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Golden Gate Bridge to Get Net to Catch Suicides
The California panel that oversees the Golden Gate Bridge voted on Friday to install netting to catch would-be suicides throwing themselves off the famous span.
The 4,200-foot-long (1,280-meter-long) suspension bridge, which crosses the entrance to San Francisco Bay, is a tourist magnet that also draws people trying to end their lives.
There were 39 confirmed suicides from the bridge in 2007, with seven unconfirmed cases, and 19 confirmed so far this year, bridge officials said.
The netting would be set 20 feet below the sidewalk and extend out 20 feet from the bridge. Officials estimate the barrier will cost $40 million to $50 million.
A suicide barrier beneath the link between San Francisco and Marin County has been debated since the 1970s, said Mary Currie, a spokesperson for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.
Building the barrier will take several years, and the project needs additional environmental study, she said. The California panel that oversees the Golden Gate Bridge voted on Friday to install netting to catch would-be suicides throwing thems... more -
Car bombings in Mosul and Baghdad kill 13
Suicide car bombers struck twice Sunday in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least six people and wounding dozens of others, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. A car bomb killed seven other people in Baghdad. Suicide car bombers struck twice Sunday in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least six people and wounding dozens of others, U.S.... more
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Ohio shooting puts face on foreclosure crisis - Life- msnbc.com
Addie Polk tried committing suicide to avoid being evicted out of her home
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Golden Gate Bridge to get suicide net to catch would-be jumpers
Stainless-steel netting costing up to $50 million will be placed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge to catch would-be suicide jumpers, San Francisco officials decided Friday.
The decision by the board of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District follows several years of controversy. The agency has yet to determine how to finance it, said spokeswoman Mary Currie.
The netting was the "locally preferred alternative," Currie said. More than 5,000 comments came flooding into the agency as part of its environmental review process.
About 2,000 people have jumped from the storied bridge since it opened in 1937. So far this year, 19 have made the leap, which is almost always fatal. Whether public funds should be used to prevent additional suicides has been passionately debated. Stainless-steel netting costing up to $50 million will be placed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge to catch would-be suicide jumpers, San... more -
Bournemouth bans 'Dr Death'
The euthanasia debate wasrevived yesterday when an Australian doctor was banned from holding a workshop on how people could end their lives and a man was spared jail for killing his bed-ridden wife. Dr Philip Nitschke, who has been nicknamed Dr Death, had planned to hold a session on euthanasia in Bournemouth next week but the owners of his first and second venue choices, the local council and Hermitage Hotel, cancelled his bookings.
Dr Nitschke chose the Dorset town because of its large elderly population. His workshops cover the merits of a helium "exit bag", Mexican drugs, morphine and "peaceful pills". He will host a session in central London on Monday and said he hoped to still be able to speak in Bournemouth on Thursday.
The pressure group Dignity in Dying attacked the way Dr Nitschke ran his sessions, saying it was "irresponsible and potentially dangerous to provide information on how to end life without safeguards or control over where the information goes." It said terminally ill adults should have access to better care and treatment, and the option of an assisted death within legal safeguards.
Dr Nitschke, from Darwin, whose book The Peaceful Pill Handbook is available online but is banned in Australia, successfully campaigned to have voluntary euthanasia made legal in Australia's Northern Territory in the 1990s.
The legalisation only lasted a few months but, in that time, four people used his "deliverance machine" to die. They pressed a button to administer a lethal dose of the barbiturate drug Nembutal. The machine is now on display at the Science Museum in London.
Dr Nitschke said the ban on his workshop would deny people access to the best information on euthanasia. "Elderly people want access to good information. It empowers them, they have a better quality of life and paradoxically they live longer because they have the peace of mind of an exit strategy." The euthanasia debate wasrevived yesterday when an Australian doctor was banned from holding a workshop on how people could end their ... more -
Golden Gate Bridge slated to get net to catch would-be jumpers
The Golden Gate Bridge, known as much for its beauty as for its notoriety as the bridge from which suicidal people jump, is destined for change.
San Francisco officials have decided to put a $50 million stainless steel net under the bridge to catch, or thwart the efforts of would be jumpers.
The controversial measure has been up for debate for some time, along with other possible measures to stop the rate of suicides that occur yearly. According to reports, since 1937 some 2,000 people have jumped to their deaths from the bridge, with an average of about 20 a year. However, 38 jumped last year, and 19 have already jumped this year. The Golden Gate Bridge, known as much for its beauty as for its notoriety as the bridge from which suicidal people jump, is destined f... more -
Bridge board OKs suicide barrier nets
Golden Gate Bridge directors voted overwhelmingly late this morning to hang nets alongside the landmark bridge to prevent suicides.
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Golden Gate Bridge officials vote for suicide net
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A stainless steel net may soon hang underneath the Golden Gate Bridge to stop people from attempting suicide by jumping off.
The board that governs the world-famous bridge voted Friday after considering several other methods to prevent suicides.
Officials estimate the net will cost between $40 million and $50 million. It will require an environmental review and further study before installation.
Officials say about 20 people jump from the bridge every year. But 38 people jumped last year, and 19 have jumped so far this year. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A stainless steel net may soon hang underneath the Golden Gate Bridge to stop people from attempting suicide by j... more -
Army's life-or-death drama: To combat suicides, service introduces interactiv...
Alarmed by a record rate of suicide in its ranks, the Army yesterday unveiled a unique prevention tool -- an interactive video to be mandatory viewing Army-wide -- in which soldiers will play the role of an anguished infantryman and make virtual choices that lead the character to get help or, in the worst case, shoot himself in the head.
"This is you: Specialist Kyle Norton," a male narrator begins, putting soldiers in the boots of a 19-year-old Midwesterner after a bomb-clearing mission in Iraq.
The video, titled "Beyond the Front," leads the viewer through a detailed drama in which Norton is hit by relationship troubles, financial problems and scrapes with the law -- what Army research shows are major events that precipitate suicide. Norton is blindsided by an e-mail from his fiancee, who has become pregnant by another man. He is devastated further when one of his best friends is killed in an ambush.
Questions pop onto the screen at key moments, prompting the viewer to decide whether to get help -- by opening up with buddies, Norton's sergeant or a chaplain. Depending on the choices, Norton edges toward recovery or sinks deeper into suicidal thoughts. The goal is to immerse the viewer into Norton's life in a way that makes preventive lessons stick, say Army officials and the video's creators.
The video is one of several initiatives launched by the Army to try to stem the suicide rate among active-duty soldiers. That rate increased from 12.4 per 100,000 in 2003, when the Iraq war started, to 18.1 per 100,000 last year.
This year, 93 active-duty soldiers killed themselves through the end of August, the latest data show. A third of those cases are under investigation by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner's Office. In all of 2007, 115 soldiers committed suicide. Suicide attempts by soldiers have also increased since 2003.
If the trend continues, the death rate this year is likely to exceed that of a demographically similar segment of the U.S. population -- 19.5 per 100,000, Stephens said -- which has not happened since the Vietnam War Alarmed by a record rate of suicide in its ranks, the Army yesterday unveiled a unique prevention tool -- an interactive video to be m... more -
Death of a Korean Actress Shocks Immigrant Community
The death of a popular South Korean actress sent a shockwave throughout the Korean immigrant community in the United States and raised awareness of the importance of mental health, reports the Korea Times published in Los Angeles. Choi Jin-sil, 40, was a fixture of Korean prime-time television drama. She was found dead Thursday hanging from a shower stall with an elastic band tied around her neck in her home in southern Seoul. Choi, a single mother of two, was lately dogged by rumors circulating on the Web that she may have played a role in the suicide of an actor who took his own life last month after reportedly being pressured by loan sharks to pay off his large debt, reports the newspaper. The loss of the motherland's iconic entertainer raises a question of why a soaring number of Koreans rush to kill themselves, report the Korea Times. The story suggests that Koreans have to think about why they have earned the title, "the citizens of Republic of Suicide." The death of a popular South Korean actress sent a shockwave throughout the Korean immigrant community in the United States and raised... more
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S. Koreans Are Shaken by a Celebrity Suicide
Actress Choi Jin Sil was found dead at her home in Seoul on Oct. 2
She was more than South Korea's Julia Roberts or Angelina Jolie. For nearly 20 years, Choi Jin Sil was the country's cinematic sweetheart and as close to being a "national" actress as possible. But since her body was found on Oct. 2, an apparent suicide, she has become a symbol of the difficulties women face in this deeply conservative yet technologically savvy society. Incessant online gossip appears to have been largely to blame for her death. But it's also clear that public life as a single, working, divorced mom — still a pariah status in South Korea — was one role she had a lot of trouble with.
Dubbed the "nation's actress," Choi starred in some 16 movies and more than a dozen TV soap operas throughout the 1990s. But her career took a hit in 2002, when the public learned of her troubled marriage and subsequent divorce from Cho Sung Min, who plays baseball for the big leagues across the sea in Japan. After her divorce in 2004, the mother of two became anathema to producers and broadcasters who, according to industry observers, were and still are reluctant to put single mothers in starring or prominent roles. After four years of struggling, Choi's career had begun to pick up when her body was found in her bathroom in southern Seoul. She apparently hanged herself with a rope made of medical bandages. (Hanging is the most common form of suicide in South Korea, where gun ownership is illegal.) Her suicide has gripped the nation, dominating headlines as authorities, relatives and even the government try to determine what went wrong. Actress Choi Jin Sil was found dead at her home in Seoul on Oct. 2 ... more -
The Suicide Town?
Bridgend, Wales, has seen an apparent spate of teen suicides and in this pod Katrine Seidelin goes to meet a group of young volunteers as they take to the streets at night to dissuade teenagers from seeing suicide as option. With the entire town imposing a media lock-down, Katrine also finds herself asking what role the news and media played in creating this apparent teen crisis. Bridgend, Wales, has seen an apparent spate of teen suicides and in this pod Katrine Seidelin goes to meet a group of young volunteers... more
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Jobless father kills family, then turns the gun on himself
A man distraught because he could not find work shot and killed his mother-in-law, his wife and three sons and then killed himself inside a home in an upscale San Fernando Valley neighborhood, police said.
The two-story rented home is in gated community in Porter Ranch, about 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Authorities said the man had an MBA in finance but appeared to have been unemployed for several months and had worked for major accounting firms, such as Price Waterhouse, police said.
The shootings were discovered at 7:15 a.m. Monday, when a neighbor called police to report that the wife had not picked her up as she usually did to take her to her job at a pharmacy, Moore said.
The mother-in-law was 70; her daughter was 39; and the sons were 19, 12 and 7, Moore said. All were found inside bedrooms. A handgun, which was bought September 16, was recovered, he said. A man distraught because he could not find work shot and killed his mother-in-law, his wife and three sons and then killed himself ins... more -
F4J lands on Jefferson City Missouri KOMU was there!
4 days a month is child abuse.
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Prince of Wales resumes GM crops debate
The Prince of Wales has resumed his battle against GM crops, claiming that the technology has partly contributed to the number of small farmers in India committing suicide.
In a speech to the Indian environmental pressure group Navdanya, the Prince pushed for a return to more traditional methods of farming.
It is less than two months since he provoked a heated debate about GM with an interview with The Daily Telegraph in which he said GM crops risked causing the world's worst environmental disaster.
He was criticised for being a "Luddite", talking "biased baloney" and abusing his position.
But in his latest speech, delivered by video-link, he said he intended to continue speaking out about the controversial subject.
"The reason I keep sticking my 60-year-old head above an increasingly dangerous parapet is not because it is good for my health," he said.
"But precisely because I believe fundamentally that unless we work with nature in a myriad of ways such as this we will fail to restore the equilibrium we need in order to survive on this planet."
He highlighted the sensitive issue of small farmers who have killed themselves in India after getting into debt.
Although the suicides took place before the introduction of GM crops, some anti-GM campaigners believe farmers were pushed into buying the more expensive modified crop, which then failed to produce a significant yield.
This is contested by the agricultural biotech companies and the link is still unclear.
But the Prince referred to "the truly appalling and tragic rate of small farmer suicides in India stemming in part from the failure of many GM crop varieties".
He went on: "The debate really is very simple. Do you think we can solve (the food crisis) by using traditional agricultural practices enhanced by research to increase yields, but within a truly sustainable framework?
"Or do you think that is impossible and that instead it is worth taking all the risks that I would argue are associated with GM technology? To me, the answer is pretty straightforward.
"I want to see trust being put back in individual farmers, with their knowledge of the land and their skills honed over generations."
Pete Riley, from GM Freeze, an anti-GM campaign group, supported the Prince and said: "I think the Prince is right to raise concerns. This is a significant issue in the southern part of the world." The Prince of Wales has resumed his battle against GM crops, claiming that the technology has partly contributed to the number of smal... more -
Police express "disgust" at crowd encouraging Shaun Dykes to jump
Trained police negotiators were trying to talk 17-year-old Shaun Dykes into coming down from the side of a multi storey car park in Kilburn, the scene soon attracted a crowd who began to watch and even film the event.
Mike Creedon, Derbyshire's Police Constable, expressed his anger at members of the crowd who encouraged Shaun to jump.
"It disgusts me to think of their motivation and their lack of compassion towards a fellow human being obviously in distress"
The police spent three hours negotiating with Shaun before it ended in tragedy as he fell to his death. The people who encouraged Shaun to jump were not arrested. Trained police negotiators were trying to talk 17-year-old Shaun Dykes into coming down from the side of a multi storey car park in Ki... more -
Loan forgiven for woman who shot herself
"Fannie Mae said it will set aside the loan of a woman who shot herself as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home.
Fannie Mae foreclosed on the Akron, Ohio, home of Addie Polk, 90, after acquiring the mortgage in 2007.
Addie Polk, 90, of Akron, Ohio, became a symbol of the nation's home mortgage crisis when she was hospitalized after shooting herself at least twice in the upper body Wednesday afternoon.
On Friday, Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith said the mortgage association had decided to halt action against Polk and sign the property "outright" to her.
"We're going to forgive whatever outstanding balance she had on the loan and give her the house," Faith said. "Given the circumstances, we think it's appropriate."
Residents of Akron have rallied behind Polk, who is being treated at Akron General Medical Center. She was listed in critical condition Friday afternoon, according to Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, mentioned Polk on the House floor Friday during debate over the latest economic rescue proposal.
"This bill does nothing for the Addie Polks of the world," Kucinich said after telling her story. "This bill fails to address the fact that millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, are facing the loss of their home. This bill will take care of Wall Street, and the market may go up for a few days, but democracy is going downhill."
(more at link) "Fannie Mae said it will set aside the loan of a woman who shot herself as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from her fo... more -
Argus Leader newspaper & video series on the Lakota teen suicide crisis in Sou...
For years the majority of the white media in South Dakota has not done in-depth coverage of the shocking teen suicide crisis facing teens and young adults involving the Rosebud Indian Reservation and Lakota peoples.
However, there have been a few exceptions and the crisis has been covered for more than a year by the Native American media.
Now the Argus Leader newspaper in South Dakota has done a series of stories and videos about this problem.
The White Buffalo Calf Woman Society and its executive director Tillie Black Bear have done a herotic job trying to stop the suicide epidemic - but they need your help.
Follow the above link to get to links to all the articles and videos by the Argus Leader Newspaper in South Dakota. For years the majority of the white media in South Dakota has not done in-depth coverage of the shocking teen suicide crisis facing te... more -
90 Year Old Woman shoots self inside foreclosed home
(CNN) -- A 90-year-old Akron, Ohio, woman who shot herself as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home became a symbol of the nation's home mortgage crisis Friday.
Addie Polk is being treated at Akron General Medical Center after shooting herself at least twice in the upper body Wednesday afternoon, her city councilman said.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, mentioned Polk on the House floor Friday during debate over the latest economic rescue proposal.
"This bill does nothing for the Addie Polks of the world," Kucinich said after telling her story. "This bill fails to address the fact that millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, are facing the loss of their home. This bill will take care of Wall Street, and the market may go up for a few days, but democracy is going downhill."
Neighbor Robert Dillon, 62, used a ladder to enter a second-story bathroom window of Polk's home after he and the deputies heard loud noises inside, Dillon said.
"I was calling her name as I went in, and she wasn't responding," he said.
He found her lying on a bed, and he could see she was breathing. He also noticed a long-barreled handgun on the bed, but thought she just had it there for protection. He touched her on the shoulder.
"Then she kind of moved toward me a little and I saw that blood, and I said, 'Oh, no. Miss Polk musta done shot herself,' " Dillon said.
He hurried downstairs and let the deputies in. He said they told him they found Polk's car keys, pocketbook and life insurance policy laid out neatly where they could be found, suggesting she intended to kill herself. (CNN) -- A 90-year-old Akron, Ohio, woman who shot herself as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home beca... more -
South Korean star found dead
An actress has committed suicide in South Korea; her body was found by police at her apartment.
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