Irin Carmon

Evacuees tour barrack
Kevin Jacobs wanted to see it for himself. Jacobs, an evacuee from Gulfport, Miss., was on board the first bus of evacuees to get a glimpse of available housing at McClellan. “I don’t listen to rumors,” he said. “I came to experience and judge for myself.” Jacobs, 37, was a manager for a Gulfport hotel before Hurricane Katrina struck. After riding out Katrina in his apartment, he moved to Eastaboga to stay with family.

Communications a problem among agencies, local evacuees
Hurricane Katrina evacuees now staying in the immediate Anniston area have first priority when it comes to filling the more than 1,000 housing slots available at McClellan. The tough part is letting them know that. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked Red Cross volunteers to tell local evacuees McClellan is ready. But reaching them by cell phone or at hotels has been difficult, said Red Cross Resource Center Director Jo Weber. Keeping the evacuees informed isn’t easy, when Weber herself has trouble finding out what’s going on.

‘Parent Patrol’ project offers monitoring of teens at Quintard Mall
USA – OXFORD – On weekend nights, Quintard Mall is transformed, taken over by teenagers for whom the retail and the social are one.Girls hover with other girls in flashes of sequins and straightened hair; boys stiffen their shoulders and practice their stride. Groups of teens eye each other across the food court. Jon Garlick of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department watches all this and wonders where the parents are. Friday night, Garlick set up a table at a mall entrance, initiating a plan to add more parental presence to the scene. He was there to kick off Parent Patrol, a voluntary program that will let parents register their teens and check on their movements in and out of Quintard Mall on Friday and Saturday nights.

The Galilee
This turf is used to cycles of empire, layers of history piling on victories and tragedy. Each layer tells a story: From antiquity to today, change is inevitable, but life goes on. Beyond the headlines, people are living normal lives in Israel, and tourists still arrive and are welcomed. Since my birth in Israel and subsequent move to the United States when I was 2, I have been returning roughly twice a year.

Refugees at Civic Center restless
OXFORD — The waiting, they say, is the worst part. Slumped on a bench outside the Oxford Civic Center, having lost nearly everything to Hurricane Katrina, the refugees from New Orleans wondered where their loved ones were. Nearly everyone had left family behind who thought they could “ride it out.” Many among the 36 sleeping on Red Cross cots in Oxford said they themselves almost stayed behind, skeptical that the storm would amount to much. Nine members of the Cordier family arrived in Alabama drenched from 14 hours crowded in a single pickup. They took turns huddling in the unsheltered cab. “We had blankets,” said Leslie Cordier, 35. “But they were soaking wet and heavy.”

Volunteers needed to ready McClellan for evacuees on ‘Labor Day of Love’
Anniston Mayor Chip Howell is calling Monday the ‘Labor Day of Love.’ As grounds crews work around the clock to ready McClellan for those Hurricane Katrina left homeless, volunteers are invited to contribute any help they can.

Two more Anniston robberies linked to string
Two more Anniston businesses have been added to the string of robberies police believe were committed by the same two men. The latest robberies, the Anniston Papa John’s Pizza on Wednesday and Title Cash in Anniston on Thursday, bring the number of robberies in the suspected string to 16 since June 25. The Anniston Papa John’s is the first business in the string to be hit twice; the Title Cash robbery is the earliest robbery in the string.

Caught riding bicycle on I-20, Gadsden man picked up on warrant
As getaway vehicles go, bicycles are not ideal. But it’s an open question what Thomas Daniel Edgens, a 22-year-old Gadsden resident with an outstanding felony warrant for his arrest, was thinking as he bicycled along the eastbound emergency lane of Interstate 20 Thursday afternoon. At the 195-mile marker, Cleburne County officials stopped Edgens for operating a non-motorized vehicle on the interstate. Then they learned that Calhoun County had issued a warrant for his arrest Tuesday.

Police investigate long string of related robberies
Police in Anniston, Oxford and Talladega are searching for the two men responsible for a spate of armed robberies in the area. A review of robberies across Calhoun and Talladega counties shows that Monday night’s robbery at Doug’s Texaco on Alabama 202 in Anniston has put the count at 13 businesses robbed — apparently by the same men — since June 25.

Oxford Council honors Leon Smith with road name
OXFORD — The Oxford City Council surprised Mayor Leon Smith Tuesday night by presenting him with a road sign bearing his name. The portion of Morgan Road within the Oxford City limits now will be known as Leon Smith Parkway. After a unanimous vote to approve the name change, council members praised Smith for what they called his perseverance in the battle to get the road’s construction approved.