2 news The Beacon Monday, April 11, 2011

Surfers for Autism Meet West Palm Beach’s

event helps bring newly-elected mayor at
www.ReadMyBeacon.com
awareness, fun
from Autism, page 1
also the fastest growing serious developmental dis-
ability in the U.S, according to Autism Speaks of-
ficials.
The organization, whose motto is “Autism
Speaks, We listen,” helps raise funds for research
on how to prevent and treat autism. The raging dis-
order is still incurable.
Diagnosing autism is quite the battle. Some chil-
dren will show very mild signs, such as having poor
eye contact and being slow to speak. Others will
show very severe signs, such as a complete loss of
speech.
Some, however, say that children with autism are
Reporter Eileen Louissant interviewed Mayor Jeri Muoio about her family, priorities for the city and the daunting task of
quite brilliant. According to Autism Speaks, when a cutting the budget by millions. Find out more at ReadMyBeacon.com. Photo courtesy of eileen louissant
child with autism finds his or her passion, he or she
can be quite extraordinary at it.

Effects felt, Maine to Florida

A powerful example of this is a free surfer named
Clay Marzo, diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome,
a form of autism. He is one of the up and coming
surfers, with an incredible amount of potential.
“Marzo rips,” said PBA freshman Cory Hibbard.
“He is one of the best young surfers today, and is
completely radical on a surfboard. Everything that
he does on a wave is nearly impossible to re-create.
He’s one of the best and most focused surfers I have
ever seen and his story is so inspirational to others
with and without autism.”
On April 2, a Surfers for Autism event attracted
hundreds of people to Deerfield Beach. The orga-
nization that runs the events gives children with au-
tism the opportunity to surf. It was the first event of
the season, with the next one taking place at Ocean
City Park in Juno Beach, Fla. on Saturday, April 23.
Dave Rossman, the communication director
for SFA, was smiling ear to ear the entire event.
“There’s nothing like it,” he said, “to see these kids
and parents enjoying a day at the beach surfing.”
Lindsay DiCaro, a PBA freshman, participated in
the event. “When I walked on the beach, there were
literally hundreds of people there to help the kids
surf,”t she said. “You could see in the kids and par-
ents that you were making a difference. It was an
incredible experience.”
Organizations all over the globe are racing to find
a cure for autism. To get more involved, visit au-
tismspeaks.org or surfersforautism.org.
from Global warming, page 1
the heavy snowfall is a strong indicator of global
warming.
“I really think the warming of the planet is putting
more moisture in the air,” Lovejoy said.
He explained that an increase in moisture results
in higher precipitation. If this is the case, higher pre-
cipitation in the Northeast during the winter would
result in snowfall.
Global warming, as Lovejoy explained, causes an
increase in evaporation which then leads to more
moisture in the atmosphere.
This excess moisture is believed to have come from
the Arctic Ocean, where there has been a recorded 30
percent decrease in surface ice.
Shockingly, while record snow fall and freezing
temperatures plague the Northeast of the U.S, some
northern parts of Canada and Greenland are experi-
encing temperatures some 20 degrees above average
for this time of year.
According to Michelle L’Heureux, a National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration researcher,
the high temperatures in the arctic have weakened
a pressure barrier between the arctic and southern
regions just below.
This weakened barrier has allowed frigid air to
literally creep down into lower latitudes. Warm air
then circles back up to take place of the cool air that
has travelled down.
This “swapping” of air is resulting in the unusual
warm arctic temperatures while the Northeast re-
ceives freezing conditions in return.
What does this mean for sunny South Florida? Un-
fortunately for us spoiled sub tropic dwellers, the jet
stream carries cool air down from the t.
This is why we experienced lower temperatures
this winter, especially in late January. Granted, we
didn’t have to brave a blizzard, but temperatures did
drop significantly.
Global warming is still up for debate and many ar-
gue that this record breaking winter is only cyclical
and natural. Meteorologists are quick to point out
that data recording instruments only date back to the
1800s, so naturally, records will be broken as data is
still very young.
Whether it be Mother Nature, or a sure sign of
global warming, there is no debate that it has been
a bad winter for most of the United States this year.

Dave Rossman helps a small boy onto the board.

cash lambert / assistant news editor

Jon Ryan and Kyle Morris reeled in this bull shark from a kayak.
Photo courtesy of kyle morris

Students hook bull shark from kayak

Lindsay DiCaro helps a girl with autism catch a wave at the
Surfers for Autism event.
cash lambert / assistant news editor
By Kyle Morris
On April 1, Jon Ryan and Kyle
Morris reeled in a six to seven
foot shark from a kayak. Here’s
Kyle’s account of what happened.
Jon Ryan was spearfishing and
shot a fish. A shark then went by
him and made an attempt for the
fish. I was in the kayak fishing and
he called me over in a panic! As
soon as I got over, he hopped in
the kayak and said he had seen at
least four sharks in the water.
After that, we saw six or seven
new sharks in the water. Since we
were in the kayak, we decided to
paddle away.
We were about 50 yards away
from the sharks and I threw my
line in, and within two seconds
the shark hit it and the line was
hissing!
It was running out fast and I
told Jon to just let it go and I was
going to cut it. After all, we were
only using an Ugly Stik, six feet
long with a 20 pound test. The rig
I was using was a basic bottom rig
with a 2/0 hook; it was intended
for bluefish or snapper.
Jon refused to let it go and start-
ed paddling the kayak towards the
shark. This started a long battle
that lasted an hour and a half!
Jon and I switched off reeling it
in. It was dragging us anywhere
from 20 yards to 300 yards plus
off shore.
Finally we got the shark under
control where I could take those
pictures. We were on our way in
to the beach with it when my line
had too much pressure on it as it
was just resting on the kayak and
it snapped off.