Searchers find missing man’s boat
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Missing Man's Boat Recovered
Searchers find the boat of a West Warwick man who disappeared while quahogging on Narragansett Bay.
Published: November 24, 2009
Updated: November 24, 2009
The Coast Guard said Tuesday that it has ended its search for a West Warwick man who disappeared while quahogging in Narragansett Bay.
But North Kingstown authorities said they would continue to hunt for the body of 48-year-old Chester Kidd.
Coast Guard crews searched 26 hours for Kidd. They covered 284 square miles, but searchers were unable to locate the man.
The Kingston Fire Department found Kidd’s boat in about 20 feet of water about one mile southwest of Patience Island on Tuesday.
The Coast Guard said Kidd was fishing for quahogs Monday between Rocky Point and Quonset Point aboard his 18-foot boat when he apparently ran into trouble. The Coast Guard said Kidd called a friend, stating his boat was going down and that he needed help.
Kidd was not a seasoned quahogger, and experienced quahoggers said November can be a dangerous time of year to be out on the water alone.
“This time of year out there, it’s a good idea to work with your buddies, to definitely buddy-up with some people,“ quahogger Mark Newton said.
Regular diggers said conditions like Monday’s can make an anchor line wrapped around a propeller, deadly.
“The boat just fills up like quick. If you don’t have a knife on board and cut the line, that boat will be in minutes under the water,“ quahogger Frank Bernardo. “This time of the year, you can’t mess up once.“
West Warwick police said Kidd was a registered sex offender.
Kidd’s case made headlines in 1999 when he was the first person in Rhode Island to be registered as a Level 3 sex offender under Megan’s Law. Kidd, who lived in North Providence at the time, was charged with molesting a 14-year-old girl.
Kidd appealed the classification, and it was reduced to Level 1.
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i just want sat that we miss u uncle chet , and we will find you
“TURN TO 10”?? never again!! Your lack of professional journalism was most shocking to me, even in this era of media-decadence. While Chester Kidd’s family and friends waited for news with their hearts pounding, a mere few hours from his tragic accident occurring, you made the choice to carelessly TURN TO TRASH-ing a man as a way to increase viewer-demographics…Shame on all at CH 10 who in any way were involved in making that ruthless decision! As if a local man’s boat going under is not sad and dramatic enough, you chose to make it a scandalous news-item by dregging up a piece of his past while rescuers and loved ones combed RI land and waters! As I watched your coverage, hoping with baited breath that my dear friend’s BROTHER had been found, I felt a knife going through my heart, shocked that what I saw and heard was even happening; it was nothing short of an incredulously insensitive manipulation of the media for ratings. Do you at WJAR have any idea how you intensified the pain and grief of the entire Kidd family and all those who know and love any of them? I turned to other local stations who were simultaneously reporting the tragic accident, and their mission was to report the STATUS in the ongoing search OF A MISSING MAN!! Real humans with emotional attachments to Chester Kidd/“JR” were hanging onto HOPE, turning to their televisions for a sign of his Life, not scandal!! I am overwhelmed with sadness for the entire Kidd family. One of his sisters is a beloved friend of mine…and I know the deep bonds of love and affection she shared with her ‘still-missing’ brother…What has WJAR done for the Kidd family to acknowledge their unforgiveable lack of sensitivity? Anything? Have you in any way acknowledged them with respect and dignity since airing your brand of crass and tasteless reporting? You cannot erase our memory of what was viewed on yr ‘news’, but at the very least, you should rewrite or omit what still remains in print! On behalf of all in RI who share my repulsion for your callous error-in-judgement, I urge you to do something meaningful….for Chet’s/JR’s mother, father, sisters, brothers, their children and all those who knew and loved him. It is an ethical must!
You have savagely hurt the Kidd family, a clan of very fine people, whose suffering is unimagineable. My heart is with them every minute, as I know they cannot rest.
No LNinRI
You have got me all wrong. How great of a friend a man is, is not his identity. His Identity is his name, and that is what I was refering to. If you really read all of both of my posts you will see that when I initially read the article I was shocked and misinformed by this website. It didnt make sense to me. You will also see that I then went ahead and did my research and found the facts. No, none of our friends, being the friends in our circle knew, and I have spent the last week clarifying the situation for them so that they arent misinformed as I was. Also, I never would have slammed the door in his face, if he had just come out and told us the truth, there would have been no reason to do such a thing. regardless, we loved JR as many did and are saddened by this situation. His family and the rest of his friends are in our thoughts and prayers. And Turn to Ten…If you are going to print info about a man’s past, I challenge you to print the facts, not just snippets of info that will send people into a panic as it did to me.
Page 2
Well guess what? ALL your friends aren’t clueless….no, just you. THEY ALL KNEW and for Jr’s sake, they kept it from you so he could live in peace and NOT be harassed, forced to move yet again, or have ANYMORE ROCKS thrown through his front window by people like you who didn’t want him in their town. NOW, THANKS TO CHANNEL 10, life will be different. I will thank God everyday that YOU, SICK, didn’t know because he’d never have had that for the past 10 years.
“He always spoke highly about his parents and brothers and sisters.” That’s right. (Turnip truck caper again) Families do these things. Most summer weekends the “Kidds” have a ‘little’ get-together. And if all 10 of Jr;s brothers and sisters go and their wives, husbands and children go it’s the tune of nearly 100 in total. 2 generations of many families at a certain school (I will not identify)has gone to school with, was in a class with, hung around with or knew a Kidd.. I know it’s so in our family alone and one was my best man and his daughter was my flower girl. I think come judgment day there will be more Kidd’s on this earth than there are Smith’s. All directly linked to your Jr., our Chet.
Your very first line in your post was:
“First, I see an old friend’s face on the news”.
The definition of “friend” taken from “Microsoft Works-Tools-Dictionary Look Up“:
friend [frend] n (plural friends)
1. somebody emotionally close: somebody who trusts and is fond of another
How dare you call him a friend. You would have been the first one to slam the door in his face before ever asking what happened. BUT, had Channel 10 reported that they’d just found out that his family were millionaire’s; he’d hit the lottery; or even better, he was directly linked to Royalty, you would have stated how so very close you were, and what good friends Jr., you and the others….how did you put it “all his friends like me who have children and had no clue…. That is who I feel bad for because this is a horrible feeling. Its like getting hit with two bricks“.
Well here is a third brick. Like Chet, I’m not one of violence so I WON’T hit you with it though. Just going to hand it to you and you can stick it where ever you’d like WHEN DID THIS TRAGEDY BECOME ALL ABOUT YOU?
AND LASTLY,
Spiderman81 11/24 @ 7:27 pm page 4
YOU AND CHANNEL 10 GET YOUR STORY STRAIGHT!!
1. LEVEL 1 NOT LEVEL 3
2. He was THE FIRST PERSON TO BE CONVICTED UNDER THE THEN NEW “MEGHAN’S LAW”
FIRST He was used as an example.
And in you own words: “THINK ABOUT IT PEOPLE”… Do you honestly think that IF HE HAD BEEN CONVICTED OF A LEVEL 3 OFFENSE, that he would be granted a REDUCTION TO A LEVEL 1? NO! So what if it were your BROTHER, SON, NEPHEW? All you‘re doing is basing your comments on the NEWS BROUGHT TO YOU BY CHANNEL 10 AND YOU THINK IT’S TRUTH IN IT’S ENTIRETY, and I have to admit so did I. I THOUGHT I was being WELL INFORMED by this station. I have provided you with more CORRECT INFORMATION THAT DAN JANHIG DID IN HIS ENTIRE REPORT! All that report was, was “ENQUIRER-TABLOID LIKE” reporting. It was NOT the time or the place for this report. Did it help to prevent anyone from being hurt. NO! IT HURT MORE PEOPLE MORE SEVERELY! He capitalized on the tragedy of a family. WHY? WHY NOW? They must have needed to fill “air time” and had nothing else to occupy it with. DAN JAEHNIG….YOU ARE PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE for causing a devastated mother’s tears, causing her more pain while she was grieving, a father’s sleepless nights. THIS WAS ABOUT, NO, IS ABOUT A FAMILY NOT YOUR NEWS OR YOUR JOB. You made this choice Dan, you’ve gone out of your way to hurt this family during a time that they are tortured with pain and THEY STILL HAVE NOT FOUND HIM.
HERE THIS IS FOR YOU. SOMETHING THAT CHANNEL 10 SHOULD HAVE DONE…..RESEARCHED
FROM WWW.PAROLEBOARD.RI.GOV/sexoffender/agree.php
QUOTE “Per Rhode Island General Law sex offenders who are eligible for community notification review must have a date of offense on or after 7-24-96. In Rhode Island sex offenders are classified based on their risk to re-offend. An offender’s classification will be: (continue to page #3)
ca Level 1 or “low risk offender”
a Level 2 or “moderate risk offender”
a Level 3 or “high risk offender” UNQUOTE
QUOTE “Abuse of this information to threaten, intimidate or harass registered offenders will not be tolerated and may be a crime. Further, such abuse could potentially end law enforcement’s ability to conduct community notifications.
“WARNING: Information contained on this Web site should not be used to threaten or harass any identified individual as such conduct may be prohibited under the general laws of Rhode Island.”
§ 11-37.1-3 Registration required – Persons covered.– (a) Any person who, in this or any other jurisdiction: (1) has been convicted of a criminal offense against a victim who is a minor, (2) has been convicted of a sexually violent offense, (3) has been determined to be a sexually violent predator, (4) has committed an aggravated offense as defined in § 11-37.1-2, or (5) is a recidivist, as defined in § 11-37.1-4, shall be required to register his or her current address with the local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the city or town in which the person having the duty to register resides for the time period specified in § 11-37.1-4.
Let’s get something straight. When is enough…enough? Who get’s to say NO I WON’T REPORT THIS, it’s not the right time. Here was a family sitting on the edge of their seats in front of the TELEVISION WITH CHANNEL 10 ON, because their father “had a feeling it was Chet”, yet no call had officially been made by authorities yet.
CHANNEL 10: HERE IS WHAT WAS EXPECTED OF YOU: PROFESSIONALISM, COMPASSION, accurate information, information well researched just like most news broadcasts (or so we thought) BUT WHAT THEY GOT…..ANGUISH AND HEARTACHE. PAIN LIKE NON-OTHER, :
SITTING IN FRONT OF THE TV PROBABLY FOR MOST OF THE DAY JUST WAITING, WILL THERE BE ANY WORD BETWEEN PROGRAMS…NOT KNOWING…WONDERING…HOPING:
A mother waiting for word of her son, word of the fate of her baby. A father waiting, hoping watching the mother of his child being torn apart emotionally, NOT unlike himself, from the inside out.
At their own homes, his siblings glued to their own sets tuned to channel 10, just waiting…..and waiting….minutes become hours not passing fast enough…..wondering if THEY SHOULD do something, knowing they could call friends with boats who’d drop everything, even close a business just to help them. Their wives and husbands worried sick about Chet. No one knows what happened. How it happened. They all wait nervously in front OF CHANNEL 10. A trusted channel, a station known to them almost as well as the members of this large family know themselves. All day too few news briefs come on. Too Few FOR COMFORT. Then Dan Jaehning comes on. Why? How could you and CHANNEL 10 DO THIS. Do you have any idea what you all have done to this family? How could you intentionally cause more pain? Seems I did your work, research for you now why don’t you really earn that dollar in this weeks paycheck and do the RIGHT THING.
Jaehning, AND THIS STATION owe this family an apology. And I mean a real one. One dedicated to what you chose to do. Selfishly, heartlessly not some….I’m sorry. No that won’t cut it.
What if it was your brother? Father? Think about that while your with your family you and Patrice Wood and everyone at CHANNEL 10, what if you were missing a family member? A brother, an uncle? Think about being Mr. and Mrs. Kidd, how do you think she felt yesterday, Thanksgiving while sitting at that table having to look upon that empty chair.
We, you guys probably know who this is by now, we are so sorry this is happening to you all. We love you. Always will. You know where we are if you need us.ontinued from post #2
I ALWAYS watched this station thinking that the Newscasters were well educated, thoroughly researched and COMPLETELY ‘right’ because they have the resources at their fingertips thus, how could they be wrong. I felt that the news I was watching was being told by journalists. Good, honest, right, just, compassionate, empathetic, human beings that would deliver the “news” as they would if it were THEIR own families.
NEVER DID I EVER THINK I WOULD BE WRITING THIS ABOUT CHANNEL 10, a multi-award winning news station. I myself plan on going as high as I can reporting what this station has chosen to do to this family. They had a CHOICE. So, clearly this was “premeditated” so to speak.
PATRICE WOOD and ESPECIALLY YOU DAN JAEHNIG while a family’s horrific, devastating, tragedy was STILL UNFOLDING, still waiting for word, and IN A STATE OF SHOCK you CHOSE to bring up a subject from 10 years ago and make a news spot out of it?
And to top it all off YOU NEVER ACTUALLY REPORTED a thing. Read on, I’m not done with CHANNEL 10 yet.
I have spent the last 5 hours between composing this and reading the post AND RESEARCHING RHODE ISLAND LAWS pertaining to the information in YOUR broadcast, something YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE.
First I’d like to address a few posters let’s start with:
A-Hole 70 11/25@ 2:28 pm page 2
“If a picture paints a thousand words” as the song goes than, what can I say about the name you chose to use to sign up with. You said, “Keep reporting what ever you want.” I agree, JUST MAKE SURE THAT IT IS THE TRUTH BUT FIRST ASK YOURSELF IS THIS THE RIGHT TIME? WILL JUSTICE BE SERVED? WILL ANYONE ELSE BE HURT?
Trebron 11/25@ 7:08am page 3
“I couldn’t remember ……thanks Channel 10. And you lost more sleep over wondering why he looked so familiar 10 YEARS LATER, THAN THE DEVASTATED FAMILY who is TORMENTED OVER HIS WHEREABOUTS’ HAS. Just as long as it’s not your family being tortured while glued to CHANNEL 10 waiting for something…anything about where he is, what has happened, even if it is SENSELESS, unprofessional information from 10 yrs ago that has NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW!
SICK: 11:25 1:08 AM page 3. This one was…..well here:
You’re post has upset me the most. Touching, but, I’m a little confused. I just wanted to understand you, you know, “feel” where your coming from so if you don’t mind I took and copied a few of YOUR comments:
I’ll start with:
“I was never aware of the incident in 1999. He did a damn good job at hiding his identity thats for sure“.
So you’re the one that “just fell off the turnip truck“. I always wondered if a cliché derived from an actual incident. Thank you Sick, you just proved to me that I was right,…. it DOES . Now let me get this straight; What you are saying here is that EVERYONE on the list, whether innocent or guilty; no matter what the ACTUAL FACTS OF THE INCIDENT WERE, they all should have it TATTOOED to their forehead so that you and your friends, who were, as you stated, CLUELESS in 1999, would know. STAY TURNED TO 10 and you’ll wonder from here on in whether the NEWS you get, IS FACTUAL or if anything was left out.
Then you stated:
“He did a damn good job at hiding his identity” OK now I’m really confused….first you said he hid his identity then you state;
“ He was a very giving person and I knew him to often let others take advantage of his kindness.”
I’m sorry but I have to return to the turnip truck incident again….HELLOOOO: He NEVER HID ANYTHING. This IS JR. This is Who and WHAT HE WAS ALL ABOUT. THIS IS HIS IDENTITY. Seems to me that you knew him BETTER than most people so how can you go one to say:
“I feel bad for all his friends like me who have children and had no clue that a registered sex offender was a part of their lives. That is who I feel bad for, because this is a horrible feeling. Its like getting hit with two bricks.”
I get it now, you feel bad for yourself. You pride yourself in being the one who knows everything about everybody, the one who makes sure everyone else knows too, and YOU weren’t the one to discover what happened in 1999 inform your clueless friends because “they had a right to know”. NO Channel 10 was! They took the wind right out of your sail. (continued next post)
chet was my dear brother and my friend. i am so disgusted at channel 10 and the perfect people that think they know their information.that little girl that pretened to be 18 at the time and lied about the situation should be praying to god for forgiveness.she was a dirty little girl.what kind of parents let a child do anything and go running around at that age? her old boyfriend will back me up.as for channel 10,u dont have your facts straight.he was never arrested for beating up that girl that is also dead for she had so many problems that my brother tried to help her.[may she rest in peace] to all that have spoken on behalf of my brother and my poor family we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts.my brother is one of the kindest caring person you could ever meet. he would never hurt anyone. my children loved him as all my nieces and newphews.to all[the few]that says such cruel things to make matters worse may god have mercy on you, your going to need it because someday something will happen to you.karma. i love you with all my heart chet and i will defend you till the day i die.we know the truth as so many. to the neighbor that spoke so nice of chet thank you and dont listen to the crap that is not true.
Why does the “most commented” story featured on this site have 20 comments when Chet’s story has over 40?!?! What are you trying to hide? The overwhelming support for Chet’s family and memory is another story in itself!!! I have previously voiced my opinion on this site and have followed up to say that I am shocked that Chet’s story has not been altered out of respect for the family and obvious backlash from your viewers. I agree with freedom of the press, but where is your conscience? Anyone who wanted to could have looked up info on-line,if the name “sounded familiar” and they were curious. The information is out there, albiet very black-and-white. You’re not hiding anything from the public by not airing Chet’s past. You’re not even making an attempt to protect anyone from him - because he’s gone. Why? Why? Why?!!! He was a great man and a much loved member of a HUGE family that it beside themselves with grief. You cannot take back what you have done to this family - EVER - but I hope that you have the decency to personally and sincerely apologize to each and every one of them.
Our deepest sympathy goes out to the Kidd family. Chet was a wonderful friend to many who knew him. We find it most disturbing that the media would so callously report irrelevant personal information regarding an individual’s past in the midst of such tragedy and loss. The lack of empathy on the part of the news station is inconceivable. We are deeply saddened by the loss of a dear friend known for his kindness, thoughtfulness, and devotion to friends and family. Our prayers are with the Kidd family at this time, as well as, with our dear friend Chet.
David and Tracy
Chet was a huge part of my family, I knew him since I was a baby and he was my father and uncles best friend. He was a caring, fun, loyal man. Chet was a man who would do anything for anyone. It is a shame what has happened. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. Chet, I love and miss you…WE ALL LOVE AND MISS YOU!
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