THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2009
NEWS
7A
LAWRENCE
Food drive helps families with Thanksgiving dinners
BY BETH BEAVERS bbeavers@kansan.com
Putting together the traditional Thanksgiving meal, complete with green casserole, stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy, may be a struggle for some families.
To make the holiday more enjoyable for local families in need, downtown merchant White Chocolate will be accepting nonperishable food donations for its annual food drive.
Customers who bring in three food items will receive a coupon for 20 percent off their purchase at the store, which specializes in skateboarding shoes and apparel.
Rod Smith, manager and owner of White Chocolate, 933 Massachusetts St., said this is the fifth year the store has done the food drive. The drive began in the original location in Hays, and the Lawrence location continued the tradition when it opened.
Smith said he doesn't keep a count of the food collected, but the drive always brings in customers.
"It gives people an incentive to shop pre-holiday," Smith said. "And it's another way for us to give back to the community."
Smith said White Chocolate didn't do much to promote the food drive. He said the drive was successful enough on its own, and he didn't
"It's all about helping" he said. "It really helps out people who are buying something and helps people receiving the food at the food bank."
feel the need to advertise that the store was doing something good for the community.
He said the drive allowed customers who didn't have coupons to come in and still get a discount. Smith said customers looking for gifts usually took advantage of the incentive to donate.
Jake Zacharias, Lawrence junior, skateboards for White Chocolate's amateur team, which competes across the state. He said it was a great way for White Chocolate to support the community.
"It always goes well" he said. "It always gets good support from the customers."
The food drive runs until Thanksgiving. The food collected will go to Penn House, 1035 Pennsylvania St., a non-profit organization that provides clothing and food to people in need. It is run by people who directly benefit from its services.
Linda Lassen, program director at Penn House,
said White Chocolate's food drive was helpful because Penn House did not like to make a big deal of Thanksgiving.
Edited by Sarah Kellv
"Christmas is a worse time," she said. "We don't like begging two months in a row."
Lassen said people often thought to go to the Salvation Army before Penn House for food at Thanksgiving time. She said Penn House appreciated the support and that having the food from White Chocolate gave the organization extra resources to help people who came in for assistance.
wide swath of Virginia
NATIONAL Virginia, North Carolina prepare for tropical storm
Kaine's declaration urges Virginians in tidal flood plains and areas prone to flash flooding to be on alert.
In North Carolina, the eastern two-thirds of the state was braced for another day of significant rain.
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia's governor declared a state of emergency Wednesday as unrelenting rain from the remnants of a tropical storm soaked the state, while officials in North Carolina braced for another day of heavy rain.
National Weather Service meteorologist Phil Badgett said heavy rainfall is expected east of a line from the Triad to the Research Triangle area and down to Wilmington.
The National Weather Service forecasts 3 to 8 inches through Friday morning for parts of Virginia as the remains of Tropical Storm Ida, which was once a hurricane, crawl across the state. Old Dominion University in Norfolk canceled classes Thursday.
A coastal flood warning was posted for some areas thanks to a storm surge coinciding with high tide. A flood watch is out for central, eastern and southeastern areas farther inland.
Associated Press
Gov. Tim Kaine's declaration mobilizes state agencies to prepare for the threat of flooding over a
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NATIONAL
D.C. sniper offers no final words before execution
A Corrections officer walks past a guard tower at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarritt, Va. Convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad was executed at the facility Tuesday. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine refused to spare the life of Muhammad and cleared the way for his execution for the 2002 snipers attacks that left 10 dead.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JARRATT. Va. — Sniper John Allen Muhammad refused to utter any last words as he was executed, taking to the grave answers about why and how he plotted the killings of 10 people that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area for three weeks in October 2002.
The 48-year-old died by injection at 9:11 p.m. Tuesday as relatives of the victims watched from behind glass, separated from the rest of the 27 witnesses at Greensville Correctional Center, south of Richmond.
Muhammad was executed for killing Dean Harold Meyers, who was shot in the head at a Manassas gas station during the spree across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
He never testified or explained why he masterminded the shootings with the help of a teenage accomplice. That left questions answered about why he hunted people going about their daily chores, why he chose his victims, including a middle schooler on his way to class, and how many victims there were.
Muhammad stepped into Virginia's death chamber and within seconds was lying on a gurney his arms spread wide with a needle dug into each.
Muhammad, looking calm and stoic, said nothing.
"I would have liked him as some point in the process to take responsibility, to show remorse." Meyers said. "We didn't get any of that tonight."
After the first of the three drug lethal cocktail was administered, Muhammad blinked
Meyers' brother, Bob Meyers, said watching the execution was sobering and "surreal." He said other witnesses expressed a range of feelings, including some who were overcome with emotion.
repeatedly and took about seven deep breaths. Within a minute, he was motionless.
Nelson Rivera, whose wife, Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, was gunned down as she vacuumed her van at a Maryland gas station, said that when he watched Muhammad's chest moving for the last time, he was glad.
"I feel better. I think I can breathe better," he said. "I'm glad
he's gone because he's not going to hurt anyone else."
J. Wyndal Gordon, one of Muhammad's attorneys, described his client in his final hours as fearless and still insisting he was innocent.
"He will die with dignity — dignity to the point of defiance," Gordon said before going inside to watch the execution.
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