The Advocate-Messenger from Danville, Kentucky • 5

1 3 1 as XJHMKkSk it f' 1k BgaflftigkJBMlHMfeIra AP Photo An American flag still flies in front of the home of Sudie Gonzoles center as she is helped by relatives after surveying damage to her home on Pocahontas Island in Pe tersburg VaM Saturday Tornado victims were trying to escape smashed store By Heidi Nolte Brown Associated Press Writer COLONIAL HEIGHTS Va (AP) The three people killed when a tornado slammed into a darkened department store were heading for the front doors when the twister hit au thorities said Saturday were in the process of coming out of the store be cause the power was Co lonial Heights police Capt Larry Williams said The tornado hit the front of the store first cutting a swath 40 to 50 feet wide A fourth person was killed when the storm hit a Prince George County construction site riday Williams said everyone known to be in the Wal Mart store had been accounted for Saturday Nevertheless work ers planned to resume their search through the rubble af ter engineers stabilized walls and ceilings What remained of the front wall tee tered precariously toward the ravaged interior earing that people could have been swept out of the building by the ferocious winds authorities also searched a brushy area around a lake behind the store 4 people killed 170 injured in Virginia storm but found nothing' was so quick probably nobody had time to do any said Robert Bohan non a police chaplain who counseled many of the 119 who were injured in the store The people in the store were among 170 hurt when twisters slashed through several Vir ginia localities riday Tornadoes rarely strike Vir ginia and was the deadliest to hit the state since 1959 when 10 people were killed by an Albemarle County twister The last torna do in 1989 killed two people in the Shenandoah Valley dead were identi fied as Wal Mart employees Cheryl Diane Weisheim 40 and Carolyn Gunn 48 cus tomer Mae Prosise 57 and Morris Gupton Jr 28 the Prince George County victim Most of the injured where taken to Southside Regional Medical Center Seventeen people were admitted and one remained in serious condition Saturday Injuries ranged from broken bones to head and neck problems The storm also injured at least 30 people in Petersburg and ravaged the historic Old Towne district Damage in the city was estimated at $10 million The tornado was packing winds of 210 mph when it struck Petersburg meteorolo gist Jim Belville of the Na tional Weather Service in Rockville Md said The winds had diminished to 125 mph by the time the twister hit the Wal Mart The funnel then crossed the James River at the Varina Enon Bridge near Hopewell where a wave of water and wind knocked several tractor trailers over like toys Three members of congressional delegation prom ised Saturday to seek federal disaster aid for hard hit locali ties Petersburg Mayor Rosalyn Dance said a tornado warning came several minutes after the twister struck but that of ficials blaming the Na tional Weather Service ederal officials visit flood stricken areas PRAIRIE DU ROCHER Hl (AP) ederal officials toured flood stricken areas of south ern Illinois on Saturday seek ing to assure residents their pleas for help will be an swered Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy ederal Emergency Management Agency Director James Lee Witt Rep Richard Gephardt Mo and Rep Jerry Costello Ill flew into this Mississippi River town in an Army helicopter after fly ing over district is a tremendous disas Espy said after meeting with local officials fact it has moved beyond the cate gory of disaster it is now a ca In Prairie Du Rocher settled by the rench in 1722 officials found a community struggling against the odds and appar ently winning A gamble early last week to dynamite a Mississippi River levee three miles northwest of town in order to drain off the floodwaters appeared to have paid off The water level had fallen about 5 feet since Tuesday morning when water was seeping under the main levee north of this town of 540 resi dents Despite police orders to stay away tourists were visiting the levee at a spot where a HR Address State Zip City Phone Learn a new skill Increase your tax knowledge Convenient times locations SOOH Tax 105 Citation Dr Box 15 Danville Ky 40423 9179 608 238 3281 iContact our nearest office Please send me free information about your tax preparation course Name US flag is flying They can peer out over the levee and see the roofs of farmhouses and grain silos sticking out of the water in the distance At a grade school federal of ficials heard from local leaders from a seven county area who reported being besieged by ho meowners demanding to know when they could return to their houses and if it would be worth it to rebuild going to try to solve these temporary prob lems and get you through this as best as we Gephardt said also going to look at the long term for the upper Mississippi River Noise Reduction Breakthrough Now Available In Canal Aids! I Hearing Services II Circuit continu ously monitors the environment and automatically adjusts in differ ent listening situations Now have the advantages of this advanced circuit in the smallest canal aids Loud How It Works Noise ilter Speech Enhancement ilter Call Today or Your Hearing Test Appointment1 TINDER KRAUSS TINDER Hearing Aid Center 435 Martin Luther King Blvd Danville Ky 238 9494 THE KENTUCKY ADVOCATE Sunday August 81993 A5 Soldier kills 4 wounds 6 in North Carolina restaurant By Martha Waggoner Associated Press Writer AYETTEVILLE NC (AP) Some people screamed and ducked under the tables Oth ers tried to run out of the res taurant when a man armed with three guns and shouting about the president and homo sexuals in the military started shooting our people were killed and six wounded before police shot down the gunman Warrants issued on Satur day charge Army Sgt Kenneth Junior rench 22 with four counts of first degree murder and six counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill rench who was wounded in the leg and jaw was' listed in stable condition at Cape ear Valley Medical Center He has refused to talk to po lice and has asked for a law yer said Lt David Pulliam of the ayetteville Police Depart ment rench a native of Zephyrhills la is stationed at ort Bragg which borders ayetteville about 50 miles south of Raleigh He has been in the Army since June 1 1989 serving as a mechanic according to Sgt Ron Gardin er a military spokesman rench had no special weap ons training and no negative reports are in his service record Gardiner said He pre viously was stationed at ort Jackson SC and in Korea Pulliam said rench appar ently had never been to the restaurant before Police not found any connection be tween rench and any of the people who work at Italian restaurant which is about a mile from ort Bragg appears was just randomly Pulliam said rench drove a black Chev rolet truck to the restaurant and wore a hunting vest po lice said got out of the truck loaded for Pulliam said Police Sgt Mike Ballard said rench entered the res taurant about 10 pm riday spoke loudly about letting faggots in the mili and opened fire The gunman had two shotguns and 1 a 22 caliber rifle When the shooting ended the owners 73 year old Peter Parrous and his 65 year old wife Ethel were found dead in a booth to the right of the entrance They ap peared to be clutching one an other lot of people are going to cry for Mr Pete fam ily friend Peter Poulous said was a leader He was an excellent family Parrous a native of north ern Greece had lived in ay etteville for 54 years and in troduced pizza to the town Poulous said The other victims were 26 year old Wesley Scott Covef of ayetteville and 46 year old James Kidd of Wheaton Ill Pulliam said he heard that Kidd and his adult son tried to hide under their table and Kidd tried to shield his son I Of the injured three were treated at a hospital and re leased and three were listed in stable condition Saturday Dawn Gabriel a waitress at the restaurant said the gun man appeared to be drunk but Pulliam said that been confirmed Ms Gabriel who was shaky and teary eyed said she hid under a booth in the restau rant: know I was there I know the only reason still alive was just talking about gays in the she said said show you Clinton He was shoutingYou think not going to do He said show you about gays in the President Clinton has or dered that homosexuals be al lowed to serve in the military as long as they do not reveal their sexual orientation rench was shot by an off duty policeman Christopher Pryer who was working at his part time job at a grocery store about 200 yards from the restaurant when several bul lets hit the side of the build ing The officer ran across the street and fired at rench through a restaurant window said police Chief Ron Hansen The gunman went down then got back up and more police arrived Police Lt Bill Simons crawled through a rear door on his stomach and shot rench as he was about to load his third weapon police said Woman who torched gas sniffing son gets life sentence POPLARVILLE Miss (AP) A woman who splashed her gas sniffing son with his own gasoline and set him ablaze was sentenced to life in prison Tina Ward 34 pleaded guilty to murder riday in the death of her 15 year old son as part of a plea bargain to avoid a death sentence but her law yer said she admitting she planned the death She was to go on trial Mon day for capital murder in the September 1992 death of James Stallings Relatives say the teen had been treated for gasoline sniff ing addiction Authorities said Ward caught him sniffing gas oline threw some on him and set him ablaze 1 NEW '93 CONVERSION VANS I i 1 hJ I V' a i III! 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