Another Obama Campaign-Related Death

There's been another campaign- or event-related death during President Barack Obama's travels. This time in Florida.

Let's quickly review the previous cases that stand out:

On April 16, 2009, Felipe Solis (= sun), a distinguished archaeologist, was with President Barack Obama at a gala dinner at the museum and showed Obama around the Mexico City's anthropology museum. Then, Solis died the next day from "flu-like symptoms."

On July 6, 2012, Ann Harris (= son ~ sun ~ of the home ruler), 70, owner of Ann's Place in Akron, Ohio, died hours after Obama made a surprise visit to her place for breakfast.

On July 13, 2012, Alex Okrent (= meaning?), a 29-year-old vet of two of Obama's earlier runs, died suddenly. He reportedly "collapsed" at Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters.

Now, on Sunday afternoon, September 9, 2012, a Jupiter, Florida, policer officer was killed when his motorcycle was hit while he rode along in President Obama's motorade. The cycle was struck by a pickup truck as it was escorting the motorcade enroute to the Palm Beach County Convention Center. The officer was preparing to shut down I-95 at the 45th Street exit when he was rammed by a white Ford F-150 pickup at 4:40 p.m. 

The dead motorcyclist was identified as Jupiter police officer Bruce St. Laurent, 55, (pictured above) a 20-year veteran of the force. (Laurent has its name origins in French, meaning "crowned with laurels," a tradition bestowed on heroes.)

Other motorcade officers' deaths:

On February 22, 2008, Hillary Clinton's motorcade involved a motorcycle crash that killed Senior Cpl. Victor Lozada-Tirado, 49, in Dallas, Texas. (Lozada = Spanish for exuberant and vibrant; Tirado = Spanish for stretched, someone with long legs.)

On August 27, 2007, Rio Rancho Officer Germaine Casey, 40, crashed his motorcycle while riding in a motorcade as President George Bush prepared to leave Albuquerque, New Mexico, following a fundraiser for Senator Pete Domenici. Casey's motorcycle hit a curb and then a tree. The motorcycle was near the front of the motorcade, and the president saw the wreck as he drove past on the way to the airport. Casey was a two-year veteran of the force, having worked for campus police before that. [Germaine = form of Germain, a borrowing from the French, that is from the Late Latin germānus (brother), which is derived from germen (a spout, a bud, embryo). Casey = Irish from Cayce, vigilant, brave, or watchful.]

On Sunday, November 26, 2006, a Honolulu police officer, Steve Favela (= diminutive of honeycomb, also bean), 30, an eight-year veteran of the force, died after a week in the hospital, following his motorcycle crashing while he was part of a President Bush's motorcade traveling across Hickam Air Force Base (above) .

In February 2006, a Bernalillo police officer was injured when his motorcycle went down while he was helping escort Bush's motorcade on Interstate 25. Sgt. Jerry Nixon (= son of Nick, son of Nicholas) suffered a broken nose, cuts and bruises.

Update: Please see Christopher Loring Knowles' September 8, 2012, Secret Sun essay, which is precognitive, in that it points to the hidden nature of Jupiter.

Newest Obama Campaign Death: Alex Okrent

The bizarre death coincidences associated with President Barack Obama's campaign continue. On Friday the 13th of July, Alex Okrent (pictured above), a 29-year-old vet of two of Obama's earlier runs, died suddenly.  He reportedly "collapsed" at Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters, according to media outlets, including the Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, and the Huffington Post. Okrent was an employee of the campaign's paid media department.

After he collapsed, Chicago paramedics were first called to the Obama headquarters in the Prudential Building, and then Okrent was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

"Obama was campaigning in southern Virginia this afternoon, when he learned about Okrent's death," according to USA Today.

Traveling in Virginia on Friday, Obama called Okrent's family to express condolences. The president later spoke with other campaign staffers in a conference call.

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Alex's father, Mike Okrent, (on July 14th) spoke to the media, telling them that his son died of a "heart attack."

The name “Okrent” sounds unfamiliar, but there is one famous individual linked to the media who shares that same last name with Alex Okrent.

Editor and writer Daniel Okrent, still living, was born April 2, 1948, in Detroit, Michigan. He is best known for having served as the first public editor of The New York Times, and as the inventor in 1979, of Rotisserie League Baseball (the best-known form of fantasy baseball) and the sabermetric "WHIP" ("walks plus hits per inning pitched”).

Daniel Okrent is also known for coining "Okrent's Law" during his tenure as a comment he made about his new job. It states: "The pursuit of balance can create imbalance because sometimes something is true," referring to the phenomenon of the press providing legitimacy to fringe or minority viewpoints in an effort to appear even-handed. (This is one of the underlying organizing guidelines to be found in Aaron Sorkin's new fictional news program detailed in HBO's Newsroom.)

Is the media-involved Alex Okrent, from Evanston, Illinois, distantly related to the media-aware Daniel Okrent?

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Apparently not. Here's Mr. Alexander Okrent official obituary:

Alex S.Okrent, 29, beloved son of Michael Okrent and Lynn Pollack; loving brother of Abby Okrent; cherished grandson of Susan Okrent, the late Samuel Okrent, the late Marion and the late Alexander Pollack; dear nephew, cousin, friend and colleague of many. Service Monday, 11 a.m. at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, 303 Dodge Ave., Evanston, IL 60202. Interment Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorials in his memory to The Obama for America Campaign, ACLU, or JRC would be appreciated. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals -Skokie Chapel.  

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Late on 13 July, the Huffington Post noted that Republican candidate Mitt Romney tweeted his condolences Friday evening, saying:

@MittRomney 
Mitt Romney

Ann & I were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Alex Okrent. Prayers are with Alex’s loved ones and the entire Obama campaign team.

July 13, 2012 11:48 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

Then top Obama advisor David Axelrod tweeted back to Romney:

@davidaxelrod 
David Axelrod

@MittRomney Thank you, governor. Alex was a beloved member of our team. It's been a very emotional day.

July 13, 2012 11:54 pm via Twitter for iPhone Reply Retweet Favorite

Death on the Obama Campaign Trail ~ Again

Four generations of Ann Harris' family (from left) Andrea Hubbard, Deanna Hubbard, Ann Harris, (owner of Ann's Place) Wilma Parsons and Kamari Durant pose for a photo after being visited by President Barack Obama when he stopped at Ann's Place 24 Hour Restaurant, 1604 S. Hawkins Ave, Akron, Ohio, on Friday, July 6, 2012. The restaurant owner Ann Harris, 70 (see here), was taken by ambulance to Akron General Medical Center after complaining of fatigue and a tingling feeling following Obama's visit. By 11:18 a.m., she was pronounced dead from an apparent heart attack. (Paul Tople/Akron Beacon Journal)

Photo by Taylor NaShay.

Harris met -- and hugged -- Obama just after 8:00 a.m., when he stopped in unannounced for breakfast.

Obama enjoyed a breakfast of eggs, bacon and whole wheat toast - plus grits at the suggestion of Toni Watkins, a waitress for 23 years at Ann’s Place. The White House said the president ate with three long-time Goodyear workers -- Rick Nixon, Jim DiFalco and Keith Ross, according to ABC News.

For more on the Watts/Watkins name game, click and read here.

Barack Obama's grandmother, whose personality and bearing shaped much of the life of the Democratic presidential contender, died, Obama announced one day before the 2008 election. Madelyn Payne Dunham was 86 and died late Sunday, November 2, 2008.
Aferrismoon writes in noting, "It has happened before."


Indeed, it has and was covered here at the Twilight Language blog.

Felipe Solis Olguin, the director for the 

Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City, 

stands before a large Aztec sculpture. Photo: Robert van der Hilst.

On April 16, 2009, Felipe Solis, a distinguished archaeologist, was with President Barack Obama at a gala dinner at the museum and showed Obama around the Mexico City's anthropology museum. Then, Solis died the next day from "flu-like symptoms." Officially, it was called "pneumonia," but unofficially, Solis died of swine flu.

Solis, of course, means "sun, solar."

See "Obama & Flu Death," to be found at TL on April 26, 2009.

Zachary Taylor became a war hero when he defended Fort Harrison during the War of 1812, and in other engagements. The 12th President of the United States, Zachary Taylor died on July 9, 1850, of cholera after eating tainted cherries and milk in the middle of the summer.

On January 8, 1992, President Bush became ill during a state dinner in Japan and vomited on Japanese Prime Minister Miyazawa Kiichi. Due to that incident, Saturday Night Live then did a skit of the event.

  

Dining comes into play here, it seems. Another famous diner owned by a Harris, Caroline, is the Harris Steakhouse on Main Street, Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The location was first associated with death when the Silver Bridge collapsed, and the diner's then-husband died in that tragedy in December 1967. This diner was used as the model for the diner in The Mothman Prophecies (2002), and today is sometimes called the "Mothman Diner."