Lend A Hand: Yard sale to help pay for construction of group home. 11B
S U N D A Y , A P R I L 1, 2007
West Alabama
SECTION B
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
BEN WINDHAM
AG takes over Stokes murder trial By Stephanie Taylor Staff Writer
SOUTHERN LIGHTS
Bible part of the South’s cultural fabric
A
recent poll suggesting that Alabamians are more Bibleliterate than people in other parts of the countr y doesn’t surprise me. If you grew up Southern, chances are good that you grew up with the Bible. That doesn’t apply to everyone, of course, but in the Alabama where I was reared, the Bible was as integral a part of the cultural fabric as fried catfish and hush puppies. I think Southerners have a special appreciation for the Bible. Early on, faced with oppressive heat and humidity heavy enough to burden the soul, we developed a strong sense of biblical hellfire. A friend who grew up in the Bessemer Cutoff told me of a vision he had as a child one summer Sunday morning. As the Baptist preacher was deep into a sermon about the devil’s dominion, my friend looked out the open church window to see the smoking, stinking pipes of the nearby steel mills. The prospect of a placid heaven — or even a bountiful Canaan — also held a particular appeal for people in this troubled land. Too, Southerners, by tradition, share the love of a good story. And the Bible is full of them. One such story involves my first name, Amasa (more about that later). My middle name, Benjamin, also is biblical. I learned early on that Benjamin was the progenitor of one of the main tribes of Israel. It was only as an adult, however, that I discovered — much to my pleasure — that the name in Hebrew means “son of the South.” There was a lot to learn about the Bible in my neck of the South. I attended Sunday school regularly at the Methodist Church. The memor y of standing before my young friends, my hear t pounding and sweat drenching the uncomfortable starched collar of my shirt as I recited Scripture from memor y in hopes of winning a small presentation Bible, remains vivid. It was a memorable prize, to be sure. Its covers were made of grained and highly burnished “wood from the Holy Land.” I still have that Bible today, a halfcentury later. And I still can recite from memory the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. I must confess, however, that I didn’t actually read my prize Bible. I spent my time curled up with the likes of J. Frank Dobie’s stories of the Southwest, Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” and Franklin W. Dixon’s mysteries about the Hardy Boys. I found the 17th-century English of King James tough sledding. Although I could enjoy the poetic turn of a Jamesian biblical phrase — especially mystical passages like “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” [from Paul] — I never really followed much of the stor y lines, until I inherited my old maid aunt’s modern language translation. SEE WINDHAM | 9B
Attorneys on both sides of the aisle in Earnie Stokes’ murder case agree on one thing: The Attorney General’s office should butt out. But that’s not likely to happen. Attorney General Troy King’s office took over prosecution of the case from the Bibb County District Attorney’s office on Wednesday, drawing the ire of the former prosecutors and Stokes’ attorneys.
“It is extremely strange that this happened,” said Assistant District Attorney John Waddell. “If I was a citizen of Bibb County, I would want to know why my elected official wasn’t handling it. We were ready to go and had everything ready for trial. There was absolutely no reason for this at all.” Some family members of Syble Stokes, who was found dead in the couple’s Bibb County home in September 2005, asked that the case be turned over to King’s office.
Neither the attorney general’s spokesman Chris Bence nor Syble Stokes’ sister Sherry Vick would give a reason for the request. “We’re pleased that the attorney general has taken over the case,” Vick said. “We believe it’s good for everyone involved. Our family will continue to look up and be determined for all fairness in this trial to take place. This has been and still is a very difficult and very personal time for our family, and I believe we will pull together and be strong
all the way through this.” John Fisher and Bryan Winter, Stokes’ attorneys, are frustrated that the case has changed hands, noting that they’ve already worked with four different assistant district attorneys on the case. They’re still waiting for evidence that District Judge William Owings ordered prosecutors to share in September, they said. “We’re going through the same [bail] hearings that we’ve already had,” Fisher said. SEE TRIAL | 9B
Earnie Stokes has been charged with killing his wife, Syble.
New way to give blood One dies
when car hits bus on I-85 By Bob Johnson
The Associated Press
STAFF PHOTO | MICHAEL E. PALMER
Rendie Miller prepares to collect platelets from Wesley Hurst, 18, at United Blood Services in Tuscaloosa on Thursday. He was the first in Tuscaloosa to use a new apheresis machine.
Blood Services steps up efficiency with blood-separating machine By Sarah Bruyn Jones Staff Writer
TUSCALOOSA | Wesley Hurst has been donating his O-positive blood for a year and a half. On Thursday, he tried something a little different — donating his platelets. Hurst, 18, was the first in Tuscaloosa to use United Blood Ser vices’ new apheresis machine, which separates whole blood into plasma, red blood cells and platelets. The machine divides a donor’s blood into the three components, taking what it wants and giving back what’s left. In Hurst’s case, the machine collected only platelets, returning the red blood cells and plasma back into the vein. “With the demand for blood growing and the decrease in donors, we’ve got to go to automation to best use our donors,” said Rendie Miller, a nurse and the donor services manager at the United Blood Services Tuscaloosa branch. United Blood Services is a nonprofit community blood center run by Blood Systems in Scottsdale, Ariz. Only a small number of platelets, which help blood to clot, are pres-
New technology allows blood banks to divide blood into plasma, red blood cells and platelets.
Average blood Plasma (55%) Red
blood cells blood cells ent in a typical blood donation. It White and platelets (55%) takes about five separate donations (less than 1%) of blood to yield as many platelets as a single apheresis donation. The need for platelets Enough platelets are collected in Blood platelets: Fragments of white one apheresis donation to help one blood cells produced in bone marrow that the body uses for clotting and or even two hospital patients. Apheresis has been around for maintaining healthy blood circulation. Damaged several decades and available at blood other blood collection sites such as vessel the American Red Cross in Birm2 ingham, but this is the first time it Fibrin has been used in Tuscaloosa. “By having [the platelets] made closer, it will increase the shelf life. 3 It is a low shelf life product,” said Brad Fisher, spokesman for DCH 1 Area Health System. Platelets are good Shown for seven days. “All of this is toward the ultimate goal about making Tuscaloosa more self-sufficient when it comes Red to blood and blood products,” blood Blood cells Fisher said. “We are currently a vessel debtor region when it comes to 1 Platelets move toward a tear or blood supply.” damage in a blood vessel and DCH receives its blood from adhere to it. United Blood Services and gets 2 Platelets release chemicals that platelets from Arizona. Platelets attract fibrin and also cause the collected in Tuscaloosa will be sent vessel to contract. to Meridian, Miss., for quality con3 Fibrin and platelets create a clot trol and then will be sent back to and seal the wound until the Tuscaloosa. vessel is healed. SEE BLOOD | 9B STAFF GRAPHIC | ANTHONY BRATINA
MONTGOMERY | A car going against traffic on an interstate collided headon with a Greyhound bus early Saturday, killing a 23-year-old woman and injuring 20 as frantic passengers were forced to exit through windows, police and witnesses said. The car was headed the wrong way on Interstate 85 at the time of the 3:05 a.m. crash, said police Lt. Mark Drinkard. The bus was headed toward Columbus, Ga., and then to Atlanta. The driver of “People were the car, identified as Heather Marie screaming. Thomas, 23, of was They were Montgomery, killed and 20 peohanding ple were taken to hospitals for treatbabies ment, Drinkard said. out the Maj. David windows.” Warren, weekend duty chief for Clint Cannon, M o n t g o m e r y witness Police, said officers were investigating to determine why the woman was on the wrong side of the interstate. He said it was not known if alcohol was involved. The car, a 1990s-model Chevrolet Lumina, was headed southbound in the northbound lane, Drinkard said. Passengers said the bus driver did all he could to try to avoid the oncoming car. “When the bus would turn right, the car would turn right. When the bus would turn left, the car would turn left,” said Clint Cannon, a construction worker from Asheville, N.C., who was awake when the crash occurred as he was returning from a job in New Orleans. He said panic erupted in the bus after the car crashed into the bus door, blocking passengers from getting out through it. The car was smoking, he said, and there was fear it might explode into flames, setting the bus afire. “People were screaming. They were handing babies out the windows,” he said. “It was a frenzy. There were people screaming, ‘Calm down!’ There were people trying to push each other out of the windows, They thought the bus was going to explode.” SEE WRECK | 9B
A House Divided Paintings of the Civil War Featuring Significant works by Gilbert Gaul and Julian Scott Special Exhibit Now On View Hours:Tues.-Fri. 12-5; Sat. 10-5; Sun. 1-5. Call for tours.
WESTERVELT WARNER MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART 8316 Mountbatten Batten Road | Tuscaloosa, AL | 205.343.4540
PAINTINGS OF THE CIVIL WAR
ibit Special Exh
"A House Divided": Leading American artists of the mid 19th Century are showcased in this unique exhibit of paintings from the Westervelt Warner Museum and Birmingham Museum of Art. These important works depict both Union and Confederate civil war viewpoints.