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Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • A8

Location:
Casper, Wyoming
Issue Date:
Page:
A8
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

A8 Casper Star-Tribune Saturday, December 26, 2015 HUNDREDSOFDOLLARSIN SA VINGS CALLTODAY TOSUBSCRIBE PICKUP A PREVIOUSSUND AYST AR TRIBUNE ORONL 1.50 A8 NATION WORLD Casper Star-Tribune Saturday, December 26, 2015 Bill Barrow Associated Press Dozens of people lost their homes, yet they say they are thankful to see another Christmas. Tony Goodwin ducked into a storm shelter with seven others as a storm pounded Tennessee and other states in the southeastern U.S. He emerged to find his house in Linden had been knocked off its foundation and hurled down a hill by high winds. neighbors so fortunate. Two people in one home were killed.

makes you thankful to be alive with your he said. Unseasonably warm weather on Wednesday helped spawn torrential rain and deadly tornadoes that killed at least 14 people and left dozens of families homeless by Christmas Eve. Parts of Mississippi remained under a flood warning Friday. Weather forecasters from the National Weather Service warned that a strong storm crossing the central part of the state could produce hail and winds of more than 40 mph. The storm was bringing with it the risk of falling trees, downed power lines and flash flooding, officials said.

But that stop some from spending their Christmas giving rather than receiving. Nicholas Garbacz, disaster program manager for the American Red Cross of North Mississippi, said members of the Marine Corps brought donated toys to a center in Holly Springs for children whose families were hit hard by the storms. Two of the seven people killed in Mississippi were from the Holly Springs area. Dozens of children and their families showed up Friday morning to pick up a toy or other items they might need to recover from the storm, Garbacz said. More severe weather was also in store for parts of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee that were again being pounded with rain.

Resi dents were warned to brace for flash flooding and possible tornadoes. Among the dead were seven people from Mississippi, including a 7-year- old boy who perished while riding in a car that was swept up and tossed by storm winds. Six people were killed in Tennessee, including three who were found in a car submerged in a creek, according to the Colum bia Police Department. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said the victims were a 19-year- old female and two 22-year- old males. One person died in Arkansas, and dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed.

As the rain continued to fall, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley on Friday issued an emergency declaration that covers any part of the state experiencing flash flooding. Officials in southeast Alabama are particularly concerned, as Pea River is approaching record-levels near the town of Elba, which has a history of severe flooding. Dozens of people were injured in earlier storms, some seriously, said Greg Flynn, spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Search teams combed damaged homes and businesses for people still missing, a hunt made complicated because so many had left for the holidays.

they know for sure where those folks are, going to keep looking, because had in some cases houses leveled, and just not there Flynn said. In Benton County, Mississippi, relatives helped Daisy and Charles Johnson clean up after the storm flattened their house. They carried some of the belongings past a Santa Claus figure on a table. Daisy Johnson, 68, said she and her husband rushed along with other relatives to their storm shelter across the street after they heard a tornado was headed their way. looked straight west of us, and there it was.

It was yellow and it was roaring, lightning just continually, and it was making a terrible she said. never want to hear that again for as long as I Mona Ables, 43, was driving home when the storm hit. She abandoned her car, ran to a house and banged on a window, seeking shelter. The startled man inside open the door, Ables said. She huddled next to the house as another stranger pulled up, also looking for shelter.

and I just huddled together and saw trees fly past us, and a shipping container flip Ables said. as the debris started hitting us, he just covered me, and within a minute it was all over and there was destruction all around us and we were Survivors of Southern storms thankful to see Christmas AP A Christmas tree stands Thursday among damage done to a home on Falcon Road in Selmer, Tennessee, after a tornado passed through the area Wednesday evening. No deaths or injuries were reported. Seth Robbins Associated Press MISSION, Texas The seven children had just crossed the river, shoes still caked with mud, when U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped them.

The youngest was 6, Jon Smith Figueroa Acosta, he said, and made the journey from Honduras. He did not know to what city or state he was headed, but he had a phone number for his father in the United States. he said, meaning, It was unclear how long the group had been traveling together, or who had brought them across the Rio Grande. There were two teenage siblings whose mother had sent for them after their elderly grandmother in Honduras could no longer care for them, and two teenage Nicaraguans. Luis Arias Dubon, 15, said the trip required that he walk through much of Mexico for nearly a month.

He left San Pedro Sula, Honduras, when he was threatened by members of the deadly 18th Street gang. tried to force me into the he said, adding that he was afraid kill him. The recent spike in the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border brought U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske to the Rio Grande Valley sector this month.

the numbers would not be at the levels we see right Kerlikowske said, while standing in a warehouse where about 20 migrant children rested on large green mattresses, wrapped in reflective plastic blankets. concerning part is, are we seeing the new A total of 10,588 unaccompanied children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, more than double the 5,129 who crossed during the same two months in 2014, federal statistics show. The number of family members crossing together, meanwhile, has nearly tripled, to 12,505. And though the influx began in July, the numbers were slightly higher this fall, a time when colder weather usually drives down the number of migrants crossing. Kerlikowske said his agency was better prepared to handle the influx than in summer 2014, when tens of thousands of unaccompanied children and families poured over the border, taxing agents and holding areas.

Recently, two camps in North Texas have opened as shelters, housing 900 unaccompanied child migrants from countries that border the U.S., who under federal law must be handed over to the Department of Health and Human Services within three days of being detained. A third facility is on the way, which will hold another 200. The children are being sent north to prevent a backlog at the border, health officials said. The child migrants must be cared for until they can be united with a relative or sponsor, where they remain until immigration courts can decide on their cases. In McAllen, a respite center run by Catholic Charities looks after families who have been released by Border Patrol and given notices to appear at U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices and immigration courts. On their own Number of migrant children crossing US- Me xico border rising AP Detained immigrant children play kickball Sept. 10, 2014, at Karnes County Residential Center, a temporary home for immigrant women and children detained at the border, in Karnes City, Texas. Federal statistics show the number of unaccompanied children who crossed the U.S.- Mexico border in October and November is more than double the number who crossed during the same months in 2014. Josh Lederman Associated Press WASHINGTON Taunted by Republicans to declare war on Islamic Democrats are turning to an unlikely ally: George W.

Bush. President Barack Obama, under pressure to be more aggressive on terrorism, regularly cites his refusal to demonize Muslims or play into the notion of a clash between Islam and the West. a striking endorsement from a president whose political rise was predicated on opposition to the Iraq war and hawkish approach in the Middle East. As Hillary Clinton put it, W. Bush was Laying out her plan to fight domestic terrorism, Clinton reminded voters in Minneapolis earlier this month of visit to a Muslim center six days after the Sept.

11 attacks. She even quoted his words from that day about those who intimidate Muslim-Americans: represent the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of Bush, of course, was not referring to the 2016 Republican presidential field. Clinton certainly was. Donald Trump has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. then enjoyed a bump in the polls.

Ben Carson deems traditional Muslims unfit for the presidency. Marco Rubio warns of a zational struggle against radical, apocalyptic making a distinction, at least, between ordinary Muslims and extremists. Ted Cruz berates Clinton and Obama incessantly for refusing to declare war on Islamic Clinton and Obama argue that rhetoric just helps the Islamic State group and like-minded extremists, whose recruitment pitch is based on the narrative of an apocalyptic battle between Islam and the West. The Democrats warned that proposals like Muslim ban jeopardize national security, drawing a contrast with Bush. was very proud after when he was adamant and clear about the fact that this is not a war on Obama said recently.

His message to Republican leaders: should follow his example. It was the right one. It was the right Sen. Bernie Sanders, top challenger for the Democratic nomination, visited a mosque this month in a show of solidarity that evoked after And the Democratic National Committee released an ad contrasting comments by the 2016 GOP contenders with footage of Bush declaring that is All of that marks a rare departure for a party that has spent the last decade slamming the former president to much electoral success. After all, even many of the Republican candidates, even if in retrospect, have criticized the war in Iraq, where Islamic State militants now control part of the country and are seeking to export terrorism around the world.

On Muslims, Dems find an unlikely ally in George W. Bush Nicole Winfield Associated Press VATICAN CITY Pope Francis issued a Christmas Day prayer that recent U.N.- backed peace processes for Syria and Libya will quickly end the suffering of their people, denouncing the and atrocities they have endured and praising countries that have taken in refugees. Speaking from the central balcony of St. Basilica, Francis issued a plenary indulgence for all Catholics in hopes of spreading the message of mercy in a world torn by war, poverty and extremist attacks. The sun-soaked St.

Square was under heavy security, as it has been since the Nov. 13 Paris attacks by Islamic extremists that left 130 dead. An indulgence is an ancient church tradition related to the forgiveness of sins. Francis announced it after delivering his annual et (To the city and the world) speech listing global hotspots and his prayers for an end to human suffering. Francis referred to the acts of that struck the French capital this year, as well as attacks in airspace and in Beirut, Mali and Tunisia.

He denounced the ongoing conflicts in Africa, the Mid dle East and Ukraine and issued words of consolation to Christians being persecuted for their faith in many parts of the world. are our martyrs of he said. In an indirect reference to the Islamic State group, he urged the international community to direct its attention to Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and sub-Saharan Africa, where atrocities now reap numerous victims, cause immense suffering and do not even spare the histori cal and cultural patrimony of entire Francis said he hoped the plenary indulgence he issued for this, his Holy Year of Mercy, would encourage the faithful welcome mercy in our lives, and be merciful with our brothers to make peace mercy can free humanity from the many forms of evil, at times monstrous evil, which selfishness spawns in our he said. Francis has made the message of mercy the focus of his pontificate, and dedicated an entire jubilee year to stressing it. Holy Years are generally celebrated every 25-50 years, and over the centuries they have been used to encourage the faithful to make pilgrimages to Rome to obtain an indulgence.

Indulgences got a bad rap during Martin time, but they continue to be offered free by the church when the faithful meet certain conditions. Francis has made them plentifully available. Pope Francis urges Christmas prayers for Syria, Libya peace POPE FRANCIS.

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