The Kicker — August 06, 2008 12:40 PM

Single Greatest Media Scandal Of The Decade

By Justin Peters

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Justin:

I haven't seen the AP article, but I have been wondering about just the question you posed. I occasionally hear blips about the case whenever a new foot is found, but nothing else.

Mind you, I don't live in the Pacific Northwest, and (forgive me if I'm wrong) I got the impression most of the finds have been on the British Columbia side of the border.

If true, is it possible we're seeing a U.S.-centric bias away from what some might see as an, essentially, Canadian story? If so, that would be a scandal, because this is certainly one of the greatest "what's going on/whodunnits" in quite some time.

On the other hand, is it also possible that reporters are being stymied by law enforcement that have little understanding of what's going on themselves that they are either a) not willing to let go of whatever information they do have, and/or b) don't want to appear like they don't have a clue.

That would also be a scandal on two counts: 1) law enforcement holding back on information that might help people protect themselves from who ever is doing these grisly things, and 2) the press not pushing harder to find and report on that information.

Even from way down here in South Carolina, I'm intrigued by the mystery ... and why there hasn't been more/better coverage of it.

Martin L. Cahn, Senior Editor
The Chronicle-Independent
Camden, South Carolina

Posted by Martin L. Cahn on Wed 6 Aug 2008 at 01:12 PM

You know, I mostly just posted this because it was so weird, but I really do think that the press has been particularly clubfooted here. I think I'll check with some Canadian papers and see if they're in step with this story. If not, it probably does arch back to police stonewalling or reportorial laziness. Either way, the point is that there have been lots of disembodied feet appearing on beaches out West, and nobody in the press can get a toehold on the story. Which is just bizarre.

Posted by Justin Peters on Wed 6 Aug 2008 at 05:13 PM

Justin -- you're funny (in a dark way) ... "nobody in the press can get a toehold on the story"?

Seriously, though, that is bizarre. Hopefully someone somewhere is paying attention.

Posted by Martin L. Cahn on Wed 6 Aug 2008 at 11:56 PM

As a resident of BC I can tell you that it has been well covered in the papers here (Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province) and on the CBC. One case has been solved through DNA analysis tracing back to a missing person. The rest remain unsolved. However, police have been quite forthcoming on this mystery and have stated that the feet do not appear to have been severed artificially but instead it's the result of natural decomposition of a body in water along with predators such as crabs. Because the feet are in running shoes they stay "intact" and that's all that remains [sic].

Posted by Doug Alder on Thu 7 Aug 2008 at 07:44 AM

Doug:

I'm glad to hear the authorities are being forthcoming and that the press there is keeping tabs on the case.

But did I understand correctly -- the feet haven't been severed by somebody? What theories have the authorities put forward, then? Statistically speaking, it seems incredible that this number of feet would wash up like this, with running shoes still intact, in the same general geographic area and not have some artificial element to it.

Very, very interesting.

Posted by Martin L. Cahn on Fri 8 Aug 2008 at 10:33 PM