sestree: (Sad)

First of all - none of my family lives in Coffeyville (unless they moved) and they're all pretty much ok in Winfield, Arkansas City, and Wellington.  Waterlogged but not flooded out.

From CNN  

COFFEYVILLE, Kansas (AP) -- The flood is bad enough, engulfing homes to the rooftops and turning neighborhoods into floating junkyards of children's toys and family heirlooms.

But the floodwaters here also carry some of the 42,000 gallons of crude oil that spilled from the Coffeyville Resources refinery on Sunday, coating everything they touch with a slimy, smelly layer of goo.

"My question is how are they going to get all that oil out of the environment," said Mary Burge, a heart surgery patient who was forced to breathe from her portable oxygen tank. The petroleum odor Monday was so strong it could be detected from helicopters passing overhead.

The oil spill, caused by a malfunction while the refinery was shutting down in advance of the flooding, has concerned federal and state officials as they monitor the slick's progress down the Verdigris River toward drinking water sources and recreation areas in Oklahoma. 

It also presents another hurdle to Coffeyville leaders as they map out long-term flood recovery efforts that now must deal with the toxic sludge.

----and it continues if you follow the link

This is very sad.  Granted that area of the country isn't as well known as many others and it doesn't have the money as many places -- but Coffeyville is also home to the bank The Dalton Gang attempted to rob which lead to their final shootout.  I wonder if the bank is under water?  Doubtful as it  is in a different area of town but still ....

In the path of this stuff are small farming communities - most of which don't show up on the map unless you know where to look.  Heck I can't even remember all of them.  All I can think is thank goodness its east of Chatauqua and Shidler and Kaw City and Fairfax and Pawhuska - names that will mean nothing to anyone not from that area.

With the icestorm 6 years ago, the storms, the drought, and now the floods I have to wonder what is happening to that area?

sestree: (avatar glare)
I c/p the article in it's entirety from CNN. I remember reading in the Newkirk Herald Journal (Newkirk OK) that they wanted to pass an ordinance banning protesters at funerals. Now I know why.

Dodge City showdown at funeral
By Ed Lavandera
CNN

Tuesday, March 7, 2006; Posted: 9:48 a.m. EST (14:48 GMT)

DODGE CITY, Kansas (CNN) -- This past Saturday morning I found myself in a five-car caravan cutting across the Kansas plains with about 30 religious protesters. In the back of a truck, there were signs that read "Thank God for IED's" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

I was with the Phelps family. They've launched a disturbing campaign to tarnish the funerals of fallen soldiers.

This is a painful drama playing out at dozens of military funerals across the country. The group is led by Fred Phelps.

He and his family have picketed and heckled military families at more than 100 funerals since June. They say the soldiers are fighting for an army that represents a country that accepts homosexuality. (Watch how protesters targeted the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq -- 7:08)

I have spent a great deal of time in the last few weeks tracking the movements of Fred Phelps and his family. Saturday, I followed him and his family from their home in Topeka, Kansas, to a funeral in Dodge City, Kansas.

Fred Phelps is the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka. The congregation is made up mostly of his family. Phelps has 13 children, 54 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

He describes himself as an "old-time" gospel preacher who says, "You can't preach the Bible without preaching the hatred of God."

Phelps and his family have made a name for themselves by showing up at high-profile events preaching their hate-filled brand of Christianity. They blame homosexuals for the destruction of America.

This past weekend's target was Army Sgt. Jessie Davila.

Davila was killed February 20 in Iraq by a suicide bomber. He served as a Marine after graduating from high school. He returned to civilian life, and had a daughter. But he was always a soldier at heart, so two years ago he joined the Army National Guard and was three months into an Iraqi deployment when he was killed.

This is also very much a story about another phenomenon the Phelps protest has created. That's the birth of a group called the "Patriot Guard Riders." They're a volunteer group that came together after hearing that so many military families were being blindsided by the protesters. (Watch bikers ride to protect a funeral -- 2:11)

More than 400 motorcycles thundered toward this showdown in Dodge City this weekend to make sure Sgt. Jessie Davila's funeral was not overshadowed by the Phelps protest. They converged from small towns all over southwest Kansas to support Sgt. Davila's family. One group leader says, "I knew we would have a crowd, but I didn't know it would be this big."

The procession of rolling thunder escorted Davila's family from memorial services to the grave site on a quiet hill.

In the end, Sgt. Davila's family says they were only able to hear a little bit of the Phelps protest. Davila's mother, Linda Claus, says she's grateful for the Patriot Guard Riders. But she also wants other military families to be aware that this could happen to them.

"When people begin to know what they're (Fred Phelps' family) really doing -- killing the American Dream -- they won't be around very long, because nobody's going to let them. They'll drown them out. They'll be gone," Claus said.

Since CNN started airing reports on these funeral confrontations a few weeks ago, the Patriot Guard Riders say its membership has almost tripled. And more than a dozen states are now considering legislation that would restrict protesting at funerals.

The Phelps family vows to continue these protests. They might be outnumbered, but the way the Patriot Guard Riders see it, it only takes one of them to dishonor the memory of a fallen soldier.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/06/btsc.lavandrera.funerals/index.html

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