Monday - March 05, 2007

For The Children

When I was in high school in south Alabama (a little town called Opp) way back when (the mid-1960’s), our biggest football rival was Andalusia, the country seat. The second biggest game each year was against Enterprise. They were a much bigger school than us but we always gave them a hard time - and sometimes won. Today I feel nothing but sorrow for the school - and for the parents who lost children there last week.

In addition to the school, the local Red Cross office was destroyed. So I’m asking you to make a donation if you can to help out. A little prayer for the folks down there would also be appreciated. Thanks.

_{Scott Stantis - The Birmingham (Alabama) News}

Twister Hits High School In Alabama, Killing 15
_{ENTERPRISE, ALA. (GLOBE & MAIL) - March 2, 2007}

Tornadoes ripped through Alabama and killed at least 18 people yesterday, including 15 at a high school where students became pinned under debris when a roof collapsed, state officials said. As night fell, crews dug through piles of rubble beneath portable lights at Enterprise High School, looking for other victims.

“The number could very well increase as the search effort continues through the night,” state emergency-management spokeswoman Yasamie Richardson said. The storm struck about 1:15 p.m., and Ms. Richardson said some students were still trapped three hours later. Erin Garcia, a 17-year-old senior, said students had gathered in hallways around 11 a.m. as a precaution.

School officials wanted to send them home around 1 p.m., she said, but the weather turned bad and sirens wailed. Then, she said, the lights went out. I was just sitting there praying the whole time,” she said. After the storm passed, she found the hallway she was in was spared, but a roof and wall collapsed on students in another hallway.

“It was scary. It sounded like a bunch of people trying to beat the wall down. It was complete chaos out in the hallway,” she said. More than 50 people were hospitalized as the violent storm front crossed the state. Two died elsewhere in Enterprise and one in rural Millers Ferry, where a separate storm wrecked mobile homes, Ms. Richardson said.

The burst of tornadoes was part of a larger line of thunderstorms and snowstorms that stretched from Minnesota to the Gulf Coast. Authorities blamed a tornado for the death of a seven-year-old girl in Missouri, and twisters also were reported in Kansas. At Millers Ferry, about 100 kilometres west of Montgomery, trailer homes were flipped over and trees downed, said Bernadine Williams in the Wilcox County emergency-management office.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/05/2007 at 05:50 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Personal •  
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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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