News

Search starts for Kansas boy now missing 10 years

marks Print By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer Roxana Hegeman, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jan 5, 8:42 pm ETEL DORADO, Kan. – The Kansas parents who failed to report their 11-year-old adopted son missing nearly a decade ago are "people of interest" as authorities search for him nationwide, a sheriff said Monday.

Investigators only recently learned Adam Herrman was missing and are focused on finding him, Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy said. Adam was 11 when he disappeared in 1999 from a mobile home park in Towanda where he lived.

Authorities would not say whether they believed Adam, who would now be 21, is alive. "We are working it as if it is a death — but we are not leaning one way or the other," Murphy said.

Doug and Valerie Herrman adopted Adam at 2 1/2 years old, and he had been in foster care before that. The parents have not been arrested or charged with any crime, and Murphy said no charges would be filed while investigators focused on the search.

The family's attorney, Warner Eisenbise, said his clients did not harm the child. He said the Herrmans are innocent of any wrongdoing other than not reporting their son missing, which is against Kansas law.

"He was a problem child. He ran away frequently to the point of exasperation," Eisenbise said. "My clients feel very guilty that the last time he left they didn't make an attempt to locate him. Every other time, the police were called or he wandered back. They assumed he found one of his siblings or went back to his biological parents."

Murphy said investigators have not confirmed whether Adam had a history of running away. The family has cooperated with investigators, he said.

The Herrmans now live in the Wichita suburb of Derby, in neighboring Sedgwick County.

Adam was homeschooled when he disappeared, Eisenbise said.

Murphy said a search of the empty lot where the family's mobile home once stood gave investigators one answer they sought, but he did not elaborate other than to say no human remains were found.

Murphy's office did not receive a missing persons report until contacted recently by Sedgwick County's exploited and missing children's unit. He declined to say who tipped them off. It was not clear exactly when they learned of the boy's disappearance.

Investigators have not found any confirmed data on Adam's whereabouts since 1999.

Murphy asked the public for help and issued a plea to the missing boy himself: "If Adam Herrman is alive out there — and he would see this — I would ask him to contact us immediately."
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I was shocked after reading this article. What parents in their right mind would not notify the police if their child was missing ? The article states that the boy ran away constatntly but one would think the parents would still want to know if child is ok and would do anything in their power to find the child. The article also states that the parents have not been arrested or charged with any crime . The only thing they are accused of at this point is not notifying authorities.

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Originally Posted by pussnboots

I was shocked after reading this article. What parents in their right mind would not notify the police if their child was missing ? The article states that the boy ran away constatntly but one would think the parents would still want to know if child is ok and would do anything in their power to find the child. The article also states that the parents have not been arrested or charged with any crime . The only thing they are accused of at this point is not notifying authorities.

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My guess is that they have something to do with it, like his death, and are covering up. Police probably can't find enough evidence to nail them.

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

Women who suffer regular migraines may have the comfort of knowing they face a much lower risk of breast cancer, say US researchers.

The discovery points to the potential importance of hormone levels in both.

The study of 3,412 women suggests a 30% lower risk for people with a history of disabling headaches.

However, the researchers, from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, warned more work was needed to confirm the link.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7710674.stm

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Wow I would never have believed that was an upside to the damn things.:D

As winter gloom settles in across the UK, Tourism Queensland has cannily cast a wide net in its search for someone to take the caretaker job. The indigo skies and rolling golden sandy beaches of Hamilton Island couldn't look more appealing to your average Briton at the moment. As if these weren't enough, the job comes with a pay packet of nearly £70,000 and a rent-free three-bedroom villa, complete with pool.

In return, the successful applicant will be expected to spend the six-month contract exploring the idyllic surroundings, filing weekly blog, photo diary and video updates and conducting "ongoing media interviews". A geography background, any experience of wildlife management, a role as a forest warden, some kind of outdoor role involved in monitoring and observing - that's going to put you ahead of 75% of the other applicants

Interested? The first step in securing this role is to send a 60-second video application explaining why you are the ideal person for it. But what do you need to do, and to emphasise, to put your application near the top of the pile?

MORE

Creator of Morph dies

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7836112.stm

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Originally Posted by Virgil

My guess is that they have something to do with it, like his death, and are covering up. Police probably can't find enough evidence to nail them.

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Its still rediculous though!
I think they are hiding something. Why did they move away?

See this is why glasgow is messed up - we cant even have a snowball fight without it turning into a racial incident (fyi grew up in the area mentioned)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/s...st/7879596.stm

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090225/...h-3fd0ae9.html

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/editor...article/18968/

this one was almost nice
spacecraft to blast off in search of "earths", CNN

this one was horrible, because when parents are relying on television characters to educate their children...
dora's "makeover" or whatever the heck, CNN

i dont know if we have a similar kind of thread..

rape row sparks excommunications, BBC NEWS

hahahaha
u2 robbing the world's poor, yahoo news

Chinese authorities are using contraceptive pills to cut down the number of gerbils in a north-western province plagued by the rodents.

Forestry officials are leaving pills by the gerbils' burrows to try to cut back the rodents' exploding numbers.

The gerbils, officials say, are threatening the fragile desert ecosystem in the vast Xinjiang region.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/7963836.stm

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

Chinese authorities are using contraceptive pills to cut down the number of gerbils in a north-western province plagued by the rodents.

Forestry officials are leaving pills by the gerbils' burrows to try to cut back the rodents' exploding numbers.

The gerbils, officials say, are threatening the fragile desert ecosystem in the vast Xinjiang region.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/7963836.stm

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The Chinese have a saying that that all creatures except humans can be eaten, so perhaps that is the answer to the problem.

The snack that smiles back?

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Originally Posted by Brian Bean

The Chinese have a saying that that all creatures except humans can be eaten, so perhaps that is the answer to the problem.

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Do they really? Why are there reports about the Chinese eating fetuses because of the belief that it'll slow down the aging process? I'm not sure if it's true though.

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Originally Posted by crystalmoonshin

Do they really? Why are there reports about the Chinese eating fetuses because of the belief that it'll slow down the aging process? I'm not sure if it's true though.

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There are a number of stories of a similar nature, such as cooking the afterbirth of a first born for example for the same reason. Who knows how true it is, China is a vast country with different ethnic groups; some of whom live in barely accesible regions. However, I was merely quoting what Chinese friends of mine have said.

I remember I had a very scary Chinese teacher who enjoyed torturing me, the "class vegetarian," by describing in great detail the practice of removing a live monkey's brain for consumption. I wouldn't put anything past the general Chinese standard of things that are acceptable to eat.
Of course, as Brian says, China is very diverse. I think the expression is something along the lines of "eat anything under the sun"...I am having some trouble translating it.

While travelling through Sichuan province last year, we were told the Sichuanese 'eat everything with legs except the table and everything with wings except an aeroplane'! It made us very wary when we sat down to a meal but I think our hosts catered to our Western sensibilities and served only 'bland' food. We were kept away from the markets that sold some of the more 'unusual' foods, though some of the group were horrified by the pigs' heads for sale in a Yunnan market: while I didn't go out of my way to see them, at least I could remember seeing miscellaneous parts for sale in butchers' shops when I was young and rationing was a very recent memory.

Playing action video games can boost an aspect of adult vision previously thought to be fixed, a US study shows.

Researchers found playing the games improved the ability to notice even very small changes in shades of grey against a uniform background.

"Contrast sensitivity" is important in situations such as driving at night, or in conditions of poor visibility.

The Nature Neuroscience study raises the possibility of using a video game training regime to improve vision.

Contrast sensitivity is often one of the first aspects of vision to be affected by ageing.

It can also be affected by conditions such as amblyopia, known as "lazy eye".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7967381.stm

The first Harry Potter novel is England football star Wayne Rooney's book of choice, he revealed, as he backed a reading campaign for children.

The annual project run by the National Literacy Trust aims to use sporting figures to inspire children to read.

Rooney, who said the JK Rowling stories "really get your imagination going", was among 20 English Premier League players to reveal their favourite read.

Michael Morpurgo's War Horse, and Homer's Iliad were also chosen.

Muhammad Ali's autobiography, The Soul Of A Butterfly, was picked by Arsenal player Bacary Sagna, while England and Portsmouth goalkeeper David James recommended baseball tale Moneyball, by M Lewis.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7982803.stm

woah...can anyone else see the serious cat at the top? ;-)

Let me state right at the outset that I know nothing about football, but unfortunately the current obsession with "celebrities" ( ie. anyone that the media choose to tell you ) makes Wayne Rooney the footballer all too unavoidable.
However, the fact that he can read is nice to know, even if he didn't manage to get beyond the first book of the Harry Potter series.

http://www.indiamicrofinance.com/200...of-afghan.html

A cheap solar cooker has won first prize in a contest for green ideas.

The Kyoto Box is made from cardboard and can be used for sterilising water or boiling or baking food.

The Kenyan-based inventor hopes it can make solar cooking widespread in the developing world, supplanting the use of wood which is driving deforestation.

Other finalists in the $75,000 (£51,000) competition included a device for streamlining lorries, and a ceiling tile that cools hot rooms.

Organised by Forum for the Future, the sustainable development charity founded by Jonathan Porritt, the competition aims to support concepts that have "moved off the drawing board and demonstrated their feasibility" for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but have not gained corporate backing.

"The Kyoto Box has the potential to transform millions of lives and is a model of scalable, sustainable innovation," said Peter Madden, the forum's chief executive.

It is made from two cardboard boxes, which use reflective foil and black paint to maximise absorption of solar energy.

Covering the cooking pot with a transparent cover retains heat and water, and temperatures inside the pot can reach at least 80C.

As many as two billion people in the world use firewood as their primary fuel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7991654.stm

What's with this orientalism toward Chinese culinary practices? As far as I know, French people and Sicilians like eating horses, Christians in general eat pigs, and cows are consumed daily. On another level, one could see that many Indians, for instance, will not kill cows. Does that mean somehow that they are "cleaner"? Does the fact that Jews and Muslims (practicing ones at any rate) not eat pork make them somehow cleaner?

It seems like there is an inherent stereotyping of Chinese as willing to eat anything, whereas one could say that, for instance, an upper class business man from New York is willing to snort cocaine that was smuggled into the States inside a humanly digested condom, that was later crapped out, spilled out, and sold.

If the quality of food, that is, the availability of quality food, is greater in The U.S. for instance, that is only because the American economy is more supportive. As for the savage eating habits, perhaps some do eat rats, but I doubt out of anything but desperation. In various places in the Caribbean, for instance, Guinea pigs are eaten as a delicacy, yet no one is about to go and proclaim West-Indians will eat anything.


As for the gerbil problem - well, we'll just need to wait until they are all dead before we know how affective the treatment was.

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Originally Posted by JBI

What's with this orientalism toward Chinese culinary practices? As far as I know, French people and Sicilians like eating horses, Christians in general eat pigs, and cows are consumed daily. On another level, one could see that many Indians, for instance, will not kill cows. Does that mean somehow that they are "cleaner"? Does the fact that Jews and Muslims (practicing ones at any rate) not eat pork make them somehow cleaner?

It seems like there is an inherent stereotyping of Chinese as willing to eat anything, whereas one could say that, for instance, an upper class business man from New York is willing to snort cocaine that was smuggled into the States inside a humanly digested condom, that was later crapped out, spilled out, and sold.

If the quality of food, that is, the availability of quality food, is greater in The U.S. for instance, that is only because the American economy is more supportive. As for the savage eating habits, perhaps some do eat rats, but I doubt out of anything but desperation. In various places in the Caribbean, for instance, Guinea pigs are eaten as a delicacy, yet no one is about to go and proclaim West-Indians will eat anything.


As for the gerbil problem - well, we'll just need to wait until they are all dead before we know how affective the treatment was.

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The Chinese will be the first to tell you that they will eat almost anything edible. More than one of my Chinese friends has told me so and I see no reason to disbelieve them.

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Originally Posted by Brian Bean

The Chinese will be the first to tell you that they will eat almost anything edible. More than one of my Chinese friends has told me so and I see no reason to disbelieve them.

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Well, seeing as one person on this thread of Chinese descent has already denied that claim, I think it is safe to say you are generalizing, despite what ever your friend says.

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Originally Posted by JBI

Well, seeing as one person on this thread of Chinese descent has already denied that claim, I think it is safe to say you are generalizing, despite what ever your friend says.

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I would refer you to the posts on this thread by Dramasnot6 and Kasie.

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Originally Posted by Brian Bean

I would refer you to the posts on this thread by Dramasnot6 and Kasie.

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Yes, they too are Orientalist perspectives. If some Chinese people eat Monkey brains, does that mean they eat anything? when touring the countryside of one Chinese province, being told that the people there will eat anything, does that mean it is so, or even that that province of China represents the country, or the people as a whole?

That's like saying Texans are statistically large people relative to the rest of the world, therefore all Americans are fat. Not only does that generalize, it even insults skinny Texans.

So far, from what I can tell, unless Kasie is Chinese, the only person of Chinese descent who has commented on your statement has contradicted it, by stating that just because someone says something doesn't mean it is true. I guess the English are pompous tea drinking colonialist self-superior elitist snobs. Get the point? Reductionism, especially coming from a perspective limited to second hand experience, or, if you have been there, outsider experience, is more dangerous than informed.


The fact that some people will buy a pigs head (an animal, by the way, considered unclean by over a Billion people in this world, despite what the English may eat for breakfast) does not mean they will eat gerbils, or other rodent pests.

I also find it ironic, that this is coming from a Western perspective, where people will eat the most unhealthy garbage, such as McDonald's, and all other forms of unhealthy junk, yet criticize the culinary habits of others they know nothing about.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JBI

Yes, they too are Orientalist perspectives. If some Chinese people eat Monkey brains, does that mean they eat anything? when touring the countryside of one Chinese province, being told that the people there will eat anything, does that mean it is so, or even that that province of China represents the country, or the people as a whole?

That's like saying Texans are statistically large people relative to the rest of the world, therefore all Americans are fat. Not only does that generalize, it even insults skinny Texans.

So far, from what I can tell, unless Kasie is Chinese, the only person of Chinese descent who has commented on your statement has contradicted it, by stating that just because someone says something doesn't mean it is true. I guess the English are pompous tea drinking colonialist self-superior elitist snobs. Get the point? Reductionism, especially coming from a perspective limited to second hand experience, or, if you have been there, outsider experience, is more dangerous than informed.


The fact that some people will buy a pigs head (an animal, by the way, considered unclean by over a Billion people in this world, despite what the English may eat for breakfast) does not mean they will eat gerbils, or other rodent pests.

I also find it ironic, that this is coming from a Western perspective, where people will eat the most unhealthy garbage, such as McDonald's, and all other forms of unhealthy junk, yet criticize the culinary habits of others they know nothing about.

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You really have no idea how much fun it was for me to read that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JBI

Yes, they too are Orientalist perspectives. If some Chinese people eat Monkey brains, does that mean they eat anything? when touring the countryside of one Chinese province, being told that the people there will eat anything, does that mean it is so, or even that that province of China represents the country, or the people as a whole?

That's like saying Texans are statistically large people relative to the rest of the world, therefore all Americans are fat. Not only does that generalize, it even insults skinny Texans.

So far, from what I can tell, unless Kasie is Chinese, the only person of Chinese descent who has commented on your statement has contradicted it, by stating that just because someone says something doesn't mean it is true. I guess the English are pompous tea drinking colonialist self-superior elitist snobs. Get the point? Reductionism, especially coming from a perspective limited to second hand experience, or, if you have been there, outsider experience, is more dangerous than informed.


The fact that some people will buy a pigs head (an animal, by the way, considered unclean by over a Billion people in this world, despite what the English may eat for breakfast) does not mean they will eat gerbils, or other rodent pests.



I also find it ironic, that this is coming from a Western perspective, where people will eat the most unhealthy garbage, such as McDonald's, and all other forms of unhealthy junk, yet criticize the culinary habits of others they know nothing about.

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You appear to be taking this thread too seriously. I'm sure that none of the comments were meant to imply that there was something wrong with Chinese eating habits but simlpy to point out that, as exemplified by an old Chinese maxim, they will eat anything edible. It may be that some Chinese are generalising in stating such or it may have some basis in truth when one considers the famines that the country was subjected to in the past.
I have been involved with Chinese people for a number of years, and more than one has mentioned the phrase about eating all things edible, and whilst I have never seen particularly unusual eating practices on those occasions when I was in China, there are parts of the country that are very different to the urban areas that I visited. As I said in a previous post on this thread, who knows, apart from the inhabitants, how true some of the more bizarre stories regarding Chinese food are in those distant regions?

You just enforce my point with your "Who knows..." The fact that you don't know means you cannot comment without making an assumption or relying on exterior perspectives, etc. "Some of my friends say," or "there is an old Chinese Maxim," or "I was only talking about the remote areas," don't really signify anything, as whatever Chinese Maxim this is (a Cantonese one, a Wu one, a Mandarin one, certainly not an English one) stands for nothing.

One shouldn't report things on a "serious discussion" thread, unless they are serious.

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Originally Posted by JBI

You just enforce my point with your "Who knows..." The fact that you don't know means you cannot comment without making an assumption or relying on exterior perspectives, etc. "Some of my friends say," or "there is an old Chinese Maxim," or "I was only talking about the remote areas," don't really signify anything, as whatever Chinese Maxim this is (a Cantonese one, a Wu one, a Mandarin one, certainly not an English one) stands for nothing.

One shouldn't report things on a "serious discussion" thread, unless they are serious.

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Well, seeing that it was I who initiated this sub-forum, after discussion with the moderators, I do of course realise that it is for serious debate but how serious does anyone need to be on a thread about gerbils and Chinese food ? Unless of course one is arguing for the sake of it.
I thought it might be interesting at this point to mention one of your New Year's resolutions for 2009:

d) argue less, though in all likelihood, I will probably argue more.

Plus ca change.

Women may be better at sniffing out biologically relevant information from underarm sweat, a US study suggests.

Researchers found it was difficult to mask underarm odour when a woman was doing the smelling, but quite easy to do so when it was a man.

They speculate that a woman's highly attuned smell radar might help her select a mate.

The study, by Philadelphia's Monell Center, appears in Flavour and Fragrance Journal.

In the study, women and men rated the strength of underarm odours, both alone and in conjunction with various fragrances.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7981133.stm

Those who would like to carry on with the Chinese cuisine debate can do so via PMs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

Women may be better at sniffing out biologically relevant information from underarm sweat, a US study suggests.

Researchers found it was difficult to mask underarm odour when a woman was doing the smelling, but quite easy to do so when it was a man.

They speculate that a woman's highly attuned smell radar might help her select a mate.

The study, by Philadelphia's Monell Center, appears in Flavour and Fragrance Journal.

In the study, women and men rated the strength of underarm odours, both alone and in conjunction with various fragrances.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7981133.stm

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I know, I put my sniffer up against any bloodhound any day.

I read about this too: I wonder whether it is because guys do not care as much about smells like that and thus learned themselves not to notice it, or whether it is really in the genes. I think the last one, as there is a difference between not caring for an odour and totally not smelling it. But still, does this mean that guys have an excuse not to change their shirts after a game? :p

Police in Australia say they are "dumbfounded" by the dumping of a live shark on the doorstep of a newspaper in Victoria state.

The two-foot (60cm) creature was found lying at the front door of The Standard in Warrnambool city under cover of darkness after midnight on Wednesday.

The fish - a Port Jackson shark - was said to be relatively harmless.

Police released it into the harbour after carrying it in a bucket of water borrowed from a McDonald's restaurant.

Police said the juvenile Port Jackson shark - a common species on Australia's south coast - was spotted in the early hours of Thursday by a man leaving the fast-food restaurant, located next door to the offices of The Standard.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/8015205.stm

It couldn't have been there long. I wonder how long a shark will live out of water

That's pretty sad about the shark. I hope its being out of water doesnt do it any long term harm. Who would do such a thing and why, I wonder?

Amusing news:
as reported by msnbc.com

"MONTCALM COUNTY, Mich. - A western Michigan man helped deliver his wife's baby boy — though he hadn't known she was pregnant.

The Grand Rapids Press reported the man called 911 early Thursday as his wife was in labor. The man told the dispatcher that he had not known his 27-year-old wife was pregnant. He said they recently quit smoking and thought her recent weight gain was related.

The couple has two children, and the mother has an additional child from a previous relationship.

Following the successful delivery, the dispatcher talked the man through post-birth procedures. The child was taken to a hospital"


Oh man...I thought this was pretty funny. That woman was either really good at hiding it or the man is a total idiot.

Although, I have to wonder why she didnt tell him...hopefully the baby is a welcome surprise in the home!

I've heard about women not knowing they were pregnant, but I find it a little hard to believe. They move around in there. One of mine had the hickups for the last three months! I wonder what I would have thought about that if I hadn't known I was pregnant:)

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Originally Posted by Sapphire

I read about this too: I wonder whether it is because guys do not care as much about smells like that and thus learned themselves not to notice it, or whether it is really in the genes. I think the last one, as there is a difference between not caring for an odour and totally not smelling it. But still, does this mean that guys have an excuse not to change their shirts after a game? :p

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I think it depends on the guy- some notice and don't care, and some don't even notice. I have never met a guy who commented on a foul smelling person unless it was absolutely horrid. I notice myself when I smell, but I don't tend to notice other people at all. Regardless, a guy should change his shirt after a game unless he is going straight home. If he isn't, and is planning on making any more public stops, he should have a fresh one ready.