Bryan K Pruitt.net

Readable Archives

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GENERAL FEATURES: 

Midsi after one year -- Amidst the tragedy of Xiana's abduction and death was the story of Midsi Sanchez, the brave 8 year old who was grabbed eight-months later. Besides becoming a national hero, her daring escape granted hope to those still searching for Xiana and dozens of other missing children..

    One year later, Midsi had survived probably the worse of her ordeal: numerous national television and publicity appearances. Although still recovering from her abuse at the hands of then convicted Curtis Dean Anderson, her gain was greater confidence and an apparent ability to leave the past behind her.

60-years gone -- This isn't a long piece. It isn't terribly intuitive. It's just one of my favorites.

     Eddie Martinez was 90 years old. He could barely walk, and although I wanted to talk to him about the upcoming Fourth of July holiday and his impending visit to Pearl Harbor, he wandered off on everything from the lack of a shopping mall in Vallejo, to why his miniature dachshund likes to get passionate with a visitor's leg.

     That's all right. He relived a great story about Vallejo's reaction on the day Japanese planes appeared over Pearl Harbor. Like so many narrative features, it stimulated a lot of response the following day from other veterans and older residents wanting to share similar remembrances.

Muslim community shows faith -- Barely two-weeks after the tragic 9-11 deaths in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania -- and after numerous phone calls that went unanswered to the local Islamic center, I was allowed entry and an interview. Read the first few paragraphs and you'll quickly understand some of the differences between Judeo-Christian beliefs and those of Allah followers.

     A unique aspect not included in the story for privacy reasons: One of the predominate leaders of the local group is a high-level manager for Cal-trans. He spent nearly 20-minutes with me discussing the best locations to place explosives on the Bay Bridge -- diagramming on a blackboard the weakest links of a suspension bridge. Interesting.

Benicia mothball ships -- One of the most anticipated events during the summer of 2001 was the arrival of the battleship U.S.S. Iowa into Suisun Bay. Thousands of onlookers turned out on a sunny Saturday morning to watch the great ship slowly being towed through the narrow channel, seemingly a stones throw from the crowd, en route to its resting place amidst the mothball fleet. Many in the crowd remembered serving on the "Big Stick" or storming a beach under the bombardment of her big guns.

    Afterwards, I completed this story on the rusting fleet's history -- and their future. Included is a sidebar on the economic importance of the mothball fleet to nearby Benicia.