Alex

A local boy was killed this afternoon, mere hours after the maimed body of Chrissie Watson was found this morning, in the waters off Village Beach, in what police suspect is a possible shark attack.

Alex Kitner, 10, was floating on a rubber raft offshore around 2 p.m. today when the attack occurred.

Police say the Amity boy was killed in "what appears... to have been a vicious and unprovoked shark attack". 


Kitner's body has not been recovered but his raft washed up on shore shortly after the attack, ripped and destroyed.

"His damaged raft floated ashore shortly after the incident with what appeared to be a large bite out of it" said Police Chief martin Brody, who witnessed the events this afternoon.


It was a beautiful Summer day and the beach was crowded with people, young and old.  Lounging in the sand or frolicking in the water, everyone was enjoying the nice weather and relishing the chance to escape from the heat of the Summer sun.

Children were playing in the water, tossing around a football as Kitner paddled out to the depths of the Ocean.

Commotion quickly disrupted this idyllic Summer's day when Kitner was suddenly pulled under the water.  The kids playing nearby scrambled frantically to get out of the water as worried parents, friends and guardians rushed to the water's edge to ensure the safety of their loved ones. 

Alex's mother, Marion Kitner, called for her son as she paced back and forth in the surf, to no avail.

Mrs. Kitner, who was a witness to her son's attack, is now at Amity General Hospital being treated for shock.  

Police say that today's attack may be linked to the death of Chrissie Watson, whose mangled body was found earlier today on the shores of South Beach.

"We now believe that it may be possible that the Watson death could also maybe have possibly been linked to the possible shark activities in the vicinity of Amity" said Brody.

A special meeting will take place at 6 p.m. today in Town Hall to discuss Chief Brody's plan to close the beaches on July 4, the Kitner family's reward for the capture of the suspected killer and a local fisherman's offer to hunt down the shark thought to be the perpetrator.

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!

Barack Obama's second term: Now, hug a Republican

This article was a follow up to the presidential election and Obama's victory over Romney.  The article explained that, though Obama's policies have been seen as unpopular by some over the past four years, he got very lucky in the last few weeks of the election.  The economy boosted just a teeny bit but enough to give Obama something to go on.  However, I thought it was good that the article said that, if Obama wants to have a more successful second term, he must work with the republicans in the senate and in congress.  I thought this was an excellent point because I have always thought that, for the country to be successful, both parties need to compromise and work together so as to have a balanced set of ideals and to have unbiased policies. I liked that the article mentioned this fact because I think too often politicians get caught up in the ideas of their own platform and the ideas of their party that they forget that the other party has valuable ideas that can help the country too.  Hopefully Obama takes this advice because everything works better when people work together and everyone's opinions can be heard, which is what America's supposed to be all about, right?

an charged with OUI in 'Zombie Response' vehicle rollover

It's 2012!  You know what that means? Yup... Zombie Apocalypse!!!  This Eliot ME man clearly think the zombies are taking over before Dec. 21 because Sunday night the driver hopped into his car after drinking with some friends, lost control of the car and rolled it onto the driver's side window.  The car was adorned with many "zombie response team" decals though no zombies were seen at the accident site. The car was removed and the driver was arrested for driving under the influence.  I though this article was really funny.  As an avid watcher of "The Walking Dead" I can see how someone would catch the "zombie hype" floating around these days.  However, I thought it was funny that the driver had zombie response team stickers on his car.  It's obvious to me that he crashed the car because he ran into a zombie.

Comparing two article on Elizabeth Warren

I read two different articles from different sources about the same subject: Elizabeth Warren's first press conference as an elected senator.  In the Boston Herald article, Warren seemed un-knowledgeable, brushing aside questions, answering in short, terse sentences and even passing question to Deval Patrick.  All in all, the article made Warren seem like and awkward public speaker.  Although the boston.com article admitted to Warren answering questions with short answers and even declining to answer questions, they had a "redemption paragraph" for Warren in which they quoted a longer answer she gave so it seemed as though she was not so unintelligent.  I thought the two articles were interesting to compare and contrast because, although they were about the same subject and though they both used the same facts, the articles had different aims in portraying Warren.  In one she seemed to be ditsy and awkward and in the other she was made out to be awkward at first but then eloquent after being warmed up.