O/T stories 08/12
PUSSSYKATT
Woman dies with arms around croc
Kornkanok Jaiwa, a visitor to Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo, recounts how
Somjai Setbun jumped to her grisly death yesterday. _ SOMCHAI POOMLARD
A woman committed suicide by jumping into a pool of more than 100 crocodiles in
front of a shocked crowd of tourists at a Samut Prakan zoo yesterday.
Police said Somjai Setbun, a 40-year-old Surin native, died after suffering
serious injuries to her head and neck when one of the reptiles bit into her and
dragged her into the water.
``It happened so quickly that there was no time for anyone to stop her,'' said
Thanes Wiriyaporn, a tourist guide at Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo.
Mr Thanes told police Somjai's face had registered no emotion as she climbed
over the crocodile pool's two-metre steel perimeter fence at about 11 am.
When the crocodile attacked and dragged her into the water, she wrapped her
arms around it and did not resist, he said.
Scores of other reptiles subsequently swarmed around Somjai, before security
guards fought them away with bamboo poles.
Pol Lt-Col Theerachai Jindasathien said Somjai left a letter at the scene of
her death criticising her husband and apologising to her two children.
The woman's 19-year-old son, Wilai, said his mother had been suffering from
stress, but had never talked about family problems.
He believed his mother took her own life because his father had flirted with
other women.
* * *
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Black water devastates coral in Keys
A new area of black water has formed off Sanibel Island
Sunday, August 11, 2002
By CATHY ZOLLO, crz...@naplesnews.com
and JEREMY COX, jg...@naplesnews.com
More than half of the coral on the north side of the Florida Keys was destroyed
in the past 12 months, and researchers who've been monitoring Keys coral since
1996 say the black water event from last spring is to blame.
SPECIAL REPORT
Click here for our complete coverage of the black water issue.
"I'm sure that's what caused it," said James Porter, a leading coral expert who
heads the research team. "It's something to do with the water chemistry, but
it's beyond anything we know about."
Porter said his team of researchers measured a 60 percent loss of over one
year, "which is the highest rate of loss we have ever seen anywhere in the
Florida Keys in a single year," he said. "Even Hurricane Georges did not do
this kind of damage."
Five coral species were completely wiped out in areas Porter monitors in the
content Keys, a crowd of patch reefs and mangrove islands just north of the
island chain. He noted the demise of centuries-old boulder corals, and large
numbers of other bottom dwellers such as sea squirts, sea biscuits and sponges.
Sanibel Island pilot Jim Anderson said he took this picture Aug. 1 around 10
a.m. The view is across the northward bend in Sanibel Island, looking toward
Captiva. The black mass of water was within yards of shore and stretched to sea
almost a mile, Anderson said. He did not know how far south it went. Photo
courtesy of Jim Anderson
Joining Porter in his assessment of the area's sea life is marine collector Ken
Nedimyer.
"Most of the brain corals in the Northwest Channel are dead," Nedimyer said. "I
could go on. The Middle and upper Keys look good, but the Lower Keys and Key
West were hammered. But we're not supposed to worry because this is a natural
phenomenon."
Officials in the spring characterized the event as naturally occurring and
similar to a 100 years flood.
No assessment is yet in on the area hundreds of square miles in size and
farther north where satellite pictures showed the water pooled for months
beginning in November 2001 and then washed over the Keys.
New concerns
What worries some environmentalists and others along the Southwest Florida
coast is the appearance in recent weeks of another mass of black water that
formed off Sanibel Island near where the Caloosahatchee River — an outlet for
Lake Okeechobee — empties into the Gulf of Mexico.
Jim Anderson, a Sanibel pilot, said he at first thought the water was oil.
Others who live along the Caloosahatchee River say they've seen a drop in water
quality there over recent weeks.
"I noticed when waves come on shore, the water is thick and black," said Mitrah
Bakhtian, who's lived along the river for seven years.
Satellite pictures show a cloud of dark water hugging the Florida coast and
concentrating south of Cape Romano, though this water mass isn't as large as
the one in the spring.
True color satellite imagery shows a dark mass of water moving south along the
Florida coast. Though it looks similar to the black water event that decimated
Keys' coral reefs, researchers are collecting samples and say they haven't yet
ruled out naturally occurring phenomena. Photo courtesy of the Goddard Space
Flight Center
"The images are a bit similar to what we saw in the winter black water event,
but they are less dark and appear more brownish and they cover less (area) and
are closer to the coast," said Chuanmin Hu, a researcher at the University of
South Florida's Institute for Marine Remote Sensing. "This may or may not be
the same thing we observed in the winter."
Hu checked the satellite data after hearing reports of black water, but he said
there is no ongoing monitoring and interpreting program in place.
Scott Willis, spokesman for the Florida Marine Research Institute, said
scientists are collecting water samples from the current mass of water and will
be looking at those this week. Fishermen spotted the first event in January
when it had become a mass bigger than Lake Okeechobee occupying the area
between Cape Romano and the Florida Keys. It slowly moved south across the Keys
by April.
Satellite pictures at the time showed the water had trailed along the west
coast of Florida from the Caloosahatchee and intensified when it reached
western Florida Bay off the Shark River just below Marco Island and Naples.
Researchers concluded later that the black water was a complex interaction
among red tide and other algae blooms mixing with river runoff, said Beverly
Roberts of FMRI.
Few in the scientific community would say if they think July's dark water is a
repeat event, and Roberts said it could just as likely be normal river runoff.
Fresh water is much darker than sea water and would float along the surface of
the gulf.
"That can extend miles into the gulf," she said.
Water from Lake Okeechobee
Whether or not this black water is a repeat of the spring, it comes as Florida
water officials seek to manage water levels in Lake Okeechobee, an increasingly
complicated task in recent years.
Water managers have three choices when it comes to draining the lake: they can
send it east to the St. Lucie River, west to the Caloosahatchee or south
through the Everglades. Complicating matters is the fact that the lake water is
rich in nutrients and causes problems no matter which way they send it.
The lake's level peaked above 18 feet in October 1999, a level U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers feared would cause the dike surrounding the lake to fail. In
response, water managers flung open the spillways leading into the
Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers.
The district released about 2 million gallons of lake water per minute into the
Caloosahatchee over roughly a month.
What worries some environmentalists and others along the Southwest Florida
coast is the appearance in recent weeks of another mass of black water that
formed off Sanibel Island near where the Caloosahatchee River empties into the
Gulf of Mexico.
By June 2000, the lake was lowered to 13 feet.
The district and Army Corps were forced to re-examine their water-management
policies for the lake after public outcry arose over algae blooms and fish
kills in the Caloosahatchee.
Today, water managers try to keep the lake between 13 1/2 and 15 1/2 feet to
avoid major releases such as those in 2000, said Karen Estock, head of the Army
Corps South Florida Operations office in Clewiston.
Water management officials also use so-called "pulse releases," 10-day-long
periods in which they keep spillways open. And releases don't happen unless
scientists, local and state politicians and concerned citizen groups give their
blessing.
"That's always our goal— let people know what we're going to do, get some
feedback and them make our decision," Estock said. "It's science and politics."
There have been two recent "pulse releases." One ran from July 15 to July 25.
Another began Aug. 1 and will continue until Aug. 10.
In both cases, the decision to let the water out of the lake came after its
level jumped above 14 1/2 feet. Water management officials try to keep levels
lower during the rainy season, Estock said.
The release's intensity reached a peak a week ago, when nearly 3,500 cubic feet
per second of water rushed into the Caloosahatchee through the Moore Haven
lock, where the river meets Lake Okeechobee.
However, the lake's level has increased slightly due to rainfall.
Lake water quality
The amount of fresh water directed down the Caloosahatchee is a problem,
environmentalists and the state agree, and most people also agree it's a
combination of lake releases, farm and urban runoff.
What worries people like David Guest, an attorney for the environmental law
firm Earth Justice, is what's in the water.
Lake Okeechobee is more than just a place to fish. It's also where agricultural
interests around the lake pump excess water to keep farm fields dry. What comes
with the water is loads of nitrogen and, to a lesser degree, phosphorus,
according to the water district's own reports.
Together, they're food for a host of organisms that, though generally harmless,
can choke waterways when they can grow out of control.
Guest said the water backpumped from farms is bad for creatures in the
Caloosahatchee and could just as well be bad for the Gulf.
"When you have algae or maybe the black tide and when that arrives and finds
nutrient-rich water, is it a surprise that it grows out of control?" he asked.
Porter, whose team recently identified a new disease decimating elkhorn coral
in waters up and down the Keys, said the black water is a mystery and that
research and monitoring needs to go on.
"I'm deeply concerned by that event," he said, "as much because I don't know
what it means as I know what it did. I don't think anyone knew how important
this was because it had never happened before."
FOR PHOTO: http://www.naplesnews.com/02/08/naples/d789340a.htm
* * *
GRAND CANYON CHOPPER MOM'S INCREDIBLE STRUGGLE
NY POST/By ZACH HABERMAN
-------------------------------------
One year after the fiery Grand Canyon chopper crash that killed her husband,
"miracle" mom Chana Daskal is looking to her children for the will to live.
"She's literally fighting for her life every day," said Lea Sternbach, a close
friend of Daskal, who has had more than 40 operations since the disaster last
Aug. 10.
A routine sightseeing tour of the Grand Canyon went tragically wrong when the
helicopter, carrying six people from Brooklyn, crashed at Grand Wash Cliffs
outside Meadview, Ariz.
The pilot and five passengers, including Daskal's husband, David, were killed
instantly when the chopper slammed into the cliffs and burst into flames.
Daskal, 26, who lives in the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Seagate, was the
only survivor.
She has third-degree burns over 85 percent of her body. Most of the 42
surgeries have been skin grafts - but she has also had multiple limb
amputations and operations to stabilize her back.
"They took her left leg, they took her right foot, they may have to take her
hands," said Gary C. Robb, a Kansas City-based attorney leading Daskal's
lawsuit against Papillon Airways.
"Her ears are burnt off, she is paralyzed from the waist down, and she has one
objective - to stay alive for her kids," Robb told The Post.
Daksal's two boys, Eli, 4, and Avi, 11/2, "don't care what she looks like. They
just want their mommy," said Sternbach, who added that the boys have been
living with Daskal's twin sister Brochia Rosenberg.
Robb said, "She wants to see her kids grow up. She told me, ‘I need to be
alive to raise my boys.'
"She wants to spend every moment she's alert with her kids."
Daskal spent seven months in a Las Vegas hospital burn unit before coming back
to Brooklyn in late February, spending only about three weeks at home. She has
not been home since.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^She has since spent time at the Cornell burn unit at
New York Presbyterian Hospital and the intensive-care unit at Staten Island
University Hospital.
The financial burden has been enormous. In only a year, she has incurred $4.5
million in medical and surgical expenses.
Everyone who has contact with Daskal is inspired by her will to live and her
refusal to give up, despite the pain and the odds.
"She has such a fighting spirit," said Sternbach. "She just won't let go.
Nobody thought that she would make it. She's a miracle girl."
Robb added, "She is a triumph of the human spirit and the desire to live."
FOR PHOTO: http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/54544.htm
* * *
THEY PUT THE CLEAN INTO MURDER SCENE
NY POST/By IKIMULISA SOCKWELL-MASON
------------------------------------------
When tragedy strikes and a loved one dies violently, few consider who will make
the gruesome scene a space that's livable again. But two cops with iron
stomachs and nerves of steel have a growing side business - cleaning up the
mess when someone dies badly.
On the job, Detectives Daniel Chin and John DeSimone, both 40, noticed how
people resisted cleaning the scene of a murder or suicide.
"We saw there was a need for this kind of service," said DeSimone. "The victim
has already been traumatized by the loss of a loved one.
"Then to actually clean up where the unfortunate incident happened? Most of
them are really just not up to it," he said.
So three years ago, Chin and DeSimone started After Death Clean-Up.
As part of the NYPD's Crime Scene Unit, they'd already seen the worst and
acquired the expertise to dispose of blood, tissue and other fluids safely.
Recently, the two cleaned the site of a shotgun suicide in Long Island, where
the body wasn't found for a week.
The two men painstakingly sanitized the room. They got rid of the blood, along
with brain matter and skull fragments.
Both men said they're accustomed to the awful things they've seen. "The first
time, the odors hit you hard," said Chin.
There is one good part to After Death Clean-Up, DeSimone said. "I find it
rewarding at the end," he said. "When a family sees everything is taken out . .
. there's peace of mind."
* * *
PA. FIREHOUSE UP IN SMOKE
NY POST
------------------------------------
HYNDMAN, Pa. - The volunteer firefighters in this small mountain town got the
call of their nightmares: Their firehouse was burning and the equipment was
inside. "It was kind of like their second home was burning," Fire Chief Jim
Whitford said.
An electrical malfunction is believed to have sparked the fire early Saturday.
No one was in the building, but much of the equipment and firetrucks were
already enveloped in flames by the time the volunteers reached it.
The firefighters had only one hose and battled the blaze for about 20 minutes
until firetrucks from nearby communities arrived.
The fire was extinguished after about 90 minutes, and damage was estimated at
$500,000.
* * *
CAGED KIDS' HELL
NY POST/By ANDY GELLER
----------------------
Their home is a rusty cage 4 feet high and 2 1/2 feet wide. They have only a
ragged blanket to keep them warm.
And for a toilet, they have a bucket.
These two pitiful kids spend 10 hours a day in the hell of child care,
Chinese-style.
Their uncle, Chen Zi Huang, loves little Gwen Gwen, 5, and her brother, Qi Qi,
3.
But China doesn't have state-run child care, and Chen is too poor to hire a
nanny or place the children in an orphanage.
So the 60-year-old widower keeps them caged in his shack while he ekes out a
living as a farm worker in the village of Xiapu in Guang Dong province.
Chen says it's too dangerous to let the kids - whose parents are in prison -
fend for themselves. He tried it once, and they set fire to the house.
Many Chinese children fare far worse than Gwen Gwen and Qi Qi.
In 1979, the country introduced a one-child-per-family policy, backed up by
stiff fines. Since then, thousands of baby girls - less prized than boys - have
been abandoned or killed.
Last year, officials drowned a baby boy in a rice paddy because he was a third
child and his father couldn't pay the fine.
But the miseries of others are little consolation for Gwen Gwen and Qi Qi.
Every morning, it is getting harder for their uncle to persuade Qi Qi to enter
the cage.
While Gwen Gwen gets in meekly, her brother has to be enticed with promises of
cookies and candy - little reward for his misery.
FOR PHOTO: http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/54516.htm
* * *
WEIRD BUT TRUE
NY POST.....
--The government is hunting down a new killer in Connecticut. A fast-spreading
plant that can attach itself to moving cars, animals and swim down waterways
has made it to the Nutmeg State. The new plant popping up here, a giant
hogweed, is on the federal noxious weed list. Feds say its sap rearranges DNA
molecules in human skin and causes a blistering, red-to-dark-brown rash that
can produce pus or itch. If the sap comes in contact with eyes, it can cause
blindness. The danger, according to biologists, is that it can overtake
ecosystems. The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave a $5,000 grant this year to
hunt and kill the weed.
--Elvis is alive - or, at least, someday his DNA may help land him the greatest
"Comeback Special" ever. Tom Morgan, a friend of Elvis’ late hair stylist,
has a half-pound of Elvis hair he wants used to clone the King. The Elvis
memorabilia collector said that the late King’s one-time hairstylist gave him
the wad of Presley’s locks. With the hair, cloning experts say, they could do
a tedious DNA sequencing procedure. Elvis memorabilia experts say the hair
could be sold for $50,000 to $100,000.
--An Old Lyme, Conn., woman had to prove she wasn’t ready for the nuthouse to
save her Nut Museum. Elizabeth Tashjian, 89, has spent her life trying to prove
nuts are at the very core of human existence. Her home, which houses the Nut
Museum, is covered with walnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, peanuts and coconuts, all
of which she believes carry souls. After waking from a 28-day coma that started
in May, the family-less nut collector learned the court had appointed a
conservator to handle her Nut Museum and she was ruled too ill to care for
herself or her home. Tashjian, who claimed she didn’t realize the word "nut"
could also mean crazy, has been charging $3 and a nut for admission in hopes of
saving for her dream: a nut theme park that will put Disneyland to shame.
--It didn’t take long for drug dealers to realize farmers in Venice Center,
N.Y., are sitting on a fertilizer gold mine. Farmers in the rural community
have been keeping an eye for fertilizer bandits who are after anhydrous ammonia
- a liquid fertilizer the thieves steal and sell to drug dealers who make
methamphetamine, a popular and addictive stimulant. Cayuga County has become a
pipeline for fertilizer fencers. In the past 18 months, more than 200 thefts
have been reported and deputies have made 32 arrests.
* * *
By DENNIS DAILY, United Press International
--An elderly couple living in Ft. Collins, Colo., had to make a decision. Eat
... or go without food, because of their meager Social Security income. The
answer, according to court records, was to sell their prescription morphine to
a friend who had nearly broken her ankle. The couple, one 69 the other 60, is
charged with selling the drug, on at least three occasions, to a 45-year-old
friend. The friend died from a combination of morphine and alcohol in her
system. At the time of her death, health epidemiologists wondered how the woman
had gotten hold of morphine. They discovered it had been sold to her by the
couple. Now Mr. and Mrs. William Cooley are charged with criminally negligent
homicide in connection with the woman's death.
--Many observatories around the country are offering special viewing to patrons
through the end of the annual meteor shower. For example, the San Francisco
Chronicle reports that the Fremont Peak Observatory in California's Fremont
Peak State Park (between Hollister and Salinas) is opening its gates in the
coming days for nightly viewing of what should be a spectacular event. As many
as a meteor-a-minute may be visible, even to the naked eye. This year the
annual encounter with floating space dust will be a better show because of the
fact that the moon is at "low ebb" and there will not be moonlight to overpower
the show, as has been the case in past years. Look toward the darkest parts of
the sky for the best effect. Check your local observatory or sky-watching club
for more information. Or go to this NASA Web site: neo.jpl.nasa.gov, without
using the "www" at the start.
--Have you have ever wondered what happens when a company is aware of a safety
problem and fails to alert Washington? Well, it's happened to General Electric.
And the fine was one million dollars. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission tells United Press International that GE has agreed to pay the
penalty in the wake of charges that it failed to report to the CPSC (in a
timely manner) information on problems in some of the company's dishwashers.
The charges were that GE did not notify regulators in Washington about fires,
smoking and melting in six models of dishwashers. Government records charge
that GE knew about the problems as early as 1992 and sat on the information.
The problems happened in the "energy-saving" slide switches on the suspect
units. More than 3.1 million of the models were sold nationally. GE is offering
to have a technician fix the switch. You can reach the company at 800-599-2929,
toll-free.
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