This article is in the lead for most sensationalistic reporting of the fatal shark attack in Destin.
Writer Jonathan Lemire tried to write a breathless narrative, but it only hyperventilates before going on to completely suck.
Kudos to the old guy surfing who swam over to the scene of the attack, punched the shark in the nose, and got the girl to shore. That took courage.
Sorry for the girl and the family who lost her.
Although we do get a lot of shark attacks here in Florida, most are not fatal, and all of them happen in the ocean or Gulf, and not in anyone's garden whilst they are watering their petunias. I find that an important distinction.
You're usually OK as long as you don't go too far out. You certainly don't want to be the length of two football fields out in the water, like this girl was.
I'm all for keeping out their way, but it takes a real environmentalist like Joseph A. Davis to suggest sharks should kill humans tit-for-tat.
What effect, if any, the 1992 and 1993 federal and state limits on shark fishing have had on the number of attacks in Florida, I don't know.
Posted by floridacracker at June 26, 2005 12:09 PM