voting to close it.
Airport supporters and opponents are divided about what the issue is: an airport that can’t pay its bills and can no longer be bailed out by tax payers; a corporate owned business that finally had to get tough when irresponsible citizens and their children risked airport safety; or just a plain eyesore on the landscape.
FAA spokesperson Peter Lucievanni, says that whatever the community decides to focus on, Biddefort Airport made the only decision that would allow them to remain licensed.
“There were all kinds of complaints coming in from private pilots and angry neighbors: trees so high that take-off was dangerous, an open runway that made a potentially lethal hockey court,” Said Lucievanni. “They had to fix it or shut down immediately.”
Now their receiving complaints on the other end of the spectrum. People who are angry about the tree trimming and no-trespassing.
“NTSB has a report of a pilot, who was also an instructor pilot, hit the trees at the end of the runway because he did not do a correct pre-flight check and at take off speed could not pull back on his controls because he forgot to take off his control lock. Some residents no longer have trees to protect them. I still have a good tree barrio to stop a plane and reduce noise,” said Biddefort resident Roland Pelletier.
The only consistency between accusations is that they are coming from the same people in the community.
Paul Archembault, Chairman of Close our Little Airport said, “this started out about trees and public access. But it’s not just about that anymore. Now it’s about money too.”
But some people in the community would lose their recreation and possibly their livelihood without the runway and airport.
“Maybe it’s expensive to run the airport. But it’s a great resource,” Private pilot Phyllis Landry said, adding that “if I couldn’t fly out of here I’d have o go to Sanford or Portland
Airport supporters and opponents are divided about what the issue is: an airport that can’t pay its bills and can no longer be bailed out by tax payers; a corporate owned business that finally had to get tough when irresponsible citizens and their children risked airport safety; or just a plain eyesore on the landscape.
FAA spokesperson Peter Lucievanni, says that whatever the community decides to focus on, Biddefort Airport made the only decision that would allow them to remain licensed.
“There were all kinds of complaints coming in from private pilots and angry neighbors: trees so high that take-off was dangerous, an open runway that made a potentially lethal hockey court,” Said Lucievanni. “They had to fix it or shut down immediately.”
Now their receiving complaints on the other end of the spectrum. People who are angry about the tree trimming and no-trespassing.
“NTSB has a report of a pilot, who was also an instructor pilot, hit the trees at the end of the runway because he did not do a correct pre-flight check and at take off speed could not pull back on his controls because he forgot to take off his control lock. Some residents no longer have trees to protect them. I still have a good tree barrio to stop a plane and reduce noise,” said Biddefort resident Roland Pelletier.
The only consistency between accusations is that they are coming from the same people in the community.
Paul Archembault, Chairman of Close our Little Airport said, “this started out about trees and public access. But it’s not just about that anymore. Now it’s about money too.”
But some people in the community would lose their recreation and possibly their livelihood without the runway and airport.
“Maybe it’s expensive to run the airport. But it’s a great resource,” Private pilot Phyllis Landry said, adding that “if I couldn’t fly out of here I’d have o go to Sanford or Portland
Friday, April 3, 2009
Thursday, April 2
I was looking forward to reading the Times’ reporting on the Group of 20 meeting after incidentally seeing some presentations of it on Fox News Wednesday night. Not surprisingly, the Times differed from Fox in the amount of background it gave, and the level of objectivity. If the NYT is subjective and political it is usually most evident in where information is placed in the story. Sometimes the positive perspective, as on Rick Scott today, is buried—but it is there. But on Fox, even on “news” shows rather than the highly popular commentary, every event is somehow spun into a political attack, every phrase is twisted to squeeze something incendiary out, negligible stories are pumped into revivalist histrionics, concessions wind up being another way to club an opponent or avoid more in depth argument. And it blows my mind that while papers are going bankrupt such coverage is at #1 with viewers.
So at least according to the Times account, Obama hasn’t destroyed Anglo-American relations to pander to Russians or Chinese, protesting in London isn’t directed at Obama’s socialist leadership, and Sarkozy isn’t exactly Sean Hannity’s soul mate. However, some of the NYT G20 coverage seemed lacking to me. An article on Medvedev’s meeting with Obama was unbalanced, without a single quote from the Russian leader to match line after line from the American. An article on China’s rise as a superpower contained cultural blinds—conceding China’s promising economy and role in world recovery financing, the article applies American cultural perspective to diminish the potential ascendancy of China.
Wednesday, April 1
The second “A World of Hurt” almost read like a satire of Aristophanes or Voltaire. And though I loved the article, I’m still not sure I understand how the independent medical examiner system works, only that there are so many points in it that anyone involved can say “I don’t know what happened” if discrepancies, errors, or more concrete signs of fraud turn up.
“Pleasure Boats Are Becoming Castaways” presented a scenario I wouldn’t have imagined. With so many boats being abandoned because of high maintenance and a bad second hand market, aren’t there other people who would like to snatch them up on the sly?
Tuesday, March 31
Lot of finance stories in tangible form – colleges taking more students who can pay tuition in full, workers receiving or faking injuries and the monetary consequences, and more on the national auto problem with GM and Chrysler.
What I would really like to see is a story on the choices of which car brands and models may make survive, why some have already been eliminated and not others. How are the decisions made? If they are based solely on popularity/ profitability, then it might be interesting to read a story on the causes of vehicles high sales. The most popular is rarely the best in arts or thought, so government dictation of inferior car survival over superior based solely on previous sales would be a curious scenario.
I was looking forward to reading the Times’ reporting on the Group of 20 meeting after incidentally seeing some presentations of it on Fox News Wednesday night. Not surprisingly, the Times differed from Fox in the amount of background it gave, and the level of objectivity. If the NYT is subjective and political it is usually most evident in where information is placed in the story. Sometimes the positive perspective, as on Rick Scott today, is buried—but it is there. But on Fox, even on “news” shows rather than the highly popular commentary, every event is somehow spun into a political attack, every phrase is twisted to squeeze something incendiary out, negligible stories are pumped into revivalist histrionics, concessions wind up being another way to club an opponent or avoid more in depth argument. And it blows my mind that while papers are going bankrupt such coverage is at #1 with viewers.
So at least according to the Times account, Obama hasn’t destroyed Anglo-American relations to pander to Russians or Chinese, protesting in London isn’t directed at Obama’s socialist leadership, and Sarkozy isn’t exactly Sean Hannity’s soul mate. However, some of the NYT G20 coverage seemed lacking to me. An article on Medvedev’s meeting with Obama was unbalanced, without a single quote from the Russian leader to match line after line from the American. An article on China’s rise as a superpower contained cultural blinds—conceding China’s promising economy and role in world recovery financing, the article applies American cultural perspective to diminish the potential ascendancy of China.
Wednesday, April 1
The second “A World of Hurt” almost read like a satire of Aristophanes or Voltaire. And though I loved the article, I’m still not sure I understand how the independent medical examiner system works, only that there are so many points in it that anyone involved can say “I don’t know what happened” if discrepancies, errors, or more concrete signs of fraud turn up.
“Pleasure Boats Are Becoming Castaways” presented a scenario I wouldn’t have imagined. With so many boats being abandoned because of high maintenance and a bad second hand market, aren’t there other people who would like to snatch them up on the sly?
Tuesday, March 31
Lot of finance stories in tangible form – colleges taking more students who can pay tuition in full, workers receiving or faking injuries and the monetary consequences, and more on the national auto problem with GM and Chrysler.
What I would really like to see is a story on the choices of which car brands and models may make survive, why some have already been eliminated and not others. How are the decisions made? If they are based solely on popularity/ profitability, then it might be interesting to read a story on the causes of vehicles high sales. The most popular is rarely the best in arts or thought, so government dictation of inferior car survival over superior based solely on previous sales would be a curious scenario.
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