Killer Shark Captured

The shark that reportedly killed Amity residents Alex Kintner and Christine Watson this week has been captured and killed by fishermen a mile southwest of the island.

According to Police Chief Martin Brody, the shark was inspected by Matt Hooper, a marine biologist from the Woods Hole, Mass., Oceanographic Institute, who declared the shark to be 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," wrote Brody in a recent press release.

The 11-foot, 875-pound shark was killed by Mike Swenson from Medford, Mass., who will receive the $3,000 reward from Marion Kintner, Alex's mother.

The capture and death of the shark resulted in Brody's decision to reopen the beaches in time for this weekend's Fourth of July celebrations.

After the reopening of the beaches, one incident occurred where two 12-year-old Amity residents - Wayne Winston and Brad Kaplin - swam in the water with a fake shark's fin, resulting in panic and officials clearing residents and tourists alike out of the water.

"He made me do it," said Wayne as he pointed at Brad.

According to Police Chief Brody, "Both have been remanded to the custody of their parents."

While this was only a false alarm and there were no injuries, shark spotters will remain on patrol as a safety precaution and a hotline, 1-800-sharksee, will be open for any shark sightings.

Town Meeting Leads to Bounty

Local fisherman Ben Quint has offered to capture and kill the shark that attacked local beach-goers Alex Kintner and Christine Watson this week.

The offer came in after Marion Kintner, Alex's mother, offered a $3000 reward "to the man or men who catch and kill the shark" that killed Alex. Kintner has spread the bounty to towns around Amity in addition to local seamen.

Not all of Amity is taking the bounty seriously, though.

"Does that reward come in cash or check?" joked one chairman.

 Quint then scratched his fingernails on the chalkboard behind him and offered to catch the shark for $10,000 on the condition he doesn't get any volunteers.

"There's too many captains in this island."

Mayor Larry Vaughn said, "We did talk about it later and we are willing to - we have talked to Mrs. Kintner - and we will come up with $7000 and she will come up with the remaining $3000" for the capture of the shark.

Quint's offer stand as many try to hunt for the shark.

"You get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing," Quint said.

The beaches will be closed for the next 24 hours and Police Chief Martin Brody said that there will be shark spotters and experts coming in from the mainland to aid in the search.

Lack of history, but still possible

While the recent shark attacks in Amity, Mass. have worried many here in coastal New Hampshire, history and science show that attacks are not likely to occur.

But it is still possible.

Larry Harris, a professor of zoology at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, said that attacks are a possibility, and some larger sharks have been spotted in the waters of our southern neighbors.

"It is always possible that a shark attack could occur and Great White sharks have been seen off Massachusetts beaches as recent as last summer," Harris wrote in an email.

"Several species of large sharks are found in our waters in the summer and summers are getting warmer so they will become more common," Harris wrote. "Blue sharks, Porbeagles, Makos are seen along with Great Whites.  Basking Sharks occur, but they feed on plankton and Dogfish, but they are too small and rather harmless."

However, the history of the area says that a shark attack is unlikely. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, there were zero shark attacks or fatalities from 1959 to 1994.

The museum compared the history of people being struck by lightning in the state to being attacked by a shark on the same page. Eight people were killed by lightening in the same time period as the non-existent shark attacks and fatalities.

Compare New Hampshire's numbers to Florida's - 226 shark attacks and five shark fatalities - and the odds are looking better.

In the 2010 book Sharks of New England, authors Alessandro de Maddalena and Walter Heim - curator of the Italian Great White Shark Data Bank and a volunteer shark-tagger, respectively - try to educate people about New England sharks.

"Only twelve confirmed unprovoked shark attacks have been recorded in New England waters, and only three of them were fatal," the book states. "To date, no unprovoked shark attacks have been reported or authenticated from either New Hampshire or Maine."

Thursday 12/1

In the secret daughter article, I like the simple lede. The writer put those two famous names in and left out enough information to make it interesting. I wish there was some form of a quote before having to turn to another section of the paper. In the time to run article - in the style section - I didn't like how an entire paragraph was in parentheses. I like the quote the writer saved for the last paragraph, it was funny and a light-hearted ending.

Wednesday 11/30

Three days in a row the NYT has decided to use this layout. It's repetitive and boring me. The British inquiry story's lede definitely had the right amount of intrigue to get me interested in the story. The story is definitely newsworthy and interests me because I'm a journalist. The language was a bit flowery and perhaps a  little biased. For example when the writer wrote, "...now more than familiar with outrageous tales of tabloid malfeasance." The ending was a bit awkward with the "Britishism" as the last line.

Tuesday 11/29

Again, I don't like the layout of today's Page One. The large chunk of text on the right is too much, and this could be solved by taking the Citigroup article and moving it to the left of the picture. The Egyptian vote article had a very good summary lede, with all the facts in place. The writer also had the first quotation in the third paragraph. I have had issues with other articles in the NYT because a lot of the writers leave quotes for half way through the article, when I've lost interest.

Monday 11/28

The layout of today's issue just seemed awkward to me.  think it's the placement of the picture of the Pakistani soldiers.Maybe they should have taken one of the side bars (like the bitter allies article) and placed it on the photo's left. I did not like the lede for the Rose Parade article. It gave me no information and was boring. It also needed a quote much earlier than the writer put one.

Tuesday 11/22

In the F.B.I. Informer article, I was glad that the writers explained why some of their sources wanted to remain anonymous. Sometimes the NYT avoids the reasons and just says the source wanted anonymity and leaves it at that. The Cuban families article had a good lede, and it made me a little interested to read the article. The second paragraph was long and I believe it's due to the embellishment the writer adds about the relationship between Cuba and the U.S.

Monday 11/21

Today I decided to read the National section. The Ortega article had a really good lede. I was interested because the headline mentioned extremism yet the lede started with a referee. By the end of the lede I was hooked into the article, which is exactly what it's supposed to do. The California University article was good, except I wanted more quotes and for the mayor to be introduced earlier and not in the last paragraph. The foster care article had a very powerful, attention-grabbing lede and had great quote placement; however, the last paragraph was too long. The last part of the quote was powerful, though.

Jaws Article

10-year-old Amity resident Alex Kintner was victimized this afternoon by what appeared to be a shark attack while swimming on an inflatable raft at Village Beach.

In a press release, Police Chief Martin Brody stressed that a shark attack is only a possibility for the sudden and bloody disappearance of Alex.

"[Alex's] body has not been recovered," wrote Brody. "His damaged raft floated ashore shortly after the incident with what appeared to be a large bite out of it."

It began as a beautiful beach day, with blue skies and calm waters, when Alex’s raft suddenly sank in an area of what appeared to be bloody water, leading to panicked children screaming and swimming away.

After parents rushed to get their children out of the water, Alex's mother, Marion Kintner, shouted for her son, but to no avail. Kintner is currently being treated at Amity General Hospital for shock.

After the attack on Alex, the Kintner family is offering a $3000 reward for the capture of the perpetrators.

Police are also looking into a possible connection between this attack and that of Amity teen Christine W. Watson, whose mangled body was found earlier this morning washed up on South Beach after going for a swim during a beach party last night. Her death was previously attributed to a motor boating accident.

“We now believer that it may be possible that the Watson death could also maybe have been linked to possible shark activities in the vicinity of Amnity,” wrote Brody.

Brody, Mayor Bob Farley, and the Board of Selectmen will hold a meeting tonight at 6 p.m. in the town hall. Included on the agenda are Brody’s plan to close the beaches on July 4, the Kintner family reward, and an offer to hunt down the shark by fisherman Ben Quint.

Wall Street Journal Crime Reporter

Corinne Holroyd

GSS Box 1975

Durham, NH 03824

(603) 769-0936

 ctl26@unh.edu

November 28, 2011

Wall Street Journal - Law Bureau

New York, New York

To whom it may concern,

My name’s Corinne Holroyd. I am writing to ask about and apply for the reporting position in your Law Bureau.

I have been writing for various papers since I was in high school. I wrote and edited for my high school’s newspaper, The Cavalier Chronicle, for two years. It was here I garnered a love for journalism and learned such valuable programs such as InDesign and Photoshop. During this time I also had my first internship with a local paper, The Hollis Times – in Hollis, NH – for a semester.

I currently write for The New Hampshire, the University of New Hampshire’s twice-weekly, student-run paper. During my freshman year I started contributing weekly right away. The executive editor, Thomas Gounley, noticed and hired me for a staff position in January of 2010.

I also have had pieces published for local papers from free-lance reporting during breaks from school, such as The Brookliner – a newsletter-style paper for the town of Brookline, NH – and The Hollis Brookline Journal – which serves both towns.

I easily make connections wherever I go, and would enjoy getting new sources in law enforcement and legal communities. In fact one of my uncles is a New York City Police Department as part of the Motorcycle Division.

I’ve had a passion for crime reporting since I was young. I would watch such shows as Law and Order, Criminal Minds, and CSI, but only recently discovered I can link my two passions in a career I would enjoy. I understand crime reporting is not for the faint at heart, and some might find it repulsive, but I find it interesting. I want this job because it’s never a dull or repetitive day.

Enclosed is my resume and application. I can be reached either by phone or by email.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and hope to speak with you soon,

Corinne Holroyd

Thursday 11/17

I liked the quote at the end of the new graduates article; however, I did not like the lede. It would have been better if the writer made the second paragraph short and the lede, instead of introducing the reader to a random person that isn't quoted until the end of the fifth paragraph. She is mentioned a few times before then, and I kept thinking, "So what? Where is she?" The article on Obama saying Marines will be in Australia was pretty good. The lede was the right type to choose, and the first quote was in the third paragraph. It was a sound, average article.

Wednesday 11/16

I like the lede for the Occupy article that asks a question at the end. It leaves me wanting an answer but knowing there isn't one. There was a lot of vague spots in the article concerning who was being quoted or sourced, mostly when the writer wrote, "they said." I just wish there was a more concrete source. The next article I read was the novelist opening a bookstore. I felt that a delayed lede would have served the article better, perhaps by taking the third to last paragraph with all of its description and twisting it into a lede. Lastly I read the chimichanga article, where the lede actually made me laugh because of the line "circling the chimichanga." This article was very repetitive in that it keeps mentioning how Arizona wants to make the "chimi" the state food. I felt that the quote from Sharisse Johnson would have fit better in between the second and third paragraphs. I also felt that the writer should not have written, "Hold up there," unless it was a direct quote from Carlotta Flores. On the A21 I didn't like how the writer put in "actually." If you're going to say something, say it straight out without having to correct yourself. I also found a spelling error, which is always fun ("calorie," not "caloric"). Lastly I feel that the writer should have introduced Tom Miller earlier in the piece instead of the last paragraph because it made the ending chunky. If he had introduced Miller earlier, he could have just used the quote he made in the last paragraph and gave the article a better ending.

Tuesday 11/15

The first article I read was the very short piece on Oakland, Calif., police clearing out the Occupy Oakland tent ctiy. It felt like there was more information that could have been given, but it was good for the assigned space. I just wish the quote had been used earlier. I also read the Rushdie v. Facebook article. I kind of wanted a direct quote of Salman Rushdie asking if Facebook would make J. Edgar Hoover change his online name to John Hoover. Also, the article had quite a bit of confusing backtracking, mentioning something then going back to what they were talking about two paragraphs before. I thought they had moved on, but apparently not. In the same way the article was a bit repetitive. Lastly, I love the Popeye quote at the end, it fit well and didn't end awkwardly.

Monday 11/14

In the Rio article (A4), the focus was supposed to be on cleaning the city's slums for the Olympics in 2016. After the lede, however, there is no mention of the Olympics. I feel that if you're going to title something/start with something, you shouldn't just mention it once and be done. The article was more focused on drug lords than the games the article claimed to talk about. I liked the article about the suspected Neo-Nazis in Germany and their arrests. The lede was a good, direct lede. Even though the ending quote was not attributed to anyone other than a "middle-aged man," I thought it was a good enough quote to print.

Thursday 11/10

Despite its brevity, I liked the Web Scam article. It was very efficient and to the point. I did wish there was more quotation or more attribution to sources for information, either that or move the quotations earlier on so there is less than just big blocks of information. It was, however, organized and got the information across. I also liked how it ended with information on how to find the program through the F.B.I. website.

Wednesday 11/9

I really liked the Air Force Mortuary article; however, I feel like a delayed lede about the arm being sawed off would have been more effective. Instead, the author decided to leave it until the end. I feel like this was a wasted opportunity. While it is a gruesome thought, it would attract more attention to the article. Also, the article ended rather suddenly and I found myself looking for the rest of it before I realized that WAS it.

Tuesday 11/8

In the Jackson Trial article, the entire lede was too dramatic for my taste. It sensationalized the story more than needed. The last bit, "a jury decided Monday," was necessary in the lede, but by putting it after the story of Jackson's doctor, the writer made it seem less important in a way. It just bothered me and it's difficult to put into words. In the Wal-mart/Banks article I think the writer should have started with Geoffrey Cardone's story instead of the lede they chose. If they delayed the lede a bit by telling the story of this everyday man I would have been more interested.

Monday 11/7

I went straight to the NYC Marathon pieces. The lede for the Kenyan Star article was awkward in the end because the Berlin record could have been left out or save for later and it would have flowed better. The entire article's organization was off. Instead of focusing on one race at a time, I had to figure out who ran which race, which was really confusing when there was multiple times in one sentence. Also, the ending was awkward and could have just been left out (as in the last sentence). In the article about the women's race, all I have to say is that the lede was very boring and didn't make me want to read the rest at all.

Thursday 11/3

One thing I noticed while reading the Japanese Tsunami Barrier article is that the writer constantly put "critics say." I want to know who these critics are. It bothers me because its such an important topic, with lives at stake. I don't want information from a generic "critic." I do like how the background information was provided in mostly the lede and first few paragraphs. It made it easier to follow the story. This is especially true for such a lengthy article. Other than that, I'm sick of reading about Herman Cain. It's being blown up, and I understand he's a presidential candidate, but it's just gotten too overused on Page One.

Wednesday 11/2

I decided to read the arts section and found that one of the first things I saw was Kim Kardashian's divorce. This is not news I was to see in an arts section, especially the first page. It's not important to me. However, the "The Fabric of the Cosmos" article is more what I thought the arts section should be about, not celebrity divorce. I love the writing in the "Fabric" article too. The lede (and the picture) was one of the reasons I read the article. In other words, it did its job.

Tuesday 11/1/11

One question: where are the quotes? I read the article about the trials in Haiti, and the first quote they have was five paragraphs into the article. I liked the lede, it definitely made me interested to read about the "legal spectacle" in Haiti. However, there were only two quotes in the first big chunk of text in the article (on Page One). In the Cain harassment article, there wasn't a quote until five paragraphs in again, and it was only a partial quote at that. Six words from Cain, then the reader has to turn to another page. I've noticed that the Times has issues with getting their quotes a.s.a.p. after the lede. It makes the articles a little boring, and makes them take forever to get started.

Monday 10/31

First off, I'm excited that my hometown of Brookline, NH was mentioned in the snow article. However, like we discussed in class, the article was very jumpy. Its focus seemed a bit off, and I found myself confused on more than one occasion. They had a great picture for the article though on Page One. I liked the profile on the elite runner. It makes me feel more confident about writing a profile on a soldier for TNH later this week.

Durham Police, New Hampshire State Police, and the state wildlife department are searching for Fluffy, the Durham Zoo’s prized Romanian spotted leopard, which recently escaped its enclosure and was last seen last night at closing around 9 p.m. 

The zoo has been closed, visitors - including crying children and scowling adults - have been evacuated, and police are searching the zoo and surrounding area for Fluffy.

"Fluffy would never hurt anyone," one patron said as he was leaving the zoo.

Zoo officials, however, are warning Durham residents that - while generally mild-tempered - Fluffy could react violently and attack.

"Fluffy is a wonderful, warm, gentle cat who has never hurt anyone," said the zoo's chief biologist Kitty Smith. "But if these cats are cornered - or encountered on a dark night - their defense is to kill, and kill quickly."

Smith advises anyone who comes into contact with the black-and-white-spotted, 146-pound leopard to slowly lie on the ground, avoid eye contact, and expect sniffing and licking.

"...Unless she senses fear she's not likely to react violently," Smith added.

Durham Police Chief William Blair said that police forces will be searching the zoo first, then the neighborhood. After it starts to get dark, however, police will have difficulty locating the dark leopard.

"We have got to find her before 3 p.m.," said Blair. "If we don't, it could be a very messy night. These cats are nearly impossible to find in the dark - they can see everything, and we are blind."

Blair added that the police will use deadly force with the leopard if need be.

"If possible, Fluffy will be shot with a tranquilizer gun. But if necessary, we will shoot to kill."

One of Fluffy's fans, James Petronkis of Newmarket, claims he was the one to tell the zoo and police about Fluffy's absence once he arrived at the zoo when it opened at 7:30 a.m.

"Everything seemed normal, until I got to the cage. Then I knew something was wrong right away. Fluffy usually draws the straw up into a nest when she sleeps, but there was no nest - there wasn't even any straw."

According to Petronkis he tried to alert zoo officials of Fluffy's disappearance several times. Officials did not believe him until after they looked through the enclosure. He then hid in the zoo until police found him and kicked him out.

"That's gratitude for you," said Petronkis.

Fluffy is one of five remaining Romanian spotted leopards after the species was hunted in Romania. She is the only female left, and next month she was to be taken to China to mate with a male owned by the Chinese government.

Thursday 10/27

The article on Page One about crows was funny, and a good, light article. However, the lede and next few paragraphs were so cliche. "Crows. That's right. Crows." I feel like I've seen this line in so many articles in the past. I do love the scene of the little old lady packing heat and driving around her town. Another cheesy line in this article was when the writer wrote, "Bingo." Honestly? I do agree with the writer that a delayed lede was the best choice for this story.

Wednesday 10/27

The article on A23, about the cops being arrested for smuggling guns, took way too long to get to a quote. It was very unbiased and was well-written. I just wanted someone to say something before eight paragraphs in. The SAT article on the same page blew my mind seeing as how I took that test 2 years ago. I like how the fact that the College Board hired an ex-F.B.I. chief was included very early on in the article. It made it a great -read-this-now lede.

Tuesday 10/25

I decided to read the article in the business section about Netflix, mostly because of the graphic on B1. I love how the writers included that Reed Hastings ignored a warning from his friend while in a hot tub. IT was just good writing on their part. I also read about the innovation for the thermostat by ex-Apple employees. This article mostly had pros, so it seemed more like a review. If it had more cons - other than price - the article would have been less biased. I did like the lede, although it seemed a little cliche with the "next up: the humble household thermostat" line.

Monday 10/24

I first read the article on A16 about the extravagant wedding. All I could think was, 'so what?' While the article did act as an example of a major gay marriage in New York, I didn't really care about the famous guest list. People outside the wedding didn't even know who the couple were. I then read about horse slaughtering - starting on Page One. This article didn't seem very Page One worthy, maybe it was just a slow news day. I know I'm not affected by it, but some may be. I liked its short, concise lede, though.

Thursday 10/20

The first article I read was about the sad fact that schools cannot afford gym classes/equipment for students. I know I liked gym class as a kid, so I'm glad that some schools are able to get grants. Then I read the article about Ridge Barden, the 16-year-old football player who died. I realize football is a dangerous sport, but I didn't realize that - despite new designs for injury-prevention - football players are still dying. This is especially true for pre-teens and teens.

Wednesday 10/19

I did not like the article about Herman Cain. I thought it was too focused on his personality as compared to other candidates than his stands on the issues. Part of the reason I read the article was to gain some insight on to how serious he is about the presidency and his stands on various issues. While I was disappointed by the Cain article, I approved of the article about the prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel. The picture on Page One was emotional in that it showed how thin and worn he is after his almost five-year imprisonment with Hamas. The lede did its job in that it tells the facts and draws the reader in for more. I wanted to know more and liked the rest of the article too.

Tuesday 10/18

Today's paper was mainly focused on the Occupy Wall Street movement. The "We're Angry" article was an awesome human interest piece, especially accompanied by the six photos of protestors with signs. I noticed the box on page A3 pointing out a related article and decided to read that too. Yet another good piece, only about a man who's on both sides of the movement. Lastly I read the piece about the Amish attacks and immediately became annoyed with the number of times the writers mentioned how very un-Amish the attackers were being. It was drawn out because of how many times they quoted people saying similar things.

Monday 10/17

Today I read mostly from the National section. First I'll talk about the Line Up Guy article on Page One. The lede was a great delayed lede but the article sort of stopped suddenly. Maybe it's just me thinking this for a lot of articles, but it seemed like, "I don't care what you've done," is a weird way to end the story. The quote didn't seem powerful enough. After that I read the National section. I did like the ending for the Kansas City Sermon article. Lastly, I read the Whale Hunt article. I felt that the writer should've mentioned the animal rights activists earlier. It was more of a narrative story than a news article, if that makes sense.

In class Exercise 10/17

Students from Portsmouth High School may have to go to class in lieu of sleeping in on Saturdays if they misbehave during the school week if a new policy passes.

Yesterday, School Board member Tim Steele asked the School Board to consider accepting a new rule that would make students come in to school on Saturday mornings – from 8 a.m. to noon – rather than serving in-school suspensions during the week.

This new plan would need around $3000 per year for staffing during the four-hour period, and some parents disagree with the plan because of it.

“I work six days a week, including Saturday morning, and it’s bad enough to get my son off to school Monday through Friday,” said Peggy Bacon, one of the parents in attendance at the meeting. “I just don’t think it’s going to make any difference, and the parents are going to pay for it, in higher taxes as well as in ruined Saturdays.”

Bob Farley, of 64 Elm St., said that parents should take responsibility for their children and should teach them to have “respect for rules.”

“Maybe if they have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up,” Farley said.

Lisa Gallagher, a senior and one of the five students at the meeting, disagreed and added that she thinks the policy would only benefit the faculty.

“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,” Gallagher said. “Anyway, what if someone skips the session? What are they going to do, make them stay all weekend?”

Steele responded that the students would not have to stay the whole weekend; however they “would not be allowed to return to school until the detention has been served.”

One of the examples Steele provided for an in-school suspension is when students are caught smoking on the school’s property. Under the current system, the student would spend the school day in an empty classroom with a teacher and would not be able to make up missed assignments.

Steele hopes that the Saturday sessions would prevent students – not just from smoking on the grounds – from violating school policies.

“I know this isn’t good news for parents,” said Steele, “but I hope the threat of Saturday classes will make the students think twice before breaking the school rules.”

The Board decided to put off the issue until its next meeting, where Steele will have to present more information about in-school suspensions this year.