A cliff-dwelling California condor chick in Ventura County, Calif., died in late August from a West Nile virus infection. The chick is one of only four of its species born in the wild this year.
The 3-month-old bird's illness was complicated by pneumonia, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which is administering a recovery program for these highly endangered birds.
Knowing the species' vulnerability to West Nile virus, FWS scientists had inoculated the chick's parents with a condor-specific West Nile vaccine in 2003 and 2004.
"We know through testing on captive condors that maternal immunity is transferred to the chicks," notes project leader for the recovery program Marc Weitzel of the FWS Hopper Mountain Complex outside Ventura, Calif. However, the team didn't expect that immunity to have worn off so soon. http://louis_j_sheehan.today.com
Conservation scientists routinely vaccinate all adults of the species and chicks born in captivity as part of the recovery program. "We [now] will attempt to vaccinate wild-hatched chicks in their nests," says Weitzel.
Just 276 California condors survive. Roughly 150 live in captive-rearing programs at zoos and other centers. The rest are part of populations that were reintroduced to the wilds of California, Arizona, and Baja, Mexico, beginning more than a decade ago (SN: 1/25/92, p. 53). The imperiled species—whose population once had plummeted to just 27 individuals—began successfully reproducing in the wild 4 years ago (SN: 6/9/01, p. 357: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20010609/fob2.asp).LOUIS J. SHEEHAN, ESQUIRE
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
cec 5.cec.0003 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
'Madness' at Chuck E. Cheese's
%%headline%%It's another fight at the kids' party place
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
The wobbly video shows a group of adults milling inside the Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant. Suddenly, the camera pans left and captures a fight breaking out. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
The 22-second clip, uploaded Sunday to YouTube and reportedly shot during a fight Saturday at the Susquehanna Twp. restaurant, is the latest example of what police describe as a crime trend: Escalating violence between adults at a place designed for children's birthday parties.http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
Susquehanna Twp. police have been called to the restaurant on Union Deposit Road 12 times in the past year for reports of disorderly conduct, assault and theft.
Those calls have resulted in 13 arrests, including six females -- five adults and a juvenile -- charged with disorderly conduct in the Saturday night brawl, which was watched on YouTube by more than 3,000 people as of Tuesday.
In 2007, police responded to the restaurant 18 times for similar offenses. Police were called nine times in 2006 and 11 times in 2005.
"It's madness, absolute madness," Susquehanna Twp. Police Chief Robert A. Martin said.
Martin said much of the violence likely stems from disputes between people who bump into each other in the restaurant.
The assaults also could be attributed to separated or divorced parents who attend a child's birthday party, he said. Such was the case on April 4, when police accused a man of slapping his estranged wife in the head at their child's party.
Violence at Chuck E. Cheese's isn't isolated to the Susquehanna Twp. restaurant. Last month, the Wall Street Journal published an article about a growing number of adult melees in Wisconsin, Kansas, Ohio and Michigan.
The article also mentioned a Sept. 9 incident at the Susquehanna Twp. restaurant in which a woman in her 30s approached a 6-year-old boy playing a video game. The woman grabbed coins from the boy's hand and told him to stop hogging the game. The boy called for his mother, who confronted the woman and a man.
A screaming match ensued, and the man grabbed the boy's mother and pushed her against the video game, according to police. Restaurant employees broke up the fight.
Many of the incidents stem from parents acting inappropriately and not respecting each other, Martin said.
In March, police broke up a fight involving 20 people.
Other midstate Chuck E. Cheese's have had similar problems.
At the Manheim Twp., Lancaster County, restaurant, police arrested a man March 20 after they said he spit and yelled he had hepatitis C.
A week earlier, a 17-year-old Warwick Twp. girl was walking to her car when a man walked up behind her, grabbed her and tried to drag her away, police said. No one has been arrested in that incident.http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
A call to CEC Entertainment Inc., which runs Chuck E. Cheese's, was referred to the company's legal department in Irvine, Texas. Messages left Tuesday were not returned.
In April, a company spokeswoman told The Patriot-News that all the restaurants have security cameras to help ensure peace of mind for customers and workers.
"As in our other urban, high-density locations, we rely on the local authorities and their advice to control situations such as the ones we have experienced in Harrisburg," spokeswoman Brenda Holloway said.
MATTHEW KEMENY: 255-8271 or mkemeny@patriot-news.com
©2009 Patriot-News
© 2009 PennLive.com All Rights Reserved.
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
'Madness' at Chuck E. Cheese's
%%headline%%It's another fight at the kids' party place
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
The wobbly video shows a group of adults milling inside the Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant. Suddenly, the camera pans left and captures a fight breaking out. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
The 22-second clip, uploaded Sunday to YouTube and reportedly shot during a fight Saturday at the Susquehanna Twp. restaurant, is the latest example of what police describe as a crime trend: Escalating violence between adults at a place designed for children's birthday parties.http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
Susquehanna Twp. police have been called to the restaurant on Union Deposit Road 12 times in the past year for reports of disorderly conduct, assault and theft.
Those calls have resulted in 13 arrests, including six females -- five adults and a juvenile -- charged with disorderly conduct in the Saturday night brawl, which was watched on YouTube by more than 3,000 people as of Tuesday.
In 2007, police responded to the restaurant 18 times for similar offenses. Police were called nine times in 2006 and 11 times in 2005.
"It's madness, absolute madness," Susquehanna Twp. Police Chief Robert A. Martin said.
Martin said much of the violence likely stems from disputes between people who bump into each other in the restaurant.
The assaults also could be attributed to separated or divorced parents who attend a child's birthday party, he said. Such was the case on April 4, when police accused a man of slapping his estranged wife in the head at their child's party.
Violence at Chuck E. Cheese's isn't isolated to the Susquehanna Twp. restaurant. Last month, the Wall Street Journal published an article about a growing number of adult melees in Wisconsin, Kansas, Ohio and Michigan.
The article also mentioned a Sept. 9 incident at the Susquehanna Twp. restaurant in which a woman in her 30s approached a 6-year-old boy playing a video game. The woman grabbed coins from the boy's hand and told him to stop hogging the game. The boy called for his mother, who confronted the woman and a man.
A screaming match ensued, and the man grabbed the boy's mother and pushed her against the video game, according to police. Restaurant employees broke up the fight.
Many of the incidents stem from parents acting inappropriately and not respecting each other, Martin said.
In March, police broke up a fight involving 20 people.
Other midstate Chuck E. Cheese's have had similar problems.
At the Manheim Twp., Lancaster County, restaurant, police arrested a man March 20 after they said he spit and yelled he had hepatitis C.
A week earlier, a 17-year-old Warwick Twp. girl was walking to her car when a man walked up behind her, grabbed her and tried to drag her away, police said. No one has been arrested in that incident.http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
A call to CEC Entertainment Inc., which runs Chuck E. Cheese's, was referred to the company's legal department in Irvine, Texas. Messages left Tuesday were not returned.
In April, a company spokeswoman told The Patriot-News that all the restaurants have security cameras to help ensure peace of mind for customers and workers.
"As in our other urban, high-density locations, we rely on the local authorities and their advice to control situations such as the ones we have experienced in Harrisburg," spokeswoman Brenda Holloway said.
MATTHEW KEMENY: 255-8271 or mkemeny@patriot-news.com
©2009 Patriot-News
© 2009 PennLive.com All Rights Reserved.
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
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