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Remembered
About 600 mourners pay last respects to Joyce Sellers
W. ALA. | 1B
Your guide to Tuscaloosa’s city, county and private schools
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Militants take two Turks hostage Beheadings of men threatened in 48 hours By Paul Gar wood The Associated Press
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
James Barney Hubbard, 74, is scheduled to be executed Thursday in Alabama’s lethal-injection chamber at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. Hubbard has been on death row for 26 years, two months.
TOO OLD TO DIE? By Anna Maria Della Costa Assistant City Editor
James Barney Hubbard is scheduled to die on Thursday.
James Barney Hubbard pops six pain pills a day. He takes two more for a stomach condition and six for high blood pressure. The 74-year-old has Hepatitis A, B and C, emphysema, arthritis and dementia with possible early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Doctors also have told him he has prostate cancer. He’s frail, has a tremor and lost considerable weight because
he can’t keep food down. Those are the least of his worries. He’s scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday for the 1977 slaying of a Tuscaloosa woman. His lawyers believe Hubbard, who has been on Alabama’s death row for 26 years and two months for the murder of Lillian Montgomery, is too old and too sick to be executed. Alabama Attorney General Troy King says it’s about time. SEE HUBBARD | 4A
Capital Punishment Procedure 50 cc Sodium Pentothal*
1 This is a yellow, water-soluable crystal that depresses the central nervous system, slowing the heart rate and lowering the blood pressure. Also used as an anesthetic during surgery, it is injected into the person to produce rapid unconsciousness.
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By Anna Maria Della Costa Assistant City Editor
With Alabama’s fifth lethal injection execution scheduled for Thursday, the debate on whether it is the most humane way to carry out capital punishment is re-emerging. What makes the debate especially charged this time, though, is that James Barney Hubbard, his attorneys say, is too old and frail to undergo such “cruel and unusual punishment.” Hubbard’s feeble state may make it dif-
Coming Thursday
VOL. 186 | NO. 214 9 Sections
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60 cc Saline
50 cc Pancuronium bromide or Pavulon
By John Curran
Drug paralyzes the patient to prevent them from moving. Stops breathing, lungs. The person will not be able to move, although he/she can hear. During the 60 cc Saline 2002 regular session, the 5 Alabama Legislature passed and former Gov. This cleans out the IV line. Don Siegelman signed into law Senate Bill 240, 60 cc Potassium chloride which required the Department of Corrections 6 to provide for execution by means of lethal injection. Drug stops the heart. There have been four executions by lethal 60 cc Saline injection in the state since 7 that bill was signed. Keith Johnson became the first inmate executed by lethal This cleans out the IV line. injection. The procedure began at *30cc = 1 ounce 6 p.m., and the 46-year-old was Source: Department of Corrections pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m.
The Associated Press
James Barney Hubbard’s execution is set. We’ll take a look at his final appeals and pleas of innocence and talk to the Montgomery family as they hope to finally get justice for the 1977 murder of Lillian Montgomery.
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ficult for executioners to find a vein, the chief reason executions are botched or go awry. “If he’s as sick as they’re saying he is and he can’t keep food down, yes, it will be difficult to find a vein,” said toxicologist John Fisher, who is also the director of Tuscaloosa’s Poison Control Center. “It’s not terrible, but if he’s dehydrated, it could be a problem, too. Although, they can take care of dehydration pretty quickly.” Hubbard’s execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Holman Correctional SEE INJECTION | 4A
Oddball talent show nixed from competition
This cleans out the IV line.
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Lethal injection may not be as humane as believed
MISS AMERICA
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STAFF GRAPHIC | ANTHONY BRATINA
Attorneys say J.B. Hubbard too frail to endure lethal-injection execution
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BAGHDAD, IRAQ | Iraqi militants said Saturday they kidnapped two Turks and threatened to behead them within 48 hours, the latest in the country’s unrelenting wave of abductions, even as efforts intensified to free seven truck drivers taken captive by other insurgents. The Tawhid and Jihad group of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi demanded the Turks’ employers leave Iraq in a videotape aired on Al-Jazeera television, which showed three masked, black-garbed gunmen standing behind two seated men holding various forms of identification, including what apparently were Turkish passports. Al-Jazeera identified the men as two Turkish truck drivers working for a Turkish company delivering goods to U.S. forces in Iraq. The network said the militants threatened to decapitate the SEE IRAQ | 14A
Cleaning house In 2002, Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive announced a five-year goal of having a probation-free conference. He’s already conceded one year of what many consider to be an unrealistic pursuit. See story on Page 1C.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. | One aspiring Miss America took her trained pigeons up on stage. But when a stage light blew, according to pageant lore, the surprised birds flew off stage, raining droppings on the audience. Miss Cincinnati 1943 Joan Hyldoft planned to ice skate, but her rink melted and she had to make do with just her skates, executing Miss Florida jumps and axels on a Ericka bare floor. Miss Mon- Dunlap sings tana 1949 Carol Fraser during the rode a palomino horse talent comonto the Convention petition at Center stage — and the Miss the horse stumbled America and nearly fell into the Competition in 2003. orchestra pit. For decades, half the fun of Miss America was watching jitter y equestrians, trampoline jumpers SEE TALENT | 14A
GENERATION OF CHANGE Now grown up, baby boomers have reunited to remember 40 years of history and change. Page 1E
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