Killer Leopard on the Loose

Police and zoo workers dashed about the Durham Zoo carrying high-powered rifles and looking everywhere- in trash cans, behind buildings, in trees, inside the cotton candy concession.

They were on the search for the zoo's resident man-eating spotted leopard that escaped from her cage last night and is now on the loose.

Fluffy, a rare 10-year old Romanian spotted leopard, one of only five in existence, weighs 146 pounds and can run up to 60 miles per hour. According to the zoo's chief zoologist, Kitty Smith, this species of leopard is now known for its taste for children. The species was driven to the brink of extinction in Romania because of their appetite for young children.

Despite the species' tarnished reputation, Fluffy has become a well-loved character among Durham Zoo residents, but even Smith admits that these cats are "extremely dangerous." "Fluffy is a wonderful, warm, gentle cat who has never hurt anyone," said Smith. "But if these cats are cornered- or encountered on a dark night- their defense is to kill and to kill quickly. They take the 'kill now, ask later' approach to life."

Because of the inherent danger of the leopard, police and zoo workers have scrambled to recapture Fluffy. The New Hampshire State Police and the state wildlife department have joined the efforts and the National Guard will be supplying five helicopters with infrared sensors, according to Police Chief William Blair. The search is currently scanning every inch of the zoo, but forces will soon extend to the outside residential neighborhoods as it is feared that Fluffy may come in contact with and attack one of the children that attend the local elementary school. "We don't want Fluffy wandering around after the kids get out of school. We have got to find her before 3 p.m." said Blair. "If we don't, it could be a very messy night."

Supposedly, the cat went missing between the zoo's closing time at 9 p.m. yesterday and 7:30 this morning. "We are doing everything we can to find her and bring her back," said Zoo Director, Gerry Durrell. "We love that cat and we don't want to lose her."

James Petronkis, 36, of Newmarket noticed the empty cage early this morning and alerted zoo officials to the disappeared cat. "Everything seemed normal, until I got to the cage. Then I knew something was wrong right away," said Petronkis. "Fluffy usually draws the straw up into a nest when she sleeps, but there was no nest- there wasn't even any straw." As police arrived on the scene, he described the situation as if "all hell broke loose."

Upon noticing Fluffy's disappearance, the zoo was shut down and visitors were herded out the front gate. One of Fluffy's disgruntled fans grumbled, "Fluffy would never hurt anyone," said the anonymous source. "This place is out of control."

Biddeford Airport Issue

The 73-year old Biddeford City Airport is threatened to be shut down for good at a heft cost of $3 million by voters in June's upcoming general election.

The 126-acre property is the base of 47 planes, half of which are corporate-owned. The property is worth $1.6 million and the airport takes in about $56,000 annually from sales of gas, property taxes, and land leases, according to Biddeford City Manager John Bubier.

Records from the city manager's office indicate the expensive costs to maintain the aiport. In recent years, running the aiport including maintenance, utilities and improvements came to a total of $47,000 in 2006, $72,000 in 2007 and $60,000 just last year.

"Once we started looking at the airport, we came to the conclusion that there is no financial benefit at its existing size and capacity," said Paul Archambault, Chairman of Save Our Little Aiport (SOLA). "It continues to be a tax burden."

Phyllis Landry who keeps a single-engine Cessna sky Pilot 180 at Biddeford City Airport and has been flying out of the airport for 25 years, supports its saving, "I love this airport. If I couldn't fly out of here I'd have to go to Sanford or Portland."

The airport stirred up some controversy a few years ago when it began enforcing federal safety regulations because it was at risk of losing funding from the Federal Aviation Afdministration. In compliance with these regulations, the airport began cutting down trees and blocking public access to the popular space. "We have pedestrians, motorcycles, four-wheelers (and) ATVs all using it," said Airport Manager, Tom Bryand. "They just use it as a backyard and that's against regulations."

This issue has gone on unresolved and left a tension between airport officials and surrounding Biddeford residents.

Biddeford resident, Roland Pelletier who has lived next to the runway for 24 years, commented on an online poll regarding the issue, "Noise does not bother me, these planes, except for the WWII toys, do not both me. Taking my money bothers me, airplanes right over the schools where my grandchildren go bothers me. NTSB has a report of a pilot, who was also an instructor pilot, hit the trees at the end of the runway because he did not do a correct pre-flight check and at take off speed could not pull back on his controls because he forgot to take off his control lock. Some residents no longer have trees to protect them, this bothers me. I still have a good tree barrier to stop a plane and reduce noise."

"Sure this started out as a fight between trees and public access," said Archambault. "But its just not about that any more. Now its about money, too."

The City Council really hasn't come down on one side of the issue or the other," said Bubier. "I think they'd prefer to have the voters settle this one."

Voters will be able to decide the fate of the Biddeford City Airport for the June 4 general election in Biddeford, Maine on the referendum question, "Shall the city authorize the Airport Authority to close the Biddeford City Airport at a cost of about $3 million, to be taken from general operating funds?"

Keeping up with the Times: Tues, Nov. 10, 2009

Continuing with the story of Fort Hood's shooting, Thursday's incident turns out to be just one in a disturbing history of suicides and tragic killings at the base. There are disturbing statistics of unseen crimes associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan including rises in domestic violence, suicides, anger management issues and other violent crimes. Military officials try to point out that 53,000 soldiers assigned to the base makes Fort Hood the largest facility in the country, but it still doesn't explain the many red flags that have gone unnoticed.

There is the story of one soldier, Staff Sergeant Justin Lee Garza, 28, shot himself four days after being told that no counselor was available to see him. It is stories like these that make military families question the reliability and strength of psychiatric help for military officers.

There was an interesting profile on the bottom half of the front page featuring a Cuban Pentecostal minister voicing his dissent on gay marriage, State Senator Ruben Diaz Jr. He strongly opposes gay marriage and actively promotes this opinion despite to being surrounded by friends and loved ones who idenitify themselves as gay including two brothers, a granddaughter and friends. "I love them. But I don't believe in what they are doing," he says. "They are my brothers. They are my family." He has been very actively opposing gay marriage from sueing the city in the opening of a highschool for transgender/gay students to public speeches.

Keeping up with the Times: Mon, Nov. 9, 2009

On Thursday afternoon I received a an impromptu phone call from my mother while getting dinner at the dining hall. She told me to look up the news. When I got back to my dorm room with my roommate, we turned on CNN to a headline of tragedy.

That very afternoon, a shooter took the lives of 13 stationed on Fort Hood, Texas. Since then, the media has been swarming with headline after headline on the circumstances and questions about the shooter who was pushed too far over the edge. Its sadly ironic that a psychiatrist treating soldiers for PTSD was the mentally unstable one. I suppose no one ever thinks about screening the psychiatrist of all people for mental instabilities.

I liked the narrative voice in the opening of the article. I tend to find as a reader of the daily news now, how journalists report these everyday tragedies in a professional, detached tone, appearing unbiased, but also uncaring.

"Major Hasan's behavior in the months and weeks leading up to the shooting bespeaks a troubled man full of contradictions," reads the article. Apparently, the suspect was a troubled individual who attempted to leave the military and was subject to alot of harassment. It doesn't give any license to the man, but it certainly is a psychological telling for motivation in the crime.

Similiarly, sharing the frontpage is an article titled "A Hard Time for Muslims to Serve Their Country." It looks into the complications and hardships Muslim and Arab-American soldiers face when serving in the military. Many feel a contradiction in religious or moral convictions when fighting fellow Muslims. I remember watching an interview of two military men serving at Fort Hood on GMA. One said it was difficult to see their faiths to the god Allah as beneath or second to the military. This both scared and appalled my mother, a former drill sergeant in the Marine Corps.

I think the article sheds a more sympathetic light on the Muslim shooter by association. It still could never justify the shooting, but it allows a different angle into the psychology behind this "gradual build-up" mentioned in the main article.

On the lower portion of the frontpage is a profile article featuring Nelson Mandela and his iconic dream that "retains a vital place in the public consciousness." The smaller, insignificant details paint a portrait of a quiet, aging Mandela though his charisma can still captivate a room. I really enjoyed this profile article.

On page A15, there is an easily-comprehensible breakdown of the support and opposition regarding the Health Care bill.

Keeping up with the Times: Thurs, Nov. 5, 2009

The timeless American cartoon character, Mickey Mouse is getting a makeover. The Walt Disney Company is making efforts to reconsider everything that we know and love about Mickey from his walk to his talk. Mickey hasn't changed much since his conception in the early 1930s. He has been a beloved cartoon character for generation upon generation of American children, making Mickey one of if not the most timeless cartoon characters of America.

But with the changing times, Disney is reconsidering their character for the new generation, recognizing that "Mickey has become more of a corporate symbol than a beloved character for recent generations of young people." A new video game, for instance, called "Epic Mickey" portrays a darker character, both "cantankerous and cunning." I think it says something to these "recent young generations" of America that Disney needs to make Mickey more evil and violent to be appealing. I wonder how parents feel about this change. We've all grown up with Mickey and its almost inconceivable to think of him as having violent superpowers.

Mickey brings in more than $5 billion in merchandise for the company annually. So this is a do or die situation for Disney.

Keeping up with the Times: Wed, Nov. 4, 2009

In Wednesday's New York Times: railroads chug progressively into the future, a Republican governor breaks the democratic streak in Vermont, and there is a feature on dog-scent lineups. Nothing in particular catches my eye as I scan the A section.

In the Business section, Shanghai has finally given the "ok" to establishing a local Disneyland after 20 years. Costing $3.5 million, it will be one of the largest foreign investments in China. Ambitious plans for 1,000 acres of hotel resorts, pools, and shops is expected to be completed and open to the public in five to six years. The establishment of a Disneyland in Shanghai is the establishment of a landmark in China's more modern opening to Westernization. This speaks to Disney's globalization and the company reaching to gaps in the world where they can start anew. Mickey and Minnie will soon be the icons of Chinese children culture just as it is in America.

Keeping up with the Times: Tues, Nov. 3, 2009

I really enjoyed reading "Pausing by Ground Zero, the New York Arrives." The U.S.S. New York sailed into New York Harbor Monday after its maiden voyage. The ship's homecoming arrival into the bay marked the end of its maiden voyage and its official commissioning into the Navy fleet. The ship acknowledges the terrorist attacks of September 11th with 7.5 tons of World Trade Center steel cast in its bow.

The U.S.S. New York has a quiet symbolism for our country. The ship stands for our remembrance of the victims of 9/11 and our steadfast perseverence, our nation's strength in being able to pick up the pieces and move on.

Essayist Joan Didion, has a new piece out titled "Goodbye to All That." The essay is a "famous elegy for the passing of youth, but also a catalogue of Manhattan's enervating cliches, and, implicitly, a rejection of the New York literary scene she inhabited." The essay is both a cynical and poignant commentary on the life of writers, publishers, and editors in the changing modern literary scene. Joan Didion tends to use techniques of New Journalism or creative nonfiction and I have always been a fan of her work. Maybe when I get some needed down-time, I can read this latest work by Didion.

Keeping up with the Times: Mon, Nov. 2, 2009

As tragedy after tragedy circulates the media at the hands of texting drivers, the law has come into play. Most European countries and a minority of American states have outlawed texting behind the wheel. England is cracking down on distracted drivers with unforgiving jail sentences. Such was the case for 22-year-old Phillipa Curtis who was sentenced to 21 months in a high-security women's prison after her distracted driving resulted in the death of 24-year-old Victoria McBryde. I am definitely an advocate for cracking down on distracted drivers and I think that this is a good thing. More American states should join the fight to raise awareness about the dangers of texting behind the wheel. Maybe people will take things more seriously.

Interestingly, Abdullah Abdullah made an emotional speech, pronouncing his dropping from Afghanistan's second election round, disturbed by the political corruption and electoral fraud. What does this mean for Afghanistan? And perhaps more importantly on a national level, what does this mean for Obama's policy for the war in Afghanistan?

In Business Day, the business journalism is on a decline. It seems that way with so many journalism beats; its not surprising. Its odd that an article on the decline of business journalism would appear in The New York Times Business section. As a journalism student, these headlines are never encouraging. Thank you for the pick-me-up, New York Times.

Portsmouth Students Threatened with Saturday Detentions

Portsmouth students may be faced with Saturday School as members of the School Board consider a new disciplnary measure that would keep students with disciplinary problems on weekends.

Portsmouth School Board member Tim Steele made a motion at Monday's meeting to approve a new policy be instituted requiring students with disciplnary problems during the week to return to school for a special Saturday morning session. The session would run from 8 a.m. through to noon several weekends during the year. It would require an allocation of about $3,000 per year for staffing, Steele told the School Board.

Steele justified the rule by explaining that the new disciplinary measure was being proposed in an effort to reduce the number of in-house suspensions. In-house suspensions are given automatically to students caught inside or outside of Portsmouth High School.

In 1995, 154 students received in-house suspensions, requiring them to spend a school day under close supervision of a faculty member in an empty classroom. Students are also not allowed to make up any outside class work they missed during that day. This new program, according to Steele, would mean students would miss no school time, "I know this isn't good news for parents, but I hope the threat of Saturday classes will make the students think twice before breaking the school rules."

One outraged parent, Peggy Bacon, argued against weekend detentions, "I work six days a week - including Saturday morning - and its bad enough to get my son off to school Monday through Friday. Why should I have to worry about Saturday as well? Why do we need a change? I know my son isn't perfect, and I know he'll probably wind up on the Saturday list at some point, but I'm not going to force him to go. I just don't think its going to make any difference, and the parents are going to pay for it - in higher taxes as well as in ruined Saturdays."

Another local resident, Bob Farley had a differing opinion, "Parents can whine all they want about this, but maybe it's time parents in America were made to take a little responsibility for their kids. That's the whole problem - parents aren't teaching their kids any discipline, so the kids have no respect for rules. maybe if they have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they'll start wising up."

Five high school students attended the meeting. Lisa Gallagher, a senior, spoke against the rule. "In 12 years fo school I've never served a detention, and I don't intend to. But I don't like this idea. I think it's just being done to make life easier for the faculty, so they don't have to deal with detentions during the week. Anyway, what if someone skips school? What are they going to do, make them stay all weekend?"

Steele responded, "if a student skips Saturday School

The board voted 5-3, with one member abstaining, to table the issue until its next meeting March 7.