Hattiesburg American from Hattiesburg, Mississippi • 3

TATE LOCAL Monday, March 2, 1987 Hattiesburg AMERICAN 3 A Jones County picking up pieces '1 Jtey-A sP ft WwSfe -3 i th 01 consolation from the Rev. Trenton Parks, right, as they view the remains of their church. arte Pentarwstai Phnrrh nf bene rhmet nKr Margie Cooley, standing and Roberta Field, look over Ms. Field's home which was destroyed in the tornado that hit Jones County Saturday. AMERICAN Photos by Robert Milier SEAN SUMRALL, above left, a Northeast Jones High School student climbs a tree near Glade Elementary in Jones County to retrieve the flag that once flew over the school.

Sumrall said he hated to see a "U.S. flag up there in that condition." At right, Sumrall and his father, Larry, fold the flag. They plan to keep it as a reminder of the twister that hit Jones County Saturday, destroying Glade Elementary School and killing seven residents in the area. SSI -irt 'j' I AMERICAN Pholo by Larry Buckley A CHRISTMAS wish ended up in the front yard of a Jones County home following Saturday's killer tornado that swept through the area quickly leaving death and destruction behind. Photo by Kerth Gasttm CLINTON DICKERSON, in truckbegins cleaning up at his Jones County home Sunday with the assistance of nephews Nathon Dickerson, right, and Shannon Dickerson.

Tornado leaves tangled mess to clean, repair jT a. if vv- The storm did not treat other trailer residents as gently. While officials do not yet have all the details surrounding the seven people who died in the storm, witnesses say at least three people died in trailers in the Glade area. Another witness, Cecil Manning, said a woman who lived in a house trailer near his demolished home was killed when the storm blew her out of her trailer. Manning lives in an area south of Glade which was directly in the twister's path.

His demolished home is located on the Luther Hills Road just off the Tucker's Crossing-Ellisville Road. His carport was on top of what was left of the house. "It's important for you to say this. Prayer changes things," Manning said Sunday afternoon after a night of wakefulness. Most of the victims have relatives to stay with until they can decide what to do.

One woman who was trapped in her trailer home in the Martin park for an hour and a half, was walking the area on Highway 15 Sunday afternoon. Margie Smith said she and a woman friend were pinned under the wreckage of her trailer for an hour and a half before help could get through and lift it off them. Apparently, Mrs. Smith was one of the few people who knew the tornado was coming. "I was listening to my scanner when it anounced a tornado had been spotted in this section of Jones.

Then the scanner said it was likely on Highway 15. 1 hit the floor and the tornado hit me," Mrs. Smith said. Melvin Bradley was not home when the twister hit, but told of his wife who barely escaped death when it hit. "She was next door in the beauty shop with two women when they heard the storm, and they ran for our house," Bradley said.

"It was a good thing they eft because you see that debris across the road? That was the shop," he said. By NIKKI DAVIS MAUTE AMERICAN Stall Writer GLADE Victims of Saturday's killer tornado are picking up the few pieces left them by the twisting 300-mile-an-hour winds that in minutes changed forever a six-mile stretch of northeast Jones County. "It's a total loss," said Charles Holder Sunday afternoon as he tried to salvage items from his demolished home. Holder was one of thousands of people in the two-mile wide, six-mile long section of Jones County hardest hit in the tornado Saturday morning. Holder's brick home is across Mississippi 15 from the destroyed Glade Elementary School.

"The governor was here yesterday. He stood right there and talked to us for 35 minutes. He said he had people around assessing the damage. He walked through there for two hours," he said. "I really admire him for what he did." The area Holder said drew the governor's attention was Martin Trailer Park, which had contained eight house trailers.

Three were standing after the tornado. "My wife and I were here with our granddaughter and we heard it," Holder said. "I got them into the bathroom and I was going to let up a window in the bedroom. That's what they used to say to do. Then the noise changed from a roaring to a screeching sound and I knew I didn't have time to get to the window." Holder said it lasted about 35 seconds and the pressure inside the house was tremendous.

"It hurt our heads. We looked outside and when we saw the devastation caused in 35 seconds we would not have believed it if we had not lived through it," Holder said. He said that about 11 years ago, another tornado followed the same general path, but "that one did not do nothing like this." A couple living in a house trailer down the hill from him woke up in their yard with the trailer blown away, he said. 1 AMERICAN pholo by Ni Djv-s Miutc EARL JONES stands near his home which was destroyed by Saturday's tornado. "I figured if I could last one minute I would be all right," he said.

Earl Jones, who lives just down the road and across "You "ever heard such a racket with trees falling," the street from Bradley, had to dig his way out of his Jones said. "I figured if I could last one minute I home. would be all right." i.