UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, April 16, 1996
7A
Tornado rips through Ozarks, killing seven
Churchgoers remain safe inside as twister destroys nearby land and injures at least 30
The Associated Press
SYLAMORE, Ark. — The smell of sap from freshly splintered trees hung over the Ozark Mountains yesterday after a tornado ripped through during the first big tourist weekend of spring, killing seven people.
At least 30 people were injured.
Three of the victims were tourists staying at a campground.
At least 50 people were injured. Buddy Marsalis struggled to hold back tears as he waited for sheriff's deputies to let him look for any belongings that remained from the destroyed home of friends who were killed outside Sylamore.
Marsalis said his friends, Larry Carney, 52, and his wife, Jenny, 50, were supposed to have been baptized at the church Sunday night.
Knight-Ridder Tribune
"If they'd have gone, they'd be
alive," he said.
Near the town of Fox, about 15 miles southwest of Sylamore, uprooted pine trees leaned against the roof of Skyland Baptist Church, which remained standing. The tornado struck while about 30 people were in the hilltop church for Sunday night service
people were killed there: Carl and Eleanor Allen of Memphis, Tenn.; Howard Smith of Germantown, Tenn.; and Juanita Belcher of Cabot, Ark.
"I looked out the window,and I saw a building go by." The Rev. Ron Ivie Skyland Baptist Church
"I looked out the window, and I saw a building go by," said the Rev. Ron Ivie as he helped church members clear away the trees.
The Carneys' home near Sylamore was obliterated. Even the garage slab appeared to have been uprooted. The seventh victim, Patsy Dargess, also lived near Sylamore.
The tornado hopscotched along hilly terrain in north-central Arkansas for some 45 miles.
Hardest hit was the Holiday Mountain Resort, a campground at Sylamore with hookups for recreational vehicles and easy access to fishing spots.
"It's a pretty nice place." Reggie Harrell said, then paused. "It was."
Campground employees said four
The twister caught Izard County Sheriff Donnie Joe Yancey on the road.
Yancey said the tornado threw him out of his Jeep and into a ditch.
"I was going across the road, and I wasn't touching the ground," he
said.
Yancey said that he landed in a ditch and that he was digging like an armadillo, clutching grass, to stay put.
Several hundred yards from the Skyland Baptist Church, Burl Gammill said he saw his cows trot into a protected hollow Sunday night and he knew the weather was going to get rough. The tornado came two minutes later. The cows survived.
"Cows are smart about things like that," Gammill said as he and his son worked to repair damage to their well.
Mourners gather at young pilot's burial
The Associated Press
PESCADERO, Calif. — Strangers gathered with family and friends under gloomy skies yesterday to remember Jessica Dubroff, the 7-year-old girl whose pursuit of a flying record brought tragedy and misgivings. Jessica's funeral was expected to draw hundreds of people and possibly include a flyover by her 9-year-old brother, Joshua. Joshua takes flying lessons, and it was not clear whether he or his flight instructor would be piloting the plane that his mother, Lisa Hathaway, indicated would make the flyover.
The service was to be in the child's hometown on the California coast nearly 40 miles south of San Francisco.
Criticism of the flight has been mounting since the crash, with many people saying children shouldn't be allowed to fly. Others have wondered whether the dream of flying across the country was Jessica's or her parents'
Jessica was trying to be the youngest pilot to cross the continent when her small plane crashed in Wyoming on Thursday. Her father and flight instructor also were killed.
A funeral Mass was celebrated
yesterday morning for the flight instructor, Joe Reid, and more than 500 people attended a vigil for him Sunday evening. Lloyd Dubroff's funeral was planned for today.
Jessica took off on Wednesday from Half Moon Bay, Calif., and was headed to Falmouth, Mass. Her single-engine plane went down in Cheyenne shortly after she took off from that stop in an icy rainstorm. Investigators said the plane was overloaded.
The attempt at the record apparently had already failed on the first leg, when Reid took the controls several times, said Jessica's mother.
"Jessica would have done the entire 7,000 miles even if she knew she wouldn't break the world record," Hathaway said. "She thoroughly enjoyed flying."
While the child's death was a tragedy, an even greater tragedy would be never to dream at all, said the Rev. David Rockwood.
Some who attended the memorial defended the girl's onest.
"I would ask those people if children have to wait until a certain age to dream," said James Steven Smith, reading from a poem he wrote. "Jessica said to herself, 'I don't care about the rules. I want to fly across the United States.'"
THE NEWS in brief
Boeing pledges to Wichita St.
The Associated Press
WICHITA — The Boeing Co. has committed $400,000 for projects at the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University.
In announcing the commitment yesterday, company officials said the money will fund projects at the institute's Air
craft Design and Manufacturing Research Center that have broad applications in the aviation industry.
Boeing presented a check for $100,000 to Wichita State on yesterday and will make additional $100,000 contributions annually the next three years.
The company made a $1.25 million contribution in 1989.
To remember those who died and celebrate those who live.
Tuesday April 16, 7:00 pm
Lawrence Jewish Community Center
917 Highland Drive. One block east of 9th and Iowa
Sponsored by the KU Milli Foundation and LesBiGay Services
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The Kansan wants you!
The University Daily Kansan is looking for staff members for the summer and fall of 1996.
We are looking for talented individuals who can contribute their skills and abilities to making the Kansan a better publication for the University of Kansas. You do not need to be enrolled in the School of Journalism or be a current staff member of the Kansan to work on the student newspaper Anyone with an ability to write, design or take photographs is encouraged to apply.
Staff positions:
designers
photographers
reporters/correspondents
graphics artists
editorial board members
columnists
news clerks
For more information about Kansan staff positions, please call Sarah Wiese (summer Kansan editor) or Amanda Traughber (fall Kansan editor) at 864-4810, or come by 111 Stauffer-Flint. Applications will available in the next few weeks.
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