Globe-Gazette from Mason City, Iowa • 1

Coming Tuesday: Cranberries more than just a Thanksgiving treat. Taste 77nc 0 a bout the Sacks appeal: Annual sale is big business in Osage not quite P2S3 A3 Glo BE GiAZE i Monday, Nov. 14, 2005 www.globegazette.com Mason CityClear Lake, Iowa rifiiora ft ioui tool I If 500 A -TV -r 7 Si STRATFORD (AP) Ron Runyan couldn't hear the sirens. The winds were deafening. In a matter of moments, the quiet weekend Runyan had planned with his mother and sister turned into a nightmare.

Runyan, a 47-year-old truck driver from Fargo, N.D., looked outside his mother's window Saturday night and saw a howling tornado towering over the house. He had just enough time to rush his family into the basement before disaster struck. "My sister fell down right below the stairs, and my mom, with the wind, kind of took her away from me," he said Sunday as he looked across a pile of rubble that once was his mother's home. "It was so dirty, I couldn't see her and that was it." His mother, Lucille Runyan, 84, was the only person killed in storms that produced at least nine tornadoes on Saturday. Ron Runyan's sister, Nancy Runyan, 53, remained hospi- AP photo Iowa Gov.

Tom Vilsack (left) meets Sunday with Larry Runyan, who lost his mother in a tornado that struck the Stratford area Saturday. Vilsack declares areas a disaster By CHARLOTTE EBY Globe Gazette Des Moines Bureau WOODWARD Gov. Tom Vilsack issued disaster declarations for two central Iowa counties hit by tornadoes that damaged dozens of homes and killed one person Saturday. Vilsack spent Sunday afternoon touring tornado-damaged areas in Dallas and Hamilton counties and meeting with first responders and local residents. "In small communities See VILSACK, A2 i SARAH SCHUTTThe Globe Gazette Volunteers help clean up debris in Stratford on Sunday after a towns were hit by tornadoes.

Woodward and Stratford, where killed, were the hardest hit. talized Sunday night with a declined to release her condi- broken hip. She was taken to tion. Mary Greeley Medical Center Meanwhile, crews were in Ames, where officials cleaning up the debris of AP photo tornado tore through the town on Saturday. At least 10 Iowa as many as 70 homes were destroyed and an elderly woman Lucille Runyan's home as hex before, son stood across the street, "Everything happened so eating a sandwich and recall fast," he said.

"We were down ing the terror of the night See TORNADO, A2 V. of Dec. 31, there were 3,315 people on death row, compared to 3,378 a year earlier. Tracy Snell, one of the report's authors, said the i I i 4 atSi pirwiM Bess li mm Id Numbers of executions, death sentences are declining, government reports popplar number of prisoners under death sentences has declined four years in a row, the result of a murder rate now at its lowest level in 40 years. One death penalty advocate said the threat of harsh punishment is responsible for that falling rate.

"There are less murders, less murder victims and less death sentences because, in our view, we have been giving this problem the right medicine," said Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Sacramento, Calif. See EXECUTIONS, A2 I EXECUTIONS IN 2004 ROW POPULATIONS Texas: 23 California: 637 Ohio: 7 Texas: 446 Oklahoma: 6 Florida: 364 Virginia: 5 Pennsylvania: 222 North Carolina: 4 Ohio! 201 South Carolina: 4 4- Alabama: 1 93 Alabama: 2 North Carolina: 181 Florida: 2 Georgia: 109 Georgia: 2 Arizona: 105 Nevada: 2 Tennessee: 99 Arkansas: 1 Top 10 states as of Dec. 31 By The Associated Press Curly, a short-haired black cat at the Humane Society of North Iowa, makes himself comfortable in the arms of shelter manager Tracy Hamand. I ffoc Bow Adoption better late than never for some long-in-the tooth pets WASHINGTON (AP) The ranks of people sentenced to death and the number executed declined in 2004 as the nation's death row population kept shrinking, the government reported Sunday. Last year, a dozen states executed 59 prisoners, six fewer than in 2003, according to the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The report also said 125 people, including five women, who were convicted of murder received a death sentence last year. That was the smallest number since 1973. Last year, 22 death row Since having a heart transplant in June, Mason City's Dave Olson walks as part of his rehabilitation, enjoying every step along the way. He got his new heart after waiting for almost a year and a half with a mechanical pump helping to keep him alive. V.

SARAH SCHUTT7 The Globe Gazette JT Jazmine Nikki y0 ml inmates died of natural causes or committed suicide, while an additional 107 had their sentences commuted, tossed out or overturned. As 1 ri 1 1 Becoming mostly cloudy with rain chance Dave Olson enjoying his renewed life one heartfelt day at a time Transplant patient has new outlook By BOB LINK Of The Globe Gazette MASON CITY A red heart decorates Dave Olson's chest. It includes inscriptions with black lettering of his name, the numbers 5-5-9, which is the code for a heart transplant and 63005, the date he received a new heart. "I always wear it," he said. "I can never forget it." Olson, 58, is recovering from a successful heart transplant at Fairview-University Medical Center in Minneapolis.

"I'm feeling good he said four months after transplant. "I take a lot of pills and I'll feel better when I'm off the steroids, but things are going well." Olson's troubles started in December 2003. Just days after having a physical which did not detect a problem, he suffered a heart attack. On Christmas Day, his family nearly lost him. Technically See TRANSPLANT, A2 By JULIE BIRKEDAL Of The Globe Gazette MASON CITY Two black dogs and a black cat are among the long-timers waiting for homes at the Humane Society of North Iowa.

It's not unusual for the center to have one or two long-term residents, said Tracy Hamand, shelter manager. "Generally, black dogs stay longer than any other," she said. "Usually, it's males, but the two I have are female." For some reason, the question of which animal to adopt often comes down, not to breed, but to color, Hamand said. With cats, the color question goes in streaks, she said. Some years, black cats wait longer for homes.

Other time, it's the orange cats. Temperament rightly comes into play with adoptions as well. il Ski People want to adopt a friendly cat and the independent felines tend to wait for homes a bit longer, she said. Curly came to the shelter with brothers Larry and Moe on Feb. 18.

He's a friendly, short-haired, personable black cat with a coat that glistens. "When we got him he was what we call a teenager. So he was ambitious and full of energy," Hamand said. He didn't have time to socialize then, but now, at about 18 months, he's a See PETS, A2 DLCG Spoiler: Seven count 'em, seven Globe bloggers now. ZSgRErX Today's High Today's Low Li Classified Ads B6-8 Comics B5 Entertainment A6 Iowa News Lewis Clark A6 il 3 National News A5 North Iowa A3 Obituaries A7 Opinion A4 World News A5 Business Office: (641)421-0500 News Sports: (641)421-0524; (800)421-0524 increasing after noon.

Tonight may see some snow around midnight. 47 34.