Mon DAY, MArch 29, 2010 • 50¢
SporTS
Dirt stabilized ‘temporarily,’ officials say
IN AFGHANISTAN
By Tish Butts tbutts@vicksburgpost.com
IT’S ovEr
Lady Bulldogs fall to Lady Seminoles B1
WEAThEr Tonight: Clear; low near 38 Tuesday: Sunny; high near 75 Mississippi River:
38.4 feet Rose: 0.6 foot Flood stage: 43 feet
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DEATh • Constance Maranto Ludwig
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ToDAY In hISTorY 1638: Swedish colonists settle in present-day Delaware. 1792: Sweden’s King Gustav III dies, nearly two weeks after he was shot and mortally wounded by assasins during a masquerade party.
1882: The Knights of Columbus is chartered in Connecticut. 1943: World War II rationing of meat, fats and cheese begins. 1962: Jack Paar hosts NBC’s “Tonight” show for the final time. 2005: As Jack Terri SchiPaar avo enters her 12th full day without food or water, the Rev. Jesse Jackson prays with her parents and joined conservatives in calling for Florida lawmakers to order her feeding tube reinserted.
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onLInE www.vicksburgpost.com VOLUME 128 NUMBER 88 2 SECTIONS
The associaTed press
President Barack Obama visits with U.S. troops at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan Sunday.
Obama sneaks in, visits with troops By The Associated Press KABUL — After weeks dominated by health care, President Barack Obama’s secret trip to Afghanistan turned attention back to another issue whose progress this year could help define the success of his presidency. By deciding in December to order a massive buildup to the war he inherited, Obama placed a big bet. Nearly tripling the U.S. presence with 30,000 more troops, he escalated an unpopular war that has seen few gains in its eight years. Those new forces are still flowing in, and the first major cam-
paign under Obama’s new strategy was launched last month, in the south. Although Afghanistan has been eclipsed recently by the contentious, cliffhanger health care debate, Obama’s daunting challenge has not gone away. Obama must show Americans that the big infusion of U.S. troops, to reach a total of about 100,000 by summer, will be worth the additional loss of life. As Obama traveled to Afghanistan on Sunday for his first visit to the war zone as president, his aides made clear they understand the challenge and the importance of this year. “This is really a strategic moment in the history of our
involvement,” national security adviser Jim Jones said aboard Air Force One during the covert overnight flight to Afghanistan. Whether he was talking to Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the presidential palace in Kabul or before 2,500 cheering American troops at Bagram Air Field about 50 miles away, the message during his six hours on the ground was the same: Afghan leaders, particularly Karzai, must step up now and make progress on old demands. Those include reducing corruption, ensuring the delivery of basic services to Afghans, pro-
A falling wall of earth that threatened a giant pipe feeding the city’s water supply has been stabilized as officials planned to meet to decide on the next step. “It is a temporary fix,” said Kavanaugh Breazeale, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which worked with the City of Vicksburg throughout the weekend to correct the problem discovered Friday morning. “It’s stable, but it’s not resolved,” City of Vicksburg Public Works director Bubba Rainer said this morning. “My concern right now is to come up with a permanent solution.” Breazeale said at mid-morning that a meeting scheduled for today had not been held, but Rainer expected one later this morning. The land shift discovered Friday surrounds a 36-inch concrete water pipe that carries water in to the city from its water plant at E.W. Haining Industrial Center. Along Washington Street where the shift was noticed, the pipe is yards from where excavation work has begun for a Corps of Engineers Interpretive Center to accompany the MV Mississippi IV, which was moved onto land last year. During the weekend, Breazeale said the biggest fear associated with the sinking was heavy rain. No rain was in the forecast until the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. Throughout the day and into the night on Friday, dump trucks hauled
See Obama, Page A9.
See Water, Page A9.
Health overhaul expected to strain doctor shortage By The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Better beat the crowd and find a doctor. Primary care physicians already are in short supply in parts of the country, and the landmark health overhaul that will bring them millions more newly insured patients in the next few years promises extra strain. The new law goes beyond offering coverage to the uninsured, with steps to improve the quality of care for the average person and help keep us well instead of today’s seek-care-after-
on A7 Pharmacy firms preserved their hold you’re-sick culture. To benefit, you’ll need a regular health provider. Yet recently published reports predict a shortfall of roughly 40,000 primary care doctors over the next decade, a field losing out to the better pay, better hours and higher profile of many other specialties. Provisions in the new law aim to start reversing See Health care, Page A9.
The associaTed press
Michael and Mary DiSalvo hold a sign outside the home of Rep. Steve Driehaus, D-Ohio, in Cincinnati Sunday as they protest his vote for the health care reform bill.
New CAP center boss sets month of events
Suicide bombs in Russia kill 37, injure 65
By Manivanh Chanprasith mchan@vicksburgpost.com
By The Associated Press
The Exchange Club of Vicksburg Child Abuse Prevention Center has a new driver, and she has a plan for April, which is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Erma Driver became executive director in August, and the coming month is her first dedicated to making the public aware of the goals — and needs — of the center and the children it helps. “We’re taking the entire month to do communitySee CAP, Page A9.
If you go Child Abuse Prevention Month • Grand Opening/Open house — 5-7 p.m. April 6; James Wilkerson, speaker; office at 3527 Manor Drive • Day of Remembrance — 5:30 p.m. April 12; Dr. Robert Walker, speaker; Art Park at Catfish Row on Levee Street; open to public. • Blue Jean & Blue Ribbon day — April 23; everyone encouraged to wear blue jeans and blue ribbons. • Storybook Time — 10:30 a.m. Thursdays in April; story time by volunteers of Vicksburg Exchange Club; Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library, 700 Veto St.; free.
He Has Risen - Praise God HAPPY EASTER
MOSCOW — Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up today in twin attacks on Moscow subway stations jam-packed with rush-hour passengers, killing at least 37 people and wounding 65, officials said. They blamed the carnage on rebels from the Caucasus region. The blasts come six years after Caucasus Islamic separatists carried out a pair of deadly Moscow subway strikes and raise concerns that the war has once again KATIE CARTER•The Vicksburg PosT
Erma Driver
Frank J.
FISHER FUNERAL HOME
(601) 636-7373 1830 Cherry St. Vicksburg, MS
See Russia, Page A9.