Seattle News Bites! seattlenewsbites@hotmail.com December 3, 2001 Late Edition

What's the big deal about the arrest of a suspect in the Green River killings?

Now don't get us wrong, we clearly believe that it's an important story, but come on! does it really deserve 10 or 20 minutes of coverage?

Now some of you might say yes! considering that 49 people were killed during the course of the Green River killings, but 20 years ago doesn't justify our local news' "beating this story to death."

Especially since stories like these listed below got far less attention (say a minute or 2, or no time at all!):

• Around midnight on Saturday, 3, count them 3, terrorist attacks took place in Israel within a 15 hr period!

  2 attacks outside an open-air mall where roughly 200 kids ranging in age from 14 to 20 were injured, plus several dead! The 3rd when a bus was blown-up killing more, for a total of 28 dead!

• In response to this, Israel today launched 10 missles at Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Gaza, plus some other action in the West Bank. In addition, the Israeli government has essentially declared war against terrorists and have pinned the blame on Arafat for not doing enough to stem the violence.

  And in a suprising move, the Bush Administration has not asked for restraint on the part of the Israelies and has defended Israel's right to defend herself.

• The fight for Kandahar, Afghanistan has begun and an American from California has been captured, supposedly fighting on the side of the Taliban. John Walker was captured following the prison uprising at Mazar-e-sharif. Oh by the way, the 2 prison uprisings also took 2nd billing to local stories! The question now becomes what to do with Mr. Walker. Do we bring him before a Military Tribunal?

  And by the way, our local news also glossed over Attorney-General John Ashcroft's announcement regarding the use of Military Tribunals for non-citizens involved in our war against terrorism. And why did we miss it? Because we got an inch or two of snow--big deal!!

• Enron, a major energy provider has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after Dynergy abruptly cancelled its plans for a merger. Enron and its CEO have had very close ties to both President Bush and VP Cheney, and the now the SEC is conducting an investigation into Enron's dealings.

  Why is this important to you? Because many of the world's largest banks have loans which need to be repaid, and mutual funds have large investments in the company's stock; stock which has plunged to around 26-40 cents!!

• Excite@home had declared bankruptcy back in September and on Friday got a judge to authorize them to immediately cancel agreements to provide their services through various cable companies.

  This move effects roughly 4 million people and businesses who might loose their internet services. In fact, many people woke-up on Saturday without service.

• Former member of the Beatles, George Harrison lost his battle against cancer and passed away. Morners from all over the world left flowers and notes, and flags were lowered to half-staff in Liverpool. He was known as the "quiet Beatle" but his songs certain speak loudly. He was an highly accomplished songwriter and truly one of the "greats!" His ashes will be spread across the Ganges River.

  Why did we gloss over this one? Again, because of our snow. And by the way, Utah and Colorado got around 4 or 5 feet of snow during that time, but that didn't rate coverage either.

What justified so much coverage being devoted to Ridgeway, or our few inches of snow for that matter, when stories like these above happened during the same time?