tweet 2

spoke too soon: 3rd victim, James Park, 30, was killed 1:30 pm today after being thrown from rowboat. police closed all beaches 

tweet

two boys with cardboard shark fins do laps at local beach and cause utter panic for sunbathers #toosoon 

The Meeting

The shark that was blamed for the death of two young people was killed yesterday by a local fisherman. 

Chrissie Watson, 17, of Amity was found dead on the beach Monday morning after being mauled by the shark. That same day, Alex Kintner, 10, of Amity was swimming at Village Beach when he was violently pulled under off his inflatable raft and killed, also by the same shark. 

An older man with overgrown grey sideburns and a mustache, Ben Quint was eating potato chips at the town meeting on Monday night when he originally volunteered to catch the shark. Quint slayed the shark one mile south-southwest of Amity from his boat. Quint will receive a $3,000 reward for his brave efforts. 

After Quint brought the shark ashore, Matt Hooper, a marine biologist from Woods Hole, Mass., Oceanographic Institute inspected it. Hooper decided that it was a nurse shark. Nurse sharks are among the most brutal and dangerous of all sharks and have been responsible for hundreds of swimmers’ deaths along the East Coast of the United States.

The Amity Police Chief Martin Brody released a statement this morning confirming that the waters were safe once again in the town of Amity. The beaches have been reopened immediately just in time for the flood of visitors for the Fourth of July weekend.  

Brody wants to remind everyone that there will be shark spotters from the Coast Guard, the Marine Patrol, the Massachusetts State Police, the U.S. Navy, Homeland Security, the FBI and numerous municipal and county police agencies in the area. This is just a precaution, and "islanders and guests should not be alarmed," Brody said.

Shark Side Story

Recent shark attacks in Cape Cod have caused swimming anxiety up and down the coast of New England. Although it seems unlikely that the crowded beaches on the 18-mile coastline of New Hampshire could be in danger, sharks are more common in this area than one might think. 

The chilly water temperature of NH seems like an unappealing habitat for a shark, however that isn’t true. Just this past July, Wallis Sands State Beach closed for two days after a lifeguard spotted two 6-foot sharks. No one was injured, and despite the sighting, there have been no shark attacks since 1936.

Lobsterman and self-described shark expert Brad Laslett said that he has seen his “fair share of sharks” while out fishing. “They’re really not going to do anything,” Laslett said. “In fact, most of the time around here it’s a Basking or a Blue shark and they barely even eat fish.”

A Basking Shark is a docile, large fish that feeds only on plankton. They range from 20 to 26 feet in length and are often seem swimming in the area. The Blue Shark is the most commonly spotted shark on the seacoast of NH. They are six to 10 feet in length. Blue Sharks diet typically consist of invertebrates. 

Great White Sharks are one of the three species of sharks that are universally dangerous to people. They are the only type of shark that ever come within a few hundred mile vicinity of NH. Even that is unlikely for several reasons. This is because, said Tony LaCasse, spokesperson for the New England Aquarium, Great Whites primarily eat seals, and the seal population north of Cape Cod is sparse. Additionally, the ocean floor off the coast of New Hampshire is rocky, making for tough swimming and hunting for a shark.

In short, the likelihood of kids boogie-boarding at Hampton Beach getting napped up by the next Jaws is slim. 

week 10.3: alex

Alex Kintner, 10, of Mayfair Court, Amity was killed at 2 p.m. this afternoon. Kintner was swimming about 40’ off shore on a blow up raft when he was violently pulled under the water. 

Amity Village Police Department Police Chief Martin Brody said that Kintner was killed in what appears to be a vicious and unprovoked shark attack. Kintner’s body was not recovered.

Kintner was at the crowded Village Beach for the afternoon with his mother. His damaged raft floated ashore shortly after the incident with what appeared to be a large bite out of it. Marion Kintner, mother of the victim, was at the beach when the event occurred. 

Marion Kintner is being treated for shock at Amity General Hospital, where she is in fair condition. A brown Labrador retriever disappeared into the water as well after his owner was playing catch with him. Whether or not the two incidents are related, there have been no other injuries reported. 

According to a press release by Amity Police Chief Martin Brody, the incident with 17-year-old Chrissie Watson may possibly be linked to shark activities as well. The investigation with both tragic events is ongoing. 

Police Chief Martin Brody and Amity Mayor Larry Vaughn express the town’s deepest and most sincere condolences to the Kintner family. Vaughn and Brody adamantly stress that random acts of senseless violence, victimizing innocent, helpless citizens, do not happen in the city.

A special meeting will be held this evening at 6 p.m. at the Town Hall. It will be hosted by Mayor Larry Vaughn, Police Chief Martin Brody and the Amity Board of Selectmen. The agenda is as follows:

1. Pledge of Allegiance
2. Reading of the minutes of the previous meeting
3. Any old business
4. New business
1. Discussion of Chief Brody’s plan to close the beaches on July 4.
2. Kintner family reward of $3,000 for capture of perpetrators.
3. Offer by grizzled old fisherman Quint to hunt down the shark thought to be the vile perpetrator of this tragic incident.
5. Closing prayer

week 10.2: chrissie

Chrissie Watson, 17, of 23 Sharkstooth St., Amity, was found dead on the beach Monday morning. Watson was last seen alive on Sunday night leaving a beach party with Christopher P. Hoggenbottam III. The pair had decided to go swimming around 11 p.m. 

Amity Village Police Department have begun investigations. Hoggenbottam, 20, a sophomore at Trinity College, reported at 6 a.m. on Monday that Watson did not return from the water. After a brief search, Police Deputy Jay Hendricks located Watson’s mangled body on the shoreline.

Watson’s body had been severely mauled by an attack of unknown origin. Her body has been transported to the coroner’s office an autopsy.

Watson entered the water at a remote section of South Beach near the South Beach Shoal bell buoy. Police have learned from witnesses that both teenagers had been drinking and possibly smoking marijuana throughout the evening.

Ericka Dupervil, 20, was at the party and saw Watson and Hoggenbottam leave together. “[Watson] didn’t seem intoxicated at all,” Dupervil said. “I saw Hoggenbottam have a coupe of beers.”

Police Chief Martin Brody has been with the Amity Village Police Department about a year. There has never been a history of shark attacks “because I’ve never heard of one,” he said at a press conference this morning.

Although a shark attack has not been completely ruled out, the beaches will remain open. “We don’t know what it could have been,” Brody said. “It could have been a stalker in the dunes.”

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

week 10.1

what is "news?" i know you asked us this at the beginning of the semester, and in my last blog post i want to take a few sentences to think and reflect on this.
i'm far from being a skilled journalist, that much i know it true. my knowledge and skills have certainly improved (or i hope they have). perhaps they aren't best exemplified in the rambling of this blog but i think i've definitely refined at least some aspects of my writing. 
i am completely hooked on this type of writing. i love being thrown into learning about something and having only a few days, sometimes a few hours, to process and comprehend this information into a way that makes sense. this occurs through research, interviews, reading, just thinking, and eventually writing. i have also learned a lot about my writing style - i need all of my information and (almost all of) my sources before i can write an article. i quickly found that just one persons opinion can (and probably will) change the entire structure and voice of the article. 
so back to the beginning. news - has it changed? how do i define it now? is it any different to me? have i been changed? i think my experience with this thing is still too immature for any bold statements like those. i have grown and developed an new appreciation of the definition of news - hows that for whishy-washy, vague and noncommittal?
to me, news is still:
True, current and important ongoings in a community, town, city, state, country and world, collected and exemplified in many mediums, including written word on a newspaper, blog, website, magazine, e-blast or spoken on the television or broadcasted over the radio.

i'm not sure if the definition will or could ever change, though. i am hoping my interpretation of "The News" grows with me.