Today, people across the nation and world will stop to remember the thousands who died on 9/11, marking 10 years since the worst terror attack on U.S. soil.
Memorials mark 9/11 anniversary Nation gathers to mourn victims
Dad: ‘Mike’ Spann wanted to change the world. | 6A
Security Law enforcement heightened training, precautions | 8A
Religion Local Muslims find acceptance, some rejection | 11A
By Adam Geller The Associated Press
NEW YORK en years on, Americans come together Sunday where the World Trade Center soared, where the Pentagon stands as a fortress once breached, where United Airlines Flight 93 knifed into the earth. They will gather to pray in cathedrals in our greatest cities and to lay roses before fi re stations in our smallest towns, to remember in countless ways the anniversary of the most devastating terrorist attacks since the nation’s founding, and in the process, mark the milestone as history itself. As in earlier observances, bells will toll again to mourn the loss of those killed in the attacks. Americans will lay eyes on new memorials in lower Manhattan, rural Pennsylvania and elsewhere, concrete symbols of the resolve to remember and rebuild. But much of the weight of this year’s ceremonies lies in what will largely go unspoken — the anniversary’s role in prompting Americans to consider how the attacks changed them and the larger world and the continuing struggle to understand 9/11’s place in the lore of the nation. “A lot’s going on in the background,” said Ken Foote, author of “Shadowed Ground: America’s Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy,” examining the role that veneration of sites of death and disaster plays in modern life. “These anniversaries are particularly critical in figuring out what story to tell, in figuring out what this all means. “It forces people to fi gure out what happened to us,” he said. On Saturday in rural western SEE 10 YEARS | 6A
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Pop culture still grapples with 9/11 a decade later | 1E
Special section PHOTOS | (ABOVE) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS; (TOP) THE NEW YORK TIMES
ABOVE: From left, the Revs. Patrick J. Mahoney, Rob Schenk, Leon Ferguson and Timothy Mercaldo lead a prayer and song near the PATH Station at the World Trade Center site during a public ceremony as officials prepare for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York on Saturday. TOP: Firefighters grieve for their colleagues following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. When the towers fell, 343 firefighters and paramedics who responded were killed.
Local residents answered the call to help By Jason Morton Staff Writer
T USCALOOSA hile the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, thousands of people from across the country joined in the effort to help the country rebuild. After watching the planes hit the buildings, Tuscaloosa residents Skip Baumhower and Tim Martin loaded up a truckload of supplies and drove to New York City. The two longtime friends and members of the Presbyterian Church, said they realized the decision was rash, but believed it was influenced by grace. “It was like, simultaneously, we had this thought: If there was anything we could do to help, we wanted to go for it,” said Baumhower, a local photographer. “Usually, when you’re prompted
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that way, you can talk yourself out of it 3 seconds later.” Baumhower and Martin, the director of pharmacy at DCH Regional Medical Center, reached out to Skyye Womack, a photographer friend in Birmingham, and the three men hit the road headed for Manhattan. It took them 24 hours to gather resources and supplies. With the aid of Annette Shelby, wife of U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, they obtained a letter from the state’s Emergency Management Agency that attested to their validity as Americans who posed no security threat. That letter gained them passage through a roadblock at the Brooklyn Bridge and into the wreckage of the World Trade Center. Baumhower and Martin recalled walking to the edge of a railing that overlooked the devastation. Firefighters, police officers and other vol-
unteers were sifting through the rubble by hand and removing the debris in 5-gallon buckets. “Everything, at that point, was by hand,” Martin said. The men separated and took positions along different bucket brigades. Occasionally, a shout would rise from the crowd and the groups of volunteers would scatter — a “bug out,” they called it — when a large, plate glass window in a nearby building, shaken loose by the explosions, would come free and fall to the ground. They worked until they were exhausted that day, and for the seven more days they stayed in the city to perform similar tasks. In that time, they saw grown men give way to their emotions and consoled emergency workers overcome by the enormity and gravity of their work. Now, 10 years later, Martin and SEE H ELPING | 8A
Memories of 9/11 from local residents, victims’ families and government officials. Section I Tuscaloosa memorial What: “Remembrance & Reflection: The 10th anniversary of 9/11” ceremony Where: Tuscaloosa Amphitheater When: 6 tonight Admission: free and open to the public Details: Ceremony will include a tribute to victims, a presentation of colors by honor guards, performances by the Stillman College Choir, the Alabama Choir School and the Emerald Society.
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ECONOMIC IMPACT Tuscaloosa auto dealer gives up Lincoln Mercury franchise; will continue Volvo operation. | 1B
UA BASKETBALL Injuries force Tide point guard Ronald Steele to leave team. | 1C
SPORTING AN APRON Former NFL running back opens AfricanFrench fusion restaurant in New York. | 1D
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SECRET HERO No one knew this UA graduate was in the CIA. No one knew he died serving the United States. 40 years later, he will get the honor he is due.
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U.S. AIR FORCE
Jack Weeks, shown in his pressure suit after returning from a high-level surveillance mission, died on his A-12 aircraft’s last operational flight in 1968. The A-12 aircraft that Jack Weeks flew was similar to the better known SR-71, pictured. It could fly at three times the speed of sound.
Teenagers at Work
By Robert DeWitt Staff Writer
MOBILE | Jack Weeks, University of Alabama graduate and Birmingham native, died in service to his country. Reports from his most famous mission wound up on the president’s desk during one of the flashpoints of the Cold War. His widow accepted his medal for valor shortly after his death. But for 40 years, nobody knew what he’d done. Only his wife knew he was a hero. “It was only hard in that I was so proud of him,” said Weeks’ widow, Sharlene Weeks, of her 40 years of silence. “To have been able to talk about that would have helped me through my grieving process. I couldn’t and I knew I couldn’t. I couldn’t even tell my children. I couldn’t tell his mother and father. They died without ever knowing what Jack did.” Weeks was a pilot in the Central Intelligence Agency flying the super-secret A-12 SEE CIA | 17A
Survivalists prep amid energy fears
CONCERT FOR THE CURE
The percentage of 16- to 19-year-olds with jobs is at its lowest since 1948, when the government first started tracking the statistic.
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By Samantha Gross The Associated Press 40
BUSKIRK, N.Y. | A few years ago, Kathleen Breault was just another suburban grandma, driving countless hours every week, stopping for lunch at McDonald’s, buying clothes at the mall, watching TV in the evenings. That was before Breault heard an author talk about the bleak future of the world’s oil supply. Now, she’s preparing for the world as we know it to disappear. Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown foods near her upstate New York home and lost 70 pounds. She sliced up her credit cards, banished her
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Summer jobs scarce for teens this year
television and swore off plane travel. She began relying on a wood-burning stove. “I was panic-stricken,” the 50-year-old recalled, her voice shaking. “Devastated. Depressed. Afraid. Vulnerable. Weak. Alone. Just terrible.” Convinced the planet’s oil supply is dwindling and the world’s economies are heading for a crash, some people around the country are moving onto homesteads, learning to live off their land, conserving fuel and, in some cases, stocking up on guns they expect to use to defend themselves and their supplies from desperate crowds of people who didn’t prepare. The exact number of people SEE GREEN | 19A
By Peter S. Goodman N.Y. Times News Ser vice
TULSA, OKLA. | School is out, and Aaron Stallings, his junior year of high school behind him, wanders the air-conditioned cocoon of the Woodland Hills Mall in search of a job. Stallings, 18, says he has been looking for three months, burning gasoline to get to the mall, then filling out applications at stores selling skateboard T-shir ts, beach sandals and baseball caps. He likes the idea of working amid the goods he covets. But so far, no offers. “I’m going to go to Iraq and get a job,” he says acidly. “I hear they’ve got cheap gas.” He grins. “I’m just playing. But I’ve been all over, and nobody’s hiring. They just say, ‘We’ll call you tomorrow.’ And no one ever calls back.” As the forces of economic downturn ripple widely across the United States, the job market of 2008 is shaping up as the weakest in more than half a century for teenagers looking for summer work, according to labor economists, government data and companies that hire young people. This deterioration is jeopardizing what many experts consider a crucial beginning stage SEE TEENS | 19A
STAFF PHOTOS | DAN LOPEZ
Cody Collins, lead singer of the band Lonestar, performs during the Concert for the Cure to benefit breast cancer research at Sokol Park in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.
Festival’s turnout dismal With only about 100 concert-goers showing up Saturday, promoters are hoping Clint Black boosts numbers today By Jamon Smith Staff Writer
TUSCALOOSA | Promoters expected a large audience at the “Concert for the Cure” country music festival at Munny Sokol Park Saturday afternoon. But due to overcast skies and hot weather, only about 100 of the between 9,000 and 15,000 people expected to attend the concert, showed up, at least for the early acts. Despite the daunting results of Saturday’s turnout, the concert’s promoters are optimistic that the two-day event will do better today with headliner Clint Black and possibly do well enough for an annual event in Tuscaloosa. “Tomorrow we should get more people,” said Earnest Graham, operations director for the Walter Jones Foundation, which is sponsoring the concert. “Tuscaloosa has not been known to have events of this magnitude,” Graham said. “So we’re looking to make it an annual event.” Graham said the concert, which will continue even if it rains, was a vision of Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Walter Jones. Jones, a native of Aliceville, put on the concert to raise SEE CONCERT | 19A
CONCERT FOR THE CURE What: Country music festival to support breast cancer research and the Walter Jones Foundation When: Today, 4-9 p.m. Headliner: Clint Black performs at 7:30 p.m. Where: Munny Sokol Park’s multipurpose outdoor arena. Open seating; Take blankets or lawn chairs. Cost: Tickets are $50 at the gate; $25 for military, $10 for children ages 5 - 10; free for children younger than 5.
THE ASSOCATED PRESS
Peter Laskowski stacks firewood at his remote home in Waitsfield, Vt., on April 11. Fearing a crisis, people around the country are learning to live off their land. They are conserving fuel and stocking up on guns to defend themselves and their supplies.
ALABAMA BASEBALL Grand slam in eighth inning lifts LSU past Tide at SEC Tournament 1C
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ON THE WEB Visit www.tuscaloosa news.com to see video of the concert and to answer our poll: Is Sokol Park a good place for concerts?
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Rescue workers: Death toll seems low
OBAMA: ‘I’VE NEVER SEEN DESTRUCTION LIKE THIS’
Aid efforts include feeding displaced
By Wayne Grayson Staff Writer
By Brian Reynolds and Cor y Pennington
TUSCALOOSA | With the number of confirmed deaths now at 39 and hundreds more unaccounted for, the Wednesday tornado that ripped some of the city’s busiest areas apart is already the deadliest in Tuscaloosa County history. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said Friday that the actual number of deaths should not rise much higher, but from where Gerald Ramsey stands, 39 seems like a conservative number. “When I was out on Cumberland Road, there was one house we pulled four people out from under and only one survived,” said Ramsey, a volunteer from Birmingham conducting search and rescue around the city. “One hundred yards away from that there was one more found dead, and then next door to that there were two more found dead. In LaRocca Nursing Home in Alberta, they found several dead. “So when you’re on the ground and see that and then hear of several more accounts of people being found dead — three there, two here, four there — you just wonder how many more ... there have to be.” Bobbie Banks, an emergency medical technician for Northstar Ambulance Service working search SEE DEATHS | 4A
Staff Writers
TUSCALOOSA | On the north side of 15th Street, residents of the Cedar Crest community continued to pick through the rubble, sorting through what remained of their belongings. On the south side of the road, volunteers flipped burgers and passed out water to first responders and displaced residents as part of a massive volunteer effort by the city and individual residents in Tuscaloosa. “We went and bought about $700 worth of groceries and came out here and it’s been kind of a fishes and loaves story,” said Tim Clements, a member of the Sons of Thunder ministry. “The Hardee’s … lost their power so they brought all their food out and we cooked it. Chipotle, Five Guys, Longhorn, Schlotzsky’s have all brought their food here.” The group initially began cooking at St. Matthias Episcopal Church on Skyland Boulevard, the city’s staging area for volunteers, where former University of Alabama football coach Gene Stallings offered his help. Stallings and the group then headed to the abandoned Hardee’s parking lot near the intersection of McFarland Boulevard and 15th Street where SEE AID | 8A
STAFF PHOTOS | DUSTY COMPTON
During his tour of Tuscaloosa on Friday, President Barack Obama consoles Principal Debbie Crawford at Holt Elementary School, which is being used as a temporary relief center for misplaced residents. President Obama, Gov. Robert Bentley, Mayor Walt Maddox, and Sens. Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby were among a group of local and national dignitaries on the visit.
By Jason Morton
More than 30,000 in city still without electricity. | 6B
SCHOOLS ■ City schools: Closed Monday; reopen date uncertain. | 6B ■ County schools: No announcement made on closings, but 10 schools have no power. | 6B ■ Damaged schools: Plans being made to bus students to different schools. | 6B
WANT TO HELP? ■ List of where to drop off aid, shelters. | 2A
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TUSCALOOSA s resident Barack Obama ar59 rived in Tuscaloosa on Friday 20 82 5 miles les le to walk among the rubble of 69 some of the areas hardest hit by STAFF GRAPHIC | ANTHONY BRATINA Wednesday afternoon’s deadly tornado. He, along with first lady Michelle Obama, visited Holt Elementar y School, which has become a relief center and aid station. They shook hands with displaced residents trying to salvage what they could from their wrecked homes in Alberta. And the president promised that Tuscaloosa and all of the state of Alabama will get the aid it needs to rebuild. “I want to make the commitment to the communities here that we’ll do everything we can to help these communities out,” the president said from a small clearing among the piles of debris on 25th Avenue East in Alberta. “What you’re seeing here is the consequence of just a few minutes, (but) our biggest priority is helping this community with comfort.” Obama declared a state of emergency for all of Alabama on Wednesday and on Thursday authorized disaster relief funds for eight counties in Alabama, including Tuscaloosa County. He also made the disaster relief retroactive to the April 15 tornado that damaged the city and county, thereby allowing disaster aid to begin flowing in to offset or reimburse First lady Michelle Obama hugs Ellery Schnell, 20, as Derek Johns, the costs incurred from that storm. 19, left, looks on in Tuscaloosa on Friday. Schnell was in her home SEE OBAMA | 5A when it was destroyed in Wednesday’s tornado.
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President tours damage and vows aid, resources to rebuild city, state
Mayor: Up to 20,000 impacted By Jason Morton Staff Writer
TUSCALOOSA | The deadly tornado that struck here Wednesday afternoon cut a 5.9-mile path of destruction across the city, officials have determined. Mayor Walt Maddox said the gash stretched between 1 mile to 1.5 miles, and carried with it the potential to directly affect almost 20,000 people. “It’s amazing anyone sur vived this,” Maddox said. The confirmed death toll in Tuscaloosa as a result of the twister is 39, with 31 of those occurring in the city and eight within the police jurisdiction. Another 990 are injured. The list of missing persons has grown to 454, but like the previously reported death toll of 45, Maddox believes the number is inflated by duplications and people failing to notify authorities after missing friends or family are found. “I wish I could tell you I know (for sure), but our call and dispatch center is at full capacity,” Maddox said. “But this number gives you a sense of what’s at stake.” The city will make a decision on extending the curfew after this morning’s logistical meeting, but Maddox expects it to be extended through the weekend. The water towers at the VA Medical Center and Crescent Ridge Road SEE RESPONSE | 4A
VOLUNTEER, DONATE ■ To sign up to be part of the coordinated volunteer effort, call 205-248-5045. ■ For information on the United Way’s volunteer effort, call 211. ■ To offer free debris removal from private property, call 205248-5800. ■ To donate to the cleanup effort, call 205-758-7588.
Have you volunteered to help during the tornado cleanup effort? Vote at www.tuscaloosanews.com.
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Globe to have final curtain call
Industry training to extend statewide By Patrick Rupinski Staff Writer
VANCE | For the past nine weeks, top managers of Mercedes’ automotive suppliers have spent their Fridays at Mercedes’ training center studying the SUV maker’s production operations. They gleaned information on how to improve their manufacturing facilities and shared their experiences in an effort to help each other. On Friday, Gov. Bob Riley told the managers that the training they went through soon will be made available to businesses and industries across the state under a new program. “This is the prototype. We are going to try it in the next few months and try to build on it,” he said. SEE TRAIN | 7A
OTHER STATE ISSUES On Friday, Gov. Riley also addressed health care if Bryce being sold, the PACT program, gaming, a sales tax on food and stimulus money. | 1B
STAFF FILE PHOTO
Will you miss The Globe? Vote at www.tuscaloosanews.com.
A 30 percent to 40 percent drop in business is forcing chef and owner Jeff Wilson to close The Globe restaurant, shown in 2003, on April 11.
Restaurant set to close doors next weekend
STAFF PHOTO | DAN LOPEZ
Gov. Bob Riley, left, and Bill Taylor, president and CEO of MBUSI, talk at the Mercedes-Benz Supplier Training session at the Mercedes plant in Vance on Friday.
By Mark Hughes Cobb
Shelton State 10-year plan focuses on growth
Staff Writer
NORTHPORT he Globe Restaurant, which helped spark Northport’s downtown renaissance and ushered in a new era of fine dining in West Alabama, will close its doors April 11 after more than 17 years. Chef and owner Jeff Wilson made the decision two months after telling The Tuscaloosa News about rumors he would close. Wilson said at the time that he planned to do everything in his power to keep it open, despite a 30 percent to 40 percent drop in business over previous years. “But I’ve told [patrons] that it’s really not up to me, it’s up to you guys. If you don’t come in ... .,” he said. Although clearly distraught on Friday, Wilson is trying to look on the bright side. “A Shakespearean-themed restaurant in SEE GLOBE | 7A
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By Adam Jones Staff Writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO | DAN LOPEZ
What’s next for Globe chef and owner Jeff Wilson? He says he is considering going back to school or working at another restaurant. He says he might even re-open the restaurant in downtown Tuscaloosa after the economy bounces back.
“A Shakespearean-themed restaurant in Northport. People said it wouldn’t last a week.” Globe owner and chef Jeff Wilson
Officials work to identify N.Y. shooter By William Kates The Associated Press
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. | The community center was filled with people from countries as far off as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, all working to become more a part of their new home — learning English, taking a class to gain U.S. citizenship. The gunman may have walked a similar path to become an American decades ago. He parked his car against the back door, stormed through the front and shot two receptionists, apparently without saying a word. Then he fired on a citizenship class while terrified people, their only escape SEE SHOOTING | 7A
Shelton State President Mark Heinrich says the school’s growth plan includes e-learning and more grants.
TUSCALOOSA | Now that Shelton State Community College has a plan for the next decade, the real work is just beginning, President Mark Heinrich said. The plan for the school will not be shelved, only to be dusted off a few times, he told a crowd gathered Friday to celebrate the college’s 30th year as a community college. It will be a process to measure if goals are being achieved, and it will hold college leaders accountable to the vision of the strategic plan. “There is absolutely nothing that should stop the progress that has been made on this campus,” Heinrich said. Faculty and staff who put together the strategic plan formally presented it to the college Friday in the final event of the school’s three-day celebration. SEE SHELTON | 7A
GYMNASTICS See what goes into achieving a perfect score. | 1C
)WPOCP MKNNU JKOUGNH CHVGT TCORCIG Around 10 a.m. Friday, a gunman opened fire on a citizenship class in Binghamton, N.Y. Fourteen people were killed, including the shooter.
1. Gunman parks car, blocking rear entrance.
RELIGION Female leaders gather to highlight women who serve in the ministry. | 1D INSIDE: VOL. 191 NO. 94 | 5 Sections
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2. Gunman enters building. 3. Shoots two receptionists.
4. One pretends to be dead, then crawls under desk, calls 911; she is the only survivor to see gunman; other receptionist dies.
5. Gunman enters other room and continues shooting.
6. Twenty six people escape to basement.
7. Gunman is heard shooting near back of building.
8. Police arrive within 2 minutes of 911 call.
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Supporters: Partlow’s closing helps clients
Plan for Partlow buildings still evolving By L ydia Seabol Avant Staff Writer
TUSCALOOSA | The Alabama Department of Mental Health doesn’t yet have a precise plan for the 23 buildings on the property of W.D. Partlow Developmental Center, which is slated to close in September. A new Bryce Hospital is planned for the 141-acre Partlow campus on University Boulevard. The buildings at Partlow will almost all be used in some way for the new psychiatric hospital, said John Ziegler, spokesman for the mental health department. “We expect that most, if not all, of the existing buildings will have utility for the future,” Ziegler said. The department announced plans for Partlow’s closure March 4. Partlow, SEE PLAN | 8A
By Jason Morton Staff Writer
RENDERING PROVIDED BY SHERLOCK SMITH & ADAMS
An architectural rendering shows the plan for the new Bryce psychiatric facility, which is expected to be operational by May 2013. The facility will feature interconnecting buildings and the original Partlow administration building.
TUSCALOOSA | When the Alabama Department of Mental Health closed three state institutions for people with developmental disabilities in 2003, almost every client, relative and guardian was pleased with the quality of community-based health care, officials say. Similarly, the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, which monitored those clients after they left the institutions, saw fewer than 10 percent return to institutionalized care, said James Tucker, the program’s associate director.
Those who support closing the W.D. Partlow Developmental Center, the last state institution for people with intellectual disabilities, say moving the clients to community-based treatment centers will benefit the clients and their families. “Nobody is going to say it’s perfect,” Tucker said, “but it’s a far better quality of life for the people when they’re living in the community.” The Alabama Department of Mental Health announced March 4 that it will close Partlow by Sept. 30. Ten of the facility’s 151 patients with severe disabilities will remain on the campus after Partlow closes, and will be cared SEE PARTLOW | 8A
NUCLEAR MELTDOWN THREATENS JAPAN
PHOTOS | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEFT: The Fukushima Daiichi power plant’s damaged Unit 1 is seen after an explosion in Okumamachi, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on Saturday. The explosion at the nuclear power station destroyed the building housing the reactor. CENTER: Police officers wearing gas masks patrol in the area of the Fukushima power plant’s Unit 1 on Saturday. RIGHT: Residents sleep in a community center after being evacuated from areas surrounding the nuclear facilities on Saturday.
Number of missing, dead more than 1,800
2nd reactor likely heading toward partial meltdown
By Barbara Demick, Laura King and Mark Magnier
The Associated Press
Los Angeles Times
IWAKI, JAPAN | A partial meltdown was likely under way at a second nuclear reactor, a top Japanese official said Sunday, as operators frantically tried to prevent a similar threat from a nearby unit at the same facility following a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami the day before. Some 170,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the area covering a radius of 12 miles around the plant in Fukushima near Iwaki. A meltdown refers to a very serious collapse of a power plant’s systems and its ability to manage temperatures. A complete meltdown would release uranium and dangerous byproducts into the environment that can pose serious health risks. SEE NUCLEAR | 8A
By Eric Talmadge and Yuri Kageyama
TOKYO | The number of missing and feared dead in Japan’s epic earthquake soared to more than 1,800 by early Sunday as a reeling nation struggled to contain an unprecedented nuclear crisis, pluck people in tsunamiinundated areas to safety, quell raging blazes and provide succor to hundreds of thousands of frightened people left homeless and dazed. As the second full post-quake day dawned Sunday, authorities said about 400,000 people had been forced to flee the quake’s giant swath of destruction — more than a quarter of them refugees from the area surrounding the Fukushima nuclear plant, 150 miles SEE QUAKE | 9A Minamisanriku is submerged after Friday’s strong tsunami in Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, on Saturday,
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Two bodies found in Vance trailer By Stephanie Taylor Staff Writer
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VANCE | A man and a woman were Tuscaloosa County discovered dead in a Vance mobile Mercedes-Benz home Wednesday morning after the 59 Exit 89 20 woman failed to show up for work, Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide officials said. Vance The identities of the two victims 11 have not been released, nor has any information about how they were Bodies ir W killed. Authorities have said, how- found N ever, that the deaths are being investigated as homicides. “Looks more like a double murder,” Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide commander Loyd Baker said at the scene Wednesday morning. He said possible motives for the killings were still unclear. The couple lived together and were dating, he said. Some investigators were gathering evidence at the mobile home on Hi Road of U.S. Highway 11 in Vance around noon Wednesday. Others were tracking down and interviewing SEE BODIES | 6A
STAFF PHOTO | DAN LOPEZ
William Gandy, a retired mineworker, has been selling Christmas trees at his Vance farm since 2004.
THE ART OF GROWING TREES
ALABAMA GOLF Michael Thompson is thriving at UA after Hurricane Katrina eliminated the Tulane golf team. | 1C SCHOOL BUS CRASH Community prepares for funerals; survivors’ relatives give thanks. | 1B HOW TO REACH US: 205-345-0505
VOL. 188 | NO. 327 | 6 Sections
INSIDE Business 5B Classifieds 1E Comics 6D Crossword 5E Dear Abby 2D Horoscopes 2D Movies 3D
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VANCE illy Gandy zips up his coat and shrugs his shoulders against a stiff, cold breeze. “Cold is the best thing for selling Christmas trees,” he says. “People don’t associate Christmas trees with 90-degree weather.” Gandy hopes the nippy weather will stimulate sales, since he has about 500 Leland cypress, Murry-X and Arizona Cypress trees awaiting his saw. His five-acre plot contains 2,500 trees, one-fifth of them ready for sale each year once they turn five years old. This year, Gandy practically owns the local market as the only Christmas tree grower cutting his own trees in Tuscaloosa County.
Open: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 1-5 p.m. today and Sundays
Ro ck
Staff Writer
Grower Wayne Murphy owns a Christmas tree lot on his Bear Creek Road farm, but is selling shipped-in Frasier firs, since his own crop won’t be ready until next year. Murphy will also have another tree farm at Preacher Lee Road and Alabama Highway 171 ready in 2010. “We used to have 25 or 30 growers,” says Tuscaloosa County Extension Coordinator Wayne Ford. “They found out it was a lot harder to grow Christmas trees than they thought.” For Gandy, it’s a year round process that starts with putting out about 500 trees around Christmas. “I think a lot of people got into it thinking they were going to make a fortune,” he says. “That didn’t happen. If I told you I wasn’t making money, I’d be telling a lie, but I’m not getting rich at it.” SEE TREES | 6A
Bama
By Robert DeWitt
GANDY TREE FARM
d.
It’s a yearlong effort to run a Christmas tree farm
Shula decision will come after holiday
STAFF GRAPHIC | ANTHONY BRATINA
Travel surge expected for holiday
TUSCALOOSA | Will Mike Shula continue as the University of Alabama’s football coach? That subject of much speculation won’t be resolved until after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, university officials said Wednesday. Alabama athletic director Mal Moore released a statement Wednesday afternoon stressing that the review of the football program is continuing — without mentioning Shula’s name in the five-sentence statement. “As is customary at the end of the regular season, we are evaluating our football program,” Moore said in the statement. “We are evaluating every aspect of our program and this is not a process that I wish to discuss at length in a public forum. “We are bowl-eligible and we hope to remain positioned to play in a bowl game. We remain firm in our commitment to our student-athletes. I am proud of their efforts throughout this season and we are more determined than ever to return Alabama football to its rightful place among college SEE SHULA | 6A
By Kristen de Groot The Associated Press
Long lines formed at airports well before daybreak Wednesday, but the annual dash home for Thanksgiving started smoothly despite predictions that more travelers would take to the roads, skies and rails this year than last. Nationwide, an estimated 38.3 million people will travel 50 miles or more for Thanksgiving, according to AAA. The estimate is up by a million from last year. Moderating gas prices may be one reason for the increase, said the automobile association’s Robert Sinclair. Since peaking above $3 per gallon in early August, gasoline pump prices have dropped by around 80 cents per gallon nationwide in the past three months. Wednesday’s nationwide average gas price was $2.23 a gallon, according to the automobile association. Thanksgiving air travel was expected to surge, too. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey anticipated 1.6 million passengers — about 2 percent more than last year — would pass through THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy International and Newark Liberty International Cameron Smith, 2, of Scottsdale, Ariz., rides the lugairports. gage cart pushed by her mother, Meryl, on Wednesday SEE TRAVEL | 6A at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Official: More Marines may be needed for war By Lolita C. Baldor The Associated Press
WASHINGTON | The Marine Corps may need to increase in size to sustain deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan without sacrificing needed training or putting undue stress on the corps, the new Marine commandant said Wednesday. At a breakfast meeting with reporters, Gen. James Conway also warned that it could take years to adequately train and equip the Iraqi security forces — longer, perhaps, “than the timeline that we probably feel ... our country will support.” “This is tough work, it doesn’t happen overnight,” and patience by the American people will be needed, he said. On the plus side, he said Marines he’s talked to in recent days are encouraged by the progress they are seeing among Iraqi forces. Conway said the current pace of Marine rotations to Iraq — seven months there and seven-to-nine months at home — is limiting other types of training that units can receive and could eventually prompt Marines to leave the service. SEE MARINES | 6A
GARDENING: WHERE TO START IN RESTORING A TORNADO-RAVAGED YARD | 1E
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Windham’s son recalls his late mom, memories from his childhood
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Afghan leader confirms U.S. talks
On the road again When the tornado ruined the city’s garbage truck fleet, mechanics did some creative patchwork to restore services
By Jon Gambrell and Ahmad Massieh Neshat The Associated Press
K ABUL, A FGHANISTAN | President Hamid Karzai acknowledged Saturday that the U.S. and Afghan governments have held talks with Taliban emissaries in a bid to end the nation’s nearly 10-year war, even as suicide attackers launched a bold assault in the heart of the county’s capital, killing nine people. The attack, which occurred just blocks from Karzai’s office, shows the parties have a long way to go to reach a political settlement as the Obama administration weighs a major withdrawal of its forces. The White House neither directly confirmed or denied Karzai’s statement. Three men wearing camouf lage fatigues that are fre quently worn by A fghan soldiers stormed a police station near the presidential palace, with one of them detonating an explosives vest just outside the gates as two others rushed inside and began fi ring, an Inter ior Minist r y st atement said. T he crackle of gunf ire echoed through the usually bustling streets for about two hours before security forces killed the two remaining attackers. Insurgents killed three police officers, one intelligence agent and five civilians in the attack, according to the ministry statement. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message to The Associated Press. Attacks in the Afghan capital have been relatively rare, although violence has increased since the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden in a U.S. raid in Pakistan and the start of the Ta l iba n’s a n nua l spr i ng SEE TALKS | 6A
By Jamon Smith Staff Writer
STAFF PHOTO | MICHELLE LEPIANKA CARTER
Several city of Tuscaloosa trucks, like this garbage truck, sustained severe damage during the April 27 tornado. This garbage truck waits for repairs at the city shop on Tuesday.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TUSCALOOSA | The Tuscaloosa City Board of Education on Monday will begin interviewing the six candidates from across the nation for the position of superintendent of the Tuscaloosa City School System. The board will interview two candidates a day for two hours each on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 5 to 9:15 p.m. at the central office. The interviews are open to the public. On July 6 and 7, the board will conduct another round of interviews for the fi nal two candidates, after which the two fi nalists will participate in a community forum at Central High School. Those dates and times have not yet been announced. All six candidates have advanced diplomas in education, numerous awards and honors, diverse backgrounds and extensive experience in the field. Here is some background on each candidate.
By Jason Morton
Dexter Suggs Sr.
Staff Writer
Dexter Suggs Sr., the chief information officer and assistant superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools, has held several positions in K-12 education. Before becoming the chief information officer, Suggs taught as a principal at two middle schools in Indianapolis; was the director of operations and communications and transportation; was an assistant principal at a middle school; and was a high school teacher and football, basketball and track and field coach. SEE S CHOOLS | 11A
TUSCALOOSA fter the tornado, the city went to work on the most visible part of tornado recovery: Searching for survivors and clearing rubble. These were the immediate needs. But behind the scenes, a crew of 10 mechanics worked 14- and 15-hour days to get one essential city service back in operation: Garbage. While garbage collection may not have seemed to be an immediate priority after the storm, it was a necessary one. Collecting garbage is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of disease and infection among a populace. The workers at the city’s Fleet Maintenance Department found a way to get a working garbage truck fleet back on the streets less than a week after the storm. “In the hours and days following April 27, Fleet Maintenance performed miracles patching together our vehicles, especially in
A
THE CANDIDATES
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT
Jimmy Pryor, a senior equipment operator for the city of Tuscaloosa’s Environmental Services Department, operates a repaired knuckleboom truck days after the April 27 tornado. The city’s Fleet Maintenance Department was able to return the vehicle to operation despite it’s lack of a windshield.
Dexter Suggs Sr.
John Scanlan II
Debra Pickett
Paul McKendrick
Tony Burks
Barry Carroll
Environmental Services,” Mayor dedication.” Walt Maddox said. Leading the way was Fleet “To partially restore garbage Maintenance Manager Jimmy and trash collection by early May Sexton. was a testament to their skill and SEE T RASH | 6A
Veteran of foster care becomes ‘dad’ to save his kin A’Rayiah McLemore kisses her uncle, Adrian McLemore, on the cheek at her day care in Dayton, Ohio. A foster child himself, McLemore took custody of the children two years ago.
Interviews begin for city schools’ top position
By Helen O’Neill The Associated Press
TROT WOOD, O HIO | As a child, Adrian McLemore was a troubled little soul who spent much of his time exploding in confusion and rage — acting up in school, running away from home. At 6, he nearly set the house on fi re. At 7, his mother — raising him and his two sisters alone in Georgia — told social workers to place him in a foster home. McLemore would spend a total of 11 years in foster care
and he would learn many things — how to control his anger, how to channel it into programs and projects that helped children like himself, how to survive in homes where families had completely different rules and expectations, even different religious beliefs. He learned that foster kids are largely invisible to the lawmakers who craft the rules that govern their lives. And he became determined to change that, joining youth organizations, becoming a dynamic young leader who lobbied SEE DAD | 15A
To take a look at the superintendant candidates’ applications, visit www.tuscaloosanews.com.
INSIDE: VOL. 193 | NO. 170 | 8 Sections Bridge 11F Business 1D Classifieds 2F Crossword 11F
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Cost to rebuild 4 city buildings: $23M
Medical costs drain county’s reserves By Robert DeWitt Senior Writer
City plans go beyond rebuilding, bringing cost up to $33M
City facilities damaged Police Athletic League Facility y B lvd.
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$1 million Police Athletic League (4.3%)
$500,000 City Logistical Facility (2.2%) $500,000 East Police Precinct (2.2%)
30.4%
$7 million Environ. Services
17.4%
$4 million Fire Station Four
14%
By Jason Morton
25th St.
Univer sit
East Police Precinct
30.4%
$7 million EMA
$3 million Public Safety Logistics Bldg. STAFF GRAPHIC | ANTHONY BRATINA
TUSCALOOSA he city’s preliminary plan to replace or repair four city buildings destroyed or damaged by the April 27 tornado carries an estimated construction price tag of $23 million. The buildings were home to seven departments or facilities that will be housed separately under the plan. Throw in professional fees, furniture and equipment, property costs and an additional building for a new police precinct, and the total comes to nearly $33 million. But city taxpayers will not bear the full cost, because the four buildings were insured to be replaced on an “as-is” basis, said Robin Edgeworth, legal affairs administrator for the Office of the City Attorney. Edgewor th is also the cocommander of the city’s Incident Command Task Force and has been
T
STAFF PHOTOS | MICHELLE LEPIANKA CARTER
ABOVE AND BACKGROUND: The Richard A. Curry Building, shown on Monday, was severely damaged by the April 27 tornado.
charged with being the city’s contact with the Alabama Municipal Insurance Corp., a division of the Alabama League of Municipalities. She said negotiations are ongo-
ing to determine the final amount that Alabama Municipal Insurance will provide to the city, but she expects it to cover most of the costs SEE COST | 4A
NBA star gives $10K to city for storm recovery
By Phillip Rawls
By Mari Johnson TUSCALOOSA | NBA star Dwight Howard made a $10,000 donation to Tuscaloosa’s tornado relief efforts during a “fun day” on Friday at Snow Hinton Park for children from storm-affected areas. “This is for you guys to come together and have fun,” the Orlando Magic center said to the crowd, which included more than 500 high school seniors who came to Tuscaloosa for 74th annual American Legion Boys State Convention. Howard said he wanted to help out after seeing the devastation of the April 27 tornado. He said he wasn’t interested in coming for an autograph session, but instead wanted to reach out through his family, friends and his D12 Foundation. “What means more to me is spending time SEE BOYS | 4A
STAFF PHOTO | MICHELLE LEPIANKA CARTER
NBA player Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic makes snow cones for fans at Snow Hinton Park on Friday. Howard appeared at a “fun day” that wrapped up the 74th annual American Legion Boys State Convention.
INSIDE: VOL. 193 | NO. 155 | 5 Sections
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Alfa to drop nearly 1 in 6 policies in Ala. homes The Associated Press
Special to The Tuscaloosa News
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TUSCALOOSA | Rising medical costs threaten to empty the fund used by Tuscaloosa County government to insure its employees, forcing either taxpayers or county workers to pay more next year. County Administrator Melvin Vines told commissioners in May that the reser ve it built to cover health-care costs for county employees is rapidly shrinking. If the county doesn’t start contributing more money to its health care reserve, the reserve could be depleted in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. “I expect we’ll have to visit that in the budget process,” Vines said. “The point I was raising is that we’ve got a lot of people wanting to spend money. But we’ve got some headwinds that we are going to have to deal with. And addressing that in the budget process will mean allocating money for those things that won’t be available for other things.” In 1991, the county voted to become self-insured, with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama administering its health care plans. That means that the county pays employee medical bills and pays Blue Cross to process the claims. The county made the move because it was cheaper than paying premiums SEE COUNTY | 4A
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DEONTAY WILDER Heavyweight boxer and Olympic medalist says he is ready to “put on a show” at the Amphitheater | 1C
MONTGOMERY | Alabama’s second largest insurer of homes, Alfa Insurance, announced plans Friday to not renew policies on one out of every six homes it insures in Alabama. The company said it will send notices involving about 73,000 homes when they come up for renewal over the next 16 months. Alfa’s general counsel, Al Scott, said most of the policies are with landlords who own multiple rental houses. Some are on individual homes where the owners don’t have any other insurance with Alfa. Scott said customers with homeowners insurance and either auto or life insurance won’t be affected. Alabama’s deputy insurance commissioner, Ragan Ingram, said no other major insurer in Alabama has announced similar changes. Alfa officials predict the tornadoes in late April will result in about SEE ALFA | 4A
WHY THE CHANGE? Alfa said the frequency and the severity of storms over the past 10 years, including the April 27 tornado and Hurricane Ivan, prompted the policy change.
WHEN WILL CUSTOMERS KNOW? High 100 Low 70
Notices will be sent out at least 120 days before renewal time.
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Area businesses strive to reopen after tornado | 1D
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Bibb man OUTDATED charged SERVICE? in wife’s ’99 death
Days after a TPD officer was killed escorting a funeral, law enforcement officials say providing funeral escorts may not be worth the cost and risk
By Stephanie Taylor Staff Writer
Three months ago, Jody Byrd stood before a crowd at a candlelight vigil and said he hoped for the day someone would be implicated in the death of his wife, Desta. Friday night, authorities charged him with her murder. It’s been more than 12 Desta years since Desta Dodson- DodsonByrd was found dead outside Byrd was the couple’s home in rural found dead Bibb County. Assistant Dis- outside her trict Attorney Jim Ransom Bibb County didn’t say whether any new home in evidence had emerged that 1999. led to Byrd’s arrest. “We’re glad that we were able to finally make an arrest in this case. It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “We want to give Desta’s family some closure, and we want the person responsible to be held accountable.” Investigators with the Alabama Bureau of SEE ARREST | 15A
Memorial Day events to honor tornado victims By Jason Morton Staff Writer
TUSCALOOSA | A series of commemorative events are planned in conjunction with Monday’s Memorial Day holiday, the day set aside to remember those who have died in wars while fighting under the American flag. But this year, the ceremonies will have an additional, and more local component as the 41 Tuscaloosa County residents who died as a result of the April 27 tornado also will be honored. Tuscaloosa County License Commissioner Jeff Brown, a retired Army veteran who fought as a Marine in the Vietnam War and helps organize the Memorial Day program at Veterans Memorial Park, said it seemed natural to apply SEE HOLIDAY | 15A
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PARTLOW STILL SET TO CLOSE Damage to area community-based homes for the intellectually disabled won’t halt Partlow’s closing. | 1B
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STAFF PHOTOS | MICHELLE LEPIANKA CARTER
Officer Jeremy Frost of the Tuscaloosa Police Department’s traffic division blocks traffic as other members of the TPD’s traffic division escort a funeral procession at the corner of 35th Street and Kauloosa Avenue on Saturday.
By Stephanie Taylor Staff Writer
T
he death of a police officer who was escorting a funeral procession on May 21 hit members of the Tuscaloosa Police Department hard. Many said that it would have been easier if Officer Trevor Phillips had been shot in the line of duty or during a high-speed pursuit. There would have been a “bad guy” to blame. Some officers have criticized police escorts of funeral processions as an outdated and dangerous service. They blame a tradition that they say should be discontinued. “There is a consuming anger that many of us feel, because the city of Tuscaloosa and the Tuscaloosa Police Department put Trevor needlessly into this dangerous, deadly situation,” said a Tuscaloosa police officer who asked to remain anonymous. “What sticks in my craw more than anything is that the rank-and-file officers have said for years that these escorts should be discontinued. The general sentiment was that ‘it will take someone getting killed’ before they wake up and stop this practice.” Tuscaloosa police officers assigned to the traffic, or motorcycle, division escort funerals several SEE ESCORT | 6A
This portrait depicts Matthew Leonard. His widow, Lois Leonard, owns the original painting. A replica hangs in the Leonard Barracks, which were named for him, at Fort Benning, Ga., alongside a copy of his Medal of Honor citation. PHOTO SUBMITTED BY LOIS LEONARD
“You’re going to have to go 60, 70 miles per hour if not faster to be able to catch up to the hearse. That’s where the speed and the danger comes in.” A Tuscaloosa Police Department officer who asked to remain unidentified
Members of the Tuscaloosa Police Department’s traffic division pose together while waiting to escort a funeral procession on Saturday. Tuscaloosa police officers assigned to the motorcycle division escort funerals several times a week.
Greene County to recognize Vietnam hero after 44 years By Robert DeWitt Senior Writer
Matthew Leonard always liked being in uniform. “He was a Boy Scout,” said Lois Leonard, his widow, with a gentle laugh. “He loved to wear his Boy Scout uniform to school. He would walk up and down the halls in his uniform.” When he became a career soldier, he loved his uniform so much that he would make sure he got it professionally
cleaned, even if that meant cutting his time home on leave short. “That was his first love,” Leonard said of her husband’s feeling for military life. “I was his second. When he was on leave, he would leave three days early in order to send his uniform to the cleaners. He didn’t like the way I did them. He said he had to be sharp, if he was going to tell the other soldiers how to look. He had to be looking good.” In the end, he met the highest standard SEE MEDAL | 7A
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Auto and window businesses struggle West Alabama high to meet school graduate lists; demand senior year photos
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‘TRUE HERO’ A man whose past made some neighbors uneasy saved 12 people after the tornado
Staff report
STAFF PHOTO | DUSTY COMPTON
Knuckle boom operator Bruce Gensler, who is with the Flood Disaster Rehabilitation Committee in Wisconsin, removes debris near the intersection of 15th Street and McFarland Boulevard on Thursday.
A Tuscaloosa Police officer involved in a traffic accident in the line of duty was killed Saturday afternoon. Of ficer Trevor Scott Phillips, 42, was assigned to TPD’s motorcycle, or traffic, division. The accident occurred around 2:20 p.m. Saturday while Phillips was escorting a funeral, Chief Steve Anderson said. Anderson said the funeral procession was headed east on 35th Street when one of the drivers made a U-turn as Phillips approached on his motorcycle. “For whatever reason, the driver of the vehicle decided they did not want to continue moving with the procession and attempted to make a U-turn to head in the opposite direction on 35th,” Anderson said. “They didn’t see the officer coming, or they thought the lane was clear and they pulled out in front of him.” Phillips collided with the vehicle, throwing him clear of the motorcyle. Anderson said he wasn’t sure if Phillips died immediately. Phillips was a department veteran and had served for more than 10 years. “No charges have been filed at this time. Right now we are just investigating it as a simple accident,” Anderson said.
Environment protected in city cleanup By Wayne Grayson and Jason Morton Staff Writers
Large trucks fitted with knuckleboom cranes are prowling tornadostricken streets across Tuscaloosa, gathering up more than 26,000 cubic yards of debris each day and taking it ... where? Two weeks ago, the city agreed to contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to remove more than 1.5 million cubic yards of debris left by the April 27 storm. Since then, the Corps has set up a downtown office and begun removing debris from the city’s rights-of-way. Billy Birdwell, spokesman for the Corps’ recovery field office in Birmingham, said that the Corps’ debris removal techniques are being “handled in an environmentally responsible manner.” “We don’t just dump stuff on the environment,” Birdwell said. As of now, there are four disposal sites for the three types of debris: hazardous material, construction and electronic debris and vegetative material. Birdwell said hazardous material, from paint to gasoline, will go to the Emelle Landfill near Livingston. Construction, electronics and “white” debris, such as washing machines and refrigerators, are going to the Black Warrior Landfill in Coker. Birdwell said that landfill was selected because it is capable of handling the materials according to the Corps of Engineers’ standards. SEE DEBRIS | 6A
WHERE IS THE DEBRIS GOING? ■ Hazardous material (paint, gasoline): Emelle Landfill near Livingston. ■ Construction, electronics, “white” debris (washing machines, refrigerators): Black Warrior Landfill in Coker. ■ Vegetative debris: areas in Cottondale off Alabama Highway 216 and in Tuscaloosa off Kicker Road.
213,746
STAFF PHOTOS | DUSTY COMPTON
Robert Reed, shown near the site of his home at Crescent Mobile Home Estates near Crescent Ridge Road, pulled 12 people from the rubble after the April 27 tornado. “Him being that strong really helped him that night,’ said Ronnie Morris, who’s lived in the trailer park for 26 years. “He was absolutely, freaking amazing.”
cubic yards of debris removed from the city’s rights-of-way as of Friday.
26,648
By Adam Jones Staff Writer
cubic yards removed from Tuscaloosa each day with 167 trucks.
days it will take to remove all debris at this pace.
1.5M cubic yards of debris left by the April 27 storm.
UA BASEBALL Bama baseball team loses regularseason finale to South Carolina. Sports 1C
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HOLT hey weren’t sure about him at first. His trailer was old and grungy, and Crescent Mobile Home Estates seemed to be fine without any more people. Then Jeff Stewart, whose family owns the mobile home park off Keene Drive in Holt, made Robert Reed the park manager. One tenant told Stewart he wasn’t going to pay his rent to an ex-convict. Instead, he’d mail his check. But Reed won over Crescent Mobile Home Estates. He fixed up his trailer, his lot and built a new porch. “It was the best-looking one out there,” Stewart said. Reed was a good park manager, too. He helped out with yard work and answered tenants’ calls. Now, Stewart and the other residents don’t use words like “hero” and “superman” to describe Reed because he ended up being a swell super. Rather, they call him a hero because he rescued many of them after the monster EF-4 tornado leveled the trailer park April 27. A lot of heroes were made that night throughout
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Funeral procession wreck kills TPD officer
9
Tenure bill divides former ed colleagues By Dana Beyerle Montgomer y Bureau
Robert Reed threw appliances and lifted brick walls with ease after the storm. Because of a rush of adrenaline, Reed said that it was easy to move heavy items.
Tuscaloosa, but for the trailer who lives in the trailer park. park on the edge of town, Reed “He just went with no regard to himself. He’s one in a milis theirs. lion.” ‘One in a million’ The residents said it was Reed pulled 12 people from fate, the belief that everything rubble that even he admits he up to a certain point happens doesn’t know how he moved. for a reason, and that reason Those who stayed in their was made clear in that momobile homes said Reed ran ment. Reed said someone around the park looking for from the neighboring Soma yet another person who need- of Christ Church told him God ed saving, lifting appliances had prepared him for April and brick walls with ease. 27. He was exactly where he “He’s a true hero, that’s needed to be. for sure,” said John Hayes, SEE HERO | 15A
MONTGOMERY | A change in the tenure law for teachers that could come up for a vote this week has Republicans combining forces to speed its passage, dividing former education colleagues. Two weeks ago, Gov. Robert Bentley said he wanted changes to portions of the bill, but after meeting with GOP lawmakers he agree to stand with them. “The governor is comfortable with the bill that is in the House right now,” Bentley’s press secretary Jennifer Ardis said Friday. The bill by Sen. Lee “Trip” Pittman, R-Daphne, passed the Senate 18-16 and is scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday in the House Ways and Means Education Committee. It could come up for a vote in the full House on Wednesday, and if passed unchanged, would go to Bentley for his consideration. “This bill is going to pass on its merits,” Pittman predicted. SEE TENURE | 6A
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ADMH preps for $28M shortfall $117M Proposed budget for the Alabama Department of Mental Health
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FLIGHT
Mental health department says cuts will hurt services PHOTOS | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
By L ydia Seabol Avant
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is shown with her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, before she was shot on Jan. 8. As Giffords recovers from a serious brain injury, Kelly is preparing to command the space program’s second-to-last shuttle mission.
Staff Writer
TUSCALOOSA | The Alabama Department of Mental Health is bracing for an $28 million money that shortfall in the state’s 2012 budget that it says could be will inevitably affect community services and saved by cut- patient care. ting operaExactly what will be impacted and how is still tional costs, not known, as Gov. Robert Bentley’s proposed travel, repair budget has not yet been approved by the state and utility legislature. costs, mak“We’ve made some hypothetical situations, but ing personal no decisions have been made yet on what the changes next step will be, or how we would manage such a huge shortfall,” said ADMH spokesman John Ziegler. “It is so profound that it would impact Budget short- our entire system.” fall remaining The governor proposed a $117.5 million budafter interget for the ADMH in the fiscal year 2012 budget. nal cuts are That’s up from the $99.5 million the mental health made, which department received from the state’s general will likely fund in fiscal year 2011, but there will still be a mean a lonsignificant shortfall considering the department ger waiting had used about $43.4 million in federal stimulus list SEE ADMH | 2A
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ABOVE: Kelly stands by his wife’s bed on an outdoor deck overlooking the Santa Catalina Mountains at University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., on Jan. 20. BELOW: On Jan. 12, President Barack Obama embraces Kelly after a ceremony honoring the victims of the shooting rampage on Jan. 8 in Arizona. Obama and his family will attend the space shuttle Endeavor’s liftoff on Friday.
Unprotected Wi-Fi leads to legal trouble The Associated Press
BUFFALO, N.Y. | Lying on his family room floor with assault weapons trained on him, shouts of “pedophile!” and “pornographer!” stinging like his fresh cuts and bruises, the Buffalo homeowner didn’t need long to figure out the reason for the early morning wake-up call from a swarm of federal agents. That new wireless router. He’d gotten fed up tr ying to set a password. Someone must have used his Internet connection, he thought. “We know who you are! You downloaded thousands of images at 11:30 last night,” the man’s lawyer, Barr y Covert, recounted the agents saying. They referred to a screen name, “Doldrum.” “No, I didn’t,” he insisted.
By Marcia Dunn The Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. ooking back on the horror of that Saturday in January, this seems miraculous today: that Mark Kelly would indeed command the next-to-last space shuttle flight and that his wounded wife, Gabrielle Giffords, would be here in Florida watching. Yet that is what is expected to happen Friday. The Kelly-Giffords ordeal has been a national drama since Jan. 8, when the congresswoman was shot in the head at a meetand-greet in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz. The couple’s love story — her struggle to sur vive a serious brain injury and her remarkable progress, and his devotion to both his wife and NASA — has overshadowed Endeavour’s final voyage and the looming end of the shuttle program. It’s all about Mark and Gabby. “They’re America’s sweethear ts,” said Susan Still Kilrain, a former space shuttle pilot. On a day fit for
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Couple’s tragic romance eclipses second-to-last-shuttle mission
“Somebody else could have but I didn’t do anything like that.” “You’re a creep ... just admit it,” they said. Law enforcement officials say the case is a cautionar y tale. Their advice: Password-protect your wireless router. Plenty of others would agree. For example, te Sarasota, Fla., man who got a similar visit from the FBI last year after someone on a boat docked in a marina outside his building used a potato chip can as an antenna to boost his wireless signal and download 10 million images of child porn, or the North Syracuse, N.Y., man who in December 2009 opened his door to police who’d been following a trail of illegal videos and images. The man’s neighbor pleaded guilty April 12. For two hours that March SEE WI-FI | 7A
princes and princesses — Britain’s Prince William will wed Kate Middleton that morning — Endeavour’s scheduled 3:47 p.m. blastoff is the big draw for tourists and residents on Florida’s Space Coast. The Obama family will be here, as will a congressional contingent and an estimated 40,000 other NASA guests. Plus, hundreds of thousands are expected to jam surrounding beaches and roadways, all eager to catch one of the last two space shuttle launches. In an interview with CBS’ Katie Couric, excerpts of which were released Sunday, Kelly said Giffords’ doctors have cleared her to travel to Cape Canaveral, Fla., to watch. No one, it seems, can resist the real-life drama surrounding the 47-year-old astronaut and the 40year-old congresswoman, married three years when a bullet changed everything. The shooting rampage outside a supermarket left six dead and 13 injured, including Giffords. Kelly rushed by private jet from Houston to Tucson with his two teenage daughters and his mother, as soon as he learned of the assassination attempt. SEE FLIGHT | 7A
BACKGROUND: The space shuttle Endeavour lifts off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on May 19, 1996.
Scientists fret over BP funds for Gulf research By Cain Burdeau The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS | Scientists say it is taking far too long to dole out millions of dollars in BP funds for badly needed Gulf oil spill research and that it could be too late to assess the crude’s impact on pelicans, shrimp and other species by the time studies begin. The spring nesting and spawning season is a crucial time to get out and sample the reproduction rates, behavior and abundance of species, all factors that could be altered by last year’s massive spill. Yet no money has been made available
for this year, and it could take months to determine which projects will be funded. “It’s like a murder scene,” said Dana Wetzel, an ecotoxicologist at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida. “You have to pick up the evidence now.” BP PLC had pledged $500 million — $50 million a year over 10 years — to help scientists study the spill’s impact and forge a better understanding of how to deal with future spills. The first $50 million was handed out in May 2010 to four Gulf-based research institutes and to the National Institutes of Health. Rita Colwell, a University of SEE GULF | 4A
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TSUNAMI DEVASTATES JAPAN NUCLEAR DANGER: Cooling systems fail at 2 Japanese plants UNITED STATES: Pacific coast avoids disaster as waves diffuse
DEFERRED RETIREMENT OPTION PROGRAM
Bigwigs in Ala. reap benefits of DROP By Dana Beyerle Montgomer y Bureau Chief
Tuscaloosa’s sister city has heavy damage
By Malcolm Foster
Staff Writer
Hubbert defends his DROP fund
By Wayne Grayson
The Associated Press
TOKYO or more than two terrifying, seemingly endless minutes Friday, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan shook apart homes and buildings, cracked open highways and unnerved even those who have learned to live with swaying skyscrapers. Then came a devastating tsunami that slammed into northeastern Japan and killed hundreds of people. The violent wall of water swept away houses, cars and ships. Fires burned out of control. Power to cooling systems at two nuclear power plants was knocked out, forcing thousands of nearby residents to be evacuated. A boat was caught in the vortex of a whirlpool at sea. The death toll rose steadily throughout the day, but the extent of the disaster was not known because roads to the worst-hit areas were washed away or blocked by debris and airports were closed. After dawn Saturday, the scale of destruction beSEE JAPAN | 4A
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Calif., Ore. bear most damage on U.S. coast By Jeff Barnard and Jaymes Song The Associated Press
CRESCENT CITY, CALIF. | The warnings traveled quickly across the Pacific in the middle of the night: An 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan spawned a deadly tsunami, and it was racing east Friday as fast as a jetliner. Sirens blared in Hawaii. The West Coast pulled back from the shoreline, fearing the worst. People were warned to stay away from the beaches. Fishermen took their boats out to sea and safety. The alerts moved faster than the waves, giving people across the Pacific Rim hours to prepare. In the end, harbors and marinas in California and Oregon bore the brunt of the damage, estimated by authorities to be in the millions of dollars. Boats crashed into each other, some vessels were pulled out to sea and docks were ripped out. Rescue crews searched for a man who was swept out to sea while taking pictures. None of the damage — in the U.S., South America or Canada — was anything like the devastation SEE U.S. | 5A
ABOVE: A young girl who was left inside a building is rescued in Kesennuma, Miyagi, northern Japan, on Saturday.
LEFT: Tsunami waves swirl near a port in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture after Japan was struck by the biggest earthquake recorded in the country’s history.
Tuscaloosa has a special interest in the devastating tsunami that ravaged the northeast coast of Japan early Friday morning. One of the city’s sisters cities is Narashino, Japan, located about three hours from the epicenter. Lisa Keyes, director of the Tuscaloosa Sister Cities Commission, has received reports that the city is “heavily damaged.” “Many roads have cracked and many telephone poles have leaned,” wrote Akiko Kakuta, a worker in Narashino Community Affairs, in an e-mail to Keyes. “Trains aren’t running so many people can’t go to their homes. The evacuation center is full of people. “The area I live in has liquefaction so I can’t use the water in my house. The area around city hall is okay, but the city hall was damaged with many broken windows. “Everyone has been tired. Many aftershocks have followed.” The 8.9-magnitude earthquake that set off the tsunami sent aftershocks throughout the countr y, some registering as high as 7.1 on the Richter Scale. It took Keyes several hours of unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with friends in colleagues in Narashino. Keyes was able to get through to a person around 2 p.m. - 5 a.m. Narashino time. “When the phone rang, I was surprised because I had been trying all morning. I had tried every one of my contacts in Narashino, from the mayor’s office to friends I have there and families I’ve stayed with before,” Keyes said. “One woman I talked with (who lives further out from Narashino than Kakuta) said they can still feel the aftershocks but there hasn’t been a lot of damage there,” Keyes said. “Earthquakes are fairly common there, but this woman said she has never experienced one like this. It was frightening. She did say that one person in Narashino was killed in the earthquake but she wasn’t SEE SISTER | 2A
By Dana Beyerle Montgomer y Bureau Chief
MONTGOMERY | Reacting to criticism that he is enriching himself through the controversial Deferred Retirement Option Plan that was touted as a way to keep veteran teachers in classrooms, AEA chief Paul Hubbert told his members that his estate will be used to fund college scholarships. “Many years ago AEA chief Paul my wife, Ann, and I Hubbert‘s decided to put the account with proceeds of our esthe deferred tate and money into a retirement trust and that the corprogram pus of the trust would stands at go to the University $1.374 million. of Alabama to establish scholarships for students with financial needs and for students who want to become teachers,” Hubbert wrote in the upcoming SEE HUBBERT | 2A
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Tsunami waves hit residences after a powerful earthquake in Natori, Miyagi prefecture, Japan, on Friday.
MONTGOMERY | A lucrative state retirement program justified as needed to retain experienced public school teachers and rank-and-file state employees actually does more to benefit high-ranking college and state administrators, lobbyists, football coaches and even some private-sector executives and professionals. A list compiled by the Retirement Systems of Alabama of the top 100 account holders in the Deferred Retirement Option Program includes some of the most prominent names in the state, from Alabama Education Association Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert to University of Alabama System Chancellor Malcolm Portera and UA Director of Athletics Mal Moore. Topping the list is Joe Reed, assistant SEE DROP | 4A
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WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM members on Partlow’s staff; 42 will remain at Partlow to care for 10 patients who will stay
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PARTLOW TO CLOSE Employees to be on a priority list for unfilled jobs at area mental health facilities; patients to go to community-based care
Staff Writer
TUSCALOOSA | Several Tuscaloosa restaurants and bars plan to open Sunday to take advantage of the first day of Sunday alcohol sales. No one is sure what the turnout on the initial day might be. “I think a lot of people will be coming out for the novelty of it,” said Bill Lloyd, owner of Wilhagan’s. Wilhagan’s Sports Grille, which is not normally open on Sundays, will offer mimosas and Bloody Mary specials, along with its usual food menu, and will be showing NASCAR and college basketball games. “We have no clue how many people might come, but we’ve had a lot of interest from our regular customers,” Lloyd said. Joe Sedita, manager of Bo’s Bar, said he thought people might go to the restaurants and bars to buy alcohol just because it’s the first time they can do so on a Sunday. “I think people will come out just because it is something different,” Sedita said. City voters over whelmingly approved a referendum on Feb. 22 alSEE ALCOHOL | 4A
W.D. PARTLOW DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER
$CD[ GCT RCKP Doctor visits for ear infections in children under 2 years old have declined.
By Tommy Stevenson
Number of visits per year
USCALOOSA | There was a loud and extended gasp when Zelia Baugh, the new commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health, told about 100 employees at the W.D. Partlow Developmental Center on Friday that the facility will close by September. Partlow, which opened in 1919, has 484 employees who care for 151 patients with intellectual disabilities, said the center’s director, Rebecca Bellah, before the announcement in the facility’s chapel. Baugh said that there have been no new admissions to Partlow in two years. Ten patients who have severe disabilities will remain on the campus after Partlow closes, she said, and they will be cared for by about 42 current staffers. “Our first priority is to the people we serve — their health, safety and quality
Associate Editor
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Decline in smoking, kids’ ear infections linked in study By Mike Stobbe The Associated Press
ATLANTA | Ear infections, a scourge that has left tots screaming through the night, have fallen, and some researchers suggest a decline in smoking by parents might be part of the reason. Health officials report nearly a 30 percent drop over 15 years in young children’s doctor visits for ear infections. That’s half a million fewer trips to the pediatrician each year, on average. Why the numbers are declining is a bit of a mystery, but Harvard researchers think it’s partly because fewer people smoke, meaning less irritation of children’s airways. Many doctors credit growing use of a vaccine against bacteria that cause ear infections. And some think increased breast-feeding is protecting more children. “We’re sort of guessing here,” said Dr. Richard Rosenfeld, a New York-based SEE EAR | 4A
of life,” Baugh said. “Job preservation will be a priority as well. We are committed to assisting our dedicated staff in find alternative employment.” For the past few months, job openings at Bryce Hospital and the Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility have not been filled in anticipation of the closure of Partlow, the only remaining state institution of its type in the state. Some of those open jobs could go to Partlow employees, she said. Baugh said the mental health department is also partnering with the University of Alabama to create a database for jobs prioritizing former Partlow patients. “We anticipate that close to 400 jobs will be created in the private sector, many of those caring for former patients who move to community facilities,” she said, adding that ADMH will also hold SEE PARTLOW | 4A
KEY EVENTS IN PARTLOW’S HISTORY ■ 1919: The Alabama Home for Mental Defectives is established on 100 acres near Bryce Hospital. ■ 1927: The facility is renamed Partlow State School for Deficients in honor of its founder Dr. William D. Partlow, who was superintendent of Bryce Hospital from 1919 to 1950. ■ 1967: Gov. Lurleen Wallace tours Bryce and Partlow in what was billed as a “tour of tears,” spurring her to fight for increased funding to alleviate overcrowding and substandard care in the state’s mental health system. ■ Oct. 23, 1970: Wyatt vs. Stickney lawsuit filed in federal court over the money spent by the state on care for people with mental illness or developmental disabilities. Judge Frank M. Johnson enters an emergency order requiring the state to take immediate action at Partlow. The case helps transform the U.S. mental health system by establishing a federal right to treatment for people with mental illness. The case also led to recognition that the mentally ill could be treated effectively in community settings.
■ 2003: Gov. Bob Riley announces the possible consolidation of some of the state’s 14 mental health facilities as a cost-cutting measure and to help facilitate treatment of the mentally ill and developmentally disabled in their communities. ■ Dec. 5, 2003: At the request of attorneys for both the state and mental health patients, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson dismisses Wyatt vs. Stickney, releasing the state from 33 years of federal oversight. ■ October 2008: The Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program issues a report that calls for Partlow to be closed because of alleged abuse and neglect of clients. ADAP advocates that most of the residents would be better served in community-based care. Alabama Department of Mental Health responds by saying the facility would not close, but the department would address ADAP’s concerns. ■ March 4, 2011: ADMH announces it plans to close Partlow by the end of September.
Address: 1700 University Blvd. E., Tuscaloosa Founded: 1919 Mission: Only residential facility in the state for people with intellectual disabilities. Residents: 151 Employees: The 484 on staff include nurses, doctors, dentists, therapists, psychologists, social workers, food service workers, housekeepers and maintenance crews Annual budget: $42 million (fiscal year 2011) Annual payroll: $15.8 million Annual cost per resident: $278,146 Peak population: About 2,500 residents in late 1960s Campus size: 141 acres Buildings on campus: 23
Proposed law would ban Sharia law in Ala. By Dana Beyerle Montgomer y Bureau Chief
STAFF FILE PHOTO
By L ydia Seabol Avant
10 million
jobs that could be created in the private sector as a result
MONTGOMERY | Alabama is joining several states that are considering outlawing the use of foreign and religious laws, specifically Islamic law, in their courts. State Sen. Gerald Allen, a Republican from Tuscaloosa, has introduced a constitutional amendment asking Alabama voters to prohibit the use of foreign, international and Sharia laws from being used or even cited in Alabama. “Our state and national constitutions are adequate,” Allen said Friday. “If you have a problem in one of the areas of the country, judicial, legislative or executive, you’re governed by the rule of law and you don’t want foreign influences no matter where it came from.” Allen’s proposed constitutional amendment would specifically prohibit Sharia law out of concern that it will be a future influence. “My personal opinion is our citizens should be governed by our laws and not outside foreign laws,” Allen said. The operative portion of his proposed amendment states: “The courts shall not look to the legal precepts of other nations or cultures … specifically the courts shall not consider international law or Sharia.” His constitutional amendment is in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Russell McCutcheon, a professor in the department of religious studies at the University of Alabama, said that since there hasn’t been any recognized attempts to use Sharia law in Alabama courts, he’s not sure about the true motivation of Allen and other groups who are trying to ban Sharia law in the U.S. “As far as I know, there is no movement across the nation to bring an Islamic legal code into American SEE SHARIA | 4A Do you support banning Sharia law in Alabama? Vote in our poll at www. tuscaloosanews.com.
CORRECTION The Tuscaloosa City Board of Education will pay the Alabama Association of School Boards $3,000 to conduct an online survey and hold input meetings as part of the search for a superintendent for the Tuscaloosa City Schools. A story on Page 1A Friday gave an incorrect amount.
Above: The main administrative building at Partlow. Below: Photos taken in and around Partlow by ADAP, which called for the facility’s closure. Shown is a sink in an unlocked cleaning closet and a large, open mechanical area on campus.
HIGH SCHOOL TRAGEDY Enlarged heart cited in death of “kid that everybody loved.” | 8A INSIDE: VOL. 193 NO. 36 | 5 Sections Bridge 13E Business 4B Classifieds 1E Comics 4D Crossword 13E Dear Abby 2D
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County tax crisis spurs special session Jefferson County’s survival could hinge on occupational tax bill
SPECIAL SESSION STAFF PHOTO | MICHAEL E. PALMER
ON THE WEB: Visit http:// twitter.com/TuscCoSheriff to see the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Department Twitter page.
Police use Web to tackle crime
When: Legislators from around the state will meet Monday at 6 p.m. in Montgomery.
By Dana Beyerle Montgomer y Bureau Chief
On the table: Reauthorizing a 0.5 percent occupational tax Jefferson County has collected for decades, and that a judge recently ruled against.
MONTGOMERY | The Legislature will determine whether Jefferson County can tap unspent millions and continue an occupational tax that is the key to shortterm fiscal survival for the state’s largest county.
Gov. Bob Riley on Saturday called the Legislature into special session beginning Monday to consider a Jefferson County occupational tax. Riley asked legislators to start the session at 6 p.m. “This special session is necessary to develop a solution to Jefferson County’s financial crisis, one that threatens not only the future of Jefferson County, but also
the economic stability of our entire state,” Riley said in a statement. “It’s in the best interest of all Alabamians for this special session to be a success, and I’m calling on legislators to return to Montgomery with an attitude of compromise so this problem can be solved.” It takes a minimum of five legislative SEE COUNTY | 14A
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA SUMMER GRADUATION
STAFF FILE | MICHAEL E. PALMER
By Stephanie Taylor
Nick Saban autographs a poster during last year’s Fan Day.
Staff Writer
Word spread fast through Huntington and surrounding neighborhoods in the Mitt Lary Road area July 29. A man was in the area, trying to lure young children to his car. It took several hours for law enforcement officers to look into the matter and issue an official statement warning parents. By then, word was already out. Pat Geddes was working from home on his computer that day. His Facebook page was open in the background. Just before noon, his computer began sounding alerts every few minutes when someone posted something new about the potential predator. “It just started blowing up. I know that where there’s smoke, there’s got to be some fire,” he said. Geddes called of ficers at the Northport Police Department and Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. None of them could provide details about the case because neither agency had a written report on file. A Tuscaloosa News reporter was SEE CRIME | 15A Do you use Twitter? Let us know at www. tuscaloosanews.com.
UA Fan Day set for today What: The University of Alabama football team’s annual Fan Day Open practice: 2:30-4:30 p.m. today at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Fans may enter the stadium at 1:30 p.m. via the northeast gates and sit in the lower bowl.
STAFF PHOTO | MICHAEL E. PALMER
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JOY OF EDUCATION
niversity of Alabama graduate Crystal Reynolds of Montgomery celebrates with aunts and cousins, not pictured, and her father, Gary Reynolds, on the steps of Coleman Coliseum after receiving her undergraduate degree in commerce and business administration on Saturday. The university said about 1,000 students graduated. For a list of UA’s summer graduates, see Page 14B.
Autograph session: Fans may line up at Gate 16 for a 45-minute autograph session on the field with players and coaches. The line will wrap around to the west side for post-practice activities. In case of bad weather, the autograph session will be moved to the indoor practice facility. One item allowed per fan to be autographed and no posed photographs permitted. Concessions and merchandise will be sold. Parking: limited because students are moving into the dorms. RVs should park at the Northington lot near University Mall. There will be no RV parking on campus. Online: Visit www.rolltide. com for more information.
Watchdogs unsure where bailouts went
Shinik Hahm, shown at the Moody Music Building Concert Hall in 2006, will step down as music director of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra at the end of this season.
By Chris Adams McClatchy-Tribune News Service
STAFF FILE PHOTO
Hahm to bid good-bye to TSO By Mark Hughes Cobb Staff Writer
After almost a decade fronting the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, music director Shinik Hahm will step down from the podium at the end of this season. Hahm and the TSO seem to be parting on good terms. His increasing popularity as a guest
conductor carries him all over the world, taking time away from the extra duties of a music director, as the face of the symphony and promotional leader. Hahm was out of the country, and out of cellphone range, this week when the announcement was made. In a prepared statement, Hahm wrote “My guest conducting engagements with Eu-
ropean and Asian orchestras have begun to increase steadily. These new opportunities are beginning to require most of my time and energy and I believe this will continue to be the case.” Talks had begun about whether or not to renew Hahm’s contract — his third three-year stint — in early summer. SEE HAHM | 15A
WASHINGTON | Although hundreds of well-trained eyes are watching over the $700 billion that Congress last year decided to spend bailing out the nation’s financial sector, it’s still difficult to answer some of the most basic questions about where the money went. Despite an oversight panel, a special inspector general, the existing Government Accountability Office and eight other inspectors general, those charged with minding the store say they don’t have all the weapons they need. Ten months into the Troubled Asset Relief Program, some members of Congress say that some oversight of bailout dollars has been so lacking that it’s essentially worthless. “TARP has become a program in which taxpayers are
not being told what most of the TARP recipients are doing with their money, have still not been told how much their substantial investments are worth, and will not be told the full details of how their money is being invested,” a special inspector general over the program reported last month. The “very credibility” of the program is at stake, it said. Access and openness have improved in recent months, watchdogs say, but the program still has a way to go before it’s truly transparent. For its part, the Treasury Department said it’s fully committed to transparency, and that it’s taken unprecedented steps to report the status of TARP to the public. It regularly posts information on which banks have received money, as well as details about each of those transactions. Further, SEE BANKS | 15A
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Federal building on a fast track Architects drew on city’s Greek Revival historic roots
Forkland mayor: ‘I never was missing’
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Beleaguered Eddie J. Woods responds to accusations, critics By Jason Morton Staff Writer
By Doug Ray FORKLAND | Eddie J. Woods has had his fill of small-town politics. That’s why this term — his third — will be his last as mayor of Forkland, he said. Woods made the announcement during an interview last week, while defending himself against a litany of accusations and criticisms of his leadership and decision-making. He also said that the door to his small, cluttered mayoral office is open to anyone who wants to walk through it. “If you want to know something, go to the source,” he said. “I never was missing.” The only subject he would not discuss — based on advice from his attorneys, he said — was the condition of the town’s roads and the tax dollars intended for their repair. The Greene County Commission is suing Woods and the town of Forkland, alleging misuse of earmarked road repair funds. The case is still in the discovery phase, and a trial date has not been set. But Woods had answers for every other topic, from his absence from Town Council meetings to his unpaid water bills dating back more than 60 months. The criticism, he claims, is just small-town politics. And though his term ends in 2012, in the meantime he’s not willing to allow his authority to be usurped. “You don’t have to like me,” Woods said. “Just respect me and my position.” SEE WOODS | 11A
Executive Editor
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scale model of a new federal courthouse for Tuscaloosa sits on the long conference table in the office of U.S. District Judge Scott Coogler, while less than a mile away a construction site is being cleared. Funding has been secured. A construction manager has been selected. An artist has been commissioned for a series of 16 murals that will line the publicly accessible atrium. And as soon as November, the building will begin to rise. It has been a long time coming, but now it’s on a fast track. It should be finished within 20 months from the start of construction, which will be managed jointly by BE&K of Birmingham and Harrison Construction of Tuscaloosa. “It was looking like we would have to wait to get started,” Coogler said. “But an opportunity opened for us to do it now. We chose to go ahead and get after it.” Nearly a decade ago, U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby began talking about rebuilding several city blocks of downtown Tuscaloosa. At one point, the vision spanned a nine-block area, with plans for condominiums, shops and public buildings including a federal courthouse. Concerns over the use of eminent domain for private development scaled it back to less than five blocks. SEE COURT | 11A
SUBMITTED BY HAMMOND BEEBY RUPERT AINGE
The $67 million federal building is designed in the traditional Greek Revival style with a Doric temple front and balancing wings.
SKETCHES SUBMITTED BY CALEB O’CONNOR
WAITING TO MARCH: Inspired by Edward
WORLD WAR II: Will show soldiers returning
Hopper’s painting “Dawn Before Gettysburg,” which shows union soldiers waiting for battle, this will show Confederate soldiers waiting.
from a long war and the waiting families, those who have loved ones returning and those who don’t.
THE FOUNDRY/MERCEDES/COAL MINERS:
THE STATE CAPITOL: The image of the ruins will
Honors Tuscaloosa’s industrial history, including coal, cotton, steel, agriculture and manufacturing, and the many workers who turn the cogs.
be juxtaposed with a ghostly outline of how the building originally looked. The painting will include children playing to symbolize the past, present and future.
MISSING TOWN HALL MEETINGS Mayor Eddie J. Woods said he missed April’s meeting because of an illness and May’s meeting (which was rescheduled) because of a convention. The town clerk said he skipped the rescheduled May meeting because none of the other council members were going.
GARBAGE PICKUP Woods said he halted a onetime removal of the town’s accumulating garbage because the arrangement had been made without his knowledge. He had the garbage picked up a week later.
16 commissioned murals will depict city’s culture, history By Mark Hughes Cobb Staff Writer
Although artist Caleb O’Connor has lived and worked in Italy, Maui, Chicago and the Washington, D.C., area, winning praise, prizes and commissions, he’ll leave one of his longestlasting — and possibly largest — impressions in Tuscaloosa.
This month, O’Connor and his family will move to town and plan to stay for as long as two years so he can paint 16 wall-sized murals for the federal building downtown. He’s visited Tuscaloosa to make photographs and preliminary sketches for the panels, which will each be 14 feet tall by 9 feet wide and depict the region’s culture and history. Although some local artists were consid-
ered for the job, O’Connor knew virtually nothing about Tuscaloosa beforehand. “It actually caught me by surprise,” he said in a phone interview from Chicago. “I do public works, and I’ve been showing in galleries for quite some years. But I didn’t submit anything. I just got an e-mail from a GSA [General Services Administration] representative who SEE ARTIST | 11A
STAFF FILE PHOTO | JASON MORTON
Forkland Mayor Eddie J. Woods responded to criticism, but declined to discuss the town’s neglected roads on the advice of his attorneys.
To hear Forkland Mayor Eddie Woods respond to criticism of his leadership, visit www.tuscaloosanews.com.
Election battles turn into street fights in Iran
ALABAMA’S OTHER WHITE MEAT With demand outpacing supply, rabbit growers team up with state agencies to promote rabbit meat. | 1D
By Anna Johnson and Brian Murphy The Associated Press
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Security forces chase and beat the supporters of Iranian reformist presidential candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi in Tehran on Saturday.
TEHRAN, IRAN | Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police in the heart of Iran’s capital Saturday, pelting them with rocks and setting fires in the worst unrest in Tehran in a decade. They accused the hard-line president of using fraud to steal election victory from his reformist rival. The brazen and angry confrontations — including scenes of masked rioters tangling with black-clad police — pushed the self-styled reformist movement closer to a possible moment of truth: Whether to continue defying Iran’s powerful security SEE IRAN | 10A
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Globe to have final curtain call
Industry training to extend statewide By Patrick Rupinski Staff Writer
VANCE | For the past nine weeks, top managers of Mercedes’ automotive suppliers have spent their Fridays at Mercedes’ training center studying the SUV maker’s production operations. They gleaned information on how to improve their manufacturing facilities and shared their experiences in an effort to help each other. On Friday, Gov. Bob Riley told the managers that the training they went through soon will be made available to businesses and industries across the state under a new program. “This is the prototype. We are going to try it in the next few months and try to build on it,” he said. SEE TRAIN | 7A
OTHER STATE ISSUES On Friday, Gov. Riley also addressed health care if Bryce being sold, the PACT program, gaming, a sales tax on food and stimulus money. | 1B
STAFF FILE PHOTO
Will you miss The Globe? Vote at www.tuscaloosanews.com.
A 30 percent to 40 percent drop in business is forcing chef and owner Jeff Wilson to close The Globe restaurant, shown in 2003, on April 11.
Restaurant set to close doors next weekend
STAFF PHOTO | DAN LOPEZ
Gov. Bob Riley, left, and Bill Taylor, president and CEO of MBUSI, talk at the Mercedes-Benz Supplier Training session at the Mercedes plant in Vance on Friday.
By Mark Hughes Cobb
Shelton State 10-year plan focuses on growth
Staff Writer
NORTHPORT he Globe Restaurant, which helped spark Northport’s downtown renaissance and ushered in a new era of fine dining in West Alabama, will close its doors April 11 after more than 17 years. Chef and owner Jeff Wilson made the decision two months after telling The Tuscaloosa News about rumors he would close. Wilson said at the time that he planned to do everything in his power to keep it open, despite a 30 percent to 40 percent drop in business over previous years. “But I’ve told [patrons] that it’s really not up to me, it’s up to you guys. If you don’t come in ... .,” he said. Although clearly distraught on Friday, Wilson is trying to look on the bright side. “A Shakespearean-themed restaurant in SEE GLOBE | 7A
T
By Adam Jones Staff Writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO | DAN LOPEZ
What’s next for Globe chef and owner Jeff Wilson? He says he is considering going back to school or working at another restaurant. He says he might even re-open the restaurant in downtown Tuscaloosa after the economy bounces back.
“A Shakespearean-themed restaurant in Northport. People said it wouldn’t last a week.” Globe owner and chef Jeff Wilson
Officials work to identify N.Y. shooter By William Kates The Associated Press
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. | The community center was filled with people from countries as far off as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, all working to become more a part of their new home — learning English, taking a class to gain U.S. citizenship. The gunman may have walked a similar path to become an American decades ago. He parked his car against the back door, stormed through the front and shot two receptionists, apparently without saying a word. Then he fired on a citizenship class while terrified people, their only escape SEE SHOOTING | 7A
Shelton State President Mark Heinrich says the school’s growth plan includes e-learning and more grants.
TUSCALOOSA | Now that Shelton State Community College has a plan for the next decade, the real work is just beginning, President Mark Heinrich said. The plan for the school will not be shelved, only to be dusted off a few times, he told a crowd gathered Friday to celebrate the college’s 30th year as a community college. It will be a process to measure if goals are being achieved, and it will hold college leaders accountable to the vision of the strategic plan. “There is absolutely nothing that should stop the progress that has been made on this campus,” Heinrich said. Faculty and staff who put together the strategic plan formally presented it to the college Friday in the final event of the school’s three-day celebration. SEE SHELTON | 7A
GYMNASTICS See what goes into achieving a perfect score. | 1C
)WPOCP MKNNU JKOUGNH CHVGT TCORCIG Around 10 a.m. Friday, a gunman opened fire on a citizenship class in Binghamton, N.Y. Fourteen people were killed, including the shooter.
1. Gunman parks car, blocking rear entrance.
RELIGION Female leaders gather to highlight women who serve in the ministry. | 1D INSIDE: VOL. 191 NO. 94 | 5 Sections
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2. Gunman enters building. 3. Shoots two receptionists.
4. One pretends to be dead, then crawls under desk, calls 911; she is the only survivor to see gunman; other receptionist dies.
5. Gunman enters other room and continues shooting.
6. Twenty six people escape to basement.
7. Gunman is heard shooting near back of building.
8. Police arrive within 2 minutes of 911 call.
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Few state ethics cases prosecuted
‘I’m all he has now’
Commission claims cases aren’t taken seriously enough 2,797
By Dana Beyerle
allegations of ethics violations sent to the state Ethics Commission between Oct. 1, 1995 and Sept. 30, 2005
90 percent of those cases were dropped due to insufficient evidence
3 percent of those cases were sent to criminal prosecutors for review
Montgomery Bureau Chief
MONTGOMERY | During the past 10 years, 3 percent of the 2,797 allegations of ethics violations by public officials that were sent to the state Ethics Commission were forwarded to criminal prosecutors for review. More than 90 percent of the cases referred to the commission between Oct. 1, 1995, and Sept. 30, 2005, were dropped due to insufficient evidence. 92 cases, 3 percent, were sent to the attorney general or district attorneys. A handful of those resulted in successful convictions or guilty pleas, leading members and staff of the Ethics Commission to believe their cases are not being taken seriously. “It’s frustrating because honestly we’re very serious when we hear a case and we’re careful and thoughtful [about] how we do it,” commission Chairwoman Linda Green said. Ethics Commission Director James L. Sumner Jr. is worried the commission’s effectiveness — and its $1.3 milion budget — ETHICS | 19A
STAFF PHOTO | DUSTY COMPTON
Zach Lange screams with excitement as his father, Keith Lange, rolls him around in his exercise wheel at their home in McCalla. The wheel helps Zach, who has cerebral palsy, stretch and work muscles that don't get used much.
Arrest made in Holloway case Z By Margaret Wever The Associated Press
ORANJESTAD, ARUBA | Authorities have made an arrest in the case of missing U.S. teen Natalee Holloway, an Aruban official said Saturday without providing details about the development in the high-profile case. Mariaine Croes, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office, said Aruban authorities were not prepared to disclose why the person was arrested or how they are allegedly connected to the disappearance of the Alabama teenager on the Dutch Caribbean island nearly a year ago. Croes would only say that the person who was arrested is 19 and has the initials “G.V.C.” Authorities in Aruba typically only release a suspect’s initials upon their arrest. Holloway, 18, was last seen in public leaving a bar with three young men on May 30, the final night of a high school graduation trip to Aruba. The three young men who were with her when she left the bar were arrested. But they were later released after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to hold them. Throughout the investigation there have been a number of false leads and at least three other people were detained without being charged in the case. Dutch police said Wednesday that they had received 60 tips in the case after a TV program aired the night before in Aruba and throughout the kingdom of the Netherlands.
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After the death of his wife, Keith Lange was left by himself to take care of their son, who is disabled. His life revolves around Zach, even when it means giving up a steady job or taking him on dates. Here is their story. By Katie Porterfield
Photo essay
Staff Writer
ach Lange shouts excitedly when he hears words like “swing” or “swim.” His big brown eyes widen. He even smiles when a pretty girl walks into the room. “He’s a flirt, just like dad,” said Hope Bailey, Zach’s teacher at the Sprayberr y Education Center in Northport. “We tell them they’re two peas in a pod.”
Photographer Dusty Compton offers a peek at the Langes’ lives. PAGES 10A, 11A
Like many fathers and sons, Keith Lange and 7-year-old Zach spend a lot of time together. But many of the things they do aren’t typical father-son activities. “It broke my heart to think my
son’s going to be in a wheelchair and not up with the other kids,” said Lange, 43. “I’m a typical father. I wanted to play basketball and go fishing, all the things fathers dream of doing with their kids.” Instead, Lange is doing a balancing act: single parenthood and a child with cerebral palsy. Zach’s mother Deborah died of liver disease in June 2005. “I’m a one-man show,” Lange said. “Zachary is my son, and I give him all the help he ever needs, no matter
what I have to do.” Since his wife got sick about two years ago, Lange, a licensed heating and cooling contractor who lives in McCalla, hasn’t been able to maintain a full-time job. Now selfemployed, he plans his workday around his son. “Big companies won’t be flexible with hours,” he said. “It’s hard to get people to understand that when Zach needs me, he’s got to come first.” Zach, who was born premature SEE ZACH | 16A
Overactive boomers are keeping their doctors busy By Bill Pennington New York Times News Service
NEW YORK TIMES
For America’s baby boomers, a generation weaned on Jack LaLanne, shaped by Jane Fonda videos and sculpted in the modernday gym, too much of a good thing has consequences.
Encouraged by doctors to continue to Andrea Evian, 54, works out in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., earlier this month. Evian has had anterior cruciate ligament recon- exercise three to five times a week for struction, cortisone injections for sore joints and rotator-cuff their health, a legion of running, swimming and biking boomers are flouting surgery on her left shoulder.
VOL. 188 | NO. 106 | 11 Sections Dear Abby 2E Horoscope 2E Ideas & Issues 6D Lend a Hand 11B
Movies 10B Outdoors 7C Television 1H Today 1E
FOUL PLAY UNLIKELY Prosecutor say that two boys who have been missing for more than a month apparently drowned in an icy park lagoon in Milwaukee. | 3A
the conventional limits of the middleaged body’s abilities, and filling the nation’s operating rooms and orthopedists’ offices in the process. They need knee and hip replacements, surgery for cartilage and ligament damage, and treatment for tendinitis, arthritis, bursitis and stress fractures. The phenomenon even has a name in medical circles: boomeritis. “Boomers are the first generation that grew up exercising, and the first that SEE BOOMERS | 16A
FALLING ICE Scientists and investigators are trying to figure out why big chunks of ice are falling on California. | 8A
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Orlando Sentinel OrlandoSentinel.com/volusia
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2005 SECTION B
VOLUSIA
IN DeLAND CRIMINAL CHARGES POSSIBLE State officials review a midair collision that killed a sky diver in April. Page B3
Use of Taser at ’03 game spurs suit SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
Newly released videotape from an October 2003 incident shows how rowdy UCF tailgaters can get outside the Florida Citrus Bowl even when swarms of uniformed police officers are around. The video captures uniformed officers ordering tailgaters to disperse after breaking up several fights and arresting one man. It shows a woman being Tased after being knocked to the ground. Earlier in the 41⁄2-minute video, one officer threatens to use his stun gun on the individual recording the incident. The response from someone off-camera, possibly the person making the tape, is, “Nothing worse than a bored cop.” By the end of the tape, two women are shown getting knocked to the ground, and one of them is the woman who was shocked with a Taser after leaning against an officer while trying to
help her friend. The tape surfaced in the aftermath of the fatal Sept. 24 shooting of University of Central Florida police Officer Mario Jenkins following a fight involving tailgaters outside the Citrus Bowl. The Oct. 25, 2003, videotape illustrates the confrontational atmosphere students and police officers have encountered at UCF tailgate parties. The tape also will be used as evidence in a lawsuit filed by Heather Hull, a 23-yearold UCF student at the time who was struck and hit with a Taser. Her lawyer, Howard Marks, plans to file the lawsuit today. The suit names the city of Orlando and two of its police officers. It alleges that they engaged in a false arrest and malicious prosecution against Hull. “I believe it [the video] shows excessive force by the police,” Marks said Tuesday. “There was no reason to use PLEASE SEE
WHO’S HERE
Robin Mitts of Kenner, La., and her 2 daughters packed for a long weekend that hasn’t ended.
LEARN ABOUT HER FAMILY AND WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP, PAGE B5
A video that recently surfaced shows uniformed police officers firing stun guns at a woman during a scuffle outside the Citrus Bowl.
By ANTHONY COLAROSSI
AFTER KATRINA: CENTRAL FLORIDA REACHES OUT
From Video ❘ Oct. 25, 2003
INDEX Central Florida Deaths Florida Weather
B3 B6 B5 B8
Flood watch is troubling for region Officials predict heavy rain, a gloomy forecast for waterlogged residents.
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By ERIN AILWORTH SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
Central Florida was under a flood watch Tuesday night as forecasters predicted that a tropical wave blanketing the Bahamas would dump 3 to 5 inches of rain on the state during the next few days. The news wasn’t good for residents of alreadyflooded areas in Volusia and Polk counties. But no one was panicking yet. “There are times I feel really bad,” said Randy Gibson, who lives in the DeLand area. He has lost about 110 trees around his Crooked Tree Trail home to flooding, though there is no longer stand-
ing water on his property. “I have these [bad] moments, but I just won’t let them stay.” Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center west of Miami said the worst rains were expected tonight or Thursday night, although officials warned that heavy showers could occur at any time. “I don’t see an end in sight in the short term,” said meteorologist Robbie Berg. He said the bad weather could even linger over Florida “for at least the weekend, if not longer.”The one ray of sunshine in the forecast is PLEASE SEE
RAIN, B7
Primary halted in mayor’s race
TASER, B7
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Deltona’s election moves to Nov. 8 after Richard Rhodes’ exit. By KEVIN P. CONNOLLY SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
DELTONA — This city’s mayoral race vanished from the Oct. 11 ballot Tuesday as frustration mounted about votes cast already that won’t be counted. Meanwhile, new concerns were raised about the way the city is handling the mayoral election — now set for next month. Deltona Tennis Association founder Dennis Mulder, whose attorney plans to file objections with state officials today about uncounted votes, said he is also upset that an elected
official who publicly supports his opponent sits on the city’s canvassing board — the two-member panel that opens absentee ballots and performs other tasks on Election Day. Deltona City Commissioner David Santiago, who has publicly endorsed fellow City Commissioner Doug Horn for mayor, sits on the canvassing board with City Clerk Faith Miller. “It does tick me off,” Mulder, a political newcomer, said of Santiago’s membership on the board. “I just feel there is this conspiracy to manipulate this election, and it’s getting scary.” Santiago, who said he supports Horn in the Nov. 8 general election because he is more experienced PLEASE SEE
MAYOR, B7
Commission seat lures 5 Deltonans By TERRY O. ROEN SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
4 Video recorded in October 2003 during tailgating at the Citrus Bowl is being used as evidence in a lawsuit alleging police officers used undue force on then-UCF student Heather Hull. Frames from the video show: a man under arrest being led away by officers as a woman taps an officer’s shoulder;
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the woman being held on the ground by an officer; Hull (in black) standing over the woman and next to the officer; an officer standing over Hull as another officer holds out a Taser; and Hull lying on the ground after being struck by stun guns.
/ See the video of the tailgating incident at OrlandoSentinel.com.
COLORSTRIP:
5
DELTONA — Five candidates are vying for a role in the future growth of the most populous city in Volusia County. Each of the five is pushing for a business activity center to broaden the city’s tax base from mainly residential to more of a commercial mix. All the candidates said they hope to improve Deltona’s image of a sprawling bedroom community if they make it through the Oct. 11 primary and win the Nov. 8 election. The District 5 candidates represent a diverse group that includes a tax
/ Learn about the City Commission candidates ❘ Page B2 accountant, a retired fireman, a painter, an engineer and a comptroller of a trucking company. The four men and one woman share a love of their hometown and a desire to begin Deltona’s second decade with a logical plan for development. A self-proclaimed “tree-hugger,” Janet Deyette promises to balance development with responsible environmental planning. She was a charter member of the city’s planning and zoning board and served six PLEASE SEE
DELTONA, B4
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Friday, April 27, 2012 |
‘it looked like a bomb exploded’ M y father was terrified of storms so he built our 1950s-style home very strong and secure. When we heard that a large tornado was heading our way, me, my sister, and my nephew and niece along with our puppy headed for the walk-in closet in the middle of the house. We heard a deafening noise, and felt the house shaking and a lifting sensation going on. We
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THE TUSCALOOSA NEWS
Sandra Day, who was at home on April 27
heard a large bam and I told my sister that a tree either fell on the house or on my car parked in the driveway. After what seemed like an eternity, we slowly opened the front door. We were faced with a huge pine tree on the house. Half the front porch was destroyed. We got out into the driveway and looked around. It looked like a bomb had exploded. Huge trees were down every-
where. Our neighbor came running to us to see if we were OK. Suddenly, cars appeared out of nowhere, telling us of the devastation all around us. One lady said her house was gone, another said he couldn’t find his family. We left that house to go to our home in Brookwood, but were unable to go because of the trees and power lines down across the road on High-
way 216. We went to our sister’s home because we were afraid more storms would come, and we didn’t know how damaged the house was. The next morning, we went back to the house, wondering what we were going to do. Within five minutes, a truck from the Baptist Association came and started trying to get the tree off the house. Our home was a little off the beaten
path, so no politicians came for photo ops, but people who cared and were there to help came, without fanfare, without cameras, without news media. They came from churches, neighborhoods, states as far away as New Hampshire — and they came to offer comfort, caring, food, water and physical man power to help. Pictures don’t do justice to the devastation of land,
property and, most of all, lives lost and the families who have to pick up the pieces and continue their lives. My sister and I were blessed beyond measure, and had that tree not fallen on the roof, we may have been among those who lost their homes and lives. The sign that remains in our front yard today says it all for us: “I will praise Him through the storm.”
Staff photo | Michelle Lepianka Carter
Above: Chris Jordan consoles his fiance, Stephanie Prickett, after the tornado ripped through Tuscaloosa on April 27, 2011. The couple was at Jordan’s apartment at University Downs when the tornado hit. File photo | T.G. Paschal
Left: Members of Alberta Baptist Church
gather in the parking lot outside their church for Sunday service on May 1, 2011. staff File photo | Michelle Lepianka Carter
Below: Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox tours the damage on 15th Street on April 28, 2011.
after the storm The path the tornado took across Tuscaloosa can be clearly seen from the air on April 28, 2011.
Staff File photo | Dusty Compton
Staff File photo | Dusty compton
Charleston Square Apartments, seen from the air on April 28, 2011, was destroyed in the tornado.
Staff file Photo | Dusty Compton
Houses sit destroyed in Rosedale Court.
Residents look through debris in Cedar Crest on April 27, 2011.
Staff File photo | Michelle Lepianka Carter
President Barack Obama meets with Alberta residents Ricky McGee, second from left, and his son, Ricky McGee Jr., on April 29, 2011.
Staff File photo | Dusty Compton
Staff Photos | Michelle Lepianka Carter
Above: People wander through the damage on 15th Street on April 27, 2011.
Left: Metal store signs sit twisted among the rubble along 15th Street on April 27, 2011.
Staff File photo | Michelle Lepianka Carter
An American flag waves from a hole in the roof of a home in Forest Lake on April 29, 2011.
A family is assisted by emergency responders near 15th Street on April 27, 2011.
Staff File photo | Dusty Compton
Staff file photo | Dusty Compton
Volunteers clean debris and rubble from a trailer park near Crescent Ridge Road in Holt on May 4, 2011.