What the hell is going on in the Dominican Republic

[Anti Federalist]

Senior trip to Dominican Republic descends into disaster after group falls ill

https://nypost.com/2019/06/17/senior...oup-falls-ill/

By Jackie Salo June 17, 2019 | 6:20pm | Updated

A group of Oklahoma teens’ senior trip to the Dominican Republic was ruined when they fell sick with a mysterious illness.

The recent Deer Creek High School graduates flew on June 8 to the embattled Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana, where at least two Americans have died and others have fallen ill, news station KOTV reported.

Liz McLaughlin said her daughter, Libby, was among seven members of the group who fell sick — and they have “no idea what’s going on.”

“We just don’t know what is happening,” McLaughlin told the news station. “Is it the water? Is it the ice? Is it the food? Is it the food handling? Is it the pesticides?”

For the first day, the teens enjoyed themselves hanging out on the beach. But after dining at the resort’s Japanese restaurant, the trip took a turn for the worse, according to KOCO.

“I just woke up, and my stomach was cramping and I was sweating,” Bennet Hill told KOCO. “I was freezing.”

Hill and the six others were rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where they received anti-nausea medicine.

“We’ve been hooked up to IVs since we first got here with antibiotics, just getting hydrated,” Hill said.

It’s unclear whether the group’s illnesses are linked to the fatal cases recently reported at the resort.

Robert Bell Wallace, 67, died from unknown causes during an April trip to the hotel. His family said he became unwell after drinking a glass of scotch from the minibar.

Relatives of a Maryland tourist, David Harrison, recently revealed he died last July at the same resort. Before going to bed, Harrison reportedly fell ill and died the next day from pulmonary edema and heart attack.

A Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana spokesperson told The Post the resort “immediately took corrective action” after the group of students fell ill.

“Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana is disappointed regarding a recent situation in which a group of guests became ill after dining at one of our twelve venues,” the statement said. “As the safety and health of our guests is now, and has always been our highest priority, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana is regretful that we did not achieve the extremely high standards we set for ourselves.”

[Brian4Liberty]

Food poisoning. Happens all the time. Different than the mini-bar induced “heart attacks”.

[Anti Globalist]

Guess we better start banning people from going to the Dominican Republic. We can't continue to have Americans go there and wind up dead.

[oyarde]

Food poisoning. Happens all the time. Different than the mini-bar induced “heart attacks”.

I thought AF put that in the article so I would not drink his scotch .

[Swordsmyth]

Tourist claims entire plane home from the Dominican Republic was filled with sick passengers

[Swordsmyth]

Bachelor star tweeted about her illness while in the Dominican Republic. Again a fever.


More tourists who got ill come forward

[Swordsmyth]

Oklahoma High School Students fell ill on return flight from Dominican Republic

[oyarde]

Bringing out the dead . Common there evidently Joseph Allen, 55 of NJ is the most recent to join the ranks started in Jan by Jerry Curran , 78 of Bedford Ohio .

[oyarde]

Someone needs to see if there is a complete list compiled , I bet it is more than one per month on avg the past year or two.

[Swordsmyth]

The Dominican Republic was pressuring people whose relatives died to cremate their relative there, before shipping the bodies home, where they could have been autopsied in America.

[r3volution 3.0]

Probably a combination of things, but bad hootch (cut with methanol) is a likely culprit for the mini-bar cases.

Incidentally, the cure for methanol poisoning, if you ever think you've been exposed, is ethanol.

Methanol poisoning can be treated with fomepizole, or if unavailable, ethanol.Both drugs act to reduce the action of alcohol dehydrogenase on methanol by means of competitive inhibition. Ethanol, the active ingredient in alcoholic beverages, acts as a competitive inhibitor by more effectively binding and saturating the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme in the liver, thus blocking the binding of methanol.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methan...city#Treatment

That said, this whole thing has been massively overblown; millions of people visit the DR every year without incident.

You're probably more likely to die on the way to the airport.

It's also notable, and repulsive, that the DR story is being used to further the "foreigners r bad" narrative in some circles.

[Anti Federalist]

I thought AF put that in the article so I would not drink his scotch .

You can have mine...never touch the stuff myself...tastes like malted bog mud.

I'm a rye, bourbon and vodka man.

[Anti Federalist]

I thought AF put that in the article so I would not drink his scotch .

You can have mine...never touch the stuff myself...tastes like malted bog mud.

I'm a rye, bourbon and vodka man.

[oyarde]

You can have mine...never touch the stuff myself...tastes like malted bog mud.

I'm a rye, bourbon and vodka man.

I like bourbon better but I will drink it every great once in awhile , bog mud could be about right . I had an Army buddy from around where Anderson Indiana is now that always came by my place with a bottle of scotch ( Johnny Walker Red which we could get incredibly cheap ) when we were stationed together which he bought by the case . By 1862 they were selling 100K gallons of it and by 1909 the Red was the 10 yr old and tasted about like it was made last week , not as good as the Black ( 12 yrs old ) . During WW I they quit making the White which really was just made last week I think . I have never tried the Green ( 15 yrs old ) or the new Double Black ( rumored to have more peaty flavored added to it ) , or the Blue . I say you try the Double Black first and tell me what flavor of Peat it is . Nixon drank the Blue , Churchill the Red .

[Anti Federalist]

I like bourbon better but I will drink it every great once in awhile , bog mud could be about right . I had an Army buddy from around where Anderson Indiana is now that always came by my place with a bottle of scotch ( Johnny Walker Red which we could get incredibly cheap ) when we were stationed together which he bought by the case . By 1862 they were selling 100K gallons of it and by 1909 the Red was the 10 yr old and tasted about like it was made last week , not as good as the Black ( 12 yrs old ) . During WW I they quit making the White which really was just made last week I think . I have never tried the Green ( 15 yrs old ) or the new Double Black ( rumored to have more peaty flavored added to it ) , or the Blue . I say you try the Double Black first and tell me what flavor of Peat it is . Nixon drank the Blue , Churchill the Red .

My dad used to drink JW...I never could acquire a taste for it.

Ex-Mrs. AF used to drink Dewar's and water.

Now that it's summer, time to pass along my own summer concoction recipe:

In a large highball glass:

Two shots Tito's or Ketel One or any good store bought white lightening.

One shot Grand Marnier orange liqueur (or Triple Sec if you prefer)

Teaspoon of lime juice.

Top off with ice and cranberry juice, stir and enjoy.

Or x5 or x10 for pitchers.

[phill4paul]

I like bourbon better but I will drink it every great once in awhile , bog mud could be about right . I had an Army buddy from around where Anderson Indiana is now that always came by my place with a bottle of scotch ( Johnny Walker Red which we could get incredibly cheap ) when we were stationed together which he bought by the case . By 1862 they were selling 100K gallons of it and by 1909 the Red was the 10 yr old and tasted about like it was made last week , not as good as the Black ( 12 yrs old ) . During WW I they quit making the White which really was just made last week I think . I have never tried the Green ( 15 yrs old ) or the new Double Black ( rumored to have more peaty flavored added to it ) , or the Blue . I say you try the Double Black first and tell me what flavor of Peat it is . Nixon drank the Blue , Churchill the Red .

Top shelf Kentucky for me. I like Sky vodka in my BloodyMary's.

I use to pay my bar tab in Japan with JW Black and cases of Budweiser. I could get it duty free on base. I'd drink the local stuff and make out cheap.

[phill4paul]

Probably a combination of things, but bad hootch (cut with methanol) is a likely culprit for the mini-bar cases.

Incidentally, the cure for methanol poisoning, if you ever think you've been exposed, is ethanol.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methan...city#Treatment

That said, this whole thing has been massively overblown; millions of people visit the DR every year without incident.

You're probably more likely to die on the way to the airport.

It's also notable, and repulsive, that the DR story is being used to further the "foreigners r bad" narrative in some circles.

There's 300 million + American citizens and yet serial killers have walked among us and killed hundreds, thousands. No big deal though. Right?

[Swordsmyth]

Dominican Republic tourism down 74% after mystery deaths

[Swordsmyth]

Officials from the Dominican Republic gathered in New York City, along with the U.S. Ambassador, on Thursday to announce new safety measures months after 11 American tourists died in several resorts there last spring.
Javier Garcia, the Dominican Republic’s Minister of Tourism, told reporters at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan that these new safety measures were put in place to specifically address safety at resorts that were at the center of the coverage.
The measures introduced include reinforcing mandates that require emergency information and the availability of 911 in every guest room, and a new emergency tourist center in Bávaro in Punta Cana, where multi-lingual specialists can communicate with tourists and their families.
The Ministry of Tourism also announced that it partnered with Ecolab, a United States-based water, hygiene and energy technology lab to provide training and certification to all Department of Tourism Services and Companies inspectors.
Garcia also announced that an additional 4,000 agents have been hired for both the tourist security agency and the national police, and that 3,000 more public security cameras have been installed.
U.S Ambassador to the Dominican Republican Robin Bernstein said that an “unfounded negative campaign” contributed to a “tourism crisis” on the island, and pointedly noted that the U.S. State Department has maintained a level-two advisory to the Dominican Republic — similar to that of countries including Spain, Denmark, and Belgium.
“American tourists should feel safe and secure,” she said. “I am totally comfortable with safety level, it is one of the safest tourist destinations I have ever visited. In fact, it has now become an even safer place to come because of the initiatives.”
Bernstein also specifically addressed reports that tainted alcohol led to the deaths, noting that if there were a problem with alcohol there would be far more reports of deaths.
“If it was alcohol people would be dropping like flies,” Bernstein said. “It is not alcohol.”

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/dominican-rep...043845536.html

[oyarde]

Dominican Republic tourism down 74% after mystery deaths

Ya thats about what to expect when you have people passing off lethal hooch and they can't stop it . Was not on my list anyway . I would like to hunt in Africa once more but I do not like airports and do not really want to fly. If anything were to happen to Mrs O I would sell my livestock and take a boat and come back a few weeks or months later. No way I am taking her to listen to her complain about Zimbabwe plumbing .

[Swordsmyth]

The brutal killing of a former Michigan elementary school teacher discovered bound and strangled in her Dominican Republic home is being investigated as a potential robbery-gone-wrong, officials told Fox News on Thursday, emphasizing police were working diligently to “solve this case as quickly as possible."
Patricia Ann Anton was found on her bed in her Puerto Plata home with her hands and feet tied up when her body was found Tuesday, Dominican National Police spokesperson Frank Felix Duran Mejia told Fox News.
“Per the preliminary investigation, we are working on the theory that this was a robbery,” he said.


Mejia said medical examiners ruled the 63-year-old’s cause of death to be suffocation by strangulation but he wouldn't confirm local reports that she'd been tortured. A television, computer and other items are reportedly missing from her home and police were working with her family to find out if any other objects were stolen. Authorities also are in contact with the U.S. State Department.
“Investigators continue to look for evidence that would lead us to solve this case as quickly as possible,” he said.
A State Department official confirmed the death to Fox News on Thursday and said the agency is offering its “sincerest condolences to the family for their loss.”
The grim news threatened to revive safety concerns about traveling to the Dominican Republic, which faced scrutiny after the deaths of American tourists there and a violent incident involving an American earlier this year.
Tammy Lawrence-Daley of Delaware claimed she was assaulted by a hotel employee at the all-inclusive luxury resort Majestic Elegance in Punta Cana. Her claims were amplified after the deaths of at least nine American tourists in the weeks that followed at various hotels across the country.

More at: https://www.foxnews.com/world/michig...gged-strangled

[Matt Collins]

It's next to Haiti. Why would anyone go there, ever?

[euphemia]

The brutal killing of a former Michigan elementary school teacher discovered bound and strangled in her Dominican Republic home is being investigated as a potential robbery-gone-wrong, officials told Fox News on Thursday, emphasizing police were working diligently to “solve this case as quickly as possible."
Patricia Ann Anton was found on her bed in her Puerto Plata home with her hands and feet tied up when her body was found Tuesday, Dominican National Police spokesperson Frank Felix Duran Mejia told Fox News.
“Per the preliminary investigation, we are working on the theory that this was a robbery,” he said.


Mejia said medical examiners ruled the 63-year-old’s cause of death to be suffocation by strangulation but he wouldn't confirm local reports that she'd been tortured. A television, computer and other items are reportedly missing from her home and police were working with her family to find out if any other objects were stolen. Authorities also are in contact with the U.S. State Department.
“Investigators continue to look for evidence that would lead us to solve this case as quickly as possible,” he said.
A State Department official confirmed the death to Fox News on Thursday and said the agency is offering its “sincerest condolences to the family for their loss.”
The grim news threatened to revive safety concerns about traveling to the Dominican Republic, which faced scrutiny after the deaths of American tourists there and a violent incident involving an American earlier this year.
Tammy Lawrence-Daley of Delaware claimed she was assaulted by a hotel employee at the all-inclusive luxury resort Majestic Elegance in Punta Cana. Her claims were amplified after the deaths of at least nine American tourists in the weeks that followed at various hotels across the country.

More at: https://www.foxnews.com/world/michig...gged-strangled

So they are just idiots all round. A woman is dead, clearly not by natural causes. They should be investigating a murder.