The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 1

INSIDE: COMPLETE COVERAGE OF DEADLY STORM 8A, 9A, 10A I i MONTGOMERY ADE FINAL EDITION 50C Incorporating the Alabama Journal MARCH 7, 19 get nightmares, and that's why I sleep with my parents sometimes. Last night I had a real one. i i Twisters batter area; 6 killed fir i I 1 'ji Eight-year-old Al-vis Earl Burton, left, and 14-year-old Brooks Lenior walk through the debris at Sparks mobile home park in Selma on Wednesday morning. Both boys' mobile homes were destroyed in the tornado, which swept through Selma about 4 a.m. Wednesday.

About a dozen mobile homes in the park were destroyed and four people were reported killed. See story, Page 8A. 9 v.4. N' I MARK MILLERSTAFF By Matt Smith ADVERTISER STAFF WRITER An uneasy dusk settled over Montgomery on Wednesday after pre-dawn storms killed six people in central Alabama including two who died in a mobile home park on the city's eastern edge. Searchers found their bodies Wednesday in the wreckage of the Country Estates mobile home park off Ryan Road.

The two dead in Montgomery join four others in Selma, most killed as tornadoes slammed into mobile homes. The storms left another 17 people injured in Country Estates, and 37 in the Selma area. A string of tornadoes across the south and east sides of Montgomery four to six, according to the National Weather Service in Birmingham combined with short, intense "microbursts" of straight-line winds to shatter trees, strip the roofs off buildings and overturn cars. In Selma, a single tornado with winds that could have reached 170 miles per hour cut a path 12 miles long and up to 400 yards wyle, the weather service reported. In Montgomery County, nearly 160 homes, mobile homes or apartment buildings were damaged.

In addition, 18 businesses and three schools suffered from the storm, authorities said. Gov. Fob James declared a state of emergency throughout Alabama as a tornado watch stretched into Thursday morning and more heavy thunderstorms brewed to the west. Forecasters extended a tornado watch until midnight Wednesday and were prepared to extend it into the early hours of today. A cold front moving into the Southeast Please turn to TWISTERS, 10A -4 Storm cuts path of death, damage through Dallas Storm losses heavy 1 's.

-'c i iiiiim, -i ii in i H. in n. hm-i- In. hi By Ben Spiess ADVERTISER STAFF WRITER ing," said Dallas County Emergency Management Agency spokesman Floyd Harris. "It just hit, moved on and left us with a lot of death and destruction." Killed were John and Linda Barlow, whose mobile home was demolished near a pond about a mile from Summer-field Road; William C.

Purdie, 70, and his 18-year-old granddaughter, Natasha Purdie, a senior at Selma High School. The Purdies died when their house in Marion Junction was destroyed by a tornado, which weather officials said had winds of up to 170 mph. Spokeswomen at Vaughan Regional Please turn to DALLAS, 10A By Alvin Benn ADVERTISER STAFF WRITER SELMA A killer tornado slashed a 12-mile path of misery through the Selma area early Wednesday, claiming four lives and injuring dozens of people. The same storm system killed two people and injured 17 in Montgomery. In Selma, as many as 70 houses and mobile homes were destroyed or badly damaged by tornadic winds and heavy rain that blew in from the west, crossed the Cahaba River and slammed into a mobile home park and subdivision about 4 a.m.

"We didn't have any advance warn MICKEY WELSHSTAFF An aerial view shows homes destroyed or damaged in the east Montgomery subdivision of Bri-dlebrook Farms. 1 sftiifa siSLof destruction As Ernest Burgans wandered through his devastated mobile home about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, he was concentrating on the little things: his belt, his jeans and his car keys. "If I can find them, I'll be In business," Mr. Burgans said.

Two hours later, and five hours after the tornado hit his home, rescuers made a tragic find: the bodies of two of his nephews, Timothy and John Severs, beneath a tangle of lumber, sheet metal and insulation of his mobile home. I "That's John and that's Timothy," he said, identifying his nephews when sheriffs deputies pulled back the sheets covering their bod-ies. Mr. Burgans' belt, jeans and keys were now little things in th large picture of the tornado's destruction. The tornado that hit Montgomery County, including Country Estates mobile home park and Bridlebrook Farms, had a path about three miles long, said Brian Peter, a meteorologist with the National Several microbursts and weak tornadoes struck the Montgomery area shortly after 5 a.m.

A severe tornado, with a path 200 yards wide and 3 miles long, struck the Ryan Road area with winds of 100-plus mph. STORM FACTS Dead: 6 4 in Selma, 2 in Montgomery. Most were in mobile home parks. Injured: 37 in Selma, 17 in Montgomery. School closings today: Georgia Washington Junior High School.

Saint James Collier elementary students temporarily transferred to Frazer campus. Buildings damaged: 112 homes, 25 mobile homes, 18 businesses, 22 apartment buildings, 3 schools. Power outages: Fewer than 5,000 Alabama Power customers in the Montgomery area were without power Wednesday night. Power company officials expected to restore electricity to nearly all area customers by midnight Wednesday. Phone outages: About 2,000 in Montgomery, less than 50 in Dallas County; up to 2,500 customers lost phone service.

Frazer campus. BTwo killed, 17 injured at Country Estates mobile home park. Roof torn off Georgia Washington Jr. High School; school remains closed today. HTwo homes demolished, about 40 homes damaged at Bridlebrook Farms.

01 8-wheeler blown over on Interstate 65 near South Boulevard. Roofs torn away, power lines downed in Nor-mandale; WCOV tower falls. BWoodley Road closed by fallen trees; Bear Elementary damaged. Saint James Collier campus suffers severe damage; classes moved to Hope V- 231" Weather Service in Birmingham. From a helicopter, the winds ap-, pear to have touched down near the Montgomery city limits dn J.

staff Please turn to LOSSES, 10A uA 3f. i Volunteer fireman charged in church arson! WEATHER: Partly sunny and much colder today and tonight. See 14A. Baptist 7 a.m today to 7 a.m. Friday 5- JAk BUSINESS 5B LIFE 1C CLASSIFIED 11C.6D LOCAL NEWS 1B COFFEE BREAK 8C MOVIES 5C COMICS OBITUARIES 4B CROSSWORD 8C SPORTS 1D EDITORIAL 12-13A TV LOG 4C GOVERNMENT 3B WEATHER 14A Deputy District Attorney Ed Greene said.

New Liberty Baptist Church, built in the 1800s and renovated in 1910, was destroyed Feb. 28 and arson was suspected from the start. Mr. Greene said Deer told authorities that he used a small propane gas torch to set the fire. The church burned to the ground within a few minutes.

By the time the Tyler Fire Department arrived at the scene, there was little left of the structure. Authorities said Deer apparently joined the unit after setting the fire and tried to help put it out. Black leaders have indicated that the New Liberty fire might be connected in some way to three suspicious fires that destroyed black Baptist churches in Greene County in recent months, but authorities insist that is not the case. "The motive behind the (New Liberty) church fire is unclear at this time, however, there is no evidence to suggest any Please turn to ARSON, 3A By Alvin Benn ADVERTISER STAFF WRITER SELMA A white volunteer fireman was charged Wednesday with arson in a fire that destroyed a black church in rural Dallas County last week. Christopher Allen Deer, 19, could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison if convicted of arson or even longer if authorities pursue the case under Alabama's hate crime statute, Dallas County hJl.

rj a We recycle paper and use soy-based inks. hi Deer 't A Gannett Newspaper 0 1996 The Advertiser Co. Vol. 1 69, No. 243 44 Pages COMING FRIDAY: Business Council of Alabama tries to mediate between big business and electricity suppliers .1.