You WILL Let Them Go

I don't build no heathen temples
Where the Lord's has done raised his hand
There's a well on the hill
Let it be

(J. Taylor)





2 More Fatal Fla. Gator Attacks Reported



By JENNIFER KAY, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 13 minutes ago [5/13/06]

MIAMI - The bodies of two women, both apparently killed by alligators, were found Sunday less than a week after a similar death in a state that had seen just 17 confirmed fatal attacks by the animals in the previous 58 years.


A 23-year-old woman staying at a secluded cabin near Lake George was attacked while snorkeling at a lakeside recreation area, said Marion County Fire-Rescue Capt. Joe Amigliore. The lake is about 50 miles southeast of Gainesville.

"The people she was staying with came around and found her inside the gator's mouth," Amigliore said. "They jumped into the water and somehow pulled her out of the gator's mouth."

Annemarie Campbell, of Paris, Tenn., was pronounced dead at the scene. Her stepfather, who had tried to help her, was treated on the scene for a hand injury, said Amigliore.

In Pinellas County, the death of another woman whose body was found early Sunday in a canal 20 miles north of St. Petersburg also was blamed on an alligator, authorities said.

Judy W. Cooper's body had been in the water for about three days, authorities said.

The 43-year-old Dunedin woman suffered animal bites that were consistent with an alligator, which "did play some part in the victim's death," according to a preliminary autopsy. The cause of death was pending and the medical examiner's final report will not be released for at least four weeks, the sheriff's office said.

"We don't know the condition she was in when this happened," said state wildlife spokesman Gary Morse.

It was not immediately known why Cooper was in the area where wildlife officials said alligators are frequently spotted.

Authorities were baiting traps in their searches for both gators Sunday.
On Wednesday, construction workers found the dismembered body of a Florida Atlantic University student in a canal near Fort Lauderdale. A medical examiner concluded that the 28-year-old woman was attacked near the canal bank and dragged into the water.

On Saturday, wildlife officers captured an 9-foot, 6-inch alligator in Sunrise that they believe fatally attacked Yovy Suarez Jimenez while she was out jogging.

Suarez's death was the 18th confirmed fatal alligator attack in Florida since 1948. Nine other previous deaths are unconfirmed, mainly because it was not clear whether the person was already dead when the alligator attacked.

What provoked the attacks in three separate Florida counties was unknown, but state wildlife officials said alligators are generally on the move looking for mates and food this time of year.

"As the weather heats up, the alligators' metabolism increases and they have to eat more," Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Willie Puz said Sunday. "They might be moving more, but that just shouldn't mean increased alligator attacks."

Florida residents are warned not to swim in heavily vegetated areas, feed wildlife or walk pets near the water, especially between dusk and dawn when gators are more active, Morse said.


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Cross-Shaped Ruin to Stay at Ground Zero


By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press Writer

Sat May 13, 11:37 PM ET

NEW YORK - The foundation in charge of developing ground zero's memorial and museum pledged to permanently display the two pieces of steel left standing in the shape of a cross after the World Trade Center collapsed.

WTC Memorial Foundation President and CEO Gretchen Dykstra agreed to find a place for the artifact at the site, though she acknowledged it's a delicate issue and viewers should be allowed to draw their own conclusions about whether it has religious significance.

During recovery efforts in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, the two intersecting beams were treated with reverence by some rescue workers. The artifact was interpreted by some as a sign of hope. Religious services were held near where it stood in the smoking rubble. It remains at the site more than four years later.

"The artifact will be treated with utmost respect, but again as a public institution, we will not explicitly offer religious services in association with the artifact," Dykstra wrote in a letter Friday to Kenneth Ringler, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site.

Dykstra said the cross could be placed in the underground museum, which is set to open in 2009, or the outdoor memorial called "Reflecting Absence" that will fill eight of ground zero's 16 acres with two reflecting pools marking the spots where the towers stood.

"We agree wholeheartedly that this important and essential artifact belongs at the WTC site and affirm that its respectful placement, possibly with the memorial museum, will be a considered part of our content planning process," she said.

Officials have yet to decide whether the cross would remain at the site during construction.

The Port Authority scrapped plans to temporarily store it for safekeeping in a hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport after clergy groups protested.

The Rev. Brian Jordan, who has worked to keep the cross near the site, has said one likely temporary location is the side wall of St. Peter's Church, which faces ground zero.