2010 March 2 Tuesday
Kind of quiet around our rooms at the resort with no young girls playing, laughing, and interacting with us. We had a relaxing morning, reading and working on the computer. After lunch here, we went to the Super-Target just east of us to get groceries. They have a Starbucks in the store, so we stopped for coffee and a scone. After supper here, we watched American Idol. We still don’t see anyone that really stands out, but we think Casey (with the long blond hair) and the last guy (with the gravelly voice, whose name escapes me at the moment) have the best chance to win. We like some others better, but they have not performed that well. Maybe they will before it’s over, unless they get voted off.

WEATHER: High 74, low 48. Light rain until about 8 a.m., then partly sunny, winds 20 - 30 mph. The forecast is for the next three days to be in the low 60’s again. The good news is that the forecast says no rain for the next week.

FL NEWS: “SEA WORLD POLICY RAISED CONCERNS”
SeaWorld has a policy forbidding its killer-whale trainers from having "dangling hair" that the animals could grab onto, according to records from a workplace-safety investigation at the company's San Diego theme park. In 2006, investigators with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health found that SeaWorld trainers are "not allowed to have dangling hair or any accessories on their bodies that the whales might be able to grab when they are around the pool." SeaWorld said Monday that its policy was designed to prevent "free-flowing hair" and that trainers could still have long hair as long as it was tied in a ponytail, as Brancheau's was. [veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed last week at SeaWorld Orlando] The company said the rule was meant to reduce risks other than being snatched by an orca. "Free-flowing hair has the ability to flow in front of your eyes, blocking you, or, most importantly, it gets in front of a killer whale and becomes a distraction," said Chuck Tompkins, corporate curator in charge of animal behavior for all of SeaWorld's parks. He added that the risk of a long ponytail being grabbed was lessened because "all of the water-work animals have been trained not to pull on hair."
The orca that killed Brancheau, a 6-ton killer whale named Tilikum, was not a "water-work" animal; trainers were forbidden from swimming with him because of his massive size and history. As such, Tilikum had not been conditioned to ignore hair tied in a ponytail. SeaWorld says it is now re-evaluating all of its safety policies for working with killer whales. In the interim, trainers, who will not be allowed to enter the water with the animals until the conclusion of SeaWorld's examination, must keep long hair secured in a bun.
The description of SeaWorld's hair policy is included in a controversial report from California regulators following a Nov. 29, 2006, incident in which a killer whale at SeaWorld San Diego grabbed trainer Kenneth "Petey" Peters' feet with its jaws and repeatedly dragged Peters to the bottom of its tank. Peters suffered puncture wounds to both feet and a broken metatarsal in his left foot.
In the initial version of its report, the California workplace-safety agency, known as Cal/OSHA, warned that "swimming with captive orcas is inherently dangerous. If someone hasn't been killed already, it is only a matter of time before it does happen," the agency warned. Investigators said SeaWorld should be prepared to kill one of its animals to save a trainer caught by an orca that is "out of control and not responding to other available control measures."
The initial report, which did not accuse SeaWorld of any serious safety violations, nonetheless enraged the company. SeaWorld blasted it as "riddled with inaccuracies, speculation and superficial suppositions, information unrelated to the investigation and overreaching conclusions." Cal/OSHA, after meeting with SeaWorld executives, ultimately backed away from that version of its report. But animal-rights activists say now the report is further proof that killer whales are too dangerous to be kept in captivity.