How NOT to camp in bear contry

Biologist believes errors led to attack
BEARS: Californians' choices may have contributed to fatal encounter.

By CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: October 10, 2003)

Human remains and clothing found in the stomach of a 28-year-old brown bear killed by National Park Service rangers Monday have confirmed that the animal fed on the bodies of California animal activist Timothy Treadwell and girlfriend Amie Huguenard, authorities reported Thursday.

Fresh details about the attack near Kaflia Bay in Katmai National Park on Alaska's southwest coast also began to emerge.

According to a memo from Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Larry Van Daele, Treadwell set up his bear-viewing camp "in such a way that bears wishing to traverse the area would have had to either wade in the lake or walk right next to the tent. A person could not have designed a more dangerous location to set up a camp.''

In videos found at the scene, Van Daele said, Treadwell described "his campsite as (in) a potentially dangerous location, but he expresses his confidence that he understands these bears and they will not harm him.''

On Wednesday, Fish and Game dispatched Van Daele -- author of a book on the history of the brown bears on Kodiak Island and an authority on the half-ton coastal cousins of the grizzly bear -- to Kaflia to investigate what is believed to be the first deadly bear attack in Katmai park history.

"What caused this individual bear to kill and eat humans is unknown,'' Van Daele concluded. "It was very old but not in remarkably poor condition.''

Most likely, the biologist said, there was a chance encounter between the people and the bear that resulted in the bear attacking and the situation worsening from there. Though authorities who arrived on scene Wednesday found two bears competing to eat the carcass of an adolescent bear also killed by rangers on Monday, Van Daele stressed that he saw nothing to indicate "strange bear behavior occurring in the area.''

Alaska brown bears commonly scavenge any mammal carcasses they find, but attacks on humans are rare and cases of brown bears actually eating humans are so uncommon that even calling them rare would be an overstatement.

Audubon Society biologist John Schoen and other experts on Alaska grizzly and brown bears on Thursday pointed out that Treadwell's proclivity for trying to get close to Alaska bears for more than a decade illustrates nothing so much as the bears' amazing tolerance for humans. The self-proclaimed former drug addict and eco-warrior from Malibu, Calif., regularly approached bears on his summer sojourns here, often easing to within feet of them while talking to them in a sing-song voice.

On videotape recovered at Treadwell's camp, Van Daele said, there is more evidence of this potentially dangerous behavior.

One "video shows Ms. Huguenard within 3 meters (10 feet) of a sow with cubs as they fish,'' Van Daele wrote.

"One of the cubs came even closer to her while (Treadwell) filmed. She seemed uncomfortable but did not move. Some journal entries suggest that she was not as comfortable with the situation as he was. One of the last of his journal entries described his dismay as a large, adult male fought with one of his (Treadwell's) favorite sows near the camp.''

Such fights among bears are not uncommon, particularly late in the year when the bears are scrambling to put on as much fat as possible before winter. A poor berry crop this year and tapering salmon runs would only compound the situation, said Van Daele, who noted that the smaller brown bear killed in the area by park rangers and Alaska State Troopers on Monday had been largely eaten by other bears by Wednesday.

Rangers, troopers and Fish and Game biologists had to drive one bear off what was left of the carcass and shoo away another lurking in the alders nearby in order to investigate Treadwell's camp. They literally battled their way in, firing firecracker shells and using the whoop-whoop-whooping of a helicopter overhead to drive the animals away and keep them away.

From what was found at the campsite in this bear-infested area, and other information, Van Daele said he developed a theory on how Treadwell and Huguenard might have died on Sunday night.

"We will never know exactly what happened, and it is somewhat risky to speculate,'' he warned, but in effort to lend some sense to what happened, he offered this hypothesis based on journals, videotapes and evidence at the scene.

"The most telling piece of information is an audio recording made during the actual bear attack. This goes on for about six minutes and starts with (Treadwell) outside of the tent investigating a bear that came into camp. It was obviously raining very hard at the time and seems to have been twilight or evening, judging from some comments.

"The bear attacks (Treadwell), and he calls for help. Ms. Huguenard opens the tent fly and is very upset. At her urging, he 'plays dead.' It sounds like the bear then retreated for a couple minutes but returned. It again went after him, and he begged her to hit it with something. She in turn screamed for him to fight. The audio ends with his sounds no longer evident and her screams continuing.

"Based on all the evidence, I would guess that this old, large boar had been hanging around the areas getting the last fish of the season. There was little else available to eat, and he competed with the sow for food. Although not in bad condition, he needed more fat for the winter.

"That evening, probably Sunday night, (the male) was walking along a major bear trail and walked by the tent. When he encountered Mr. Treadwell, the bear reacted and either bit him and/or hit him. When he 'played dead,' the bear left, but as is often the case, when Mr. Treadwell started moving again, and/or Ms. Huguenard came to his aid, the bear returned.

"At this time, for some reason, the bear killed and ate him. I suspect that Ms. Huguenard's screams, which sound eerily like a predator call, may have prompted the bear to return and kill her. He then cached her body to be eaten later.''

A predator call is a device hunters use to lure foxes, coyotes and wolves into rifle range. It has a high-pitched tone meant to imitate the call of an injured animal. The calls have been known to attract bears in Alaska.

The old boar that fed upon Treadwell and Huguenard -- and is likely the one that killed them both -- was estimated to weigh more than 1,000 pounds and had broken canine teeth. Van Daele doesn't think the other bear that rangers shot at the scene Monday, an apparent 3-year-old, had anything to do with the killings. That bear's stomach, along with most of its carcass, had already been consumed by other bears.

"In my assessment,'' Van Daele added at the end of a five-page memo, "Mr. Treadwell's actions leading up to the incident, including his behavior around bears, his choice of a campsite and his decision not to have any defensive methods or bear deterrents in the camp, were directly responsible for this catastrophic event.''

Treadwell had carried bear-repelling spray for self-protection when he first began coming to Alaska to commune with the bears but had stopped carrying it in recent years. The founder of Grizzly People, an organization for bear lovers, Treadwell didn't believe it was right to spray bears with the irritating pepper spray -- even if it caused no long-term injuries to the bears.

"He just felt that was an invasive, aggressive mechanism that translated into a kind of attitude. He didn't want to have that attitude,'' said friend Joel Bennett, a Juneau filmmaker. "He kind of wanted to resign himself to whatever happened.''

Daily News Outdoor editor Craig Medred can be reached at cmedred@adn.com.

News from Kotzebue area

The The Northwest Arctic Borough October E-Bulletin

Treadwell: 'Get out here. I'm getting killed'

MAULING: Sound of bear attack that killed two was captured by video camera.


By CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: October 9, 2003)

Among the last words Timothy Treadwell uttered to his girlfriend before a bear killed and partially ate both of them were these:

"Get out here. I'm getting killed.''

Words caught on a tape recording of the attack also reveal Treadwell's girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, shouting at him to play dead, then encouraging him to fight back.
Alaska State Troopers report that is what they heard on a videotape recovered Monday at the scene of a bear mauling in Katmai National Park and Preserve. The tape was in a camera found near the bear-buried remains of Treadwell, 46, and Huguenard, 37.
Troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said there are no pictures on the tape, leading troopers to believe the attack might have happened while the camera was stuffed in a duffle bag or during the dark of night. Treadwell had talked to an associate in Malibu, Calif., by satellite phone around noon Sunday. He mentioned no problems with any bears.
The remains of the Southern Californians who periodically came to Alaska to live intimately with the bears were found the next day. A large but scrawny old bear with bad teeth that a pilot had seen sitting on the brush and dirt pulled over the bodies was shot and killed by National Park Service rangers at the scene after it charged them.
Troopers Wednesday refused requests to release the audiotape, but said it convinced them the two people had been killed by a bear. Speculation about whether a bear had actually done the killing had been fueled by Treadwell's oft-stated but unsubstantiated claim that he spent summers at Katmai to protect the bears from poachers and sport hunters.
"I'm their lifeguard,'' he told a reporter for The Davis (Calif.) Enterprise in 1999. "I'm there to keep the poachers and sport hunters away. I'm much more likely to be killed by an angry sport hunter than a bear.''
The Kaflia Bay area of Alaska's Gulf Coast -- where Treadwell spent most of his time in the state -- has long been closed to sport hunters, and Katmai rangers said there is no history of poachers killing bears in the area.
When bears die, they are usually killed by other brown bears, said park superintendent Deb Liggett, noting that 90 percent of the cubs each year are killed, and often eaten, by other brown bears. Adult bears sometimes kill each other there, too.
In this case, Wilkinson said, troopers are confident a bear was also responsible for killing the Malibu couple. Troopers are also convinced, he added, that the bear seen feeding on their bodies was the bear killed by Park Service rangers. There is no way, however, of knowing whether that bear or another shot by troopers at the scene did the actual killing.
The tape full of screams and rustling sounds details the attack, Wilkinson said, but adds little to explain exactly what happened or why. The tape, he said, lasts about three minutes. Scratching and dragging noises on it have led troopers to believe Treadwell might have been wearing a body mike when the attack began.
After Treadwell calls for help, Wilkinson said, Huguenard can be heard shouting "play dead.'' That is the recommended response to being grabbed by a brown or grizzly bear, but authorities stress the idea of playing dead should be abandoned if the bear continues to press the attack.
On the tape, shortly after the warning to "play dead,'' Wilkinson said, "Huguenard is heard to scream "fight back.'' Treadwell later yells "hit him with a pan,'' Wilkinson said.
After that, the tape goes dead. Because there are no pictures, troopers believe it is most likely the bear came in the night. The tent in which Treadwell and Huguenard had been camping showed no signs of being ripped open by a bear trying to attack people inside, but a friend of Treadwell's said it was common for him to leave the tent in the dark to confront bears that approached his camp.
"His way of operating was to get out of the tent immediately when he heard a bear around,'' Juneau filmmaker Joel Bennett said Wednesday. "He subscribed to the theory that the worst thing you could do was stay in the tent."
Bennett knew the flamboyant Treadwell well. Only two weeks before Treadwell's death they had spent weeks on Kodiak Island working on a Disney film about bears.
"You probably know that I've done three full-length films with him,'' Bennett said. "There's no question he had a remarkable repertoire with bears and had a remarkable ability for them to tolerate him ... (but) just so people don't get the wrong idea, Tim definitely knew there were bears out there that were bad medicine.
"This incident sounds to me like it had nothing to do with his work during the day to look at bears or photograph bears. It was a campsite situation.''
Dozens of scientists, bear guides and outdoor authorities who have spent their lives around Alaska's bruins have criticized Treadwell's daytime activities. The Californian had a seemingly overwhelming need to get close to bears.
"He was a strange dude,'' said Joe Darminio, a former guide at the Newhalen Lodge who used to take bear-viewing tourists to meet Treadwell. Many of the tourists, Darminio added, recognized Treadwell from television or his book, "Among Grizzlies -- Living with Wild Bears in Alaska.''
Opinions among the tourists were split on whether Treadwell's bear-stalking antics were crazy, but Darminio said there was agreement the blond Californian in the black Carhartt's with the bandana tied around his head like a pirate was entertaining.
It was hard to avoid being shocked or impressed by the fearless way he eased up to within feet of some of the most powerful predators on the continent. Treadwell said he could calm them by talking in his high-pitched sing-song voice and tell from their body language whether they posed any threat.
"He really was a Dian Fossey in that way,'' Bennett said. "She could have been killed by one swipe of a gorilla at any time. Dian Fossey got close to the gorillas. She touched them. Timmy did not encourage other people to do this. He says over and over in his films, 'Do not do this. Do not copy me.' It's obviously not something people should do, but it's something that he did."
Huguenard was exposed to Treadwell's daring antics at a grizzly bear presentation in Boulder, Colo. A graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine with a degree in molecular biology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, she knew trying to get close to brown bears was dangerous, but went along with Treadwell anyway.
"It was part of her life,'' sister Kathie Stowell told The Times' newspaper in their old hometown of Valparaiso, Ind. "They had a passion and that overrode everything.
"She definitely died, according to her, in the most beautiful, pristine place on earth.''

Reporter Elizabeth Manning contributed to this story. Daily News outdoor editor Craig Medred can be reached at cmedred@adn.com.

Ahhh....So he didn't REALLY want to be eaten!

The case of Timothy Treadwell and his innocent companion Amie Hugenard is sad, very sad. In her case, tragic because the poor woman really had no idea of what she was getting herself into, following a suicidal lunatic into the Alaskan bush to "live among the grizzly."
Treadwell has opinied on several occasions that he would be honored to be a meal for the ursus, but did he intend for his female companion to be dessert?
Well, truth be told the camera (at least the audio track) doesn't lie. Treadwell, friend of all that walks on two legs and growls, spent his last moments on Earth screaming for help, begging for his life as the jaws of an animal he thought should be elevated to "the kindred state" with a couple of species of marine mammals closed around his fragile human body as an undoubtedly terrified Amie watched in horror and awaiting her own fate.

Katmai bear mauling recorded on tape

By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (October 8, 6:55 p.m. ADT) - The graphic sounds of a fatal bear attack were recorded on tape, Alaska State Troopers discovered Wednesday while reviewing videotape recovered from the campsite where a wildlife author and his girlfriend were killed.

The remains of Timothy Treadwell, 46, and Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found Monday at Katmai National Park and Preserve on the Alaska Peninsula.

Trooper Chris Hill said the tape suggests the video camera was turned on just before Treadwell was attacked. The recording is audio only and the screen remains blank for all six minutes.

"They're both screaming, she's telling him to play dead, then it changes to fighting back. He asks her to hit the bear," Hill said. "There's so much noise going on. I don't know what's him and what might be an animal.

"It's pretty disturbing. I keep hearing it in my mind."

An air taxi pilot who arrived to pick up the couple near Kaflia Bay contacted the National Park Service and troopers to report a brown bear was apparently sitting on top of human remains in the camp.

A ranger shot and killed a large brown bear when the animal charged at them through the dense brush. Troopers and rangers later killed a smaller bear apparently stalking them.

An autopsy on the human remains confirmed the couple were killed by bears, according to results released Wednesday.

Troopers recovered video and still photography equipment as well as three hours of video footage from the site, which is located across Shelikof Strait from Kodiak Island.

Much of the footage is closeup shots of bears. Treadwell built his reputation as an author and videographer living among Katmai bears each summer for more than a decade. Huguenard, a physician's assistant, had been traveling to the park for the last couple of years with Treadwell - co-author of "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska."

Some of the recovered footage has bears no more than a few feet away from Treadwell. Others show a more timid Huguenard leaning away as bears come close to her on the bank of a river.

Hill said he was stunned by what he heard.

"The audio starts while he's being mauled and ends while he's being mauled," Hill said.

Perhaps Treadwell heard a bear and asked Huguenard to turn on the camera, which was found with the lens lid on and packed in a camera bag, Hill said.

"At first, she sounds kind of surprised and asks if it's still out there. I'm not sure if she was asking if a bear was outside their tent or in the brush," Hill said. "The audio stops because the tape runs out. Otherwise, it probably would have captured the whole thing."

Hill said he will attempt to transcribe the tape. There are no plans to make the recording or transcripts public, trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson said.

On Wednesday, the Park Service focused its investigation on the campsite.

A multi-agency team, including rangers and troopers, flew out to the remote area again after being socked in by bad weather Tuesday. A state biologist was on hand to take tissue samples from the dead bears for necropsies.

Human remains and a T-shirt were found in the stomach of the larger bear. But other bears had eaten most of the smaller bear or buried some of its remains, Hill said.

There's no way to tell if either bear killed Treadwell and Huguenard, said John Quinley, a Park Service spokesman.

"No doubt we'll be looking for evidence of human remains, but there's a difference between killing and consuming," Quinley said. "The fact that those bears consumed humans doesn't mean they did the killing."

Rebecca Dmytryk, who oversees an animal rescue organization in Malibu, said Treadwell was more fearful among humans sometimes than with bears.

She recalled video footage of Treadwell before his death that showed him in a streambed near an older bear he nicknamed "Quincy."

"Quincy, do you remember when you stood over me? You were so hungry, and you should have eaten me, but you didn't. Thanks for not eating me, Quincy," Dmytryk recalled him saying to the bear in the clip. "If Quincy had eaten me, good, 'cause he's a nice bear. Love 'm."

Added Dmytryk: "He did love those bears. They were family. He sacrificed his life to protect them."

Treadwell's family was in shock.

"I was dumbfounded, ready to fall through the floor," said his father, Valentin Dexter, who lives in Pompano Beach, Fla. "Oh God, I was very proud of him."

"We talked about the risk of him living by himself in the woods, but we never dwelled on it because he always came home happy and with so many good stories," said his mother, Carolann Dexter.

"Not too many get to do what they love and he did just that."

"I would be honored to end up in bear scat"

Wildlife author killed, eaten by bears he loved


Wildlife author killed, eaten by bears he loved
KATMAI: Many had warned Treadwell that his encounters with browns were too close.


By CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: October 8, 2003)

A California author and filmmaker who became famous for trekking to Alaska's remote Katmai coast to commune with brown bears has fallen victim to the teeth and claws of the wild animals he loved.

Alaska State Troopers and National Park Service officials said Timothy Treadwell, 46, and girlfriend Amie Huguenard, 37, were killed and partially eaten by a bear or bears near Kaflia Bay, about 300 miles southwest of Anchorage, earlier this week.

Scientists who study Alaska brown bears said they had been warning Treadwell for years that he needed to be more careful around the huge and powerful coastal twin of the grizzly.

Treadwell's films of close-up encounters with giant bears brought him a bounty of national media attention. The fearless former drug addict from Malibu, Calif. -- who routinely eased up close to bears to chant "I love you'' in a high-pitched, sing-song voice -- was the subject of a show on the Discovery Channel and a report on "Dateline NBC." Blond, good-looking and charismatic, he appeared for interviews on David Letterman's show and "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" to talk about his bears. He even gave them names: Booble, Aunt Melissa, Mr. Chocolate, Freckles and Molly, among others.

A self-proclaimed eco-warrior, he attracted something of a cult following too. Chuck Bartlebaugh of "Be Bear Aware,'' a national bear awareness campaign, called Treadwell one of the leaders of a group of people engaged in "a trend to promote getting close to bears to show they were not dangerous.

"He kept insisting that he wanted to show that bears in thick brush aren't dangerous. The last two people killed (by bears) in Glacier National Park went off the trail into the brush. They said their goal was to find a grizzly bear so they could 'do a Timothy.' We have a trail of dead people and dead bears because of this trend that says, 'Let's show it's not dangerous.' '' (more)

The only good griz is a DEAD griz

They are one of the most, if not THE most dangerous animals in the world.
Timothy Treadwell decided they were more fun than drugs. Well, well... He was found "partially consumed and cached" along with his companion Amie Hugenard yesterday.
"feeding on humanremains"
"partially consumed and cached" "that is not an unusual behavior among bears"
met a bear that challenged his concept of bears as friendly animals
Here's what he thought of bears, from his website
"Grizzly People is a grassroots organization devoted to preserving bears
and their wilderness habitat. Our goal is to elevate the grizzly to the kindred state
of the whale and dolphin through supportive education
in the hopes that humans will learn to live in peace with the bear,
wilderness and fellow humans".
The kindred state of the whale and dolphin? Are you serious? Neither whales nor dolphins feed on "human remains."
Bear Expert and Companion Killed in Bear Attack at Alaska Park
By Rachel D'oro Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 7, 2003

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A self-taught bear expert who once called Alaska's brown bears harmless was one of two people fatally mauled in a bear attack in the Katmai National Park and Preserve.

The bodies of Timothy Treadwell, 46, and Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found Monday at their campsite when a pilot arrived who was supposed to take them to Kodiak, state troopers said Tuesday.

Treadwell, co-author of "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska," spent more than a dozen summers living alone with and videotaping Katmai bears. Information on Huguenard was not immediately available.

The Andrew Airways pilot contacted troopers in Kodiak and the National Park Service after he saw a brown bear, possibly on top of a body, at the camp near Kaflia Bay.

Park rangers encountered a large, aggressive male brown bear within minutes of arriving. Ranger Joel Ellis said two officers stood by with shotguns as he fired 11 times with a semi-automatic handgun before the animal fell, 12 feet away.

"That was cutting it thin," said Ellis, the lead investigator. "I didn't take the time to count how many times it was hit."

The victims' remains and camping equipment were flown Monday to Kodiak. Ellis said investigators hope to glean some information from video and still cameras.

As the plane was being loaded, another aggressive bear approached and was killed by rangers and troopers. The bear was younger, possibly a 3-year-old, according to Bruce Bartley of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The victims' bodies were flown to the state medical examiner's office for autopsy.

Dean Andrew, owner of Andrew Airways, said the pilot was too upset to comment. The company had been flying Treadwell to Katmai for 13 years and Huguenard for the last couple of years. Andrew said Treadwell was an experienced outdoorsman.

Treadwell was known for his confidence around bears. He often touched them, and gave them names. Once he was filmed crawling along the ground singing as he approached a sow and two cubs.

Over the years, Park Service officials, biologists and others expressed concern about his safety and the message he was sending.

"At best he's misguided," Deb Liggett, superintendent at Katmai, told the Anchorage Daily News in 2001. "At worst he's dangerous. If Timothy models unsafe behavior, that ultimately puts bears and other visitors at risk."

That same year Treadwell was a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman," describing Alaska brown bears as mostly harmless "party animals."

In his book, Treadwell said he decided to devote himself to saving grizzlies after a drug overdose, followed by several close calls with brown bears in early trips to Alaska. He said those experiences inspired him to give up drugs, study bears and establish a nonprofit bear-appreciation group, called Grizzly People.

Grizzly and brown bears are the same species, but "brown" is used to describe bears in coastal areas and "grizzly" for bears in the interior.

The deaths were the first known bear killings in the 4.7-million-acre park on the Alaska Peninsula.

---

C'mon, Big Money!

Ever seen a $100,000 bill?

ADN Letter 'o the Day

Performing arts center would be a great place for a gaming hall

From what I read in the paper, it appears that the upcoming legislative session will be taking up the gambling issue again. Someone once suggested that the performing arts center could easily be combined as a gambling establishment and a PAC, which seems an excellent idea.

The center is a blatant, flashy structure without grace, charm, dignity or beauty. I'm sure had this project been submitted to a kindergarten class as a contest the kids would have come up with a more acceptable structure and decor.

After a few short months, that fancy roof had to be renovated at great expense because it leaked. The carpet, a special loomed job patterned from an artist's conception of Alaska wildflowers, hundreds of yards of it (and extremely expensive), hits you right between the eyes when you walk in the door -- talk about gaudy, busy and loud; it says it all. But we did save money on the benches -- it looks like they just salvaged them from the nearest park and painted them harsh green.

I have been in several performing arts buildings in various cities and, believe me, this one is truly an uncouth "I don't care how they do it in the Lower 48, Alaska-tacky."

I suggest we name it "Tony's Tavern & Casino -- Live Entertainment." After you have been seated and have recovered from the assault on your senses, you will truly enjoy the "Live Entertainment."

-- Lucille M. McConnaughey

Eagle River

Alaska AG sez "We are not at war with tribes." We say bullshit.

State isn't waging war on tribalism by Gregg Renkes, Alaska Attorney General (and former lobbyist and former Senator Frank M. staffer and Yalie and who knows what else.
Read his column. We say bullshit.

We're #1

If you search Google for isofrabon!

Whale on the Table

Kristoff is still kicking around the Arctic!
Whale on the Table

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

You know who you are!

Hack Me, Baby!

Hackerette Hankers for Company

Eat miso, fight cancer

EAT YOUR WAY TO HEALTH: Study: Miso soup cuts cancer risk
The Asahi Shimbun

`Three bowls a day slashes breast cancer risk by 40%.'

Women in their 40s and 50s, around the time menopause sets in, who consume at least three bowls of miso soup a day cut the risk of developing breast cancer by as much as 40 percent, a study by the National Cancer Center Research Institute found.

According to the study, released Tuesday, post-menopausal women who consume isofrabon, which is found in foods containing soybean such as miso soup, were much less likely to develop breast cancer.

The results of the study suggest isofrabon works to block production of the female hormone estrogen, which is believed to cause breast cancer, researchers said.

But consuming processed foods containing soybean-tofu, fried bean curd and natto (fermented beans), for example-did not cut women's risk of developing breast cancer, the study found.

Researchers, led by Shouichiro Tsugane, director of the institute's cancer prevention research department, questioned about 22,000 women since 1990 on their daily diet for the study. The women were all aged between 40 and 59 and from Iwate, Akita, Nagano and Okinawa prefectures.

``Eating miso soup is effective in preventing breast cancer. But drinking too much miso soup will lead to an excessive salt intake, which is bad for the health, so it's important to eat a balanced diet,'' said Tsugane, a specialist in epidemiology and disease prevention.(IHT/Asahi: September 12,2003)

Good. He's finally gone.

In case you don't know the story, he wanted to shoot of nuclear devices to build an artificial harbor at Point Hope. Read THE FIRECRACKER BOYS by Dan O'Neil. Or look at this Project Chariot website.

Edward Teller Is Dead at 95; Fierce Architect of H-Bomb

Edward Teller, who was present at the creation of the first nuclear weapons and who grew even more famous for defending them, died yesterday at his home on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, Calif., according to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which Dr. Teller once headed. He was 95.(more)

So what does this make BOTH BARRELS?

FCC Says Howard Stern Show Is News Program
Tue Sep 9, 6:56 PM ET

By DAVID HO, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - When you think about news shows, what comes to mind? There's "Meet the Press." And "Face the Nation." And now, Howard Stern's radio show.
That's right. The Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) ruled Tuesday that Stern's raunchy radio program is a "bona fide news interview" program.(more)

More Kristof, afloat in ANWR

What Price Drilling?
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Alaska — In March, Interior Secretary Gale Norton described this area as a "flat white nothingness" that could best be used as an oil spigot.

I thought about that as I rafted down a river here, a giant grizzly bear on my left and a herd of caribou on my right. A bit earlier, I had cooked lunch with my backpacking stove on a sandbar as four musk oxen, huge buffalo-like creatures, observed me as intently as I watched them.

A bush pilot set two friends and me down on a sandbar on Saturday just north of the Brooks Range, and since then we've been rafting and hiking through this wilderness, perhaps the wildest place left on earth. I want to understand this land — whose future is hotly debated, mostly by people who haven't seen it — and figure out whether it should be opened to Big Oil.

Here on the ground, it's obvious that this refuge, far from being a barren wasteland, is actually teeming with wildlife, even as winter begins. At one spot, I saw grizzly and wolf tracks side by side, a tribute to the way this South Carolina-sized refuge preserves a patch of America as it was before Europeans arrived.

Moreover, the animals seem completely unused to humans. The first time we spotted a distant herd of caribou, we hauled in our raft downwind and crept up silently. Finally the caribou spotted us, and immediately approached for a closer look. They seemed to be trying to determine whether we were pitifully deformed caribou, and I think the females were encouraging the males to ask us for directions to the rest of the herd as it headed south.

The same thing happened when we sailed our raft as close as we dared to the first musk ox we saw, which came in for a closer look and called its pals to share the excitement. This land is truly an Arctic Serengeti.(more)

The envelope, please.

Kim Jong Il's Reelection as Chairman of NDC of DPRK Proposed

Pyongyang, September 3 (KCNA) -- It is the absolute intention and firm will of all the members of the Workers' Party of Korea, officers and men of the People's Army and people of Korea to build a great prosperous powerful socialist nation and achieve independent reunification of the country and the final victory of the revolutionary cause of Juche under the Songun banner, with leader Kim Jong Il in the van of revolution. Deputy Kim Yong Nam said this in his speech on the first agenda item of the First Session of the 11th Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea held on Sept. 3.
He courteously presented to the session a proposal of the Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the WPK for reelecting Kim Jong Il chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK.
Invariably entrusting Kim Jong Il with the chairmanship of the NDC of the DPRK is a manifestation of the firm revolutionary faith of the army and people of Korea to accomplish the revolutionary cause of Juche to the end, firmly united around him and an expression of the absolute trust of them who clearly realized his greatness in the long revolutionary struggle, he said, and went on:
Thanks to Kim Jong Il's energetic ideological and theoretical activities and tested leadership, the immortal Juche idea and the original Songun idea, the embodiment of the idea, were formulated and a radical turn has been brought about in the cause of building the Party, revolutionary armed force and state.
His Songun politics has set up a milestone of national reunification common to the nation and opened a phase of an epoch-making turn in development of inter-Korean relations for the first time in the history of its division and unprecedentedly strengthened the international position and authority of the country by remarkably expanding the external relations of the Republic as it is a genuine patriotic and independent policy, he pointed out, and continued:
To re-elect Kim Jong Il to the top post of our state is the supreme requirement of our revolution and the earnest and solemn request of all the Korean people and the progressives who strive to make the 21st century a century of a great prosperous powerful nation and a century of victory in the human cause of independence.
Our army and people, conscious of the important mission of the times given by history, will faithfully strive to carry out the revolutionary cause of Juche pioneered on Mt. Paektu to the last, build a great prosperous powerful socialist nation in this land, reunify the country and speed up the cause of global independence, holding Kim Jong Il in high esteem as the supreme leader of our Party, State and revolutionary armed forces.

Kim Jong Il Reelected Chairman of DPRK National Defence Commission

Pyongyang, September 3 (KCNA) -- The first session of the 11th -term Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea reelected leader Kim Jong Il chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK. The session solemnly declared at home and to the world that it reelected Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and supreme commander of the revolutionary armed forces who has performed immortal feats to be recorded in the history of the country forever and glorified the DPRK as the everlasting country of the great sun, chairman of the NDC of the DPRK, reflecting the unanimous will and desire of all the servicemen and the people.
The historic moment Kim Jong Il has been reelected chairman of the NDC of the DPRK all the deputies to the SPA and the participants in the session broke into stormy cheers of "Hurrah!" overwhelmed with unbounded emotion, jubilation and ardent reverence.
It is the greatest honour and happiness of the servicemen and the people of the DPRK and a great auspicious event of the country and the nation to have reelected Kim Jong Il to the highest post of the state.
This is an expression of the absolute support and trust of all the servicemen and the people in him, who has turned the country into an ideologically and politically strong country and a military power, consolidated the single-hearted unity of the leader, the Party, the army and the people as an unbreakable one, created a new history of prosperity of the country with his Songun revolutionary leadership and made an immortal contribution to accomplishing the cause of independence against imperialism.
And this marks a great event strikingly demonstrating the firm will and faith of the servicemen and the people of the DPRK to resolutely meet all challenges of the imperialists and reactionaries and foil their moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK, firmly defend the security of the country and the sovereignty of the nation and build a great prosperous powerful socialist country on the land without fail under the experienced and seasoned leadership of Kim Jong Il.

85 witha 13 year daughter. In Alaska, we call that normal.

Ex-lobbyist, deal maker Lew Dischner dies at 85
A FORCE: Criminal conviction overshadows successes for working people.


By RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: September 3, 2003)

Lew Dischner's death is "the passing of a true legend in our state," Greg O'Claray, labor commissioner, said.

Lew Dischner, one of Alaska's most powerful lobbyists until he went to prison in the 1980s North Slope corruption scandal, died at his home in Portland, Ore., early Monday morning of a heart attack.

At 85, his death came just days before a birthday celebration to mark 100 years in the combined ages of himself and his 13-year-old daughter, Molly, both born on Sept. 7.

Dischner, a trained carpenter and born deal maker, arrived in postwar Alaska when opportunities -- and inequities -- abounded. He became a force for organized labor, the Inupiat people of the North Slope and the Filipino communities in Southeast Alaska. An old-school, rough-edged, blue-collar working man, he was still giving advice to government officials late last year.

"I spoke to Lew just after I became commissioner," said Greg O'Claray, labor commissioner in Gov. Frank Murkowski's Cabinet and a former official of the Seafarer's and Marine Engineers unions. "He said keep your head down, kid, stay loyal to your boss, and do what's right for working people. That was Lew. Actually, he said, 'Keep your head down and your ass up,' but you probably can't print that."

O'Claray said Dischner was "one of the pillars of the state" whose accomplishments on behalf of working people and minorities were overshadowed by his criminal conviction in 1989, for which he served five years in federal prison.

"It's the passing of a true legend in our state," he said.(more)

I couldn't feel more honored

Our deepest gratitutde goes to Mr. Taylor for selecting US, of all people in the world, as a worthy partner in this important endeavour. Stay tuned. Oh yeah: This MUST begin with a big, wet, Sic!

MR CHOKI TAYLOR.
taylortay@post.cz

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

YOUR KIND ATTENTION IS HIGHLY REQUIRED PLEASE.

DEAR,

I AM MR CHOKI TAYLOR FROM LIBERIA, THE SON OF THE EX- PRESIDENT OF
LIBERIA. PRESNTLY MY COUNTRY IS ON SANCTION IMPOSED BY THE UNITED NATION,
SINCE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAPRESIDENT (G.BUSH) HAVE ORDERED MY
FATHER (PRESIDENT CHARLES TAYLOR) FOR THE TIME BEING TO STEP DOWN FROM
POWER.HIS SWISS BANK ACCOUNT HAS BEING FROZENED BY THE UNITED NATIONS,
YOU MAY HAVE
HEARD FROM THE CNN OR BBC OR OTHER NEWS MIDIA. SO HE ASKED ME TO
CONTACT ANY RELIABLE FOREIGN INVESTOR WHO CAN INVEST SOME PART OF HIS MONEY
FOR HIM, SINCE HE is ASYLUMED IN NIGERIA AS THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA
VISITED HIM AND ASKED HIM TO GO TO NIGERIA FOR ASYLUM.MY FATHER HAVE
DISCLOSED TO ME THAT HE DEPOSITED THE SUM OF ( $ 120 MILLION US DOLLARS) IN
FOUR DIFFERENT COUNTRIES:(DUBAI-UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, LONDON,ECUADOR
AND SPAIN) PER EACH COUNTRY HE DEPOSITED $ 30 MILLION US DOLLARS.

AS result of my discrete search for a reliable foreign partner, Iam
delighted to confront you based on my believe that you could invest these
funds wisely. I now decided to write you as well as to let you know
that I need your assistance in helping me and my father to invest THESE
money in any lucrative venture of your choice. Prior to my conviction of
your capability to assist hence we shall go into partnership deal. I've
decided to move these funds to your country.

Infact, The funds where deposited with a certain security companies in
this four countries and the contents was falsefully disclosed as some
diamond and Africa art values which are very expensive to the knowledge
of the security companies. In the
agreement between my father and the security companies, it was
mentioned that a possible change of ownership is allowed, so I will fax you the
documents involved penden to which country you can be able to fly to as
soon as possible, in order to sign off the release of the fund to you
as the sub-owner, since you have to apply for the change of ownership as
soon as I have forward
the documents to you for further confirmation of the deposition of the
consignment that contained the funds. FOR your effort, 20% will be your
share as soon as the funds are release to you and you have to open a
bank account in each of this country to enable you pay the fund into each
account and have the money transfer to
your bank account in your country and 5% will be for any expenses that
we both may incur during the process of releasing these funds and the
rest percentage will be for me and my father.Hoping you will respond to
my call to assist us in investing this cash,this is 1000% risk free, as
I have taken proper care of every
arrangement. Feel free to assist please! MORE INFORMATION WILL BE GIVEN
TO YOU UPON YOUR REQUEST AND INDECATING YOUR INTERST IN HELPING US.
WISH TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON, SO AS TO EXPEDIATE ACTION IMMEDIATELY.
REOPEN AGAIN.

SINCERELY,

MR CHOKI TAYLOR.