Keyword: tragedy

[I did this writeup for a discussion group I'm involved in. Since it's a bit big for that group, I'm making it an article here and giving them a link, but my Ipernity contacts may also find it of interest.] I recently ran across the backstory on a 25-year old tragedy and I'd thought I'd post about it, as it's relevant to some discussions of geographic scale and backcountry safety that I have been involved in. In July 1996 a German family went missing in rugged, remote country near the south…

2015 has been a dark year for humanity. In January, we mourned the brave cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo who lost their lives simply for exercising their inherent right of free speech, along with others who died in related incidents. Now, as the year nears an end and the joyous Hanukkah and Christmas holidays approach, Islamist terrorists have again inflicted their deadly and barbaric savagery on the people of France. In doing so, they trampled human dignity and the most basic and inaliena…

On 7th August 1985, at White House Farm, Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex, five members of one family were shot dead. They were 61-year-old farmer, Nevill Bamber; his wife, June; their daughter, Sheila Caffell; and Sheila’s six-year-old twins, Nicholas and Daniel. June and Nevill had married in 1949 and, finding themselves unable to have children of their own, adopted a baby through the Church of England Children’s Society. June suffered depression following Sheila’s arrival in 1957 and was admitt…

I have just learned of the deaths of 19 firefighters in Arizona. The worst loss of life since 9/11 for these brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. I cannot comprehend the devastating loss the community of Prescott is feeling at this time. I only hope that the wildfire they were fighting was caused by natural elements and not by the hand of man for that would truly be unbearable. I had planned to go down to the lake to celebrate Canada Day tonight, but…