GATOR ADDS BITE TO NEWSPAPER WAR : SLIPPERY REPTILE EMBROILED IN RIVALRY IN SAN FRANCISCO.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Reviving echoes of newspaper circulation wars of old, the San Francisco Chronicle The San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young.[2] The paper grew along with San Francisco to become the largest circulation newspaper on the West Coast of the and San Francisco Examiner The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th Century. History 19th century The beginning of the Examiner is a topic of some controversy. are squabbling over the search for an elusive alligator alligator, large aquatic reptile of the genus Alligator, in the same order as the crocodile. There are two species—a large type found in the S United States and a small type found in E China. Alligators differ from crocodiles in several ways. in a city lake. Several witnesses have reported seeing a 3-foot gator in Mountain Lake near the Presidio, and city officials have been trying without success to snare snare (snar) a wire loop for removing polyps and tumors by encircling them at the base and closing the loop. snare n. the wary beast. So earlier this week, the morning Chronicle imported from Florida one Jimmie Long, a veteran gator trapper known to his swampland buddies as ``Four Grit'' because of his rough manner. They wanted him to use his expertise to catch the gator, which experts think may be an abandoned pet. But the afternoon Examiner, expressing concern at Long's reputation for not bringing them back alive, sent what it described as an ``expeditionary force'' to the lake to protect the reptile. Executive Editor Phil Bronstein and reporter Dennis Opatrny, stylishly clad in wet suits, wanted to snag the creature without harming him, they said. ``It's appalling to me that a newspaper would hire a mercenary who kills what he captures under the guise of trying to save this poor young reptile,'' said Bronstein. ``The real question is, what kind of political fix has gone in so the city of San Francisco
``I think Mr. Bronstein is clearly overwrought o·ver·wrought adj. 1. Excessively nervous or excited; agitated. 2. Extremely elaborate or ornate; overdone: overwrought prose style. ,'' countered Chronicle City Editor Jerry Roberts. ``We've been skunking him on the story from the start and he's desperately trying to get a piece of it. ``If I was getting beat as bad as he is, I'd want to jump in the lake, too.'' The intrepid pair from the Examiner was inches from the water when their quest was stymied by police Sgt. Mike Dempsey, who cited a regulation forbidding swimming in the murky lake. When Bronstein asked why Long was allowed to stalk the beast, park service officials said he was there in an advisory role and would not be allowed on the lake, either. Long has permission from the Florida Game and Fresh Water Commission to operate as a ``nuisance alligator control agent,'' which means he can track and kill gators which threaten people or livestock. One of the most famous circulation battles is credited with triggering the Spanish-American War Spanish-American War, 1898, brief conflict between Spain and the United States arising out of Spanish policies in Cuba. It was, to a large degree, brought about by the efforts of U.S. expansionists. of 1898. In that instance, rival papers owned by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer printed sensational accounts of Spanish oppression in Cuba. When the U.S. battleship battleship, large, armored warship equipped with the heaviest naval guns. The evolution of the battleship, from the ironclad warship of the mid-19th cent., received great impetus from the Civil War. Maine blew up in Havana harbor, the newspapers blamed the Spanish, although no cause for the blast was ever determined. ``Remember The Maine'' became a newspaper battle cry, and pressure from the public, fanned by the coverage, helped force the government to go to war. The Examiner is a Hearst newspaper. The Chronicle is independently owned. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: An alligator makes his way toward reeds on the eastside of San Francisco's Mountain Lake. Associated Press |
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