The Herald-Palladium from Benton Harbor, Michigan • A1

By LILA CHANDLER H-P Correspondent Dr. Roy Winslow and his wife, Bev, have felt the financial pinch like everyone else. But like others who have taken on humanitarian and church missions overseas, they have decided that helping those in need is well worth the sacrifice. Rwanda: A conscious budget priority Between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2009, the Winslows spent about a month in Rwanda, where they have visited 12 times since 1979. A surgeon with Southwestern Medical Clinic, Roy is deeply committed to Kibo- gora Hospital in Rwanda.

While his role has shifted over the years as Kibogora has built its own quali ed staff of nationals, he keenly feels the need to return. After so many visits, you land you hit the ground running already built relationships with the and are familiar with the facility, Roy said. been no surgeon there for several months, so lots of surgeries were lined On the most recent trip, he lled the surgical gloves of Ted Sugimoto, who was spending time in the United States. Bev stayed busy teaching English to several groups of about 10 people each, and tutoring the hospital administrator in English. In 2008, the Rwandan government announced the nation would switch from French to English, making English the of cial language of business, diplomacy and scholarship.

This meant that English would immediately be taught in Rwandan schools. She also trained someone to continue the English classes. plans are to have several big classes at the in 2010, Bev said. This trip the second to Rwanda for Roy in 2009 weighed a little heavier on the budget because of the economy. Travel prices were up, Roy said, and physicians are challenged by shrinking insurance company payments and other nancial trends in the medical industry.

But they decided it would be money well-spent. committed to missions. My view is, relative to our U.S. situation, full-time overseas physicians receive very little pay, and this is a chance to help support Roy explained. consider it our second his wife added, allowing for the possibility that they might someday retire there.

Paraguay: Postponed Members of The First Church of God in St. Joseph have taken numerous overseas trips. One favorite destination is Paraguay, where members have helped build several churches over the past decade. The church had planned a fifth trip this winter, but the trip has been postponed, according to Pastor Bob Confer. the church down there ready for us yet, so we are projecting to do a trip next January-February Confer said.

economy down there is slow like up here. Plus the pastor for this has not built before, and he ran By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer DETROIT In a few short weeks, Toyota has done what General Motors, Ford and other automakers have failed to accomplish for decades: Erase the perception that the Japanese cars are of much higher quality than those of its rivals. A series of recent safety recalls now totaling more than 8.5 million vehicles worldwide has cracked bulletproof reputation and given rivals an opportunity to capture some of its customers. Toyota stumbled as industry sales are just starting to climb after the worst slump in 30 years. not yet clear which automakers will bene- most, but several stand to benefit and are wooing Toyota drivers with new ads and incentives.

perception game has said James Bell, an executive market analyst for the vehicle information company Kelley Blue Book. According to Kelley, 27 percent of new car shoppers who were considering a Toyota before the recall are no longer contemplating the brand. Nearly half of the buyers who have defected from Toyota say they may never consider the brand again. Kelley questioned 406 people before the recall and 285 after it. All were U.S.

buyers who said they planned to buy a car in the next 12 months. Ford, Chevrolet, Hyundai and Honda have made the biggest gains with those customers, Kelley Blue Book said. Sixteen percent of new- car buyers said they considering Ford before the recall, but are now. David Tompkins, vice president of analytics with Edmunds.com, said the crisis also is starting to affect Lexus, luxury brand, which has seen the number of buyers intending to purchase the brand drop by 25 percent in the last two weeks. Those customers are now looking at THURsDAy, FEBRUARy 11, 2010 75 cents www.TheH-P.com St.

Joe Today opens new Welcome Center Local, B1 Index Business B4 Classifieds B5 Comics B3 Entertainment D1 Local B1 Obituaries A5 Opinion A4 Puzzles D4 Sports C1 Technology C6 Television D4 Weather A6 Weather High Today 25 Low Tonight 16 To subscribe or report delivery problems, call 429-1396 Follow us on: The Newspaper for Southwest Michigan MoToWn aT Mendel Entertainment, D1 Mission versus recession Area humanitarian, church groups fight financial hard times to help out around the globe Jim Prisching AP 2011 Ford Mustangs are seen on display at the 2010 Chicago Auto show on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010, in Chicago. As Toyota struggles with a tarnished image, American and foreign competitors offer incentives to lure buyers. Rivals salivate at misfortune Big Three, Asian competitors stand to gain from recalls of once-squeaky clean automaker Audi, Acura and Volvo. His data is based on 3.5 million Web site visits per week.

Publicly, rivals insist not gloating. may be an opportunity for us to get some consideration from folks that we get before. like to sell them our vehicles based on the North American President Mark Reuss said Wednesday at the Chicago Auto Show. At Ford, chief U.S. sales analyst George Pipas noted that CEO Alan Mulally has long admired Toyota and implemented its global production system at Ford.

But Bell said that at a recent executive-level meeting at one of rivals, participants were grinning from ear to ear. and Ford in particular are really rubbing their hands together and saying, our he said. Shortly after Toyota announced the recall of 2.3 million U.S. vehicles to address sticking accelerators, General Motors, Ford, Hyundai and some Honda dealers began offering 3rd Congressional Vern Ehlers seek re-election By MIKE HOUsEHOLDER Associated Press Writer DETROIT U.S. Rep.

Vern Ehlers announced Wednesday that he run for re-election to the seat he has held for 16 years, setting up a likely heated race among fellow Republicans who hope to keep the seat in their hands. That be too tough a task in the west Michigan district, which predominantly votes Republican. But decision could touch off a bitter intraparty ght between moderates and more conservative candidates, such as 29-year-old state Rep. Justin Amash, who announced his candidacy Tuesday. Ken Sikkema, now with Public Sector Consultants in Lansing, said mulling a run for the 3rd District seat.

The former Senate majority leader represented the area around the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming for 20 years as a state lawmaker. State Sens. Mark Jansen of Grand Rapids and Bill Hardiman of Kentwood said Wednesday also considering a run. State Rep. Dave Hildenbrand of Lowell is another possible candidate.

Democrats, for their part, ready to concede the seat. is not a district the Republicans can take for said Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer. become more and more Democratic over the last several cycles. We look forward to a competitive race in an open Longtime GOP rep has held seat sine several Republican hopefuls vie for seat EHLERs Bob Confer photo Volunteers work on a church in Obligado, Paraguay, in January 2008. The church is among the mission projects supported by the the First Church of God in st.

Joseph. Like many religious missions, First Church of God struggled this year to go on a planned missionary trip. This mission has been postponed to early 2011. up against some unforeseen costs. He was hoping the congregation down there would be able to raise the funds more Confer said the Paraguayan congregation is responsible for a foundation and putting in plumbing and electric, and we come in and are able to build a whole building in about 20 days.

Some people go down for eight days, and some go for the full In addition to the See EHLERs page A6 See MIssION page A6 See TOyOTA page A6 By EVAN GOODENOW H-P Staff Writer BENTON HARBOR Making sure bills get paid on time and better monitoring of city underfunded and under performing pension funds are being proposed in response to a blistering report to Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm that recommended a state financial takeover. City Manager Ronald Carter Jr. proposed to Personnel and Finance Committee members Wednesday night that the city establish general fund, property tax fund and utility service fund accounts with Fifth Third Bank, which handles the revenue.

The bank would make payments of tax millages through the electronic merchant accounts to government entities, such as the county retirement and debt service funds. Granholm has until Feb. 26 to decide on the recommendation that an emergency nancial manager with sweeping powers be Carter proposes major financial changes City manager suggests putting spending accounts in hands of Fifth Third, moving pension fund to another bank See FINANCEs page A6.