Show l f MfafrfiJiSilnja'i ' l vi jgaa-aft- -- f Y- The Herald Journal Logan Utah Friday July 23 1999 — Page 7 Astronomers adopt Earth-impascale ct Scnpps Howard News Service World astronomets AP photo Photographers sit on a jetty and focus their cameras on the beach outside the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port Mass From HietonPP' iallvv 51 BOSTON (AP) — For the of journalists who dropped everything and flocked to Massachusetts as the Kennedy story unfolded the tale was irresistibly tragic and undeniably gripping And the frustrations were numerous hun-drc- News first broke Saturday morning that a plane piloted by John l: Kennedy Jr and carry ing his wife and sister-in-lawas missing As the search continued the coverage grew — and so did media restrictions Ultimately the cameras that tailed John Jr his entire lilc were kept away front his final tiles Thursday leaving netwoiks with little more to show than a Navy destroyer silling offshore News media boats were kept more than a mile away from the I'SS Briscoe front which the ashes of Kennedy his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette were dropped into the sett The event took hours and front lime to time correspondents confessed to not knowing what was going on "As we watch from a distance we rcallv don't know much about off-came-ra the details and in some w'ay that's quite appiopriate because that's the wav llie Kennedv famiMSNBC ly would like it" anchorman John Seigenthaler said Covering the Kennedy story was complicated from the start restricted ones and a search that took Fver-increasi- place almost entirely underwater left many networks scrambling to find something to show The seaich led to lengthy shots of boats and aircraft while the lamilies remained secluded as the hours and Jays passed Much of the covciugc found correspondents and cameras clustered outside the Kennedy estate in Hyannis Port on-sit- a e fact which CBS's Anthony Mason felt obliged to acknowledge last Sunday "All the noise you hear in the background" he explained to vicwcis "is the hordes of journalists who are flocked there at the edge of the Kennedy com- pound" Meanwhile at Base where the portation Safety command post Media kept at bay throughout development of Kennedy story reporters were kept in a World War gymnasium with six phone lines Some feared leaving to get a sandwich lest they miss a hit of new information Others reporters complained of problems with cell phones and beepers due to the poor remote connections on the Cape Cod and Vineyard There were other hassles of covering the news: One freelance photographer resorted to washing his shirt in the sink and drying it in the oven of his rented cottage "I smell because I don't have any clothing or underwear" said Adam Millei a New York Post icporter Reporters and photographers also cncountcicd restricted access to public property where debris and personal belongings were washing up on shore "They kept us back like lepers when all we were trying to do was memorialize (the victims) in a respectful way” lamented New York Post reporter Mark Slamcy from a New England daily who said their inconveniences were nothing in comparison to the losses of the Kennedy and Bessette families Said one reporter that of the public's right to know" he said “No one who has respect for another human being should he doing this" Il-e- ra Several reporters however Otis Air Force National TransBoard set up a more than 100 wouldn't give her name: “It sounds really inappropriate to whine about our lives when there's been such a tragedy" Regular folks — residents and Kennedy admirers alike — quickly got fed up with the media frenzy “The media is trying to get a picture of a dead body!” vacationer Judy Riley screamed as she walked past a phalanx of news trucks Don Hewitt the veteran executive producer of CBS's "W) Minutes" apologized to Caroline Kennedy John Jr's sister for (lie behavior of his colleagues He delivered a letter Thursday walking past reporters who have been camped outside her Bridgehamp-to- n NY home for four days “Watching people grieve is obscene" Hewitt who has a home in the same Long Island resort town told reporters "I wish the press were as classy as they (the Kennedy) are “Privacy is a higher right than Qicg3JETri7Tfj7( jmw have adopted a new scale to assess the threat of any newly discovered asteroid or comet lulling Faith with impact chances iitcd limi zilch to Doomsday The International Astronomical Union announced Tluusday that it was adopting the side tailed the Torino Impact Haud Scale after the Italian city when ii was chosen at a louleicike eaili i tins summer It was developed In KuliaiJ Binel a piofessot of planet uy sciences at the Massu huseits Institute of Technology io help guide scientists the media and the public in gauging the lineal of objects found wandering tluough the solar system The IAU has been mulling such a scale for several ycais but the project took on more urgency after the organiuium caused a short-live- d worldwide sensaium in l‘)‘)8 by announcing the discovery of a large asteroid on a if not colli seeming dose-pas- s sion course with liarlh in just Hi years That assertion was quickly rebutted by NASA Others used more detailed infoimalion on ihc newly logged asteroid concluding it would pass well beyond even the orbit of the moon But the episode1 highligluvd the need for a formal threat assess ment scale as more rcseuchci' and seveial space agencies conduct scaichcs lor “neai-Laiil- i objects" iNLOi that could one day he a haud “ I he Tonno scale is a mioi advance in our ahihly to evplim the liaaid posed by a pailuid been IhccciI by vuioiis leseaiclieis sii t ii bin Iriiicl poinis mil ''because we kimcv ilmui moic asieimds ilieie is m leasing awaieness iliai man v ol them can make close passes by llic I mil I bis doesn't mean that the I at til is hi any gieatei danger ns tlioudi" Pmd admits though that "it's dillicult in human nature to figure out what level ol anxiety we should assign to an approaching asieionl" as new discov cries lie made ami announced over the next seveial decades "Scientists haven't done a vciy good job of " communicating the relative dan-gci- Binel said the most pari asiionomeis loi aie certain that an usicioid big enough to cause devastation over the planet — say over a mile icioss - is relatively rare coni' ing no more than every 00000 to I million years apart And scientists ate fond of noting that no one has been documented as killed by a meteorite impact Iowa town evacuated WAVERLY Iowa (AP) -500 people wete chased front their homes and forced to find alternative shelter after the Cedar River flooded 65 city blocks of this northeast Iowa town The residents were evacuated Thursday as the river spilled its hanks and covered Iowa I lighwuy 3 — the main street through this Bremer County community of about 8500 people Most stayed with family members or at shelters set up at area churches and a local college They were expected to return to their homes to survey damage today “I grew up here and I can About 1 remember the river flooding a lot when I was a hoy but we haven't had a flood like this for quite sometime" Police Chief Arthur Simpson said ITuirsday Waverly was cut in two as the river crested in the morning at just over 21 feet — 2 feet higher than the previous record set in l‘W3 As many as 650 homes and a doen downtown businesses were all'ected No injuries weie reported and a damage estimate was not available Hlecliicily in Waverly a town of X500 was shut off and residents were told to lock their dot 'is as they left Thursday night 8AM8 yi On electronics Orders from our current Sate Catalogs kids & adult bedding & luggage sporting goods furniture baby bedding & accessories ordered from Our ordered from Our Spring & Summer Springs Summer Hurry! 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