The New York Times also had this great piece earlier this year about how restricting the means can really cut back on the number of suicides because the urge to commit suicide can be fleeting and in the heat of passion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

You think that's bad, the PI is writing an editorial on the Aurora Bridge and jumpers.

Again.

What a waste ...

amazing article (worth dropping into the every post with unruly know-it-all comments about suicide).

Still, I can't bring myself to rent the Bridge.

meegbear (1000+ posts) Tue Aug-28-07 01:19 PM
Response to Original message
8. Johnny Bravo!
"You fit the suit" -Joe Ely, No Depression, Nov 2012

suicide, pshaawww,do i hear lawSUIT or what
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x6875332

Tragic...

"Kevin Hines was eighteen when he took a municipal bus to the bridge one day in September, 2000. After treating himself to a last meal of Starbursts and Skittles, he paced back and forth and sobbed on the bridge walkway for half an hour. No one asked him what was wrong. A beautiful German tourist approached, handed him her camera, and asked him to take her picture, which he did. “I was like, ‘Fuck this, nobody cares,’ ” he told me. "So I jumped.""

I spend the afternoon in cars
I sit in traffic jams for hours
Don't push me, I am not ok

The sky is blue most every day
The lemons grow like tumors
They are tiny suns infused with sour

Lonely as a cloud
In the Golden State
The coldest winter I ever saw
Was the summer that I spent

The only substance is the fog
And it hides all that has gone wrong
Can't see a thing inside the maze

There is a bridge adored and famed
The Golden spine of engineering
Whose back is heavy with my weight

Lonely as a cloud
In the Golden State
The coldest winter I ever saw
Was the summer that I spent

Be still this old heart
Be still this old skin
Drink you last drink
Sin your last sin

Sing your last song
About the beginning
Sing your song loud
So the people can hear, let's go

Be still this sad day
Be still this sad year
Hope your last hope
Fear your last fear

You're not the only one
You're not the only one
You're not the only one
You're not the only one, let's go

My falling shape will draw a line
Between the blue of sea and sky
I'm not a bird, I'm not a plane

I took a taxi to the Gate
I will not go to school again
Four seconds was the longest wait

Four seconds was the longest wait
Four seconds was the longest wait
Four seconds was the longest wait
Four seconds was the longest

EXCELLENT article...“The paradigm is the man who cuts his throat and cries for help in the same breath.”

didn't we just legalize suicide in WA? or is the problem that the jumpers didn't get a doctor to push them?

No, the problem is the cops are trying to justify why we shouldn't cut back on them during a recession, when we should.

It's a shame the relative ease of access can result in such a loss. It's a shame for the jumpers' families they destroy, rescue personnel that risk their lives, and onlookers that have the image burned in their brain. Everybody loses when someone chooses to jump.

They've been debating installing safeguards forever here. It will cost $50 million. The bridge toll is currently $6. The Golden Gate bridge is also on of the worlds most fantastic views, enjoyed by millions of residents and tourists.

I'm obviously not a psychiatric expert, but for those that have never been here - the GG bridge is pretty remotely located. Unless you were to drive your car and stop in the middle of HWY 101, it takes a fair amount of planning to get to the GG bridge footpath. I can't help but wonder of the effectiveness of a barrier in this particular case.

From the article:

Almost everyone in the Bay Area knows someone who has jumped,

Where the fuck are they getting that? With about 1,200 people having killed themselves there over the past 60 years, that averages out to 20 people a year. Anyone living in the Bay Area is more likely to know someone who committed suicide by other means or who was the victim of homicide.

But, yeah, a great article, up to the point where the writer starts making shit up.

NO MORE PHOTOS IN THE STRANGER PLEASE
Ken Holmes, the Marin County coroner, told me, “When the number got to around eight hundred and fifty, we went to the local papers and said, ‘You’ve got to stop reporting numbers.’ ” Within the last decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Association of Suicidology have also issued guidelines urging the media to downplay the suicides. The Bay Area media now usually report bridge jumps only if they involve a celebrity or tie up traffic. “We weaned them,” Holmes said. But, he added, “the lack of publicity hasn’t reduced the number of suicides at all.”

Dougsf #10
It is not publicized, but I understand people jump nearly every week from the GG bridge. It is more common than you realize. I think a barrier would help.
I am not sure what the original reference is for this but it is timely to me as next week marks one year since the death of the fantastically creative photographer and lovely person Debra McClinton, from that bridge.
Sad remembrance.

Another city, another great article:
http://www.citypages.com/2008-02-06/feature/a-long-way-down/

If you really wanted to stop people jumping from the Aurora Bridge, you'd post pics of their bodies AFTER they hit the ground - a new one each day.

And then post them in Jumper Of The Week, next to the Drunk of the Week.

Not sure who should get the t-shirt, though.