Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Lifesaver sucking record

February 15, 2011
February 15 is … National Gum Drop Day
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

A new book coming out about the 33 Chilean miners rescued after being trapped underground for sixty-nine days, contains a few interesting bits of information about the ordeal. The book, by Jonathon Franklin, a noted journalist covering Latin America, reveals the miners seriously considered cannibalism if one of them died. The dead would be eaten in the order they died. Luckily it did not get that far. Suicide was also seriously considered.

The miners had marijuana sent down to them once they were discovered alive. One of the miner’s family members sent the pot to them. A citizen also volunteered to donate ten inflatable sex dolls to be sent to the miners. This idea was nixed by a psychiatrist who said the miners would fight over the ten dolls, refusing to share. Either 33 dolls would be sent or none.

I mentioned Baby Jessica the other day in one of my writings. She was the little girl, less than a year and a half old, who fell down a well in Midland, Texas in 1987. News channels were just being developed at the time. The internet was not available to the masses. Home computers were barely being accepted. The story of Baby Jessica trapped in the swell and the nonstop rescue efforts going on to save her captivated this nation and, to some extent, the world.

I started thinking about what ever happened to her. What happened to Baby Jessica since 1987? Here is a brief update. My research was done exclusively on the Internet, much of it from Wikipedia and the book mentioned below.
Jessica McClure Morales (born March 26, 1986) became famous at the age of 18 months after falling into a well in Midland, Texas, on October 14, 1987. Between that day and October 16, rescuers worked for 58 straight hours to free "Baby Jessica" from the eight-inch-wide well casing. The story gained worldwide attention (leading to some criticism as a media circus), and later became the subject of a 1989 ABC TV movie. As presented in the movie, a vital part of the rescue was the use of the then relatively new technology of waterjet cutting.
CNN was at the time a fledgling cable news outlet. The cable network was on the scene with around-the-clock coverage of the rescue effort and it was in part due to this coverage that they were able to begin carving a niche out for themselves in the global media market. This massive media saturation of the ordeal prompted then-President Ronald Reagan to state that "everybody in America became godmothers and godfathers of Jessica while this was going on."
From the beginning, and throughout the incident, the switchboard for a local media outlet, KMID-TV, was flooded with telephone calls from news organizations and private individuals around the world, seeking the latest information on rescue efforts and in some cases, sharing their own insight into this and similar incidents.

Following her rescue on October 16, 1987, surgeons had to amputate part of McClure's right foot due to loss of circulation while in the well. She has had 15 surgeries over the years, and has no first-hand memory of the event. McClure graduated from Greenwood High School, in a small community near Midland, in May 2004.
On January 28, 2006, McClure married Daniel Morales at a Church of Christ in a small rural community outside of Midland. The couple met at a day-care center where his sister worked with McClure. The married couple are the parents of a son named Simon. On March 26, 2011, when Morales turns 25, she stands to receive a trust fund of donations from well-wishers, rumored to be in excess of $1,000,000.
McClure's rescue was credited mostly to paramedic Robert O'Donnell and police officer William Andrew Glasscock Jr.

In a book by D. Lance Lunsford, The Rainbow's Shadow: True Stories of Baby Jessica's Rescue & the Tragedies That Followed it was revealed that a Paramedic involved in the rescue had drug problems after the “Baby Jessica” ordeal, overdosed at least once and eventually committed suicide. It also tells of a police officer involved who went on to a life of crime and did in a federal prison.  The paramedic that came up with Jessica Steve Forbes is now a fire captain for the Midland Fire Department. This information was current when the book came out in 2005.

AND THE SLAUGHTER CONTINUES!

A 23-year-old man who had been staying with his aunt and uncle and cousin in rural Virginia is behind bars today, accused of killing all three for reasons authorities don't yet know. The three suffered gunshot wounds to the upper part of their bodies, though autopsies are still pending, Madison County Sheriff Erik Weaver told AOL News. Rashad Matthew Riddick was arrested Sunday in Newport News, Va., and charged with three counts of capital murder.
"It was a very disturbing scene, with the trauma to the bodies," Weaver said.

Rashad Matthew Riddick was arrested Sunday night in the lobby of a hotel in the Newport News, Va., area, about 150 miles away from the crime scene in central Virginia's Madison County, and charged with three counts of capital murder, Weaver's office said. The victims were James Clark Jackson, 55; his wife, Karen Lee Jackson, 53; and her daughter, Chante Latrice Davis, 26, the sheriff said. The suspect is the son of James Jackson's sister, Weaver said. "He'd been staying with them," Weaver said, adding that he didn't know why. "Everything was fine and we don't know what happened." A pickup truck belonging to James Jackson that was missing from the crime scene was also found Sunday. It was found abandoned in the Newport News area, Weaver said. Authorities traced Riddick to the Newport News area through his cell phone, Weaver said. Authorities believe the victims were killed between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Notable events on February 15th;

1963 Ken Lynch records "Misery", 1st Lennon-McCartney song by someone else
1964 Beatles' "Meet the Beatles!" album goes #1 & stays #1 for 11 weeks
1964 Bill Bradley scores 51 points for Princeton
1965 Canada replaces the Union Jack flag with the Maple Leaf
1965 John Lennon passes his driving test. Baby you can drive my car.
1978 Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy recaptured, Pensacola FL
1978 Leon Spinks beats Muhammad Ali in 15 for world heavyweight crown
1979 Paul Shirley (21) of Australia, sucked a lifesaver for 4 hours 40 minutes
1979 Temple City Kazoo Orchestra appears on Mike Douglas Show
1990 Baseball owners lock out players
1992 Jeffrey Dahmer found sane & guilty of killing 15 boys
1998 Daytona 500 race; Dale Earnhardt wins

BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase an interesting and inexpensive read. My second book should be available in late February, 2011. More information will be forthcoming.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)
www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.
Check out the site below. Paybox is a new site, competing with PayPal, etc. Sign up is free. It seems good for small businesses or ebay users.

“Misery loves company, but company does not reciprocate.”



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