Amity Police are taking special precautions, including
closing Amity’s beaches, in order to try to prevent further shark attacks after
a local girl was found mauled by a shark yesterday morning and a boy was
attacked by a shark yesterday afternoon.
At last night’s Amity Board of Selectmen meeting, held at
Town Hall at 6 p.m., Police Chief Martin Brody told citizens in attendance that,
in light of the deaths of Chrissie Watson, 17, and Alex Kintner, 10, whose body
still has not been found, the police were going to “put on an extra number of
summer deputies” and employ “shark spotters.”
The meeting commenced with a tizzy of voices yelling out
over each other, and Mayor Larry Vaughn could hardly get people to quiet down
in order to ask if there were “any special questions.”
One citizen of Amity asked Brody if the police was going to
close the beaches, to which Chief Brody responded, “We are.”
This was met with an uproar as a number of Amity citizens in
the audience yelled out at Brody in anger.
Multiple people who showed up at the meeting were owners of businesses
that rely on the numerous amount of tourists that come to Amity to vacation on
the beaches.
Mayor Vaughn reassured citizens that the beaches would only
be closed for 24 hours, even though Chief Brody had not put a time limit on his
own statement.
One fisherman inquired into the $3,000 reward advertised by
the Kintner family for whoever could capture and kill the shark, to which Mayor
Vaughn responded that anyone with questions of that nature should get in touch
with the Kintner family. Marion Kintner,
who was at Village Beach when her son was attacked, is currently being treated
for shock at Amity General Hospital.
In the midst of the commotion, a fisherman named Quint who
was sitting at the back of Town Hall suddenly ran his nails down a chalk board
to get the room’s attention. Quint said
he could catch the shark, but he would only do so for $10,000.
Mayor Vaughn nodded his head and said, “We’ll take it under
advisement.”
Quint then left the room, and the Mayor declared that the
meeting was over.