Belmont Beacon
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 - FEBRUARY 8, 2015
belmontbeacon.com
Californians Can Soon Vote on Death with Dignity by nick kipley Having once failed in the polls, voters in the State of California will soon be able to decide again whether or not a patient of a terminal disease can electively end his or her own life under new, “Death With Dignity,” legislature. The measure, which has seen various revisions from the time it has been up for debate in 1992, 2005, and 2007, is gaining in support after 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, a California resident, moved to Portland in order to electively end her life, which she succeeded in doing on the 1st of November, last year. Oregon, Washington and Vermont have voted into their state legislation the right for a patient of an end-stage terminal disease to take a deliberate overdose of a heavy sedative-hypnotic—typically a mixture of barbiturates—slip into a coma and die peacefully. Maynard had been diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer whose prognosis indicated irreversible physical and mental scarring if she were to undergo even the most successful treatment. Even
Long Beach Harbor to Host Royal Visitor The Queen Mary to be Visited by Cunard's Queen Elizabeth
sters in their behind-the-scenes shark nursery. The zebra shark pups are now about 2-and-a-half to 3 feet long. The 140-pound and 7-anda-half-foot long mother zebra shark can be seen swimming in the Aquarium’s Shark Lagoon exhibit with other large sharks. Aquarium experts have
The Queen Mary will receive her sea-going “niece”, February 5, 2015. This will mark the first time a modern Cunard liner will dock and disembark passengers in the Long Beach harbor. The QE is today one of the world’s most advanced passenger vessels and is currently on a global cruise. The original Queen Elizabeth was the sister-ship to Queen Mary and together made over 2,000 transAtlantic voyages when in active service for Cunard. “The Elizabeth will berth adjacent to the Queen Mary and her arrival will begin a day-long series of events and activities to celebrate the unprecedented meeting of ships. Admission to the Queen Mary will be complimentary that day from 10am to 8pm. Public guests are encouraged to come aboard and take advantage of special tours, discounted attractions, and live entertainment” said Queen Mary General Manager, John Jenkins. The Elizabeth is expected to dock early February 5th and will depart the same day at sunset. There will be no public access to the Queen Elizabeth. Prior visits by Cunard vessels to Long Beach have been restricted to floating salutes where the modern ships hovered in place while honor-
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- File photo by Terry Miller
worse, it was feared that, after months of these personality-altering treatments, the radioactive waves would fire through her skull and kill her. “I considered passing away in hospice care at my San Francisco Bay-area home. But even
with palliative medication, I could develop potentially morphine-resistant pain and suffer personality changes and verbal, cognitive and motor loss of virtually any kind,” she said Please see page 2
First Baby Zebra Sharks Born From Artificial Insemination The Aquarium of the Pacific announced that it is the first to be able to successfully reproduce zebra sharks through artificial insemination. More than 100 million sharks in the wild are killed annually due to human impact. Being able to artificially inseminate large shark species like the zebra shark can further research in helping dwindling shark populations in the wild.
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The 10-month-old sharks are on exhibit in the Aquarium’s Shark Lagoon since last Tuesday. Fern, approximately 20 years old, is the mother of the two female sharks. Fern arrived to the Aquarium in 1997. She was inseminated in September 2013, and both babies hatched from their eggs in late March of 2014. The Aquarium’s experts have been caring for the young-