CT Accident

I hadn't heard anything til I read your post so I googled it. The article I found suspects the young woman had been drinking. Its really sad. Recently a Japanese woman studying in Toronto fell into the Niagara River and over the Falls while straddling the fence for a photo opportunity. It only takes one moment for tragedy to strike.

If you are looking for more information about the accident, there is a Seattle PI blogger who is following the story. You can email her. http://blog.seattlepi.com/dempsey/2011/08/17/kelly-denham-new-details-on-uw-beautys-tragic-death-in-italy/ I do not think it appropriate to discuss it here and pass judgment on what happened. This is very sad for the family and they should be left in peace.

Very sad. This girl attended Cherry Creek HS here in the Denver area...very close to where I live. I do not happen to know the family, but it hits close to home. Especially since my wife and I will be staying in Vernazza in a matter of a few weeks. Truly sad...too young to die. Does anyone happen to know which hotel she was staying in?

I'll pass judgement on the incident; I've lost a lot of interest in going to Vernazza - which used to be my favorite place in Italy before His Rickness ruined it - the past couple years because of the amount of American college students going there, getting drunk and acting the fool. This was bound to happen sooner or later. I've witnessed too many drunken incidents there that have made me cringe. Incidentally, we have a friend from back home who is an MIT student visiting us currently and she was there when this happened. She said the locals are horrified.

While I agree that better judgement is needed by young people, especially when it comes to drinking, this young lady didn't deserve what happened to her nor did her family. It is truly a sad accident. Of course better judgment may have saved her life, but it doesn't take away from the fact that this was still a tragedy. As for CT being too crowded...eventually beautiful places get discovered. That doesn't mean they lose their beauty...you just have to be willing to share it with others :)

No offense Jason but you're obviously clueless as to what has happened to Vernazza over the past 10 years.

No offense taken Rik. In fact, I have never been to Italy or the CT. I am going for the first time in a matter of weeks, staying in Vernazza. This is quite common though...crowds go to places that are beautiful. Sure, it can times attract the wrong crowd of people. And sometimes the amount of people/tourists to an area can change the feel/vibe of an area. I have no doubt it has changed. But I have my doubts that it still cannot be enjoyed just because of tourists and/or crowds. I think that is narrow-minded thinking. But the bottom line is that what happened to this young lady was a tragedy.

And how many young Americans die on our streets and highways every day from drunk driving or gun violence? Every one of them is a tragedy. But that's not talked about nearly as much because it's become the normal course of events here. It happens so often we hardly notice until it happens to someone we know. The fact that this girl's story is such a news item only highlights how rare it is for something like that to happen in Italy, and how common it is here.

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