Tuesday, January 6, 2015

New year in our environment, careful try to avoid stupid

Yeah, well....
this could happen in Pacifica too

"DAVENPORT -- A 21-year-old Daly City man died when he fell from a beach cliff on New Year's Eve.  Patrick Parnell is believe to have walked too close to the cliff's edge, and the ground gave way beneath him, said Santa Cruz County Coroner's Sgt. Chris Clark.

"He landed on a small outcropping before falling the remaining distance to the water," said Clark.

Parnell's official cause of death was drowning with blunt force head injury as a significant contributing factor, Clark said. No further information was available Monday."   Santa Cruz Sentinel News/Jessica A. York, 6/6/15. "Daly City man killed in fall from Davenport cliff."

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"A San Diego surfer has died after contracting an aggressive staph infection, which some suspect he got in the water during his last jaunt in the waves.

Well-known community surfer Barry Ault, 71, went surfing shortly before Christmas despite warnings to avoid it for three days because of runoff from a recent rainstorm. He soon developed flu-like symptoms, and was in a coma just days later, his wife, Sally Ault, told ABC's San Diego affiliate KGTV. Ault, "the essential water man," died Christmas Day, his wife told the station."He had a raging staph infection, so he was in complete sepsis," Sally Ault told KGTV. "His whole body was full of staph." ABC 7/World News, San Diego, 6/6/15. "California surfer dies after ignoring tainted-water warning." 

Note graphic: from Shine on with LM blog, Au.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kathy, that's quite an epitaph you came up with for these unfortunate souls. Surely the rest of us will meet death in noble, inspiring ways. Might even avoid having any reference to stupid in the coverage of our demise. Sublime.

Kathy Meeh said...

437, hopefully others who live on the coast may become more aware of the dangers in getting too close to cliffs, and ignoring official posted signage. These tragic accidents might not have occurred, except for unfortunate errors in judgement (which we are all perfectly capable of).

Clearly the "New year in our environment, careful try to avoid stupid" title I ascribed to the blog article is not an epitaph. Its more about "stuff happens", be careful. You may prefer the news article titles: 1) "Daly City man killed in fall from Davenport cliff", and 2) "California surfer dies after ignoring tainted-water warning." But how could all these titles compare to your sappy alternative: "Unfortunate souls, meeting death in noble inspiring ways." Now that a title!

Anonymous said...

Kathy, you should understand that the people who died in these unfortunate situations have loved ones who might be hurt by your categorizing them as "stupid." I am a very cautious person. However, I have stood at the edge of a cliff before, and never expected the ground to give way beneath me. I know Patrick's mother is overwhelmed with grief. No need to add to her pain.

Kathy Meeh said...

249, again "you should understand" the article is about safety. Cliffs are dangerous-- especially following heavy rain in the prior weeks. Hopefully, you too might better understand that now. (And probably, we should all have better information about conditions which exist in our environment).

Since your "grief" comments about the deceased individuals are way over-the-top in relationship to the news advisement articles-- here's your opportunity to write an article about "Patrick for his mother", an epitaph, if you have a name and knew him. Information to submit an article is listed upper left.

Anonymous said...

HI Kathy -- I'm sorry, but I can't write an epitaph for Patrick because I never met him. A friend of mine knows his mother. I too have lost a child and I know what Patrick's mother is going through. It causes me to have more compassion; to see "news stories" about "stupid people" as real events that tragically ended the life of a real person. The safety warnings are not taken lightly, but I want to let you know that you should try to be more considerate of the feelings of the bereaved.

Kathy Meeh said...

1035, "feelings about the bereaved" linked to what YOU describe as "stupid people"? I think you're writing a novel, which has nothing to do with the news articles or my blog article title. If you did lose a child, everyone is sorrowful for that.