Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 1

Happy annivers Beattie School marks its 50th year. Homeroom 1C Chiefs win showdown Kansas City reaches 5-0 record after beating Denver. SportsID $50,000 INSIDE TODflYI 83 52 Details, 6B 7Xr TXTTST XT MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA JoimNAKiy Star www.journalstar.com hi fcXv If i Kl- i- "i II Analysis2A TURKEY XTi In retaliation for the latest suicide attack by Palestinians, Israeli forces bomb an alleged Islamic Jihad training base across the border. cus must cease harboring terrorists and make a clean break from those responsible for planning and directing terrorist action from Syri The Israeli strike will send a message throughout the Middle East. Sea SYRIA foirnascos 1RAQ BY JASON KEYSER The Associated Press MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights Israel bombed a target inside Syria that it claimed was an Islamic Jihad training base, striking deep inside its neighbor's territory Sunday for the first time in three decades and widening its pursuit of Palestinian militants.

The airstrike a retaliation for a Mildolan l. suicide bombing Saturday that killed 19 Israelis alarmed the Arab world and deepened concerns that three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence could spread through the region. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for Saturday's bombing, in which 55 people were wounded. Washington urged both sides to show restraint but added pointed criticism of Syria, saying Damas- an soil. Withlittleoptionfor military retaliation, Syria turned for international support.

On requests from Damascus, the U.N. Security Council and the 22-member Arab League held emergency sessions Sunday as Syria's foreign minister Farouq al- 0 100 mi THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 4 sw' yt. 0 100 km Syrian students walk Sunday past the wreckage of an Israeli jet downed by Syrian forces in October 1973 and now on display in Damascus. Israeli warplanes bombed what they said was an Islamic Jihad training base Sunday morning, the first Israeli attack on Syrian soil in more than 20 years. SAUDI ARABIA ISR See SYRIA, Page 2A SOURCES: Associated Press; ESRI AF 1 o-'y j- Woman kills pastor, mom, then herself The Atlanta woman had recently lost her job and been released from a mental-health facility, church and family members say.

The Associated Press ATLANTA A woman opened fire at an Atlanta church before services started Sunday morning, killing her mother and the minister before committing suicide. Congregants of Turner Monumental AME Church said SheliaW. Chaney Wilson, 43, was agitated when she came to the church in the Kirkwood neighborhood on the city's east side. Wilson apparently shot the Rev. Johnny Clyde Reynolds, 62, after he greeted her and was walking away with his back to her, said Adanta police spokesman Sgt.

John Quigley. Police believe Wilson then shot her mother, Jennie Mae Robinson, 67, once in the head before turning the gun on herself. One woman in the sanctuary at the time fled after the first shot was fired, and the other took cover behind a pulpit, Quigley said. He said an assistant pastor came in after hearing shots and found the three bodies on the floor. Wilson's cousin, Nekeshia Burton, said Wilson went to the church early in the morning to talk to Reynolds.

"Something wasn't sitting right with her," Burton said. But, she said, there were no signs that Wilson would become violent Assistant Pastor Christy Miller said the pastor had just finished teaching Sunday school and was walking through the sanctuary when he stopped to talk with Wilson and Robinson. Geraldine Andrews, the pastor's daughter-in-law and a friend of Wilson's family, said Robinson recenUy took her daughter out of a mental-health facility. Debra Mitchell, a member of the church, saidWilson had recendy lost her job. "We knew she has some instability, but we didn't know it was this deep," Mitchell said.

Many remembered Robinson, who taught Bible study, as "a sweet individual, always praying for other people, always doing missionary work," Mitchell said. The pastor was described as mild-mannered and generous. "There was nothing too small or too great that he'd do for you," Miller said. The shootings happened before most worshippers arrived for church. When they got there and heard what had happened, church members sobbed and hugged in front of the building.

"We're such a loving church, a family church," Miller said. "We'll support each other through this." ROBERT BECKERLincoln Journal Star Students board a bus for home after a school day at Dawson-Verdon Public School. After this year, the school as they know it will be gone. For families of students attending Dawson-Verdon Public School, the question is not just where they'll be going next year. With state aid dropping and local taxes rising across Nebraska, other Richardson County schools could be in flux, too.

Changes are corning fast on alls POPULATIONS 209 4,671 941 220 223 Dawson Falls City Humboldt Stella Verdon Second in a series Today: As Nebraska's economy has changed, so have the number and prosperity of the state's schools. Learn why Richardson County schools are struggling to survive, why Dawson-Verdon School Board members are politically involved at the state level and how the Legislature is thinking about saving money for schools in hard times. Coming Tuesday: Dawson-Verdon offers fewer classes and extracurricular activities than bigger schools. Why, then, are parents so upset about the school closing? Learn what they think makes their school special. Also, learn what changes the State Board of Education has in store for high school course requirements.

It's obvious how concerned both kids and parents are here. They have reason to be: After this year, the Dawson-Verdon school as they know it will be gone. Because of declining enrollment, the district gets less money each year from the state. Over three school years, its state aid has dropped more than a third, from $522,000 to $328,000. Local taxes paid to support the district have risen 15 percent in that time, to $607,000.

The area doesn't have much in the way of industrial or retail economy, and most of that tax burden falls on farmers and other property owners, who have fewer children in the schools. Wherever families end up next year, the changes aren't over. There are four public high schools in Richardson County, more than most counties in this corner of the state. Most everyone says they See CONSOLIDATE, Page 6A BY BARBARA NORDBY Lincoln Journal Star DAWSON Shelby Hitchcock is 12 years old and, like most kids at Dawson-Verdon Public School, can hold a conversation about the problems the district faces. She talked about it in science class one day this fall, between checking bread slices for emerging mold and answering homework questions about Earth's atmosphere.

"One thing I would like for our school is to have more money and stay open," she said. Shelby thought she might have the solution. "Don't you think the state should, like, give more money? They should give more money to the small schools because the big schools are in a city, and Dawson isn't even a town. "I think they should have less taxes and more money to give to schools," she said. "I'm not going II.

lUIIIIII UII.M u. mmjf, iim l-V vl i Mmmmmmammmmmmmmmmmmmam i nt.m fcHii'iitirm, i i lfir tHinB ill 21 ft SHEILA STORYUncoln Journal Star against the state or anything, but maybe they should think about the small schools." THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Two women embrace outside the Turner Monumental AME Church in Atlanta on Sunday after a woman shot the pastor and her mother before killing herself. SportsID: Cubs win their first playoff series since the World Series of 1908. LocalIB: Woman behind the Roe v. Wade case talks at Sunday's Life Chain in Lincoln.

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