Paranoid Much?

On February 26, 2006 a college freshmen discovered a powdered substance in a roll of quarters in her dorm at the University of Texas. Apparently, the freshmen’s mother had gotten her the rolls from a local bank. She had six rolls total, and only one with the suspicious powder. At first, State health officials had done a quick test and determined it was ricin. However, the F.B.I. did further testing and discovered that the powder was not ricin because it did not have the correct proteins. Nonetheless, the scare of this event created mayhem. The dormitory was evacuated and the area had to be sanitized. Also, the girl was rushed to the hospital for testing, but was later released.

The story made me think of the anthrax scare of 2001. Starting on September 18, 2001, several days after the World Trade Center attacks, anthrax had been mailed to several news media offices, and two U.S. Senators. Five people died in total from this event. This event caused panic among U.S. citizens, who became afraid to open their own mail.

Costliest Hurricane....#16?

On February 18, 2006 music and laughter was heard once again in New Orleans. Mardi Gras was underway with beads, floats, and smiles. However, something was different this year. The city's population had decreased from 465,000 to 200,000, with a few tourists scattered throughout the parade route. The parade seemed to be centered around the children of New Orleans this year. Float members threw stuffed animals and candy to the children, in hopes to raise everyone's spirits. Throughout all the suffering, the people of New Orleans can still smile and have a good time.
The article made me question if there had been any other, similiar disasters in the United States past history. After googleing 'Hurricanes' for quite some time I came across a webpage that discussed the Hurricane Bob incident in August of 1991. On August 16, 1991 a tropical hurricane formed off the coast of the Bahamas. The storm spread all the way up the eastern coast, causing destruction in states such as New York, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. There were an estimated $1.5 billion dollars in damages. Hurricane Bob was the 15th costliest hurricane in U.S. history.

Oil spills are no good.

According to an article in The Washington Post, a 575-foot oil tanker had a small spill in Alaska. The tanker, which was loaded with 4.9 million gallons of gasoline and other petroleum products, broke free of its moorings and ran aground Thursday. Less than 100 gallons of gasoline was spilt, making the spill not critical. The accident happened in the Cook Inlet port of Nikiski. An ice block struck the tanker, named the Seabulk, causing its mooring line to break. With luck, it ran ashore less than an hour later. No injuries were reported among the 34 crew members.
Although this recent oil spill was nothing big, there have been major oil spills in the seas around America. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was the most devastating domestic oil spill in the United States. On March 23, 1989, the Exxon Valdez departed from the Valdez oil terminal in Valdez, Alaska. The vessel hit the Bligh Reef on March 24 while trying to avoid glaciers. About 30 million US gallons of crude oil were spilled, affecting 1,900 km of coastline. Thousands of animals died immediately. Despite a thorough cleanup, and little visual evidence apparent, the effects of the spill continue to be felt today. Exxon spent some 2 billion dollars cleaning up the spill, and a further 1 billion to settle civil and criminal charges related to the case.

Shootings at Post Office

On the New York Times was recently posted the story involving the shooting and killings of six workers at the Post Office in Goleta, California. A seventh victim was only declared dead yesterday, February 1st, at the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. It is said the the killer, Jennifer Sanmarco, 44, had psychological problems, which had led to her quitting her job from the Post Office plant in 2003. Police also believe that she was involved in the death of her former neighbor, Beverly Graham, 54, who was found dead on tuesday with a bullet on her head. The incident at the Post Office took place on Monday, January 30, and was followed by Jennifer Sanmarco's suicide. "The authorities had not determined if she was selecting the victims, all women except one, or shooting at random in what was one of the deadliest rampages at a Postal Service building." This was quite a terrible and deadly rampage, however, it was not the first one.

The Sanmarco occurrence can be found astoundingly similar to an event that took place in 1986. On August 20 of that year, 14 Post Office employees in Edmond, Oklahoma were killed along with other 6 wounded by Patrick Sherrill who then killed himself. Another event took place at a post office in Royal Oak, Michigan involving Thomas MacIlvane in November 14, 1991 who also committed suicide. It is believed that poor and unfair management has often been the cause of employees having "mental breakdowns" and "loss of control."

Coretta Scott King: April 27, 1927 - Jan. 30, 2006

On Tuesday Coretta Scott King, wife of late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died in Roasrito, Mexico. Cause of death was listed as respitory failure by her doctors. She had previously been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and in August had suffered a stroke and heart attack. The funeral will be held at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, GA. The church will hopefully be able to facilitate the large turnout expected. The family is thinking of burying her body at Southview cemetary, a historically black cemetary, where MLK Jr. was once buried, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s parents and maternal grandparents are buried.

Coretta Scott King was born on April 27, 1927, in Heiberger, AL. She grew up on a farm that had been in her family since the Civil War. She lived a poor childhood, where she was educated. She later attended Antioch College, where King studied music and education. She never found her race a barrier until she began her career as a teacher. Local public schools would not hire black teachers, adn despite her protests, nobody would listen. In 1951 she decided to study music rather than teach. She attended New England Conservatory of Music, where she met Martin Luther King Jr. They married in 1953, and moved to Montgomery, AL. She stood next to her husbad during marches, speaches, travels, and even stood in for him during speaches when he was unable. In 1962, Mrs. King as a delegate at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva on behalf of the Women's Strike for Peace. After her husbands death in 1968, she took his place leading marches, giving speaches, and resding on comittes as he would have. She raised funds for the por, uneducated, and those discrimitated against. It is hard to say that MLK Jr. would have become the man we knew him as if he had not known Coretta.

Finally! Something will be done about the mines!

Recently, another horrible tradgedy has struck the West Virginia mines. Two miners were killed yesterday in seperate accidents. This was the final blow for West Virginia governor, Joe Manchin. After 14 were killed several weeks ago in the mines, plus this recent tradgedy, mine production throught the state was ordered to cease until new safety laws could be written and enforced. "We will immediately begin the process of inspecting every mine in the state and their equipment, conditions, engineering plans, safety procedures and safe work practices" said Governor Manchin. New laws include the wearing of wireless contact devices by all miners, incase of emergency. Hopefully these new laws and more frequent and thorough inspections will decrease the risk of injury or death for miners, as well as decrease the amount of deaths due to unsafe conditions. West Virginia is the nation's second-largest coal producing state, producing over 153 million tons of coal at 544 mines in 2005. It is obvious that the U.S. needs these mines, and it's sad that innocent lives were taken as a result of our need for fossil fuels.

This article gave me the idea to look into mining in West Virginia. In 1742, John Peter Salley discovered coal along the Kanawha River. Though it was discovered in the mid 1700's, no mining took place until a decade later. The first coal mined was used for the immediate area. Nearly 80% was used for the salt furnaces on the Kanawha River, and the remainder was used to heat the homes of the wealthy. By 1860, coal companys were organized and corporations were asking for financial investments from foriegn countrys. When the Civil War began, the mines closed, and the area was used for Confederate camps. After the war, the intrest in West Virgina's resources peaked again. The first company to market the West Virgina coal was "Pittsburg coal". Mines began to spread all over the state as more coal was discovered. By 1890, electric coal cutting, loading, and hauling machines came into use. In the early 1900's shuttle cars, long trains, conveyor belts, and all large mining machinery was used to mine coal faster and more efficently. In 1927 production reached 146,088,121 tons and in 1947 it peaked at 173,653,816 tons. The West Virgina mines currently provide thousands of jobs, and coal to the world.