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.