Baxter Bulletin from Mountain Home, Arkansas • 16

THE BAXTER BULLETIN, Mountain Home. Arte. Monday. January 25. 1999 Page 16 Beebe picks up the pieces after deadly tornado The National Weather Service has rated the storm an F-3 on the Fujita scale of tornado intensity.

Such storms have winds of 158-206 mph. Forecasters placed the Beebe storm at the upper end of the scale. A storm that hit Little Rock the same night was rated as a less-severe F-3. "It was the (large) width of the tornado that made it unusual," said John Robinson, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service. The exact width hadn't been determined.

Residents in Beebe consoled one another as they assisted in the clean-up. Many said they Feb. 1, although they not sure where. Utility crews restored power, water and phone service to parts of the city Saturday. City officials were urging residents to boil water before using it because it had not been tested since being turned on.

Testing would be complete by Tuesday at the earliest. The buzz of chain saws and the hum of bulldozers consumed the city as the Army National Guard worked to remove debris from streets and yards. To guard against looters, National Guardsmen blocked all entrances to Bet-be. allowing in only residents, emergency workers and reporters. drop to cleaning and relief efforts Saturday.

The National Weather Service said the Beebe tornado was probably the worst of more than 30 to hit Arkansas last week. Rick Torrence arrived at his half-destroyed home early Saturday ready to begin cleaning. He showed friends around, explaining how he dove into his kitchen pantry after feeling pressure in his ears and hearing the twister approach. Torrence said his son was upstairs under a desk when the storm hit. He felt himself being lifted up with the floor, then placed back down, Torrence said.

BEEBE (AD Wind gauged at 200 mph ripped the front of a North Main Street house plumb off, but inside, a Christ man tree stood perfectly upright with each gold ribbon still in place. "You see things that are just unexplainable," said Sandie Glover, standing in front of a damaged home. Her home was damaged as well. At other sites where homes once sat, only piles of cracked wood with concrete-slab foundations beneath were visible. But just next door, homes were virtually untouched.

The randomness of Thursday's tornadoes provided an eerie back Clinton promises to seek aid for Infant killed in storm buried after service BEEBE (AP) Against a backdrop of daisies, yellow carnations and the stark landscape of an Arkansas winter, a 2-month-old boy killed when a tornado ripped apart his town was buried Sunday. "It wasn't but just a little while ago I held him at the church, but God took him back," said Mike Thomas, pastor of the 16 Section Union Church. A crowd estimated at up to 400 turned out as Kirk McAfee was laid to rest in a 3-foot by 1-foot white-and-tan casket. "Sorrow comes but for a short time," Thomas said in graveside services at the Weir Cemetery, eight miles north of Beebe. Rick McKay of Greenbrier dug the grave with a backhoe, donating his labor.

He works with the child's mother at the Rural Metro Ambulance Service as an emergency medical technician. The boy's father is a Beebe firefighter. "You hate to see all these people you haven't seen in such a long time, under these circumstances," McKay said as mourners gathered under bright sunshine and in a light breeze. "A lot of these people are still grief-stricken," McKay said. The boy was staying with a grandmother when the tornado hit CLINTONFrom Page 1 a pro-life march downtown while Clinton headed for Beebe to tour more damage the governor found a message in the crystal-clear weather.

"It's a wonderful reminder today that, as the sun is shining, that has given us the courage and strength to pick up the pieces and move forward," Huckabee said after Clinton spoke. Funerals began Sunday with graveside services for 2-month-old Kirk McAfee, who died after being blown from his grandmother's home at Beebe. Both of the boy's parents were Beebe emergency workers. "It wasn't but just a little while ago I held him at the church, but God took him back," said Mike Thomas, pastor of the 16 Section Union Church. A tornado with winds estimated at 200 mph hit Beebe.

The president said he had been contacted by a political supporter, Kelton Keathley, who asked to call in a favor. "AH he asked me for was to give this community its schools back and to hurry," Clinton said. "They need it." Clinton said he would get as much aid as he could to the com "It's a humbling experience," he said. "It happens too quick to be scared or really even give it much thought." Two people were killed in Beebe, including a two-month old baby. City officials estimated 75 homes were heavily damaged.

Thirty homes were destroyed. The estimated property damage was $30 million here. Beebe's elementary, junior high and high schools located near one another were ravaged and made unusable. A new auditorium being built was destroyed. Jim Wooten, spokesman for Mayor Donald Ward, said school officials plan to resume classes walked stoically down the centers of streets, with tree limbs and other rubble to the side, as he approached his home of 12 years.

He met many of his old neighbors, whom he hugged tightly. "Isn't it incredible?" said Robin Loucks, who has lived just west of the Governor's Mansion for 33 years. "It's amazing," said Clinton, embracing her as he stared across the wrought iron fence into his old back yard. Huge trees lay broken on the ground. Moving closer to the house, the president saw Harry Hronas, his wife Chris and 16-year-old son William.

Clinton embraced Hronas, slapping him on the back and then wrapped up the whole family in a big bear hug. "How are you doing, neighbor?" Clinton asked. "I'm glad y'all weren't hurt." The house where the Hronas family lives sustained only minor damage the foundation seemed to shift a little, Mrs. Hronas said but an apartment they rent just south of their house lost part of its roof and several trees in the back yard. The Loucks, whose house was not damaged, planned to host a neighborhood meeting Sunday night to talk about rebuilding.

company spokesperson said the pace of growth in Internet services has been "significant," especially in the area of virtual domains, which allow a business to have a Web page address that does not include the Web host's name. CenturyTel's Internet service in Baxter County has grown from about 700 customers, in January 1997, to more than 3,000 customers today. Century-Tel spokesman Tom Gould said usage peaks each day between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m., reflecting the company's typical 80-20 split between residential and business customers. Leslie Dewey said northarkansas.net experiences an Internet "rush hour" between 6-9 p.m.

each evening, every weekend, and especially during bad weather. Responding to growth To meet the growing local demand for Internet services, NATCO Technologies said it has purchased a building in Mountain Home for its Internet-related equipment. NATCO said the Thursday and he was blown out victim of a swarm of tornadoes With hundreds of flowers workers gathered in a semi-circle around the gravesite during Kirk's service and a cassette tape provided music: "It was the will of God. There had to be a thorns." In Searcy, 650 to 700 people Wilson, 66, who was killed when her Center Hill mobile home was knocked over by a tornado. Wilson was a member of the Searcy were amazed at the outpouring of support from friends, neighbors and others from outside the city.

Larry Treadwell helped organize relief efforts based at the Church of Christ. Volunteers packed boxes of food and supplies to be delivered to those without transportation. But providing supplies was only half the story. How to encourage those whose lives were decimated was probably the hardest part, Treadwell said. "What can you do?" he said.

"You just try and be there for people." of her home. He was the youngest that hit the state. among them, volunteer emergency rose to live and die among the showed up for the funeral of Wanda to keep up nected by their ISP. "I am paying for unlimited service," he said, "and I would expect to get unlimited service." CenturyTel does have a "hard time-out" after eight hours, and spokesman Gould said the company is trying to educate the public not to abuse their "unlimited access" pricing scheme. More Information For more information about an ISP and their services, you can contact them at these numbers: CenturyTel: 1-800-667-8451 NATCO Technologies: 1-800-453-8800 northarkansas.net: 425-3100 The Twin Lakes Computer Users Group meets the second Thursday of each month, at 7 p.m., at Mountain Home High School.

At the March meeting, NATCO Technologies' president, Dr. Steven Sanders, will explain his company's Internet service upgrades. The club's e-mail address is: tlcugusa.net Their web site is: www.geoci-ties.com'CollegePark4801 of awards Last year, the Bomb Squad won the WPI Design Innovation award and the team selected Cole Cameron, a junior this year at Mountain Home High School, to receive the scholarship. Baxter Healthcare engineers consider the WPI Award to be the greatest single honor because the selection is made by the Bomb Squad's peers. Internet demand exceeds projections; companies try munity, and as fast as he could.

The city's schools complex sustained major damage. School officials hope to resume classes Feb. 1, but don't know where they'll meet. Far back in the crowd from where Clinton spoke from a flatbed truck was Paula Jones, who told The Associated Press that she had been visiting friends in the area when the storm struck. It was a deposition in her sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton that set off a chain of events leading to Clinton's impeachment.

"I didn't come to see him," said Mrs. Jones. "I came to see what they're going to do about the community." Clinton did not respond when a reporter shouted a question about Mrs. Jones being present. But he turned in apparent amazement to aides and asked, "What did he say?" Mrs.

Jones received an $850,000 payment from Clinton to settle the suit, which was dismissed by a federal district judge in Arkansas but was being considered by an appeals court for possible reinstatement. It is unclear how much Mrs. Jones will be able to keep after paying the multiple lawyers who handled her case. In his old neighborhood, Clinton Local growth Leslie Dewey is the Internet accounts manager at northarkansas.net, a service of internetmtnhome, which is a Yelcot Telephone Company subsidiary. Dewey said the company's business has grown 45-50 percent each year for the past two years, northarkansas.net offers dial-up Internet access in Mountain Home, Gassville, Cotter, Flippin, Yellville, and Harrison.

Dewey said one indicator of the growth in local Internet demand has been the attendance at free Internet classes the company offers its customers. Initially, beginner classes were available every other Tuesday night in Mountain Home. Within the past six months, however, they have shifted to weekly and a Thursday morning beginner class has been added, along with an intermediate and an advanced class. NATCO Technologies, a division of Northern Arkansas Telephone Company of Flippin, provides Internet service in Baxter, Marion, and Boone counties. A illustrate and generate excitement about the engineering design, assembly, and functionality of the team's robot.

Autodesk Design Your Future Award In an effort to inspire more young women to pursue careers in math, science, technology, and engineering, a summer 1999 internship at FIRST, in Manchester, N.H., will be awarded to one female participant. Each FIRST team can nominate one female for the community "To see the houses is just a nightmare, but to see the people climb out of them whole and hearty is such a blessing," Mrs. Loucks said. In a neighborhood not far from the Governor's Mansion, Dominique Simmons called to the president to "hang in there," referring to his troubles in Washington. "I will," the president called back.

John Robinson, warning-coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service at North Little Rock, said tornado reports came in from 38 locations but that the official number of tornadoes had not yet been determined. Little Rock and North Little Rock each was listed as being hit, though it is likely the same tornado hit both cities, he said. The same is likely true of Beebe and the small town of McRae, 4 miles to the north. There also were probably tornadoes that haven't been reported because they came down in remote areas. Entergy Arkansas said it anticipated all its customers would again have power by late Sunday evening.

After Thursday's storms, 63,500 customers were without lights. equipment will help eliminate delays in accessing the World Wide Web. "We are installing a multi-platform server that will distribute the Internet traffic for maximum speed," said NATCO president Dr. Steven Sanders. "Last year," he said, "NATCO added more access capacity to its Internet servers and more bandwidth to the backbone connection." NATCO has two backbone connections, one in Chicago and one in Dallas.

Whenever there is excessive traffic on one backbone, NATCO customers are automatically re-routed to the other backbone. Dewey, of northarkansas.net, said her company adds equipment based upon customer growth. Spokesman Tom Gould said CenturyTel prides itself on the quality of its Internet service, installing all-digital routers and the newest 56K modems in Mountain Home. CenturyTel's Internet servers, in Monroe, are connected to UUNet, their upstream provider. scholarships to eight of this year's FIRST participants.

Kettering University Scholarships This Flint, university will award two $5,000 scholarships to FIRST participants. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Design Innovation Scholarship All FIRST teams will select the team they believe: 1) produces the most innovative robot design, 2) thrives on partnership, 3) demonstrates enthu tooo INTERNETFrom Page 1 getting on the Net to do their homework, they're chatting with friends." He noted that many colleges offer courses via the Internet and people conduct job searches using the World Wide Web. Two years ago, Gould said, many people were "afraid" of the Internet, or simply could not afford to spend to purchase an Internet-ready computer. Now that "prices have come crashing down," he said, "you can pick up an Internet-ready computer for $1,000 or less." With the advent of Web TV, people now can get on the Internet for a few hundred dollars. Gould said CenturyTel's initial marketing studies assumed that 20 percent of the population would own a personal computer.

Of that group, 7-10 percent were expected to have Internet-capable PCs. Those numbers are now going up drastically," he said. School Board. Gould said CenturyTel plans to bring a second Tl line into the Mountain Home area this year to handle the growing Internet traffic and offer the best throughput. In addition to analog access to the Internet, all three local ISPs offer digital ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) service, which promises increased speeds while surfing the Internet.

The ease of getting connected to an ISP is directly related to that ISP's customer-to-modem ratio. CenturyTel spokesman Tom Gould said AOL and Compuserve average a customer-to-modem ratio of 27-32 users per modem. "We are significantly less than that," he said. Dewey said industry publications list a 10:1 or 8:1 ratio of customers-to-modem as "ideal." "We always keep our number below 8-to-l," said Dewey. "That's what we use as a guide." Dale Wagar, president of the Twin Lakes Computer Users Group, said many club members complain about being discon a number siasm for engineering and science, 4) displays the best sportsmanship, and 5) exhibits the best team spirit.

The winning team, in turn, will choose one student to receive a full, four-year scholarship at WPI, in Worcester, Mass. The Baxter Bomb Squad has the distinction of being the only team ever to finish among the top five finalists for the Chairman's Award three years in a row. warranty SUding and patio doom Free In Home Estimate CaH Ua Today www mtneom comwentherwise 3598 Hwy. 5 N. LJf rw Designed to performance, Tilt -In Msh tor Energy saving, Dual Any style: Lifetime Knitted Baxter Bomb Squad to be competing for BAXTERFrom Page 1 understanding of the challenges, opportunities, and satisfaction involved in" the disciplines of engineering and design.

Autodesk Excellence in Engineering Award This award goes to the team that produces the most creative and informative 30-second video using CAD (Computer Aided Design) and animation technology tools. The "info-mercial" must award, but they also must outline how the team would use a $5,000 cash prize to encourage more young women to participate in FIRST. Daniel Webster College Scholarship This Nashua, N.H., university will award an annual $7,500 scholarship for four years to one FIRST participant. Drexel University Scholarships This Philadelphia university will grant $5,000 annual MSI VINYL REPLACEMENT WINDOWS could get my weight under control. could feel better about myself.

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-rv FIRST PLACE BAXTER MEDICAL EQUIPMENT Call 425-5840 rl 1-5 333 Hwy. 13 Near Hospital Drive Hinged A Christ-centered four dimensional health program focusing on your spiritual, mental, emotional and physical well-being. Orientation Wednesday, Jan. 27th at 5:30 First Baptist Church 400 Club Blvd. Mountain Home (870) 425-6961 425-5533.