Here’s why many people think the Kansas City Star appears to be on its last legs…
One of the first thoughts that crossed my mind Sunday after I read on Fox News about the Schlitterbahn tragedy was, that with the home court advantage, the Star would have the scoop on what really happened – you know, in explicit detail.
Was I ever wrong!
Oh they undoubtedly had them alright, but for some reason or other the newspaper declined to report that a 10 year-old boy who died on the ridiculously dangerous Verrückt water slide had reportedly been decapitated.
Too gruesome for the public to digest? Too extreme for the boy’s family to endure?
Hardly.
The grim reality being that we live in a world where public beheadings and all sorts of gruesome acts – things like small children being mowed down by trucks – are part and parcel of everyday life.
So in lieu of telling it like it is – which by the way, as I write this police have confirmed to People Magazine and even Wikipedia is reported the beheading. While Kansas City’s newspaper of record has yet to report the news.
Instead, the Star teased readers Tuesday with a huge, front page headline and nearly an entire page filled with photos, stories and graphs tiptoeing around the known facts under the headline, “Questions still swirl in boy’s death.”
That coupled with a lame column by one of the newspaper’s least savvy newsies, Mary Sanchez, scolding readers and other media for obsessing on the tragic news, as if that might lessen the boy’s family’s grief.
“Temper it, people,” Sanchez snapped, adding “social media has become a battering ram for the ethically challenged.”
Social media?
How about legitimate news organizations worldwide from not just this country but England and Germany? Mainstream media that reported the decapitation story the Star had opted not to.
As if Sanchez and the Star were somehow taking the high road.
Fat chance.
Sanchez
“As I post this comment, there are 12 – count ’em, 12 – opportunities to click on some aspect of this story on The Star‘s online front page,” commented Star reader Joaquin Santiago. “And you are calling for restraint.”
“Spot on, Joaquin! Couldn’t have said it better myself,” added Star reader Mick Dundee.
“The same KC Star that publicly misreported the child’s name and age only 3-hrs after the accident,” weighed in Star reader Jennifer Duke.
Sanchez inability to connect with readers by serving up nanny state style thinking as opposed to cutting edge news and opinion writing smacked of hypocrisy, readers groused.
“Every media outlet screams, ‘Look at this! Look at this! Look at this!’ … and it’s our fault if we look? Whatever,” quipped voice-of-reason Star reader Brad Jones. “My 2-cents, FWIW: There is a useful discussion to be had, and it will be one that looks FORWARD: to the issue of how we do things better.
“The not-so-useful discussion always comes first, and it is one that looks BACKWARDS: to the issue of who we can blame.
“The ‘backwards’ discussion is happening now, and it is never pretty, but it is part of the process. It just is.
“The ‘forward’ discussion will be more important – or should be more important – because we are still going to have rides, and do things that involve some risk, and we need to understand how to balance our demand for the fun with the danger of the risk. Shutting everything down is not usually the correct final answer; doing it better is.”
And that ladies and gentleman is one of the Star’s biggest problems; they still live in a make-believe world where they get to be the arbiters of news and opinion. That somehow a small group of poorly paid riders and journalists get to determine what people should know and how they should think, simply because they were willing to work for peanuts for what a handful of years ago used to pass for a news monopoly.
What people like Sanchez and the older editors at the Star have yet to get their heads around is that, while they still have a big and powerful enough megaphone, they no longer are in a position yo dictate and talk down to the masses.
You know, and get away with it.
Because when it comes to news and information in the 21st Century – aside from the Star turning off its comments section to stifle criticism – it’s still a free country.
“So in lieu of telling it like it is – which by the way, as I write this police have confirmed to People Magazine and even Wikipedia is reported the beheading. While Kansas City’s newspaper of record has yet to report the news.”
Beheading is the deliberate decapitation of someone. Maybe the paper’s not ready to accuse some one of a deliberate act as of yet.
Sounds like you’re gonna make sure heads are gonna roll over this Star mess-up, huh Hearne?
ISIS is in talks with Shitterbahn over naming rights at this time.
Last legs is right. The main news section of the Star had 8 pages yesterday, while Sports had 12. 20 pages total for a major metropolitan newspaper’s Monday edition.
oh wait…hearne wants to read about a young man’s head being cut off.
Wow….what an grotesque sick individual would want to read about that.
From the start of the incident, it gathered coverage on the internet and on
every news website.
Oh boy….the young man’s body parts. Wow hearne…does it make any
difference what the coverage was. It was just trajic.
You disgusting pig using the horrid death of a young innocent bright young man
to make a point that the star failedto fully report the facts.
You’re disgusting point blank.
Oh god…the star should be taken down for not reporting the horrible sequences
of the young mans death…..oh god….kc star give us the gory details.
Truth is I never read the star and I rode this disaster waiting to happen a while
ago and was concerned for the straps they put over the riders and expressed
that to the young woman operating the controls.
But hearne has to use the horrible untimely death of a young man to critique
an already faltering local paper.
HEARNE SAYS “put in all the gory details. show the torn off body parts…lets
see photos and graphs and pics of the gory scene.
hearne…you are a disgusting excuse for a human being.
let the family grieve in peace. let the community show its solace and grief at
the young man’s life.
NOOOOOOO….HEARNE THE GORE LOVER HAS TO HAVE ALL THE JUICY
DETAILS EXPLAINED IN FULL VIEW LONG BEFORE THE FAMILY HAS
GIVEN THEIR SON HIS LAST RIGHTS.
DISPICABLE….DISGUSTING…FOOLISH….HORRID……VILE…..ALL PERFECT WORDS TO DESCRIBE HEARNE AND HIS DISGUSTING VULGAR STORY!!!!!!!
YOU MUST LIVE A MISERABLE LIFE THERE HEARNE….HAVE YOU NO DECENCY OR RESPECT FOR OTHERS!
YOU ARE A MESS~!
What if that was one of your daughters involved in this accident.
DO YOU HAVE NO MERCY IN YOUR SOUL.
NO GOD COULD SAVE A WRETCH LIKE YOU~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Easy, big fella….
Off the meds again today?
Well, The Star finally did report the decapitation news, but buried it under an unrelated headline.
Allow me to teach you a little about news and journalism, Harley.
The reason that sort of news is reported – just as it is when Isis beheads somebody or any number of other gruesome acts – is to give people a sober look at the truth.
By leaving what happened out of the stories – while at the same time having called for answers – and then downplaying what happened after they got the answers, it downplays the severity of the problem.
Like, “Oh, young, scrawny kid had a weak net, Too bad, but he probably shouldn’t have been riding.”
By letting people in on the fact that he was decapitated, it drives home the harshest of realities about the severity of the problem and the dramatic need to address this in every way imaginable.
Knowing what happened and under reporting it is weak and nanny-like. It shows that the Star still clings to the days when it could control the news according to how they wanted it present…which obviously they no longer can.
Time, People, Wikipedia and any number of other media recognized the need to get these sad, awful details out to spark corrective action.
And spark corrective action it has.
This ride may never run again. And certainly when and if it does, there will be major undertakings in terms of safety that were obviously brushed aside in the effort to make a big marketing splash.
Hearne, you can’t teach harley anything. No matter what topic comes on this sight, harley has done it! I think he is the most interesting man in the world! harley doesn’t always lie about his life, but when he does his lips are moving!!!
🙂
Where do you think I got my name? If the truth paid a million dollars, Harley would lie for free. It’s in his DNA.
but Harley isalways rightwhen everyone else
is wrong.
get the picture rww.
All I see on kcc by ditch diggers and yuk yuk shop
owners and guys like rww is pure sh*t.
nothing they say happens…its like they’re ondrugs
like glaze and his stories about dogs licking his
balls.
Loved the comments about his ball licking dogs
on tony’s blog. they beat hearne to the facts.
And ditch digger is a lying old man with no money
and no life…
maybe he should try the slide at shlitterbahn…because
his head is already fallen off.
all you slobs and old men and gross pigs can say
all you want about Harley personally.
but when the facts are outed and the truth isseen
Harley is always the king.
in other words…no body can deny the facts…the truth
the real life words that HARLEY IS THE KING.
Wheres glaze with his dumpster writings…he realized
he was way off and went and had his weiner dogs
suck his b***s cause no woman of calss would have
anything to do with that liar.
Ditch digger….he’s out of bounds on every subject.
And now rww….you make excusesand lies…but you
have nothing to back it up with.
Any of you got 10K? Harley says bring it on…or
put up or shut up.
Losers are for losers…when you’re a winner like
Harley it’s just not easy to be humble!
Sorry….but you’re all like glazes ball sucking dogs…
just a bunch of animals who love to suck the big
ones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your lips were moving again!
Hey Harley, how ‘come Hearne doesn’t have to “Rot in hell forever.”?
Cuz he’s out chasing the dead head. He’s gonna get us pictures and all.
You are gonna try to get pictures, aren’t you Hearne. If we must know that he was decapitated (beaheaded as you want to say since, you know, ISIS) because we need to know the harsh reality, well then we need to see pictures to REALLY understand the harsh reality. You’re a reporter Hearne, not some sleazy Gossip columnist/National Enquirer wannabe.
great comment frank.
But hearne can do better. If he wants to.
Hearne…hate is a terrible emotion to carry
in your heart. You had your run. the star
gave you 400,000 readers. It didn’t work out.
Now you have 10. Get over it!
Funny guy…
You aren’t close on either count, but long as you find yourself amusing, knock yourself out
This incident shows how poorly the KC media actually performs. A monkey could do their job.
The only place to get news is from foreign sources. The British press covers US politics better and more thoroughly than any news source in the USA.
It looks like journalism in the US really is like that crazy broad from MU what ordered a reporter away and called for muscle to do it.
I do feel sorry for the family but what responsible parent who let their 10 yo son on this killer ride .. it was only a matter of time.
The whole place needs to be shut down … I wonder how many people have gotten hepatitis from this place.
Journalism is dead. RIP
+1
Jack, I think the responsible parent comment was a little cold to say after the fact here. I think there are a lot of responsible parents that assumed the ride was inspected, safe and WOULD allow their 10 year old son to take this ride. Unfortunately, any government regulation in the State of Kansas these days is about non-existent.
The parent in question here is a republican legislator and based on what I suspect your politics to be, I would have guessed that before the fact this guy would have cleared your bar for being a responsible parent.
There ya go. I knew this would get political and conservatives would get one amidships. I kinda think that maybe “slavery” could be linked in here too.
Yeah Jack! Stop assuming Republican mothers and fathers “clear the bar” for being responsible parents until after they are vetted by those sanctimonious, Socialist satraps who dictate the ever moving target that defines politically correct behavior.
Me, I think Progressives were in line with their kids that day too, the only difference is, based on actual behavior, filmed lately again and again, the Progressive would have punched someone out to get in the front of the line and Justified it by calling everyone Nazis.
The regrettable lack of Federal Oversight on this ride, directly attributable to white conservatives, will motivate those on the Left to increase the reach of The Department of Labor by way of thousands, if not tens of thousands of Federal and State employees, who, thankfully will oversee the construction of everything from teeter totters to tire swings and especially those extemporaneously constructed sand castles by Republican Children Of The Corn, which need wheelchair access for the underprivileged, where “It takes a village”.
Never let a crisis go to waste.
There are responsible parents out there — both republicans and democrats, black and white.
Please don’t twist my words.
I don’t think I did.
HEY CHUCK…
HOWS THIS “TRUMP” candidacy going for you and
glaze?
Just checking. Wanted to hear how you thought
it was going.
Of course you better comment soon….he could be off the
ticket pretty soon.
Jack and Chuck, thanks for your comments. I think Chuck misread my intent.
My point was that I think the Schwabs being labeled as irresponsible parents because of a tragic event was unfair. Agreed that politics has nothing to do with it. While I don’t know the Schwabs personally, I have since learned that I have a number of friends and even some relatives that do know them well and they feel the parents are very responsible, loving, and attentive parents. This was a tragic event and it should not result in the Schwabs being called irresponsible. Sometimes bad things, tragic things, happen to the children of responsible parents.
The second point I was trying to make was that public deserves some level of attention to safety. The story is still unfolding but it appears that the ride had some safety and maintenance issues. Does the public deserve some level of assurance that the ride is reasonably safe? I did not say the federal government has the role. I personally believe this is a state issue. Shouldn’t there be some oversight in areas that involve public safety, especially for our children? Why is any regulation by any governmental agency ( fed/state/county/local) always a bad thing, Chuck? Don’t our kids have some rights that need to be protected and if they do, who should enforce?
The public is deserves no such assurance. You see the ride you weigh the risks you hop on board or you walk away. You leave your fate to physics sometimes its a thrill and other times its a tragedy. Only a politician believes that the laws of physics can be legislated just like the laws of economics.
“This incident shows how poorly the KC media actually performs. A monkey could do their job. “. This is your take away from an article about the Star? The ” KC Media”? You are a moron.
How have the rest of the KC media performed differently than the KC Star? Watch the video of part of the slide being taken down and the reporter doesn’t have a clue whats going on — doesn’t seem to be very interested in that the company is possibly destroying criminal evidence.
The media can do filing with a judge to keep them from destroying possible evidence. The KC Media is just observers.
Tony, Super Dave and the rest of the TKC crew beat you by days on this story Hearne. Give it up and sell cars, your days as any sort of a news boy are over. Oh and take that pal of yours with you. Maybe you two could open a yuk yuk shop in Topeka.
Poor reporting. I don’t need the Star.
Wow, all this anger over not knowing the head was severed before the Brits knew/speculated it. Well, hell, I’m all in now with all of you. I need to know exactly what happened. Did the head land in the seat? Did it get hurled over the side and splat on the sidewalk? Did birds start eating it? Come on Hearne. Get on this. I’m sure the Brits already have their horror movie script made and I don’t know shi* yet. I mean, yes, I know the kid is dead, but that’s just trivial BS. Bring me the gore Hearne
Star is a leftist hack outfit, not a newspaper, that fraudulently tries to hold itself out to the public as a journalistic entity. But your biggest issue with Star (I guess apart from their incessant old folks ads) is that a 10-year-old died, but Star wasn’t “all over” that said 10-year-old’s head had been hacked off? Really?!? One of the worst takes I’ve seen from you, Hearne. Highly misplaced and disappointing.
Wow. Just wow. Grind axe much? I’m not sure what kind of human being is so bitter that their faux angst is over the local paper not spelling out the words DECAPITATED. Is that the headline you wanted? “10 YEAR OLD LOCAL BOY DECAPITATED!” As a parent, the level of pain for the family over such a devastating loss must be unimaginable. Having the local newspaper plastering some morbid/sensational headline across the front page in the interest of “truth” is somehow mandated?
Congratulations, HC. Your relentless assault on the KCStar is complete. Geeezus.
Well said Jim
The first step in censorship and bias is the editor who decides which stories to cover. From “Absence of Malice”, concerning a shark incident and tourism, “It’s not a shark unless it walks out of the water and bites a tourist.” There was no reason to call it a decapitation especially if Schlitterban might be an advertiser. How things get covered is simply amazing, and yes, Hearne, it would be nice if the media covered who, what, where, and when without the why, but it is never going to happen. It is sensationalism. As soon as I use the word, ‘because’, you no longer have fact. It is opinion. So be it.
“poorly paid riders and journalists” “riders” seriously?
Agreed… please proofread your diatribes before posting to the internet. Embarassing amount of typos from such an arrogant columnist.
Harley, I am not sure what that “Trump” comment up there has to do with this conversation, but, what the heck, I will take a cue from the great one and expand the conversation from Tragedy, to Politics and now, to Tennis.
I was watching Women’s Tennis last night and I remembered that sound Monica Seles used to make, when she hit the ball. “AWNWHEE!!!!! AWNWHEEE!!!”
It got me thinking, that you probably make that same sound, when you stuff Gerbils up your azz.
http://nypost.com/2016/08/10/poll-shows-trump-gaining-on-clinton/
I guess people are worried that a presidential candidate can’t get up six stairs and coughs blood regularly .
If Hillary is “coughing” blood, it is probably because the Clinton Foundation is turning into a sucking chest wound.
idiot…look at rcp or the other legitimate polls.
landslide for Hillary coming…..look at electoral map.
hillay by 8-11 in penn/Wisconsin/by four in ohio…
trumps dead………….
won’t be close!
and she’s leading in Arizona and Georgia…..romeny won those by 30 and 49 per cent last election.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2016/white_house_watch
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/august_2016/most_want_to_see_clinton_trump_tax_returns_medical_records
I guess people are worried that their presidential candidate is showing sings of suffering a stroke.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/
I’m waiting for Hearne to give this kid the Brian Euston & Don Harmon treatment.
here ya go hearne….the gory details….all the blood and guts…even includes a
pic of the bloody water. Everything a sick man would want to see!!!!!!!!
10-year-old Caleb Schwab, the son of Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab, was decapitated Sunday on the Verrückt water slide at the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City.
The Verrückt slide in Kansas is billed as the world’s tallest water slide.
Caleb, his parents and 3 brothers attended “elected officials day” at the water park on Sunday. Numerous elected officials and their families were in the park when the tragedy happened.
According to witness reports and news footage, Caleb and his brother Nate, 12, climbed the 17-story steps to the top of the water slide tower.
According to park policy, 3 riders must weigh a combined minimum of 400 pounds to keep the rubber raft from going airborne off the hill after the initial 17-story, nearly vertical drop.
News footage of previous test runs shows the rafts flying through the air off the 2nd hill (see video below).
Engineers added the wight requirement and a safety net over the chute to keep the rafts from flying off the water slide. The safety net was supported by metal hoop bars. There was a break in the net at the bottom of the vertical drop to allow riders to escape if the raft stopped.
The 2 boys were weighed on a scale at the bottom of the tower and again on a scale at the top of the tower.
The 2 brothers could not ride the raft together with a 3rd person because the combined weight of all 3 riders didn’t meet the specified 400 lb. minimum.
So Nate went down the water slide first with 2 adult strangers.
Then it was Caleb’s turn.
Caleb entered the raft with 2 women who were strangers to him. As per policy, the lightest rider (Caleb) was seated in the front of the raft and the heaviest rider sat in the back.
Witness accounts on social media stated the weight of the 2 adult women and the boy did not equal 400 pounds.
Other witness accounts stated the scale at the top of the slide was malfunctioning that day.
Caleb was secured into the front seat with 2 large velcro straps. One strap went across his shoulder like a car’s seatbelt, and the other strap was secured around his waist.
Earlier riders had complained that the velcro straps failed or came loose during the ride.
The initial 17-story vertical drop straight down was uneventful.
But as the raft crested the 2nd smaller hill, something went horribly wrong.
Prior test runs showed water friction caused the rafts to come to a dead stop before cresting the smaller hill.
So powerful water jets were added to push the rafts up and over the smaller hill (see photo).
Caleb Schwab
The force of the water jets were adjusted to keep the rafts from flying off the slide. The 400 pound weight limit of the passengers was designed to keep the front of the raft from lifting and catching air at the top of the hill.
It was near the top of the smaller hill that Caleb’s raft went airborne due to the 3 passengers being under the 400 pound weight limit.
The velcro strap that should have held Caleb in the raft failed, and he was launched into the netting. His head collided with one of the metal hoop bars supporting the netting.
Caleb Schwab
At 65 mph, Caleb’s head was decapitated above the shoulders.
There are reports that Caleb’s head hit one of the women, fracturing her jaw and causing an eye injury. Both women suffered facial lacerations from the netting.
Caleb’s brother Nate, waiting for him at the end of the ride, witnessed the tragedy as it unfolded.
Witnesses report hearing Nate screaming hysterically as Caleb’s body slid down the chute and came to rest at the bottom.
Aerial photos shows the blood-soaked chute where Caleb’s body came to rest.
Caleb Schwab
The boys’ father, State Rep. Schwab, consistently voted against regulating big businesses. The lax regulations and no height restriction for amusement park rides are the main reasons the park’s owners chose Kansas City to build their water slide.
“Our park in Kansas City doesn’t have a height restriction so we decided to put it right here,” said Jeff Henry, Verruckt creator and Schlitterbahn co-owner.
In an interview with USA Today before the park opened to the public in July 2014, Henry admitted there were engineering problems with the water slide’s design.
“We had many issues on the engineering side,” Henry told USA Today. “A lot of our math was based on roller coasters at first, and that didn’t translate to a water slide like this. No one had ever done anything like this before.”
After the park’s grand opening in 2014, the age limit for children was changed from 14 to 10.
“It’s dangerous, but it’s a safe dangerous now,” Henry said in 2014. “Schlitterbahn is a family water park, but this isn’t a family ride.* It’s for thrill seekers of the world, people into extreme adventure.”
*(bold emphasis mine)
Posted in news
Tags: amusement park, dearly departed, Kansas news, water park
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ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? GET YOUR ROCKS OFF HEARNE……SICK! SICK!
Earth to Harley: Uh, I have a life. Translation, what makes you think I have the time or inclination to read through some overstuffed comment? Especially when the theme is evident in the first paragraph.
That was 45 min of cut and paste from every source you could find. Nice plagerism gernoulism boy.
this ride isn’t a “family ride” the owner said.
then why put innocent 10 year old kids on it!
no conscience…and he says that’s why theyputit in Kansas.
The Star should have reported the cause of death, if that cause was apparent, which it was in this case. It is a detail, as Hearne pointed out, essential to understanding the severity of the accident and the potential severity of lax safeguards. This can be done without any sensationalism or overly descriptive prose or even a mention in the headline.
The fact remains… it’s a fact. An important one. Would this be necessary to report if, say, a boy was killed in a car accident by decapitation? In that example, no. He was killed in a car accident and the cause isn’t germane to the fact that he’s dead. But when the fatality occurs on an amusement park ride, the fact of how the kid was killed is much more important because the scale of that impact is much greater – from thousands of other riders, to park officials, safety practices, and regulations, etc. Would it be the same if the kid just broke an arm? That’d be the lede if that was the case. How different are they?
If the person is decapitated by the driver’s side air bag, it would be necessary to report. If it is the passenger side, no need to report as it is not germane. IF it is the back seat air bag, it is only germane if the kid’s name is Steve or Steven, but not Stephen. Sorry, I don’t make the journalistic rules, I just brush up on them.
Showing pictures of the body and detached head – that’s needless and disgusting. The only picture that should be shown is the one with the pool of blood at the bottom of the slide, coupled with the fact that a child is dead. People can figure it out for themselves how it happened and what body part was ripped off to cause that kind of blood loss. But the more dramatic story would just show a picture of the kid while still living and state that he lost his life while riding on the thing, that it was over in a fraction of a second, and that the riders in back suffered a broken jaw and other facial injuries. The fact that other previous riders had troubles with the restraining straps coming loose, and the fact that the rafts became airborne without sufficient weight up front, and that the raft was below the minimum weight limit are also relevant facts. It’s not a long story, and you don’t need the gory details.
As an aside, how much advertising does Schlitterbahn do with the Star? They tend to underreport stories which might cause advertisers to walk out the door.
When COMMENTS on the yahoo news article tell you more than the star’s stunning articles do, you dont need your glasses to read the writing on the wall.
The freeking genius that signed off on the brilliant idea to use velcro chin straps to hold riders in needs to go back to school.
And instead of a combined weight requirement/limit, how about a minimum weight requirement for each rider?
Rename the ride, the Decapitator. Problem solved. now let’s move on. Here’s a Hearne Christopher approved (I hope) reality check. 1 death in I don’t know how many successful passengers is a completely acceptable risk. 1 death every two years is far cheaper than fixing the damn thing.
In the classy style of Hearne Christopher. Is this calculation of acceptable risk on the part of a company to gruesome for the public to digest? Too extreme for the next dead boy’s family to endure? Hardly
Of course you watch fox news
Based on the lengthy verbiage in the Star this morning, you might have shamed them into a little closer attention.
Maybe it was unintended but your piece offers a very up close, street level view of the confrontation between the belief that government should not impose any regulation on companies and let the private sector monitor itself versus the public’s expectation of oversight to assist in the protection and safety of their children. Even Governor Brownback uttered the hated “R” word when discussing the State’s role going forward. The upcoming legal action will be interesting to watch unfold.
Thanks for calling out Sanchez