Favorites roll at Calhoun County tournament. Sports/1B
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 A home-owned newspaper Presidential Inauguration 2009
annistonstar.com
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obituaries, 5A
buoyant spirit
TV-24 cameraman
Kenny Callahan dies
at his Saks home.
BARACK OBAMA ★ 44th President of the United States of America
a step up
Obama’s inauguration
expected to mark new
direction for country
region, 5A
By Steven Thomma
McClatchy Newspapers
tough times
Munford business,
Alabama Specialty, gets
tax break from town.
WASHINGTON — America changes course today.
Barack Obama of Illinois will take office as the
nation’s 44th president at 11 a.m. in a simple yet
elegant ceremony that will mark a peaceful transfer
of power. He does so at a time of unusual peril, with
a sputtering economy at home and U.S. troops still in
harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The inauguration of the youthful and popular
new president — and the departure of the unpopular
incumbent, George W. Bush — will set off a potentially dramatic shift in direction on policies, from the
wars abroad to the role of the federal government at
home, and a change in tone, with the rise of a new
generation more prone to problem-solving than to
ideological conflict.
At the center of it all is the 47-year-old son of a
black father from Kenya and a white mother from
Kansas who’ll become the first African American to
reach the nation’s highest office.
Thousands of people poured onto the National
Mall on Monday, spreading a festive mood across the
capital city among those eagerly anticipating not only
the swearing-in ceremony and the inaugural parade
but also the start of a new era. They were the vanguard
of what’s likely to be a million-plus throng there today.
Estimates of how many people are flocking to Washington run to 3 million.
“I had to come,” said Teresa Ward, 41, who drove
about 13 hours from Jonesboro, Ark.
“Being here, saying I was here, I’ll be able to tell
world, 2A
shattered
Hamas fighters seek
to restore order in the
Gaza Srip.
sports, 1B
2 new coaches
Alabama adds defensive
line coach, director
of player personnel.
Please see obama ❙ Page 9A
Local residents
in D.C. to witness
historic milestone
obituaries, 5A
Lois Ruth Bussey Fowler,
Oxford
Obie Garrett Sr., Alpine
James Rudolph George,
Jacksonville
Ivy Lonette (Boots) Green,
Jacksonville
Billy Roy Jenkins,
Sand Rock
Robert Donald Miller,
Talladega
Jimmie Ruth Slaght,
Centre
Deacon William L. Welch,
Talladega
staff reports
index
Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . 4A
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 7B
Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . 6B
Crossword . . . . . . . . . 8B
Lottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A
Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . 8A
Television . . . . . . . . . . 8A
Dalton Grayson,
Pleasant Grove Elementary
partly cloudy
Brenton Ball recites Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I have a dream’ speech Monday at Anniston’s
7th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast and Youth Participation Day at Carver Community Center.
Those at Anniston’s Martin Luther King Jr.
event remember the past, look to the future
By Megan Nichols
mnichols@annistonstar.com
High: 35Low: 23
Vol. 129, No. 20
(USPS 026-440)
66000 11111
Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star
In our lifetime ...
Weather, 10A
6
50 cents
7
+ Anniston, Alabama
Murna Kelley remembers fountains marked
“colored,” sitting in the backs of buses and
feeling inferior to whites. So Monday’s Martin
Luther King Jr. celebration meant more to her
than in past years, as she anticipated today’s
inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.
Kelley always knew King changed her life,
but she doubted whether the rest of the country
felt that change, too.
Obama’s election allowed her to put that
doubt aside.
“Now I know we’re equal,” she said. “Lots of
white people voted for Barack, too. I truly, truly
never thought I’d see this happen.”
Kelley, 83, brought three of her grandchildren with her to the Carver Community Center
for Anniston’s Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast.
The kids are far too young for memories like
Kelley’s, but she said she would never let them
forget how far blacks in America have come.
And she won’t let them squander the opportunities she sees for them through Obama’s
election.
“They have so many more opportunities than I had,” she said. “I remember being
thrilled when I could use the same bathroom.
Now, Barack is in the White House.”
People echoed Kelley’s thoughts all over the
Carver Center Monday, as more than 600 gathered to remember the past and look toward
Please see event ❙ Page 9A
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today marks a milestone
in United States history many thought they’d never
live to see: the inauguration of the nation’s first black
president.
The inauguration crowds poured in Monday from
far and wide, clogging train stations and gathering for
celebrations in the streets.
Many here will not even be close enough to watch
Barack Obama be sworn in as the 44th president, yet
something about this moment couldn’t keep them
away.
Annistonians are among the faces in the crowd
— people like the Rev. Everett Kelley, a union leader at
the Anniston Army Depot.
Kelley said he’s here because he hopes Obama’s
inauguration marks the day the country regains its
credibility in the world.
“As a federal employee, I hope to see worker rights
restored with better health care programs, better
working conditions, a sound economy,” Kelley said.
He said he also hopes all people will see “that God
has his hand on America even now.”
Workers’ rights will also be on the mind of Lilly
Ledbetter, the Jacksonville woman whose pay discrimination suit went all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court and whose case inspired proposed legislation
to reverse the time limits for redress imposed by
the Supreme Court’s ruling. Ledbetter is in Washington, D.C., as a special guest. She was one of the
“everyday Americans,” invited to accompany Obama
Please see milestone ❙ Page 9A
Inside
See schedule of today’s inaugural events.
Page 9A
Bush commutes
ex-U.S. border
agents’ sentences
For more, see page 2A
www.annistonstar.com +