Page 50 - 082517

Groton Daily Independent
Friday, Aug. 25, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 056 ~ 50 of 65
mud crashing down the mountain, causing an impact equivalent to 3.0 on the Richter scale, senior police of cial Andrea Mittner said.
Police in Graubuenden canton (state) said Thursday that they haven’t been able to reach eight people who may have been in the Bondasca valley at the time of the slide — citizens of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, none of them children.
Mittner described the missing people as “Alpinists and walkers.” He said a Swiss army helicopter searched the valley during the night, but found nothing.
On Thursday, workers began searching with dogs but didn’t immediately nd anyone. A helicopter equipped with a device that can locate cellphones also was being sent up. Around 120 people were in- volved in the operation — police, re ghters, troops and others.
“These people may have been in the disaster area at the time of the event,” he told reporters in the nearby town of Stampa. “We hope this was not the case, but it is possible that they had an accident.”
“We don’t know where exactly they are missing,” he added. “The area is around 5 kilometers (3 miles) long.”
Thursday afternoon, police received a separate, unveri ed report that a group of another ve or six people could be missing — but spokeswoman Chiarella Piana of Graubuenden police said the group had turned up safely in Italy.
Markus Walzer of Graubuenden police said the local alarm system was put in place after a similar mud- slide in 2012. He said the weather in the area had been good in recent days and the cause of the mudslide wasn’t immediately known.
Mittner said Bondo would remain sealed off until at least Friday morning. It wasn’t immediately clear when residents might be able to return home.
Philadelphia Eagles fan gets last laugh with obituary
PORT REPUBLIC, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey man took a parting shot at the Philadelphia Eagles in his obituary.
Jeffrey Riegel, 56, died last Friday. Before his death, the Port Republic, New Jersey, man promised friends a funny message in his obituary.
The longtime Eagles fan’s obituary asked for Riegel “to have 8 Philadelphia Eagles as pall bearers so the Eagles can let him down one last time.”
Riegel was a passionate Eagles fan who owned season tickets for more than 30 years. Sadly, the Eagles never won a Super Bowl during his lifetime.
It was not always an easy team to love, his wife, Donna Lee Riegel, said. She sometimes suggested he pay allegiance to a different team.
According to her, “I just can’t” was his response.
Riegel’s friend, Lou Jiacopello, tells the Press of Atlantic City he couldn’t help but laugh at his friend’s humor.
Eight friends wearing Eagles jerseys were to lay Riegel to rest on Thursday at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church’s cemetery in Port Republic.
Riegel did get to see the Eagles win one last time before his death, Donna Lee Riegel said. He saw last Thursday’s 20-16 preseason victory over the Buffalo Bills.
“He got to see them go out on a win,” his wife said, suggesting that may have been what he needed to make peace with death.
A spokesperson for the Eagles declined to comment about Riegel’s request.