# Feel good news story of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 8, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744 "2006-10-08T21:22:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/1 "2006-10-08T21:22:45Z")
Everyone always posts depressing stories, here’s one that’s not. [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4222314.html](http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4222314.html) "ALVARADO — For three days, 2 1/2 -year-old Kevin Brown’s chubby bare feet took him through acres of rugged North Texas pastures of grass taller than his head and around several ponds where bobcats and coyotes roam. He probably slept and hid under thick bushes in some woods, frightened from a brief thunderstorm and the noise of rescue helicopters and searchers on foot, horseback and all-terrain vehicles. When a helicopter pilot spotted Kevin on Sunday night, he was nearly a mile from his home. Kevin was lying on his stomach at the edge of a pond as if he had been drinking, and the co-pilot jumped out, scooped him up and flew him to a hospital. “This little fellow was gone 69 hours and 16 minutes. There’s no way he should have been alive,” Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford said. “I don’t know if you believe in God, but this is truly a miracle that this boy is alive.” ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/2 "2006-10-08T21:36:38Z")
I \ ***want** \*to be happy about this story; it’s a wonderful thing when a child is found long after hope has faded. But…I also want to dopeslap his parents for letting their kids play alone outside at those ages. My children and 2 and 4, and there’s no way I could let them be outside alone playing. Maybe I’m just a worrier and a spoilsport. Anyhow, great news that the little one is safe. I think I need to go kiss my own little ones. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/3 "2006-10-08T21:40:01Z")
[QUOTE=neuroman] “This little fellow was gone 69 hours and 16 minutes. There’s no way he should have been alive,” Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford said. “I don’t know if you believe in God, but this is truly a miracle that this boy is alive.” [/QUOTE] OK, I’m not a parent so I have no clue, but given that the kid had water, why wouldn’t a well-fed US toddler survive 69 hours alone? Does Texas get that cold at this time of year? I’m sure that while there are bobcats & coyotes, they’re looking for a little easier to take down prey. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/4 "2006-10-08T22:10:32Z")
[QUOTE=Boscibo] I’m sure that while there are bobcats & coyotes, they’re looking for a little easier to take down prey. [/QUOTE] How hard would it be for a bobcat to take out a two year old? ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/5 "2006-10-08T22:14:43Z")
[QUOTE=Boscibo] OK, I’m not a parent so I have no clue, but given that the kid had water, why wouldn’t a well-fed US toddler survive 69 hours alone? Does Texas get that cold at this time of year? I’m sure that while there are bobcats & coyotes, they’re looking for a little easier to take down prey. [/QUOTE] The only prey easier than a toddler is a newborn. Maybe. A newborn won’t run away, but it also won’t head \*toward \* the nice doggie or kitty. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/6 "2006-10-08T22:41:11Z")
Before I start this, please understand that my post has nothing to do with the kid or his parents. Anytime a child is found alive in this kind of situation, you have to cheer, weep, whatever. Having said that, I went to Google News and typed in [“Kevin Brown” missing] This event started on Sept. 22nd. He was found on Sept. 24th. The stories from the next five days relayed pretty strightforward fact about his finding. Then, about Sept. 28th, the story gets picked up by AP writer Angela K. Brown. And it gets embellished way out of proportion. She should be writing for a tabloid. Her embellishments, IMHO: “Kevin Brown’s chubby bare feet” “He probably slept and hid under thick bushes in some woods,” “Kevin was lying on his stomach at the edge of a pond as if he had been drinking” I’d be curious to know if she ever saw his feet. She is fantacizing, if she thinks he had the cognative ability to sleep and hide under bushes. The previous stories all say he was trying to drink from a “stock tank” not a pond. Where she got her info is a mystery. Fucking liberal media. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/7 "2006-10-08T23:54:58Z")
I notice the news story never mentions the mother coyote who had a whole litter to pups to feed. That litter _starved to death_ because the mother was unable to drag home a toddler to feed them. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/8 "2006-10-09T01:14:30Z")
Here’s a cheery story about the resurgence of a species that seemed to be on the edge of extinction: [Alligators Kill Three In Florida](http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/051506GatorsKill.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/9 "2006-10-09T01:41:50Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] The previous stories all say he was trying to drink from a “stock tank” not a pond. Where she got her info is a mystery. … [/QUOTE] In Texas parlance “stock tank” = “pond” Or in some parlance. (The exact terminology has been a source of dispute in my family for at least 3 generations, i.e., “the pond is frozen over,” “Hey, that’s not big enough to be a pond…that’s a tank.” “Well, anyway, it’s frozen over…”) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/10 "2006-10-09T01:43:30Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] Here’s a cheery story about the resurgence of a species that seemed to be on the edge of extinction: [Alligators Kill Three In Florida](http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/051506GatorsKill.html) [/QUOTE] Hmm. So many Steve Irwin joke possibilities here. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/11 "2006-10-09T01:51:14Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] Here’s a cheery story about the resurgence of a species that seemed to be on the edge of extinction: [Alligators Kill Three In Florida](http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/051506GatorsKill.html) [/QUOTE] Interestingly, that story details the death of two people, while the headline touts three deaths. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/12 "2006-10-09T01:53:41Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze] In Texas parlance “stock tank” = “pond” Or in some parlance. (The exact terminology has been a source of dispute in my family for at least 3 generations, i.e., “the pond is frozen over,” “Hey, that’s not big enough to be a pond…that’s a tank.” “Well, anyway, it’s frozen over…”) [/QUOTE] Thanks for that. I would have no way of knowing. As a tenderfoot, I assumed that a “stock tank” was a man-made thing that the cattle drank out of, rather than a natural item like a “pond.” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/13 "2006-10-09T02:24:16Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] Interestingly, that story details the death of two people, while the headline touts three deaths. [/QUOTE] It mentions the 3rd death at the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/14 "2006-10-09T04:30:24Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] It mentions the 3rd death at the bottom. [/QUOTE] It talks about a 74-year-old lady. She didn’t die. She got the best of the gator. > **[Punta Gorda (to live in, price, dangerous) - Punta Gorda - Port Charlotte -...](https://www.city-data.com/forum/punta-gorda-port-charlotte/7551-punta-gorda.html)** > > I'm not sure if this is allowed, but I'd like to share an article with you that is in the AARP magazine. I thought about Bam when I read this. A 74 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/15 "2006-10-09T04:44:40Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] She is fantacizing, if she thinks he had the cognative ability to sleep and hide under bushes. [/QUOTE] How much cognitive ability does one require to crawl under something to get out of the sun? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/16 "2006-10-09T04:58:53Z")
Am I being whooshed? dead Tennessee snorkler 43 year old Judy Cooper Yovy Suarez Jimenez had been jogging ok, not quite at the bottom. I stopped reading after the 3rd corpse. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/17 "2006-10-09T05:04:45Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] It talks about a 74-year-old lady. She didn’t die. She got the best of the gator. > **[Punta Gorda (to live in, price, dangerous) - Punta Gorda - Port Charlotte -...](https://www.city-data.com/forum/punta-gorda-port-charlotte/7551-punta-gorda.html)** > > I'm not sure if this is allowed, but I'd like to share an article with you that is in the AARP magazine. I thought about Bam when I read this. A 74 [/QUOTE] I dunno, it sounds to me like the gator had a pretty good time. > [@](#): > > Last week, a 74-year-old Punta Gorda woman **beat off** a 5 foot long alligator which had attacked her while she worked in her garden. (bolding mine) Do you think she’ll be charged with bestiality? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/18 "2006-10-09T12:37:00Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] Am I being whooshed? dead Tennessee snorkler 43 year old Judy Cooper Yovy Suarez Jimenez had been jogging ok, not quite at the bottom. I stopped reading after the 3rd corpse. [/QUOTE] I’m the one who can’t read. I missed the beginning Tennessee lady. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feel-good-news-story-of-the-day/375744/19 "2006-10-09T22:36:17Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] I’m the one who can’t read. I missed the beginning Tennessee lady. Sorry. [/QUOTE] Well, I missed the beat down by the old lady at the end.