STEPHANIE GETS ROSE, STILL A CONTENDER ON ‘THE BACHELOR,’ C1
WE BREAK MORE NEWS AT
TUESDAY / JANUARY 20 / 2009
Classifieds: 532-4222
COUNTDOWN TO INAUGURATION
Stage is set
Local
The fulfillment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream
offers a renewed challenge
to this generation, Dr. Randal Pinkett says at the 24th
annual Unity Breakfast. B1
A homeowner is claiming
self-defense in the stabbing
of a man he says broke into
his house Monday and tried
to fight him. B2
State
Today is the fifth anniversary of the Tennessee Lottery, which began selling
scratch-off tickets on Jan.
20, 2004. The lottery has
generated more than $1.3
billion for education programs in Tennessee. B1
The prosecutors and defense attorneys in the case
of capital murder suspect
Daniel Wade Moore are
scheduled to tell a Morgan
County judge today
whether they will be ready
for Moore’s third trial in
April. B1
Nation
Vice President-elect Joe
Biden shushes his wife after
a secretary of state slip on
Oprah. A3
Faced with their favorite
foods, women are less able
than men to suppress their
hunger, a discovery that
may help explain the higher
obesity rate for females, a
new study suggests. A7
World
Uniformed Hamas security
teams emerged on Gaza
City’s streets Monday as
leaders of the Islamic militant group vowed to restore
order in the shattered
Palestinian territory after a
three-week pummeling by
the Israeli military. A10
Business
For years, retailers could afford to be sloppy about running their businesses because customers kept buying. No more. B4
Sports
Seeking to shore up some
problem areas from last
season, the Alabama A&M
football team signed four
mid-year transfers last
week that will be able to
participate in spring practice. D1
The Madison Academy
boys, class 3A’s top-ranked
basketball team, used a
quick start to hand 6A
Minor a 71-49 loss in the
Martin Luther King Jr.
Classic. D1
The Associated Press
This shot of the backlit Capitol after sunset Monday shows the stage where the historic inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama will take place today.
Inauguration is
‘dream realized
for lot of people’
Locals enjoy D.C.
sights, sounds
before big day
By MIKE MARSHALL,
PATRICIA McCARTER
and PAT NEWCOMB
Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON – This is
the day for the graying former
activists who thought they’d
never see a black man be inaugurated as the president of the
United States.
This is the day for the elementary-schoolboywhostands
in the National Mall holding a
magazine cover with a photo of
Full weather, C8
Forecast:
Cold, windy.
36
21
What’s inside
Abby/ C 2
Bridge/ C 2
Business/ B 4
Classifieds/ D 6
Comics/ C 3
Crossword
puzzles/ C 2 ,
D7
Deaths/ B 3
Editorials/ A 8
Horoscope/ C 2
Life/ C 1
Lotteries/ A 2
Movies/ C 7
People/ C 2
Sports/ D 1
Sudoku/ D 9
Television/ B 8
Huntsville, Alabama
Vol. 99, No. 302, 34 pages
Contents © 2009, The Huntsville Times
É For the latest Times news
coverage, streaming video of
the inauguration, live blogs
and to join in on the Twitter
conversation, visit
www.al.com/inauguration
É More inside: Additional
inauguration coverage can be
found throughout today’s
paper on pages A4, A5.
ple from a lot of different walks
of life,” said Madison County
Commissioner Bob Harrison,
among the local delegation. “I
hadtokeeppinchingmyselfthat
I was here on the eve of the first
African-American president.
It’s here, but it is a dream.”
For many of them, such as
Harrison, their day was to start
at5a.m.,beforethecoldandthe
wind forecast for today had a
chance to settle in.
About 2 million people,
maybe more, are expected to
Huntsville native
Lowery to give
Obama benediction
Civil rights leader
‘last of old guard
there in 1963’
By MIKE MARSHALL
Times Staff Writer
mike.marshall@htimes.com
On Church Street in downtown Huntsville, there’s a tributetothemanwho’lldeliverthe
benediction today at Barack
Obama’s inauguration.
It’s a marker next to Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
declaringthespotastheformer
home of the Rev. Joseph Lowery.
Lowery, 87, is a civil rights
icon and co-founder of the
Please see STAGE on A5 SouthernChristianLeadership
Conference.
He’ll give the
benediction
after Obama is
inauguratedas
the 44th president of the
United States.
“It’s fitting
for
Huntsville
Lowery
and Alabama
thathehasthat
honor,” saysBobHayden,alocal
historian.“He’s thelastoftheold
guard who was there in Washington in 1963.”
Hayden, then a member of
President Kennedy’s honor
guard,remembersseeingLow-
Please see LOWERY on A4
‘You can be anything you want to be’ now true
High today
Low tonight
BarackObamaandtheparents
of a child who dangles an
American flag from his stroller.
“Ourfuturestartsnow,” reads
theinscriptiononthechild’s flag,
adorned with a likeness of
Obama.
This is the day for the teachers, college students and gradeschoolchildrenwho havecome
from Huntsville to see the first
black president take the presidential oath this morning.
This is the day for them and
all the others who have come
from every corner of the country, even the world.
“When I walked into my
hotel,Isawalotofdifferentpeo-
ONLINE EXTRA
DAVID
PERSON
Editorial
writer
V
IENNA, Va. – At 5:30 a.m., just a few miles
northoftheVirginiastateline,wecouldsee
snow on the hills and trees. We got a few
miles farther and someone on the east side
of the bus said she saw a truck that had run off
the road.
I was wide awake then. The raw reality of traveling 13-or-so hours north and east of Huntsville
to Virginia in late January had hit me. I fought
tokeepsliversofmymortalityfrombeingwashed
away by fears of what could go wrong.
Nevada B. Easley told me later that she had
no worries.
“I just knew the Lord was going to take care
of us,” she said.
At 82, she has clocked a bit more quality time
with the Almighty than I have. My faith is sometimes still easily swayed.
ButMs.Easleyhaslivedthroughtoughertimes
than this wintry trip to see Barack Obama take
theoathofofficeforpresidentoftheUnitedStates.
And she said she did a huge chunk of her living
Please see PERSON on A4
Athens soldier 2nd from Limestone to die in Iraq
Ricky Lee Turner, 20,
killed by roadside bomb
By KEITH CLINES
Times Staff Writer
keith.clines@htimes.com
ArmyPvt.RickyLeeTurnerofAthens
became the second soldier from Limestone County killed in the war on terror when a bomb blew up a vehicle near
Baghdad. He also was the second soldier from North Alabama to die in the
war this month.
for Rath in Decatur on
Monday.
Turner, 20, was a combat engineer
“I really hate to see
with the 82nd Airborne Division from
these young men and
Fort Bragg, N.C.
women go over there
U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Adam Logand die,” said Turner’s
gins, 27, of East Limestone was killed
aunt,TammyTurner.“I
April 26, 2007, in Iraq.
hope it’s not in vain.”
The death of Turner, who attended
Turner was a pasAthens and Decatur high schools, came Turner
senger in a Humvee
eight days after Army Staff Sgt. Josh
when an improvised
Rath, 22, of Decatur was killed in explosive device blew it up, said anothAfghanistan. A funeral service was held
er aunt, Vickie Turner.
Turner was deployed to Iraq in November and celebrated his 20th birthdaythereonDec.22.HejoinedtheArmy
on Sept. 11, 2006.
“Hewassoproudofthat,” VickieTurner said. “He was a good boy with a big
heart.”
Turner is survived by his wife, Nikki
TurnerofHazelGreen;father,JamesLee
Please see SOLDIER on A6