Crossing the Line

What is deemed as crossing the line between criminal and parental control? Last week a viral video broke out on YouTube, seen here, of the then 16 year old Hillary Adams being beaten by her father Judge William Adams. After the video was release by Thursday morning there were over 2 million views. The police got involved and an investigation is going on about a possible child abuse case that started in 2004. Hillary, who is now 22, says, ” I don’t want my dad punished. I want him to seek help.” The judge has recieved threats and looks like the bad guy, for now.

This story is timely, and a world issue. Child abuse is a big ordeal around the world, and it effects everyone in different ways. Not only is child abuse a serious problem, the use of viral video is becoming a freeway for making private issues public.

Cyclopes Shark: Extra Credit Story

Cyclopes was a name heard in children’s fairy tales, but they are real. In California a local fisherman caught a shark that was pregnant. After the shark was cut open the fisherman discovered a Cyclopes baby shark. With technology today like Photoshop and other online scams people questioned if the Cyclopes baby shark was real or fake.

According to the magazine Scientific American, scientists have study the baby shark and reported that the eye is real and has functional optical tissue. Shark expert Felipe Galvan Magana said, “This is extremely rare. As far as I know, less then 50 examples of an abnormality like this have been recorded.”  A scientific paper written by Magana and his colleagues is due to release in a few weeks.

The fisherman who caught the shark has decided to hold onto the remains of the Cyclopes shark. Scientists have recently studied and tested the shark, and have authenticated it. This baby shark is not the first shark found with abnormalities. Many animals and humans are reported and studied that have physical abnormalities. LLike my story last week on the Ohio animal killings, this is a animal story, which most people are interested in. It also is a bizzare scientific story, this also is interesting to people! I think this is a scientific break through in the fact that it proves that there are animals, people, things we haven’t yet discovered. The ocean is a deep, dark abyss that we will never know what all is below us.

Poor Animals :(

Ohio wild animals shot!

Lions, Tigers, and Bears.. OH MY!

In Zanesville, Ohio last Wednesday 56 wild animals were set loose from a wild-animal preserve. 49 out of the 56 animals have been killed by police officers and wild life expert Jack Hanna. Ohio schools were shut down, and everyone was ordered to stay indoors until the area had been checked. The owner Terry Thompson left his nature preserve un-secure and all the animal cages open. He then shot himself, and was found by authorities in his driveway. There is still a monkey missing that is believed to have Herpes B disease.

I picked this story not only because it is bizzare, but it is all over the world news. This is due to the fact that Ohio is being persecuted on having lax wild animal laws. Ohio has some of the weakest laws and this resulted in high numbers of exotic animal killings. This story can be found all over the web and on well-known sites.

Shootings and more Shootings

8 are dead in Southern California after a man shoots up a local hair salon. Wednesday day a man, 42-year-old Scott Dekraai, walked into Salon Meritage and started shooting. After that rampage he walked outside and shot a man in his truck. Police located him about half a mile from the salon. No names have been released, but many citizens are shocked and saddened by this shooting because in the quiet resort town the last homicide is a distant memory.

This is newsworthy because this year has been full of random shootings. This like many others has left citizens with questions about why and how could someone do something like this. This story doesn’t hit close to Iowa, but hits close to the heart because many of us can just imagine if it happens there it can happen here!

I will update more after his trial is set!! This story is interesting!

Dave Madsen

Getting on with Life after Life happens

Dave Madsen gave 29 years of dedicated work to Sioux City’s KTIV. He was a top dog producer/director/manager and in less then 24 hours was canned. Life happens. Madsen had a short 48 hours to feel bad for himself before being offered a new job.

Madsen graduated from the University of Nebraska Lincoln with a Journalism degree. He never expected that he would be going for another 4 years to get a Masters degree, but life happens. After losing his job at KTIV, Madsen was down but not broken. He was not mad at any of his local co-workers, and still continues to network with them. On the bright side Madsen said, “Not everyone gets their story in the newspaper when they lose their job.”

Shortly after him being fired from KTIV he gained a job as a Public Relation Specialist at Siouxland Mental Health Center. Then in June 2009 he was offered Chair of Mass Communications at Morningside College. He started teaching many classes. Some of these classes are passport, practicum, introduction to mass communications, PR classes, and media management classes to name a few. He over looks the Morningside College Television station, MCTV.

His transition from KTIV to Morningside was easy in most ways. The stress level was dramatically less at Morningside. He uses his background in Journalism and in his career to apply it to the classroom. Madsen loves talking to people also, but talking more so then the whole grading papers part. He is back in school for his Master’s degree. So, on top of grading papers, teaching classes, and over looking the Mass Communications department, he said he is writing 10 page papers for his own classes.

Once again life happens. After working his way to the top in the career at KTIV he thought he’d be retiring at to Madsen saying, “I can see myself retiring from Morningside.” Life isn’t over when the unexpected happens. Just keep looking for the window if one door closes. Madsen didn’t let being fired stop him from searching for new goals and a new career.

Paper 2 Final Draft: Nightmare on 4th Street

Brittany Conolly

Paper #2 Draft

10-6-11

Every year through out the month of October Sioux City hosts many Halloween events. One well-known event is the Nightmare on 4^th Streets haunted house. This haunted house provides over 5,000 square feet of terror to the visitors. The house is open on the weekends September 30^th to October 26^th. After the 26^th of the month Nightmare on 4^th Street is open nightly. It closes after midnight on the 31^st, Halloween night.

MacKinsey Higley, an 8^th grader I spoke to outside of the haunted house said, “from the outside the haunted house appears to look like a bar, and that is exactly what it is!”  The haunted house is set up under the bar Chesterfields. As you park in the back parking lot you can see that a ticket booth and an extremely long line of people and rope, which establishes the entrance. MacKinsey also said, “the wait is worth it. The whole experience makes my adrenaline pump.” Along with long lines and screaming kids is the phantom figures running around waiting to take you into the beginning of the haunted house.

I got the treat of going through the haunted house as it was being set up. The entrance is a dim light brick room with two doors. There is one door to the back of the room and one to the front. After a creepy, disembodied voice comes over a speaker and explains the rules of the haunting, the terrifying experience begins. The length of the house is a maze of unevenly molded tunnels. The terrain makes one unsteady in their own body because the floors dip and the ceiling seems to get closer and closer to the ground. Throughout are moans and groans coming from skeletons, ghouls, and goblins, men in masks, clowns with knives, a spinning wheel of death, and as the end can be seen a burley man. He chases people with a chainsaw leading them out the exit door.

After my trip through the haunted house I got the privilege of interviewing one of the clowns that works in the house.  Ryan Tague has worked at the house for the past two year as a murderous clown. Tague said, “The best part of my job is getting everyone to scream like a little girl!” Others like Tague that work in the haunted house enjoy scaring people. Tague said, “Everyone that works here is a big happy, messed up family.” This family of clowns, ghouls, and monsters make it scary and exciting for everyone who pays to enter the Nightmare on 4^th street for an adrenaline rush.

Very Rough Draft for Paper #2

Brittany Conolly

Paper #2 Draft

10-6-11

Halloween came from the idea of All-Hallows-Eve. It originated from European countries in the early 1500’s. From this origination came Halloween costumes, trick-or-treating, haunted houses, and horror stories. In Sioux City, Iowa this holiday is looked forward to as a week and weekend of ghoulish fun.

Every year through out the month of October Sioux City holds many Halloween events. One well-known event is the Nightmare on 4^th Street haunted house. This haunted house provides over 5,000 square feet of terror to the visitors. The haunted house is open on the weekends September 30^th to October 26^th. After the 26^th of the month Nightmare on 4^th Street is open nightly ending at midnight on the 31^st, Halloween night.

Amanda Knox is Free: News Comment #6

Early this week Amanda Knox was acquitted in Italy of her murder charge. Most people are aware of the story behind Amanda Knox. She was accused of killing her roommate and of sexual assault. The story I have read on her is about her journey back to the U.S., and how much debt she is in. Her family has over a million dollars in debt to the lawyers involved in her case. They are happy she is home and may have a few options to help out with the payments. In prison Knox started to write a memoir about her life, and as most people know book deals are always a hit.

Scavenger Hunt!

Morningside College has some of the nicest employees around. As I left class to fulfill my objective to find a pencil with the Morningside logo on it, I thought to myself this is stupid. In the strong blowing wind I headed to Lewis Hall. I ascended the stairs from the back door into the main hallway. I turned right to head towards the Business Office. Walking up to the counter I was honestly a bit nervous. I didn’t want people to look at my like I was an idiot.

I got the nerve to ask a blonde haired worker at the front desk of the office for a pencil with the logo. Her name, I later asked, was Lauren Nugent. To my shock without any hesitation, or explanation from me, she started digging in her desk with a big smile on her face. After about two minutes of rummaging around Lauren said,” Geez, you’d think we’d have boxes of them.” After she turned to ask her co-worker for some help looking. Lauren’s co-worker was Becky Thompson. Right away she skipped over to the tall cabinet towards the back wall of the office. She quickly opened the top cabinet and moved around some boxes filled with papers. “Ah-ha!” Becky announced. She pulled out a big pile of maroon pencils with a rubber band around them. She handed me the freshly sharpened pencil with ease, and I took it relieved I found one so fast and easy.

I asked them a few more questions then said thank you as I turned around to head back to class. Back into the wind I walked hurriedly back to write about how nice these people were. Not only did they take almost 10 minutes out of their schedule to help me with this assignment, but they seemed to enjoy it. They were bubbly, smiling, and polite to me; a stranger with a random pencil request.