On New Hampshire Coasts there Is "Virtually No Risk" for Shark Attacks

            Visitors flocking to New Hampshire beaches this summer can swim without concern, even in light of the recent shark attacks off Amity Island that killed two locals.

            “Historically the level of risk of a shark attack off New Hampshire is zero,” said Tony LaCasse, Media Relations Director for the New England Aquarium and an alumni of the University of New Hampshire. “In fact, there’s virtually no risk at any time.”

            LaCasse said this is because one of the most common species of sharks that provoke attacks on humans, the great white shark, does not have a regular habitat off New Hampshire.  Great white sharks are normally spotted where large seals, their main food source, live in high densities and are easy to reach.  While New Hampshire does have a seal population, is it low density, and the seals are smaller in size. 

            “While you could have great white sharks traversing the area, the food just isn’t there,” LaCasse said.

            This concern about sharks in New England waters has increased after two Amity Island locals, Chrissie Watson, 17, and Alex Kintner, 10, were killed in shark attacks in the past two days.  Watson’s body was found mauled this morning on South Beach after she went missing while swimming the night before.  Later in the day, Kintner was attacked off the crowded Village Beach, but his body has not been recovered at this time.

            The last time a fatal shark attack was recorded in Massachusetts was 1936, and, before today, only three total attacks have ever been recorded in the state, according to the International Shark Attack File website.  New Hampshire has never had an attack reported off its coast.   

            LaCasse said surfers are the ones most at risk to be attacked by a great white shark off New Hampshire because their surf boards resemble large seals or sea lions.  However, there is “almost no chance” of this because great white sharks exit these northern waters by late autumn and the best surfing is normally during wintertime.

            The two most common sharks in New England during the summer are the porbeagle and the blue shark.  However, LaCasse said the only recorded incidents with porbeagles have involved divers and he is not aware of any incidents involving blue sharks attacking humans. 

Looking Ahead

This semester I've finally realized my passion.  Long before this year I knew I loved to write but I didn't know how I would incorporate this interest into my future.  My freshman and sophomore years of college I tried out a lot of different subject areas, all of which sounded interesting to me, and it was really hard to pick the one I wanted to stick with.  Early on I decided on Spanish as at least one major because I was already so far through the major and I loved the language, but I wanted to pick a second major, and last year that was English Teaching.  However, after I took EDUC 500, I decided to drop the major, realizing that I did not want to teach right out of college.  Then I decided to give journalism a try my junior year.  I had never written for a newspaper before and only had taken an introductory journalism course in high school in which the teacher wasn't the best.  However, I have always loved reading the news and being up to date, and the prospect of journalism intrigued me.  Suffice to say, I have made the right choice, and it's nice that after this semester I finally feel confident in what I want to do.  I have interests in a lot of subject areas, but after a week of starting this news writing course, I got that feeling you only get when you truly know this is the field for you.  It's exciting, and now I just want to put all my energy into becoming the best news writer I can be, and I love finally having some certainty and a goal to work towards.  Also, after taking Tom Haines class, I'm even more excited about going into this field because, contrary to what many are saying about it, it is actually flourishing in the internet age, and I can't wait to be a part of such an experimental time.  I don't know whether I'm going to go into magazine writing or newspaper writing or freelance or public relations, but I just want to continue to write about a whole host of issues and topics and continue to tell stories about what intrigues me in order to share my curiosity of the world with others.

Reflecting on this Semester

Today in class we practiced our news writing skills by creating a fake breaking news story based on events in the movie Jaws.  Throughout the semester it's been a challenge trying to write succinct, inverted pyramid news stories, especially when for so long we've been trained to write essays or narratives.  While bits and pieces of essay and narrative writing can be used in news writing, it is really something all of its own and something you really just have to get used to.  That's why it was quite nice to get this assignment today because I've realized the progress I have made this semester.  Once we got the press release, I automatically zeroed in on the the most important details that should go in the lead or near the top of the story and I was able to pretty quickly bang out eight paragraphs.  As I was writing the story with such ease, I began to see how much I've grown in this class and how this formula for writing a news story has become second nature to me.  I enjoy this writing because it is very logical and it is almost like a puzzle where you have to put all the pieces together just right for it to make sense to the reader.  It's kind of like writing poetry with constraints; while some may view writing sonnets to be more constricting, those rules for rhyme and rhythm actually push the writer to be more creative in order to work within the constraints.  I think that news writing also allows for a similar creativity.  While it certainly will never compete with fiction (something I think the majority of people prefer to read), news writing forces the writer to think very analytically in order to get the news out to the public in the most concise, precise way possible, and I'm excited to continue to take on this challenge beyond this class in my future journalism career.

Second Lead

A local boy has been killed in what appears to be a shark attack at 2 p.m. today at Village Beach, just hours after a local teenage girl was found dead on South Beach, her body mauled. 

Alex Kintner, 10, of Mayfair Court in Amity, had been floating on a rubber raft off the crowded Village Beach when the attack occurred, according to the press release.  His body has not been recovered, but his raft floated ashore after the incident with what appeared to be a “large bite out of it,” Amity Police Chief Martin Brody said.

Local Girl Found Dead on Beach

A local girl was found dead, her body mauled, on a remote section of South Beach early this morning by police after she had gone swimming the night before.

The body was identified to be Chrissie Watson, 17, of 23 Sharkstooth St., Amity, an Amity High School senior, according to the press release, and she was last seen alive leaving a beach party with Christopher P. Hoggenbottam III at about 11 p.m. on Sunday night. 

Hoggenbottam III notified police at about 6 a.m. this morning when Watson hadn’t returned from the water, and Watson’s body was found by Police Deputy Jay Hendricks after a brief search of the section of South Beach near the South Beach Shoal bell buoy. 

According to Amity Police Chief Martin Brody there is still no information from the coroner yet and the police are still waiting for word about the autopsy.  No charges have been filed in the case, and police are continuing their investigation into who or what attacked and killed Watson.

 “Though a shark attack has not been completely ruled out, we want to assure all residents and visitors on our fine island that they are in no danger,” Brody said in the press release.  “Our lovely beaches will remain open for swimming pending the outcome of the investigation.” 

Brody later said at a press conference that police investigators are “exploring an entire range of possibilities” into the reason for her death.  Some of these possibilities include being attacked by a pack of wild dogs, which are known to roam around the area, or being assaulted by an individual or a group, Brody said. 

Police investigators have learned from witnesses that both Watson and Hoggenbottam, who is sophomore at Trinity College and a former resident of the island, had been drinking heavily and possibly smoking marijuana before they left the party.  Hoggenbottam did not see the actual attack as he had passed out on the beach and did not wake up until this morning, at which point he called police. 

Brody saw Watson’s body this morning and described the scene as “extremely grizzly and upsetting.” 

“There was a hand sticking up from a pile of sand and seaweed,” Brody said.  “Crabs were crawling all around.”    

The seas were calm Sunday night with clear skies and winds out of the south at about 3.45 mph.  The air temperature was 72 degrees F and the air temperature was 65 degrees F. 

Watson was a member of the varsity swim team at Amity High School and a lifeguard at the Amity Island YMCA pool in Oak Bluffs.

Remembering JFK

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK, and all week many news outlets have been covering this tragedy.  What I've found most interesting is how some outlets are comparing how this story was covered back then to how we cover news stories today.  On the NBC television news cast they showed the anchor man from the 60s announcing that JFK had been killed.  He started by saying, "These are the facts we know at this moment..." and then when on to say he had been shot and killed.  It was intriguing watching this because it exemplifies the heyday of the "gatekeeper."  In that time the anchors of news programs told you the news and unless you also got a newspaper you would only hear news from this one person.  That meant that everyone was getting the same news more or less.  I imagine people all over America were huddled around their television screens in that moment when the NBC anchor made that announcement.  Now, if there is a tragedy, most of the time we hear about it over the internet because it is a breaking news story.  If we do turn on the TV for coverage, the anchors of programs probably will not be the ones breaking the news to you. 
Another significant aspect of JFK's assassination is the fact that he was basically the first president to be around when television was becoming really popular and everyone had a set in their homes.  Americans knew what their president looked like and followed his presidency on TV and perhaps felt closer to him then previous generations had felt for the current president.  This only heightened people's sadness about this terrible act.  It's interesting to think that now everyone in the world knows about Obama and can track what he's doing all the time through Twitter and Facebook and online news stories.  We are closer to our presidents now more than ever and I wonder how this change in relationship has affected being president and our reaction to events having to do with our presidents.

Going Abroad Next Semester

Next semester I'm headed off to Madrid, Spain for the semester and I'm really excited to start a blog while I am there to document some of my experiences.  I was in Spain last semester too and I also did a blog, but I think this time I will be a little more prepared after taking this news writing class.  I'm going to try to take the principles I learned from this class and apply them to my writing next semester.  For example, just making the intros to my blog posts catchy and exciting, just like a good lead in a news story, will be very important.  Although these blog posts will probably be predominately read by family members, that doesn't mean the posts can't be snazzy and provoke interest.  Also, I would really like to try to get up the bravery to test out my interviewing skills in Spanish.  I would love write mini articles on my blog with quotes from real Spaniards to add a touch of intimacy.  That way I could actually record some stories from people and gain insight into aspects of Spanish culture I may never have realized otherwise as well as helping to increase my fluency in the language.  For example, the economic crisis in Spain is a big deal right now with trash workers going on strike in Madrid and trash overflowing on the streets because there's no one there to pick it up.  It would be so cool to interview a trash worker or a citizen who's fed up with trash lining their street in order to understand more completely the effects of the crisis on the average citizen and get that out to people back in the US who may never hear about what's happening in Spain.

A Marketplace of Ideas

In my journalism class with Tom Haines this semester we have discussed frequently the purposes of a free press, and one of these purposes is to offer a democracy a "marketplace of ideas."  This alludes to the idea that as a democracy everyone's ideas should be heard, not just the ideas of those with the most money or those that are in the majority.  I have experienced this idea first hand when for my article for this week I went to a meeting for MOSAICO and interviewed a couple of its members.  MOSAICO is a group on campus for Latinos in the community.  It offers support for Latinos living on an otherwise predominately white campus.  It was fun to see how the group celebrates their various heritages through their meetings; at the meeting I attended I got the chance to hear the members discuss types of dances and music that come from their places of origin or the countries with which they connect.  The co-president of the organization discussed the dance bachata, which comes from the Dominican Republic.  I'm excited to start writing this article because I think it will reveal to the community what this group is all about and open people's eyes to the diversity we have on campus.  Also, my interview with one of its member's illustrates how a member of a minority group on campus thinks, and, based on the marketplace of ideas function, it is important to get these minority voices out into the general discussion and out into the public with everyone else's thoughts and opinions. 

Car Chase - Breaking News Story

Three citizens were shot and killed Sunday evening by man named Pierre Jeantot.  Two of the three died on an elevated railway train between the 35th Street station and the 15th Street station and the other died outside an apartment building at 1767 W. 57^th Ave.  

A fourth citizen also died on the train from a heart attack after being threatened by Jeantot.  

Jeantot, 36, of Nice, France was also shot and killed at 4:08 p.m. on the steps to the platform of the 15th Street elevated railway station by New York City Police Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle.

The citizens killed include a pedestrian outside the 57th Avenue apartment, Betty B. Badluck, 63, of the Bronx; a cop killed on the train, Roland Evans, 34, of Brooklyn, who was a 15-year veteran of the New York City Police Department; and two trainmen, the conductor, Horatio C. Hornblower, 30, of White Plains, and Peter Howe, 27, of Queens who died of a heart attack at the controls. 

Doyle, in a hijacked car, had pursued Jeantot who was riding the elevated train from the 35^th Street station to the 15^th Street station to escape Doyle, until the train car crashed into another one due to Howe’s heart attack.  

The shooting rampage began at the 57th Avenue apartment building, in which Doyle resides. 

Olivia Marple, 20, a student, was in the park located outside Doyle’s apartment building when she heard gun shots being fired.

She hid behind a mailbox across the street from the building but looked out from behind it to see what was happening.

She first heard a shot and then saw Badluck, who had been walking her granddaughter in a stroller, fall to the ground.

Two woman ran over the Badluck, but Doyle, who had just passed Badluck when she was shot, yelled at them to run away. 

Jeantot was shooting the gun from the rooftop of Doyle's apartment, and seven to ten successive shot were fired in the next two minutes and as people ran away from the scene or tried to hide.  

Doyle hid behind a tree until he didn't hear any more shots being fired and ran along the building's facade for cover until he had reached the door and entered the building. 

Marple said she saw Jeantot leave his spot on top of the building before Doyle could reach him. 

Police Commissioner Ruth L. Ess said that Doyle then began to pursue Jeantot and had to hijack a car in order to follow the elevated railway train in which Jeantot had entered at the 35th Street station.

Student Charlie Weinmann, 20, also got on the train at that station and said while he was reading his newspaper he saw Jeantot walking briskly though the car he was sitting in. 

Then a police officer, later identified as Evans, followed after Jeantot, and Weinmann said Evans looked as if he was trying to stop Jeantot. 

In the car next to Weinmann's, Evans was shot by Jeantot, which caused everyone in that car to become frenzied.  

Weinmann then called the authorities to make them aware of the situation.  He saw Hornblower and a couple of others dressed in civilian attire walk through the train towards the commotion. 

Weinmann told Hornblower that he had just heard someone being shot. 

There was a lot of noise and confusion as passengers screamed in terror.  Then the train flew by the stop Weinmann had been hoping to get off at: the 27th Street station. 

All of a sudden he felt a big jolt and he fell off his seat.  The jolt was the train crashing into another one ahead of it.  According to Ess, before the train crashed, Jeantot had shot and killed Hornblower and had threatened Howe, leading to his heart attack at the controls. 

Jeantot escaped the train but made it only to the stairs of the 15th Street station before he was shot by Doyle.

Weinmann said he didn't see anyone seriously injured in his car and he helped some people up off the ground before the authorities arrived with medical assitance.  The authorities opened the doors to the train and Weinmann exited the train with the other passengers.

Ess suspects that Jeantot had been assigned to assassinate Doyle when he mistakenly shot Badluck from the roof of Doyle’s building above, an action which set off the following car chase and resulting deaths of three other citizens on the elevated railway. 

Doyle, who is assigned to the Narcotics Division, had been investigating a French drug kingpin prior to Sunday's tragedy, and Jeantot had been allegedly working on behalf of this kingpin. 

Oh, the People You'll Meet

As this semester is beginning to wind down, it's fun to think about all the people I've met thanks to this class and all the little snippets of life in Durham I've managed to catch and learn a lot about thanks to the process of writing these stories every week.  For example, for my story for this past week I interviewed the chief of police for Durham.  Before deciding to be a journalism major, I never hoped to talk to the chief of police as I am someone who likes to follow the rules... and the law.  Also, I always imagined the chief of police to be this intimidating and grouchy old man with a fat belly and a balding head.  However, the man I talked to for my article, Chief Dave Kurz, couldn't be any farther from this description.  He was really fun to talk to actually, and the way he explained things made it so I could understand what he was talking about.  For example, he compared the fiscal problems of the government and the police department's lack of funds for hiring a new police officer to the relatable decision of choosing which car to buy: he said if you're parents are trying to save money they're going to get you a Honda and not a Beemer.  In general, he was a very jokey, easy going guy.  So not only did I get to meet and talk to someone I never thought I would encounter previously, but also the experience completely broke my preconceived notions of what a police officer should be like or act like.

Looking at Charlie's Blog

I learned a lot after reading a couple of blog posts written by Charlie about his experiences in New Orleans.  I think one of the most valuable pieces of advice he posted about was that you should "leave your ego at the door" when you are interviewing an artist.  However, that advice is really essential for any sort of person you are interviewing.  Also, while you have be nice and encourage the person you are interviewing, you aren't their friend and you need to keep the relationship professional.  I have found that even if I'm interviewing someone I know for an article, I try to distance myself and just go into the interview like they're any other person.  That is so key for journalists: finding the sweet spot between being brash and being over-friendly during interviews.  Another one of Charlie's posts that I enjoyed was his description of Bourbon Street in which he compared it to basically an adult Disney World.  While I've never been to New Orleans, I could totally picture what he was talking about and it made the setting of where he was completely real to me.  This is an instance of a writer using a simile that works really well: it is simple and helps the reader to vividly see what the writer is talking about, even if the reader has no idea what New Orleans or this specific street looks like. 

Fluffy

Pandemonium erupted at the Durham Zoo this morning when Fluffy, a spotted leopard, was reported missing from her cage at 9:30 a.m. and the zoo was the evacuated with police forcibly removing some guests. 

Police and zoo workers, some carrying high-powered rifles and pistols, were frantically searching the premises for the 10-year-old Romanian spotted leopard, which has been described as “extremely dangerous” by the zoo’s chief zoologist, Kitty Smith.

“We have no idea what time Fluffy escaped or where she went,” said Gerry Durrell, the director of the zoo.  “We are searching the grounds of the zoo, but so far we haven’t a clue.”

Durrell added that there is the possibility that Fluffy could have even escaped the premises and “could be walking around Durham at this point.”

Police Chief William Blair said that his officers will continue their search around the zoo, but if they can’t find her there by 11 a.m, they will start their search of the surrounding neighborhood.

“We are concerned because this is a residential neighborhood with an elementary school,” Blair said.  “We have got to find her by 2 p.m.  If we don’t, it could be a very messy night.”

Local Durham schools just announced that they are in lock down to keep their students safe.

Blair added that they have asked the New Hampshire State Police and the state Wildlife Department to help with the search, and the National Guard will provide five helicopters with infrared sensors.

“If possible, Fluffy will be shot with a tranquilizer gun,” Blair said.  “But, if necessary, we will shoot to kill.”

Blair is especially concerned about the safety of citizens due to Fluffy’s appetite.  According to Smith, Romanian spotted leopards, like Fluffy, are known for eating children under 8 years old. 

She described Fluffy's coloring to be black with white spots.  She weighs 146 pounds and has the ability to run 60 miles per hour.

James Petronkis, 36, a Durham citizen who visits Fluffy daily, said he was the one who first noticed that Fluffy was missing. 

“Everything seemed normal, until I got to the cage,” Petronkis said. “Then I knew something was wrong right away.  Fluffy usually draws the straw up into a nest when she sleeps, but there was no nest – there wasn’t even any straw.”

After trying to alert a zoo guard about what he had seen without success, Petronkis said he pulled the fire alarm to alert the zoo staff. 

Petronkis finally got zoo staff to check the cage, and then “all hell broke loose.”

“Police cars came from every direction and within minutes they were roughly pushing visitors to exits,” Petronkis said.

"Everything about [Fluffy's] cage seemed normal," Durrell said. "The door was shut and did not appear to have been tampered with. The fencing was unbroken.”

Durrell reported that the last time they had seen Fluffy in her cage was at 9 p.m. the night before and "at that time everything seemed normal."

Smith added that Fluffy’s cage was armed, “but no alarms sounded during the night.” 

Despite how dangerous Fluffy could possibly be to the surrounding area, Durrell emphasized that they just want her back.

"We love that cat," Durrell said, while tearing up.  "We don't want to lose her."