KRISTA GROTE

National

Nevada’s Bermuda Triangle

SUMMARY
In 1964, pilot Charles Ogle was flying a single engine plain over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, which is the same area that millionaire, adventurer Steve Faucet was flying when he was reported missing. While search crews were looking for his plain they came across what they think may have been the crash site of Ogle in the 60’s. Ogle’s son was very excited that they may have found his father’s plain because for the past forty years they never knew what actually happened to his father. Search crews have also come across six other crash sites so far, and they think that there may be up to two hundred others hidden in the mountain range. It is now referred to the Bermuda Triangle of Nevada because of all its high peaks and deep ravines, which make it very difficult to find crash sites in this area.

OPINION
It is interesting that search crews will spend so much time to look for a famous, rich guy, but they never put very much effort to find any of the other victims that crashed in the same mountain range. It would not seem like a Bermuda Triangle area if they would have found all the crash sites before it was years after the accidents. It does not seem fair that rich people get such special treatment even when they are supposedly dead.

International

Carvings Gone Simpson’s

SUMMARY
In a place far from “Springfield”, a group of men in Kenya are carrying on a family tradition of carving soapstone, but it was not until recently that the became known for their carvings of Simpson’s characters. Each carving takes two days to complete and can be sold for about four dollars. The master carver, Enosh Onsombi, sells the carvings and uses the money to pay for his children’s school test papers. He also hopes that one day he can raise enough money to buy an actual TV to watch an episode of the Simpson’s, because electricity was only introduced to their village a year ago.

OPINION
I think what these carver men are doing is really cool, and I think what Onsombi is doing with the money is very admirable. It is very selfless of him to use the money from his job to contribute to his kids’ education so they can have better jobs in the future, instead of just teaching them the family trade.
I also think that it is sad that their village has only had electricity for only one year when electricity has been around a lot longer than that. I think that if one country has the resources to make life more people friendly, they should take the initiative to share their knowledge with other countries.

National

Heed the Speed

SUMMARY
In Aiken, South Carolina, to stop people from speeding on a local road, the police force has put a card board cut out of a police officer holding a radar gun on the side of the rode to prevent people from speeding. The police department did not do this as a joke but to slow people down, and it is working! Because of the success with the card board cut out they plan to put for more up in the county in other speeding areas, but don’t let the card board fool you because one day it may be a real police officer with a real radar gun!

OPINION
I think this is a great idea. I could totally see myself being fooled by this fake cop. It is not only some what humorous, but it actually fools people and that’s the beauty of it. If anything can get people to slow down and eventually save lives works why not try it, because you can only put in so many speed humps and radar cameras. A card board cut is a cheap, efficient solution to a big problem, or at least for now it is.

International

Education Opportunities in Lebanon

SUMMARY
Orphans in an orphanage in the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, each received their own individual computer to do their studies on. The computers not only make learning more fun and interesting, but it also allows the students to communicate with other kids around the world. The initiative was brought about by American business leaders to provide an education with technology so these less fortunate kids will be able to compete in their economic futures.

OPINION
I think it is great that some Americans care enough about the kids in other countries to provide computers for a bunch of kids in an orphanage to improve their education. I don’t think enough is done in other countries to make children, who are the future of the country, more educated. If kids from a third world country do not ever receive a good education, there is no hope for a better future for that country unless other countries take the initiative to help them.