School!

I forgot how much I loved teaching over the summer. Now I'm back! It's great except that I can't sleep. I have gained 4 pounds this week and I think it's because of not sleeping enough. I try to sleep but then I just get up at 4 a.m. for no reason whatsoever. Hopefully I will get on some kind of schedule.

My new students this year are wonderful. So far... ha ha.

Off for a bike ride with my daughter on the tandem!

Serious Movie Recommendation:

Something the Lord Made is a wonderful movie. A must see, especially if you like history, medicine., and the victories African American people made in our prejudiced past.

Praying for her family, my daughter left flowers and a teddy at the pool fence...

Family deals with loss of 'doll of a girl'
Toddler dies swimming in city pool

By KAREN LANGLEY
Monitor staff
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 19, 2009 - 3:58 pm

Three-year-old Amariah Rivera, seen here in this Easter 2009 photo, was pulled from the Keach Park pool in Concord on Monday and later died.

Faced with another hot day, Michele Rivera brought her four children Monday to the Keach Park pool in Concord, where she swam years before.

The Chichester resident was holding her 3-month-old son in the shade just before 2 p.m. and watching her other children swim when her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter headed for the shallow end. As she watched her children weave among the two dozen young swimmers, she realized 3-year-old Amariah was not with them.

A frantic search ensued, ending moments later when Rivera saw a woman pull Amariah from the water.

"That's when she ran over to find her daughter on the ground," said Freddy Rivera, the uncle of Amariah's father and spokesman for the family.

Lifeguards performed CPR on the little girl, who was taken to Concord Hospital. Doctors worked for more than an hour before declaring her dead, said Freddy Rivera, who had gathered there with family from New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

The police are still investigating Amariah's death, and an assistant city manager said the city will review all pool policies and procedures. Three lifeguards were working at the pool Monday, two watching the pool while a third checked identification at the gate. Nonresidents can swim at Concord pools for a fee.

City swimming pools had been scheduled to close Friday, but excess funds prompted officials to extend days for the Keach, Rolfe and Rollins pools through yesterday. After the death, officials decided to end the season Monday.

Amariah's father, Pablo Rivera, thanked the community for its support and asked for privacy in an e-mail message to the Monitor yesterday. He specifically thanked the two women who pulled his daughter from the pool.

"Without you pulling her out of the water, she would've not even had a chance to fight," he wrote. "Although she didn't survive and is now looking down on us, I still thank you greatly for at least giving her that opportunity."

Pablo and Michele Rivera declined through Freddy Rivera to speak to a reporter, but Michele Rivera described her experience to be relayed to the Monitor. Freddy Rivera, formerly a district manager in the Monitor circulation department, is now a contractor for the newspaper.

He described the Riveras as a loving family that remains close to grandparents and other out-of-town relatives. Those family members quickly congregated at the hospital Monday to be with Amariah, he said.

"She was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful girl that was very close to her family," Freddy Rivera said. "Loved by all, just a doll of a girl."

He said his nephew was a proud father who had called three months earlier when Maximo was born.

"He said, 'I caught up to you. I have four now,' " Freddy Rivera said. "I was so happy. Now I feel so sad."

At the pool Monday, Michele Rivera's search for Amariah took her around the shallow end and toward the playground before her daughter was found floating facedown. As a father of four, Freddy Rivera said, it frightens him to know how quickly a child can leave the sight of even the most attentive parent.

"She tried her best to make a nice day out of it for her kids," Rivera said. "It was a hot day."

Rivera said the family is planning a funeral to be held in Lowell, Mass., either tomorrow or Friday.

Firefighters stood by yesterday afternoon as water drained from the Keach Park pool. A teddy bear and two stuffed rabbits rested by the fence; flowers were woven among the chain links. A few children played on the nearby playground.

Jim Howard, deputy city manager for finance, declined to comment on how much liability exposure the city would have from the incident.

"Obviously, that happened on our premises, so that question is a legitimate question," he said. "But we really don't know enough about this at this point in time."

The city carries general liability insurance through the New Hampshire Municipal Association Property-Liability Trust, Howard said.

The pool was well below its capacity of 100 people when the incident occurred about 2 p.m., he said. And it had more lifeguard coverage than usual, because the regular closing of the city's other four pools allowed a third guard to work at the pool that day. All city lifeguards are Red Cross-certified, he said. The lifeguards on the scene Monday received counseling yesterday, he said.

Summer's Over

Back to work :(

Can't sleep...

A 3-year-old girl was pronounced dead today after witnesses found her floating in a public swimming pool.

The girl was floating face-down in 2 feet of water at the Keach Park pool in Concord, according to a woman who said she pulled the girl out of the water. Lifeguards performed CPR but were unable to resuscitate her, the woman said.

"I keep crying. I keep thinking about it,"the woman, Sylinda Wetherbee, said last night. "I can't imagine losing a child."

Police said the girl was from Chichester. Officials declined to release her name.

Wetherbee, 44, who lives in Warren, said there were three lifeguards on duty and about 30 people in the pool when she saw the girl floating near the shallow end. The girl's arms were out, "but her feet went straight down,"Wetherbee said.

"It didn't look right, so I just jumped up,"Wetherbee said. "I don't know why. I just jumped up and ran toward her."

Another woman reached into the water and grabbed the girl, Wetherbee said, "but she did not have the strength to actually pull her out, so I did."

The girl was unresponsive. Wetherbee said she called for the lifeguards to come over and help.

An ambulance arrived within minutes, she said. Police said they were called to the scene at 1:56 p.m. Concord Fire Department paramedics transported the girl to Concord Hospital.

In a statement, the Concord Police Department said it was investigating "the circumstances surrounding this incident."Investigators yesterday were waiting for the state Medical Examiner's Office to determine the cause of death.

Concord had planned on closing all of its pools for the season last Friday, but officials recently decided to keep the pools open for a few extra days due to the "wet, cool start of the pool season,"according to the city's Web site. An announcement on the site said the Keach Park pool and two others would remain open until today.

Poor girl, her family, and the lifeguards. They did what they were trained to do... so sad...

Girl, 3, Dies After Being Pulled From Concord Pool
Lifeguards Perform CPR After Girl Spotted Floating Facedown

A 3-year-old girl drowned in a Concord swimming pool on Monday, despite efforts from bystanders and lifeguards.

Police said the Chichester girl was pulled from a swimming pool in Keach Park on Loudon Road. Witness Sylinda Wetherbee said she saw the girl floating in the water, facedown.

"I looked over and I saw this little girl facedown, and myself and another woman ran at the same time, and she got down there before me and she reached down and grabbed the little girl," Wetherbee said. "I reached in and grabbed the little girl from her, flipped her over, thinking it might have just happened and the water would come out, and it didn't."

Wetherbee said the pool was packed at the time, and three lifeguards were on duty to oversee a crowd trying to beat the intense heat. Two lifeguards performed CPR on the girl while a third called 911.

Police officers responding to the pool also treated the girl, who was transferred to Concord Hospital by Concord Fire Department paramedics. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

An investigation is under way, and anyone with information was asked to call police at 603-225-8600.Tell Us More: E-mail WMUR your tips and story ideas.
Copyright 2009 by WMUR.

An American Crime

Did anyone see the movie “An American Crime?” It was as stomach turning as the book “A Boy Called It.” The very sad fact of the story is that it is based on a true story that happened in the 1960s and all of the court testimony was the actual court testimony. At one point, I had to turn of the volume and fast forward a bit because I couldn’t take it. I think I tightened my abs watching this because it was so stomach turning, my literal stomach as all tightened up. I’m not recommending as a have to see movie, but if you like to watch stuff based on true stories and can handle watching abuse, then see it. It wasn’t entertainment but it was like driving by a car crash, you don’t want to see anything horrid but you can’t stop looking.

Going up to hug my little girl now...

Lock Your Doors

On Monday night there was a Dateline NBC about murders. The title of the show is A Stranger in the House. If you didn't see it, one of those murdered women was Monica my sister-in-laws best friend. She was a sweetheart beautiful girl, you can see pictures of her on the video. You will also see my sister-in-law talking, the one with the dark hair in the middle, in the second part of the videos. It is like six videos. Chilling and gruesome murders.

But the point of watching it is that the kind of horrific things that we see on television actually happens to real people. If there is a lesson in this horrible tragedy that my sister-in-law and brother would like people to take away from this is to LOCK YOUR DOORS! Seriously, especially up here in the great white north people do not lock their doors.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/

Check out her story, she was so lovely. And please LOCK UP! Always Don't leave the door open for anyone. Wake up when they get there. Okay? Ok. Good night.

Rain, Rain, Are You Freakin’ Kiddin’ Me???

It is bad up here, well when we can’t get to our fishing spot, or our fishing spot is no longer there – then it is bad! We took some pictures today of where the river should NOT be... enjoy.






Our Path!!!

I'm hungry...

I really miss meat. But I'm supporting my kid. We are going to make our own pizza tonight. Yum.