OPINION: A city united: Candlelight vigil shows resilience, hope of residents
Tuscaloosa News – June 5
The Spirit of Tuscaloosa Vigil honoring those who lost their lives in the April 27 tornado that killed 43, injured more than 1,000 and destroyed 7,000 homes and businesses from West End to Forest Lake to Alberta to Holt struck all the right notes Wednesday night. . . . The candlelight vigil began at dusk and was moderated by Jim Lawson, a local morning radio talk show host whose soothing, sonorous baritone perfectly matched the nature of the event. The vigil was the brainchild of University of Alabama grad student Sally Jones, who had no problem getting the university and the city to make it happen exactly five weeks after that terrible Wednesday in April.
Coalition aids relief effort: Group links faith-based organizations
Tuscaloosa News – June 4
The Compassion Coalition of Tuscaloosa County, an organization of 53 churches and faith-based groups created to coordinate help for those in need, got its start because of a tornado. But it wasn’t the one that hit Tuscaloosa on April 27. The Compassion Coalition traces its roots to the tornado that struck Taylorville and other areas in south Tuscaloosa County in December 2000, killing 11 people. . . . Mike Parker, a University of Alabama professor in the School of Social Work, said he is organizing his students to provide counseling to those in need. “We also want to work with church congregations to empower them to do all they can not only in the wake of this disaster, but after the next one,” he said.
UA student remembered for her hard work, ambition
Tuscaloosa News – June 4
Some knew her as Nicole, others as Melanie, but everyone recognized Melanie Nicole Mixon as someone with a bright future. She grew up in Minor, minutes away from Birmingham. She graduated from Minor High School in 2008 before enrolling at Jefferson State Community College, where she earned an associates degree in accounting, something she was very proud of. “I graduated Magna Cum Laude. I was the graduation marshal (which was amazing),” she wrote on her Facebook page. “I am now at the University of Alabama.” Mixon transferred to UA last summer to continue working toward her bachelor’s degree in accounting, with an eye on eventually earning a master’s degree. And then, just about the only thing that could have stopped her short of her goal, did. Mixon, 21, was one of the 43 victims of the EF4 tornado that hit Tuscaloosa April 27.
50 bands ready to rock Tuscaloosa tornado relief benefit concert
AL.com – June 3
Grab a wristband, and settle in to catch today’s Roll Tide Relief Benefit Concert, when 50 local artists will play at five venues in downtown Tuscaloosa, with all proceeds going to the United Way of West Alabama to benefit those affected by the tornado that swept through the area on April 27. Live music lovers can pay just $10 for a wristband that provides all access to any show at any venue all day, and for a great cause. The event was organized by a group of University of Alabama students and local community members who formed a committee to raise money to help rebuild their city after it was devastated by the storm that claimed 43 lives.
Alabama residents cope with stress after deadly storms
Reuters – June 5
Emeel Salem Jr. cried as he drove through Tuscaloosa on Saturday for the first time since the April 27 tornado ravaged the Alabama town. “I’m missing turns because the landmarks that used to be there aren’t there,” said Salem, a University of Alabama alumnus who plays minor league baseball for the Tampa Bay Rays organization. . . . It’s a common response known as secondary traumatic stress or compassion fatigue, said Karla D. Carmichael, an assistant professor of counselor education at the University of Alabama. Many of the state’s residents are dealing with similar emotions in the storms’ wake, and mental health experts are taking action to help…
Dealing with Storm Aftermath – Look for Warning Signs in Kids
Public News Service – June 6
Regular monthly tests of tornado sirens can put many people on the edge of their seats because of recent events. And it’s not just adults. Children can be especially affected by television coverage of disasters, such as the tornadoes ravaging Joplin and Tuscaloosa, or the raging floodwater in Tennessee. Mary Elizabeth Curtner-Smith, associate professor of human development and family studies at the University of Alabama, was just two miles from the tornado in Tuscaloosa. She says it’s important to limit how much disaster coverage a child watches. “When they simply see replays of the Tuscaloosa tornado, young children may not understand that it’s just video being replayed. They may think that it’s actually occurring as many times as they see it on TV.” Curtner-Smith says spending quality time with childen is especially important when such fears arise. “At bedtime, maybe parents can spend more time reading a book together, listening to some music together, being with a child while he or she falls asleep.” Curtner-Smith says adults need to look for signs of stress, fear and feelings of anxiety in children. For example, they can have a hard time concentrating, they can become irritable or angry, or their sleeping patterns could change.
Gymnast Kayla Hoffman scarred, but not broken by devastating Alabama tornado
New Jersey Gannett Newspapers – June 4
Eleven days after achieving the greatest feat of her accomplished gymnastics career, Kayla Hoffman thought she was going to die. A Union County native who was finishing her senior year at the University of Alabama, Hoffman was inside her off-campus apartment when the power went out. She then heard emergency sirens intended to serve as a warning for dangerous storms. Hoffman thought it was a false alarm. “It was kind of a cry wolf situation because we get tornado warnings and it never really amounts to anything,” said Hoffman, the nation’s top collegiate gymnast, who trained at Rebound Gymnastics in the Cliffwood section of Aberdeen Township. “A lot of people didn’t take it that seriously. Our power goes out all the time when it rains, and when my power went out I just thought it was a bad storm.” As it turned out, seconds after exiting her apartment Hoffman would be caught in the middle of the most devasting tornado to ever hit Alabama, a mile-wide funnel cloud that killed 41 and injured hundreds more in Tuscaloosa.
Plainfield Mom, daughter survive tornadoes years apart
Joliet (Ill.) Herald-News — June 5
When the tornado hit Tuscaloosa, Ala., Hilary Ernst, 19, was hunkered down in the basement of her residence hall, talking to a weather expert of sorts — her mom. Christy Ernst, a mom of five, survived the 1990 tornado that hit Oswego, Plainfield and Crest Hill, killing 29 people, destroying homes and businesses and leaving three schools in ruins. The tornado missed their home on 127th Street, but decimated the houses across the street in Wheatland Plains subdivision.
Real estate agents open doors to buyers
Anniston Star – June 4
Calhoun County real estate agents will man their posts at 31 homes Sunday, hoping that the state’s highest home affordability index will attract buyers to stay within the county’s borders. The Calhoun County Association of Realtors will host its second National Open House Weekend from 1 to 4 p.m. . . . The Alabama Center for Real Estate at the University of Alabama released figures this spring measuring the affordability index in the largest metro areas in the state, and Calhoun County topped the list. The index is a ratio of the state’s actual median family income to the income needed to purchase and finance the state’s median priced home. The center lists the state’s median income as $54,100 with a median home price of $126,056.
Housing permits fall by 41 percent
Tuscaloosa News – June 4
Destruction from the April 27 tornado is expected to result in a lot of new building, which would benefit an ailing construction industry. The industry has had a tough time over the past few years and started 2011 on an even grimmer note. Figures released this week by the Alabama Center for Real Estate show that building permits for new homes are down 41.6 percent in the Tuscaloosa area during the first four months of 2011, compared with the first four months of 2010. And 2010, like 2009, was hardly a good time for the housing industry, which took a heavy hit in the recession. The University of Alabama-based Center for Real Estate said that the April figures do not reflect any post-tornado construction and it likely will take several months for the numbers to show the impact of post-tornado reconstruction.
Ionic liquid advance over saline-based lenses
RSC – June 4
Ionic liquids are the key to observing improved performance and wider temperature ranges for variable focus lenses over conventional saline alternatives, report scientists in China. . . . Robin Rogers, an ionic liquid expert from the University of Alabama in the US believes that: ‘This is an example in which combining the properties of a pure salt with those of a pure liquid allows for unique applications. Of particular interest are the ranges of refractive indices and electrowetting behaviors that open up a much wider potential focusing range.’
Expensive identity theft on rise locally
Anniston Star – June 4
Several reports of fraudulent use of debit and credit cards and identity theft were filed with the Anniston Police Department this week. Lt. Rocky Stemen said he’s seen an increase in the number of reports of identity theft in the area over the past few years with the growing popularity of online shopping.. . . . Mark Lanier, chair of the criminal justice department at the University of Alabama, said people can take precautions such as shredding bills before they throw them away, changing their online passwords regularly and keeping a close eye on their credit reports. The sooner a person detects something wrong with their credit, the easier it is to fix, he said. Lanier said professors in his department try to present more current scams happening to people, such as ATMs being monitored by video cameras and magnetic strip readers collecting debit card and personal identification numbers.
Sisters, Alabama grads defy odds and beat competition on NBC’s ‘Biggest Loser’
Birmingham News – June 5
Olivia Ward and Hannah Curlee were told from the beginning not to expect to do too well on “The Biggest Loser.” The two sisters, both University of Alabama graduates, were informed — even by the producers — that an all-female team wouldn’t do too well in the weight loss and exercise reality series. And even at a combined weight of a little over 500 pounds, they were the smallest team in the competition. But 21 episodes later, after the team format had been abandoned and the contestants were competing one-on-one, Ward took home the $250,000 top prize, followed closely by her sister.
NASA announces lunabotics mining competition winners
Aerotech News – June 4
Thirty-six teams of undergraduate and graduate students from around the globe tested their robot designs in a challenge at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida from May 26-28. . . . Winners in other competition categories are: * Team Spirit Award: University of Alabama.
Mom Stop: Facing death with children can be difficult
Tuscaloosa News – June 5
I recently had to face the death of a loved one with my little ones. And I wasn’t sure what to do. My uncle passed away after a long illness. And the services were in Georgia. So we had to travel to another state where every family member would be attending the services. That meant no babysitter. . . . So we had to decide — should we take our 4-year-old and 1-year-old to a wake and funeral? … I asked Amy Walker, parent resource specialist for the Parenting Assistance Line at Child Development Resources at the University of Alabama, what parents should do in that situation. She said our tag-team decision was a good idea. However, it is not wrong to include little ones in services. “There’s really no one right answer,” Walker said. “It’s going to differ with each family.”
Alabama gambling trial offers peek inside politics
Associated Press – June 5
The public will get a graphic, behind-the-scenes look at state government when a trial begins Monday in the biggest government corruption case to come out of the Alabama Legislature. Among the nine defendants are four present and former legislators, two influential lobbyists, and the owner of what used to be Alabama’s largest electronic bingo casino, VictoryLand’s Milton McGregor. . . . The jury will get to hear many hours of wiretaps and secret recordings. The retired chairman of the University of Alabama’s political science department, William Stewart, says it’s an opportunity for the public to learn more about how public business gets done in Montgomery. “We will have a pretty good idea of how business gets done in Montgomery that we don’t have now,” he said.
Bingo trial begins today
Tuscaloosa News – June 6
The federal bingo corruption trial that begins today could last months, reveal the seamier side of state politics and decide the fates of several lawmakers, lobbyists and bingo developers. Former Sens. Larry Means, D-Attalla, and Jim Preuitt, R-Talladega, will be tried along with Sen. Quinton Ross Jr., D-Montgomery, and Sen. Harri Anne Smith of Slocomb, a former Republican who is now an Independent. . . . William Stewart, University of Alabama political science professor emeritus, said the trial could be an eye-opener. “People will have the opportunity to learn how things are done or not done in Montgomery to the extent they have not in the past,” he said.
Prominent Alabamians reflect on Greenhaw’s literary legacy
Montgomery Advertiser – June 4
Politicians past and present honored the memory of author Wayne Greenhaw Saturday, but two prominent Alabamians who knew him well reflected on the personal loss they felt by his passing. Historian Wayne Flynt praised Greenhaw for the literary legacy he leaves behind, while Bill Baxley, former attorney general and lieutenant governor, drew laughs from mourners with tales of their halcyon days as college students on the beach scene. . . . Instead of reading from a prepared eulogy, Baxley spoke extemporaneously and from the heart about his friendship with Greenhaw. They met as students at the University of Alabama and Greenhaw’s article in a humor magazine delighted Baxley, who was a year ahead of him.
Longtime Tuscaloosa News photographer died Sunday night
Tuscaloosa News – June 6
Calvin Hannah, a Tuscaloosa News photographer from 1950 to 1994, died Sunday night. This profile on Hannah was published in Tuscaloosa Magazine, April 21, 2008. . . . Hannah’s technical expertise and timing helped him capture emotions ranging from exuberance to rage in some of the nation’s most historic events, especially during civil rights struggles in the 1950s and ’60s. His photo of former Gov. George Wallace flanked by guards and blocking African-Americans Vivian Malone and James Hood from entering Foster Auditorium on the UA campus on June 11, 1963, was reprinted as recently as 2004 on the front page of the Washington Post. ‘Calvin had an uncanny ability to anticipate when the action was going to occur,’ UA photojournalism instructor Dan Meissner said of the photo. ‘He did that over and over.’