More bad news from Bali. This was in the OC Register today. Very sad.<P>O.C. man missing in blast <P>By DANIELLE HERUBIN <BR>The Orange County Register <BR> <BR>Three Huntington Beach friends who love to surf and golf were among the tourists who ignored government warnings about terrorists and headed to the exotic island of Bali.<P>They were seeking big waves and peace from the frenetic lifestyle in Southern California. They were celebrating Steve "Webby" Webster's 41st birthday. They thought they found Paradise.<P>One of them, John Parodi Jr., e-mailed his mother: "Everything is great. This place is wonderful."<P>Then their dream vacation turned into a tragedy. <P>A car bomb tore through two popular nightclubs in Bali on Saturday night, killing nearly 200 people and injuring hundreds more. Webster and Steve Cabler were sitting in the bar that suffered the worst damage.<P>A day after his effusive e-mail, a traumatized Parodi wandered with Cabler, who had a separated shoulder and burns on his hands. They searched for Webster, first at hospitals, then at the morgue.<P>But with the scores of casualties and many of the bodies badly burned or crushed, they were unable to find him, Parodi said Sunday from his Bali hotel.<P>Parodi, 41, had narrowly escaped being in the bar. He and his friends had just finished a Mexican dinner. He was full and had downed a few beers. He didn't feel like walking all the way to the Sari Club.<P>So he went back to the hotel and sat down at the pool with a beer. A short time later, he heard the blast.<P>Cabler later told Parodi of his harrowing ordeal:<P>Fire tore through the flimsy nightclub - horizontally - in the world's most popular surfing spot. Cabler told Parodi he saw two Australian girls next to him, their heads on fire. The last Cabler saw of Webster, he was under the collapsing roof.<P>Cabler climbed over the corrugated steel roof; then, using strength from years of surfing, pushed through a metal wall. <P>In the chaos that followed, Webster didn't surface. <P>Parodi had befriended an Australian guy, 6-foot, 6-inches tall, about 300 pounds. He walked up to the Australian after the blast, and the big man was crying. <P>"Hey, how are you doing?" Parodi asked him.<P>He had lost his 15-year-old daughter, Parodi learned.<P>Young surfers were among those killed. Whole families died.<P>Parodi and Cabler looked for Webster everywhere. Two Balinese boys the surfers had befriended earlier drove them around all day, searching. <P>They went to two discos that were destroyed and about 12 other buildings that were burned, the roofs torn off and litter from the blast strewn in the streets. <P>Parodi has also been searching for answers.<P>Was it al-Qaida? Would he be stuck in Bali? Was he still in danger? Tourists were jamming the airports trying to get off the island, according to news reports.<P>He wept as he talked about the things that matter most to him now. He recently left his job with Valley Crest, a playground developer, and had been thinking about retirement. He thought maybe he would stay in Bali. <P>Now all he wanted was to see Emerson, his golden retriever. To hug J.C., the friend house-sitting for him. <P>"Please tell my Dad I love him," Parodi said. "Please tell my Mom I love her."<P>Just before Parodi left for the exotic Indonesian island, John Parodi Sr., had told his son, "I don't think you should go."<P>His dad thought the area was a hotbed for terrorists. <P>Bali is not a place where bombs go off, Parodi recalled saying. <P>Now the U.S. Embassy is considering pulling out of Indonesia. Cabler has left for home, a 24-hour voyage through air and airports. <P>Parodi has a flight out in a couple of days. He can't wait. But he's wondering about his life. Does God answer prayers? He's not sure now. <P>Cabler and Parodi gave Webster's surfboard to some Balinese boys. <P>Parodi tried talking to Webster's wife. He began crying again as he thought about her and Webster's two children, a boy and a teenage daughter. <P>In Orange County, Webster's friends were angry and upset. They called each other, the Indonesian consulate, and Parodi and Cabler. They went to each other's homes Sunday and tried to comfort each other. <P>"We want people to know an American is missing," Nick Yuschenkoff, a Laguna Niguel resident, said after reading the Sunday papers. Yuschenkoff said all three men had been at his wedding two weeks ago, just days before they left for Bali.<P>Other Americans still haven't been accounted for. Henry Morales, a travel agent with Wave Hunters Surf Travel in Oceanside, said he has about 10 Southern Californians, some from Orange County, in Bali now. He's only confirmed that about half are okay. <P>David Scard, an Australian travel agent with GlobalSurfGuides.com who is helping Morales and others find people, said there's no easy way to track people down after a disaster in a place like Bali.<P>"They have no infrastructure to deal with it," Scard said in an interview from Australia. "The best information we've been getting is from people over there, people we know. It's been just chaos."<P>
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Orange County surfer missing in Bali blast
- Thread starter Kaido
- Start date
I have always wanted to go surf some place like bali. now the crowded beaches of so cal don't seem too bad.<P>i will keep all those people in my thoughts... god bless them all...<P>surfdad
You know, a few years ago I spent a few nights sucking down beers at the Sari Club and having a good time bullsheiting with aussie blokes and peole form Europe.<P>What a disgrace that these heartless cowards commit these senseless atrocities.<P>My heart is saddend by this report and others I have read.<P>Prayers go out to those suffering.<P>I can only say to those responsible that you will meet your maker in HELL, bastards!
Bombing is such a cowardly way to make a statement. I can only hope they get what they deserve. (death) SOON!<P>my thoughts go out to all those affected.....<P><BR>peace <P>jbd
Wow, Wavehunters Surf Travel is getting a lot of exposure from this terrible tragedy. The local radio stations are mentioning them in the search for the 5 unaccounted guys that booked with Henry to Bali and most likely beyond. I bet his phone is ringing off the hook from national media right now. <P>I think a lot of guys do combo boat trips or G-land trips with a Bali stay before of after. So info on confirmed whereabouts will probably be slow.<P> It will also be interesting to see how the media handles the "surfer" image of these missing guys out there in the coming days. Hopefully it will be in a positive light.
This is just so sad and terrible. I feel so awful for the people that were affected. It affects all of us. My heart goes out to our fellow surfers. <P>We quibble sometimes (me included) about crowded lineups, breaches of etiquette etc. But surfers by and large are people who are in tune with the environment, good people who travel the world in search of their happiness. Its so sad that small, ignorant people are capable of such atrocities.<P>
Well its official. The Huntington Beach surfer Steve Webster was killed this weekend in Bali. This is a tragic loss as he leaves behind a 6 year old son, 16 year old daughter and wife. Please pray for all the families, friends and those who were killed in this terrible act of terrorism.<P><img src=http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/101402john1.jpg><P><BR>O.C. man killed in Bali <BR>Steve Webster was celebrating his 41st birthday when the bombs hit. <P>By RACHANEE SRISAVASDI and VIK JOLLY <BR>The Orange County Register <BR> <BR>A Huntington Beach man who was surfing in Bali and celebrating his 41st birthday was confirmed to be among the nearly 200 people killed in bomb blasts there, a friend of the family said Monday night.<P>"We received confirmation of Steve's death from the morgue in Bali about two hours ago," Steven Webster's best friend, Trent Walker, said late Monday from his Newport Beach home. <P>Webster was last seen Saturday in the Sari Club on the Indonesian resort island when the blasts ripped through the club and a nearby disco. The bombings are being called acts of terrorism, possibly engineered by the al-Qaida network. <P>State Department spokeswoman Joann Prokopowicz said the United States was confirming that at least two American citizens are dead and four are injured. She said no names would be released until today at the earliest.<P>One of Webster's traveling companions, John Parodi Jr., said Monday that Webster's name was listed among the dead at the main hospital in Bali. He called Webster's family members and told them the news, but as of late Monday night, the Webster family had not heard any official word from U.S. authorities.<P>"I've gone through so many emotions with all this waiting," said Brian Webster, 40, Steve Webster's brother. "I wanted to go find him, bring him home. I just hope our family can come together now and properly mourn Steve.''<P>Parodi and another longtime friend of Webster's, Steve Cabler, had traveled to Bali to surf. The Huntington Beach trio traveled the world together in search of the best waves, said Walker.<P>Cabler, who was injured in the blast, landed at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday night.<P>He was wheeled out of Tom Bradley Terminal, dizzy, his arm in a sling, his shoulder broken during his attempt to break down a wall to escape the destruction. Through tears, he said he had lost hearing in his left ear. His hand was burned.<P>"I'm very happy to be home," Cabler, 42, said. "What I went through is living hell. I was 20 feet from the bomb . How can you be that close to a bomb and be alive? I don't know if it is a gift or a curse."<P>He said he attempted to rescue Webster. <P>"I tried to get him out, but the roof fell down on him," he said. "I had to get out. There was just fire everywhere."<P>Said Cabler, "I don't know who was behind it. They can't be too pleased with themselves. If they were targeting Americans, they got Australians."<P>He wants President George W. Bush to take action.<P>"It's gonna come here eventually. Something's got to be done," he said. "(They will) burn in hell. They need to pay. Innnocent people dying like this is not right."<P>Sporting a Hurley cap, Cabler kissed his son Max, 12, and told him not to worry. <P>"Dad will see you tomorrow, kid. I'm alive, that's what's important."<P><img src=http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/101502bush.jpg><P>Parodi had stayed behind in Bali, trying to garner information on Webster's fate.<P>Before he left for Bali earlier this month, Webster wrote a will and gave it to his wife.<P>Family members speculate he may have had a premonition of his fate. But if he did, they wonder, why did he go?<P>Webster, who had left Oct. 4, was supposed to fly home Wednesday. His stepdaughter Samantha Bustamante, 16, said he was excited to surf in Bali, but still made it a point to call them every day.<P>"We had just talked Friday," she said. "He said how much he missed us and how he wanted to come back."<P>Webster had been married to Samantha's mother, Mona, for about five years, Walker said. The couple had a 6-year-old son, Dylan, who had just started first grade. Mona Webster, 38, was too distraught to speak to reporters Monday.<P>Webster was the co-owner and co-president of Newport Beach-based engineering firm S&S Commercial Environmental Inc., where he secured clients and locked in sales, said his partner Stephen Quartararo.<P>"He's a good salesman; he really knows how to get people motivated," Quartararo said.<P>Webster's life, though, was far from all work and no play. He played golf, surfed and fished regularly. He had just sold his fishing boat to buy a bigger one, Walker said.<P>He also kept about 10 surfboards at his beachfront office, Quartararo said, and would often finish up work early to trot down to the waves. <P>When he would drive up Pacific Coast Highway to take Samantha to school, he would always glance over at the ocean, and jokingly curse that he shouldn't have showered and gotten dressed because the waves were so good, she said.<P>Webster was a devoted father, Samantha said, often coming home from work early to play with his son. He gave Samantha 16 red roses on her 16th birthday last month.<P>Walker said he didn't think Webster was aware that the U.S. government had warned Americans not to travel to Indonesia. He still thinks Webster would have gone.<P>"He's not afraid of things," Walker said. "It's hard to deter him when he's got something on his mind."<P>Webster's brother-in-law, Angel De Los Reyes, was angry that innocent people were targeted in the attack.<P>"I don't know how we or the president can solve this situation," De Los Reyes, 37, said. "But I can't believe this. Why us? What did we ever do?"<P><BR>[This message has been edited by Kincaid (edited 10-15-2002).]<P>[This message has been edited by Kincaid (edited 10-15-2002).]<p>[This message has been edited by Kincaid (edited 10-15-2002).]
I just heard from my good friend who is over there. He was at G-Land when the bomb went off. Says it's absolute pandemonium over there with everyone fleeing the country. He has decided to stay rather than leave. Not so sure that's such a good idea but when you think about it, what are the chances of another bomb going off in Bali?
I just read the OC register this morning with my morning coffee and I was saddened beyond belief after reading about HB surfer, husband and father Steve Webster. <P>The world we live in today is sickening. Money is the root of all evil. Globalization spinning out of control. Disease, poverty, violence, environmental destruction, war, terrorism....<P>We've taken a backwards step as human beings and its very depressing the world we live in today.
Could have been any one of us.<BR>Could have been anywhere.<P>God bless the families of these victims. <BR>God grant us the ability to forgive and not hate.
These people who cause such violent acts <BR>against the innocent are truely this worlds<BR>evil. The problem, I think, stems from the<BR>terrorists not having much of a live to <BR>begin with that they don't even know<BR>how good it can be.<P><BR>My deepest sympathy for all those who lost<BR>their loved ones.
The more I read about what has happened in bali, my stomach just turns. it makes me sick.<P> just imagine what the majority of these surfers were thinking just before the blast, " bro, that was such a fun session today, those waves were the best in my life, etc etc etc" I would hope that were all so happy to be where they were, in bali on a surfing trip, i mean. i just think i would be so stoked to be there with a couple good friends enjoying everything that a surf trip vacation has instore for you. <P>As I am a new father, i can really connect with the father that came back last night hurt. Just the thought of not being able to be there for my child is unimaginable. I only hope that the friends and family of all who lost their lives can find the strength to make it through this tough time. <P>we all will have them in our thoughts....<P>I am not a violent person, but i find it difficult to restrian the anger i have at these people that committed this atrosicity. i just know one thing. they will be responsible for their actions someday, whether it be here on earth, or to our maker... somehow they will pay.<P>i hope we gets some waves soon, i would love to catch a few waves for all our lost surfer brothers....<P>SURFDAD<P>