Chrissie

Police are investigating the death of Chrissie Watson, 17, a senior at Amity High School, who died tragically Sunday during a late-night swim.

Watson's body was found washed up on the beach early this morning by Police Deputy Jay Hendricks.

According to Police Chief Martin Brody, Watson's body was "severely mauled by an attacker of unknown origin" and transported to the coroner's office for a full autopsy.

Watson was last seen alive at a beach party with Chistopher P. Hoggenbottam III, a sophomore at Trinity College, around 11 p.m Sunday night.  The two had been drinking heavily and possibly smoking marijuana.  

Watson and Hoggenbottam decided to go for a nighttime swim at South Beach near the South Beach Shoal bell buoy.  The seas were calm and warm. 

However when Watson, who was a member of the Amity High School varsity swim team and an Amity Island YMCA pool lifeguard, did not return, Hoggenbottam began to be worried.

"When Watson did not return from the water, Hoggenbottam notified police at about 6 a.m." said Brody in a press release. 

Although police have not ruled out a shark attack and the investigation continues, Chief Brody wishes to assure all residents that they are in no danger.

 "Our lovely beaches will remain open for swimming pending the outcome of the investigation" said Brody.

The time-bomb at the heart of Europe

The article from The Economist is about the trouble in Europe with the euro.  In the past, France has benefited from the EU's single currency.  However, recently France has been losing competitiveness with Germany and now its economy is looking very vulnerable. This article is of particular interest to me because I am an International Affairs dual major and a French minor who plans to study abroad in Dijon, France next year.  This could potentially affect the currency rate which would certainly impact me as an international traveler.  Also, there have been protests and riots in Spain resulting from problems with the euro so, while I'm abroad, it will be interesting to see how people react to this problem.

arrested on drug charge; pot, cocaine sold in Portsmouth, say police

Ok, here two guys from Andover and Epping were arrested for selling drugs in Portsmouth.  This doesn't really happen all that frequently so I bet the Portsmouth Police Department was excited to have something to do!  It's also kind of weird to think about people selling drugs in a place where you live because I like to think of Portsmouth as a pretty safe city (but, hey, I'm biased).  Another thing I noticed about this story was that is was very to the point and newsy.  Based on what we discussed in class I think this story could be spiced up a bit with some narrative.  Although it is an important story I feel the author could have gotten the information across to the reader in a more interesting way.  The lead was a typical news lead but I think there could have been some descriptions of the felons added to the story to brighten it up a bit.

City seeks suggestions on how to use funds from Connie Bean sale

This article is from my local newspaper, The Portsmouth Herald and it's about something I didn't know was going on in my town (so I'm glad I read it, because now I know what's up where I live).  Basically a local community center was sold in August and the town is now trying to decide what to do with the funds from the sale. One suggestion has been to create a trust with the funds from the sale which would provide funds over a period of time to celebrate events recognizing local service men/women or to improve buildings.  They still haven't decided what to do with the funds but I like the idea of a trust because this way the town will have money for things they actually need instead of just spending the excess money frivolously now.

'Everything you do there matters'

I read this article in TNH yesterday and I was shocked because I actually know the person the story is about.  The story centered around a student here, Carter Gentillhomme.  He served in Afghanistan before deciding to study here and, while abroad, faced such horrors as snipers, shrapnel and suicide bombers.  I met Carter last year at Leadership Camp and I knew that he served in Afghanistan but I had no idea what he did there. I thought it was really inspiring to read the story of a student who experienced so much and who gave so much to his country.  I have so much respect for Carter after reading this article.  On a more "journalistic" note, I thought the quotes the author used were very effective at not only portraying Carter's personality but everything he went through, what he experienced and how he felt about his term in Afghanistan.

Portsmouth offers free downtown parking for holiday season

This three week parking ban is just awesome!  As a resident of Portsmouth, I routinely get stressed out by the holiday seasons because they mean three things for me: tourists, crowds, and (with a car available to me) paid parking.  I hate paying for parking because I frequently forget how long I paid to park which, understandably, results in expensive parking tickets for me.  Because I get a lot of presents from stores in downtown, the parking ban is simply superb because I can do all my shopping without trying to figure out how much I can spend on gifts by subtracting how much I spent on parking.  However, I learned from this article that the town plan a loss of $30,000 per week of the parking ban into their yearly budget.  Although the town doesn't really lose any money, I had no idea how much money parking brought to Portsmouth.  I also think that this ban will bring in more shoppers which might help to counterbalance that $30,000 per week loss.  Happy Holidays to Portsmouth!!!

British Beer Company to open in Portsmouth

I read an article from the Portsmouth Herald about how a new pub is going to open in Portsmouth in April.  I think that this is a good idea for the company because, although there are a lot of pubs in Portsmouth I think this concept will succeed.  The company has 38 beers on tap and imports practically everything from Great Britain.  This authenticity is something I think a lot of people will key into.  Also what with all the hype around the "Keep Calm and" blah blah blah posters and the glamour of the royal family, everyone is thinking British. I also really like looking a new marketing strategies so I think the British Beer Company reaching out to the newspapers this early is smart because people are already starting to think of what's to come come springtime.  Also, this just goes to show that, even if newspapers are becoming "old fashioned", they're still great for advertising!