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Suicide barrier for Golden Gate Bridge? Public debate promises to be emotional
Sacramento Bee ^ | 7/21/8 | Marjie Lundstrom

Posted on 07/21/2008 7:50:20 AM PDT by SmithL

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To: Gay State Conservative

The cliffs on the Marin County side of the Golden Gate Bridge are much higher, anyway.


61 posted on 07/21/2008 9:33:00 AM PDT by sig226 (Real power is not the ability to destroy an enemy. It is the willingness to do it.)
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To: Squantos

Rio Grande Gorge... choice of distraught new agers from Taos. Had another one a couple weeks ago.

62 posted on 07/21/2008 9:33:26 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: SmithL
Oh, for crying out loud...

This debate over the GG Bridge has been going on for decades. It's not an emotional debate; it's about costs. The costs to the City/State for every suicide attempt; every successful suicide jump; every successful suicide; every hoax call of a suicide jump -- IS DOWNRIGHT COSTLY.

it's about the money. Not to mention HOW IT BACKS EVERYONE UP FOR A ZILLION MILES EVERYWHERE AROUND THE BRIDGE.

Years ago, we tried telling folks to "leave their hearts" somewhere else. But that didn't work.

63 posted on 07/21/2008 9:38:01 AM PDT by Alia
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To: sig226
WOW,...thank you for a very precise and informative reply.

If you miraculously did a perfect dive into the water there, and hit precisely, about how deep would you go into the water before reached your maximum depth?

64 posted on 07/21/2008 9:39:17 AM PDT by garyhope (It's World War IV, right here, right now, courtesy of Islam. TWP VRWC)
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To: xp38

you can see the barrier at this wiki article here...for wind resistance problems this might be the way to go for the Golden Gate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_Veil


65 posted on 07/21/2008 9:39:52 AM PDT by xp38
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Taos Hummm makes em jump I hear......:o)


66 posted on 07/21/2008 9:41:55 AM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: Squantos

Overdosing on Georgia O’Keefe art does it too.


67 posted on 07/21/2008 9:45:25 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: SmithL

democrat bloodsport. They’ll build no barrier.


68 posted on 07/21/2008 9:53:38 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: HamiltonJay
Regardless of where ones stands on this issue, I would like to remind folks here that these people are Human Beings, and deserve respect. It is depressing to see such callous disrespect being displayed by some here for the dead.

If they didn't respect themselves enough not to commit suicide, why the hell should we give them any respect after they are gone?

69 posted on 07/21/2008 9:56:15 AM PDT by Centurion2000 (A citizen using a weapon to shoot a criminal is the ultimate act of independence from government.)
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To: clio morrel
if this young woman’s only goal was to die, she could have just as easily hurled herself from the window of her flat. she chose a death with so many steps that at some point she should have encountered a barrier, something to make her think twice or make someone else notice how unhappy she was. she didn’t. she jumped. that four foot tall fence may have been the only barrier she needed to think twice.

Sorry, but you're wrong about that. A four foot tall fence would have been no more of an obstacle than the cost of the plane ticket. What a suicidal person wants is for a human being to notice his attempt and to stop him. It's about feeling wanted/noticed/valuable. A fence wouldn't do that. This chick flew from London and no other person so much as asked her what she was doing (I'm sure). So she had confirmation of her (perceived) worthlessness... and you honestly think that a few extra feet of fence would have changed that?

70 posted on 07/21/2008 9:59:17 AM PDT by Charles H. (The_r0nin) (Hwæt! Lãr biþ mæst hord, soþlïce!)
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To: Centurion2000
If they didn't respect themselves enough not to commit suicide, why the hell should we give them any respect after they are gone?

Because, in many cases, you are dealing with people who have serious mental illnesses caused through no fault of their own.

71 posted on 07/21/2008 10:02:00 AM PDT by Citizen Blade
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To: Citizen Blade
Because, in many cases, you are dealing with people who have serious mental illnesses caused through no fault of their own.

Not buying it. Suicide is a choice. People are responsible for their actions no matter what disease, drugs or whatever may be in their system.

72 posted on 07/21/2008 10:06:59 AM PDT by Centurion2000 (A citizen using a weapon to shoot a criminal is the ultimate act of independence from government.)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Oh yeah....Panhandle Plains Museum and local colleges have / has her Canyon Texas era on display.


73 posted on 07/21/2008 10:07:23 AM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: Centurion2000
Not buying it. Suicide is a choice. People are responsible for their actions no matter what disease, drugs or whatever may be in their system.

You may not buy it, but the fact of the matter is that there is a subset of mentally ill people who are not really in control of their actions. Their brain chemistry, and in some case their brain physiology, is completely different from the norm. They can no more choose for their brain to function normally than a person with sickle-cell anemia can choose for their bone marrow to create healthy cells.

74 posted on 07/21/2008 10:13:19 AM PDT by Citizen Blade
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To: Charles H. (The_r0nin)

Actually, bridge jumping is commonly a product of impulsive behavior, and the notion that erecting a barrier will cause the attempter to “just go somewhere else” isn’t borne out by the statistics. For example:

— Two suicide bridges in Washington D.C., the Taft and the Duke Ellington, are located a block away from each other. When officials erected a barrier on one bridge, suicides on the other bridge did not increase.

— Dr. Richard Seiden, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley, studied 515 individuals who were prevented from jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. Ninety four percent of them went on to live normal and productive lives — a mere six percent attempted suicide again.

— The Memorial Bridge in Augusta, Maine was the sight of 14 suicides before officials erected a safety fence there. After installing the fence, suicides at the bridge fell to zero — and the suicide rate in the entire state did not increase.

See, e.g. —

http://www.seattlefriends.org/files/seiden_study.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html?ref=science&pagewanted=all


75 posted on 07/21/2008 10:14:56 AM PDT by atlaw
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To: atlaw

I defy anybody to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge without contemplating throwing themselves off at least once. IMHO, this is a positive thing. People should contemplate throwing themselves off of bridges from time to time so they can conclude that doing so is not such a hot idea.

If a barrier is there, people can walk from end to end cucooned in the sweet busom of the state, and never contemplate their own vulnerability or mortality. This is not an improvement.


76 posted on 07/21/2008 10:26:43 AM PDT by gridlock (Al Gore wants YOU to live like the Flintstones while HE lives like the Jetsons. .. FREE LAZAMATAZ!)
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To: Charles H. (The_r0nin)

yes, i do. it doesn’t take a lot of determination to buy a plane ticket, but it takes a lot to crawl over that fence. she didn’t necessarily need someone to reach out and grab her. she just needed something to make her stop and think.

you sound like you have some personal experience with suicide. don’t assume that you’re the only one.


77 posted on 07/21/2008 1:02:02 PM PDT by clio morrel (smoking is healthier than fascism.)
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To: garyhope

I can’t answer that one. You need someone into fluid dynamics.


78 posted on 07/21/2008 7:15:27 PM PDT by sig226 (Real power is not the ability to destroy an enemy. It is the willingness to do it.)
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To: sig226

“I can’t answer that one. You need someone into fluid dynamics.”

Damn! My last friend that was into fluid dynamics, just moved to France!

I’m not going to sleep tonight.


79 posted on 07/21/2008 8:32:42 PM PDT by garyhope (It's World War IV, right here, right now, courtesy of Islam. TWP VRWC)
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