Hurricane in Alabama

By: Rob D.

Falling debris, frantic students and tornado sirens were all heard on March 1 at Enterprise High School, located in Alabama.

            The devastating scenes that were visible to many onlookers throughout the town of 23,000 were similar to that of other tropical storms that so often invade the southern states.

The tornado that affected the students at the school, 75 miles from Montgomery, was part of a chain of both thunderstorms and snowstorms throughout the southeast. There were thunderstorm warnings all throughout the day of the storm and those in the community thought that the school would be the best and safest place to stay. Sadly, this was not the case.

Caught by surprise, many students ended up being trapped inside the school’s hallways, not being able to escape to anywhere safer. Eight students sadly lost their lives in the devastating storm.

Seventeen year-old senior Erin Garcia, who attends Enterprise, described to CNN reporters her feelings about the situation. “It was scary; it sounded like a bunch of people trying to beat the wall down. It was complete chaos out in the hallway,” said Garcia.

As she continued to elaborate about the situation to CNN reporters, she explained that her fellow students were confused as to how to handle the trauma of the situation. “People didn’t know where to go; they were trying to lead us out of the building. I kept seeing people with blood on their faces,” mentioned Garcia.

In regards to how many lives were lost, Coffee County emergency management director John Pallas said, “the exact number is honestly not known,” as he assisted in the search of the high school which continued throughout the night.

After hearing of the disaster, Owings Mills High School junior Jen Green commented, “I think what happened to the school is horrible. As much as students in Owings Mills would love that to happen, so we’d get out of school, I’m sure if it actually occurred, we would all be upset. I hope that people are working to fix the school as soon as possible.”

It will take a substantial amount of time and numerous members of the community to recover from the damages of the tornado. Though physically things may be fine, emotionally, the road to recovery may be longer.

Sophomore Nicole D. admitted, “It would be really hard if our school was messed up from a storm. It would probably take a long time to recover from the damage done, but everyone would need to work together.”

Information obtained from CNN.com

Presidential Candidates

By: Greg W.

Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) -- Born Oct. 26, 1947 is the junior US Senator from New York. She is married to Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, and was the first lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001. She is a lawyer. On January 20, 2007 Mrs. Clinton announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee for the United States presidential election of 2008. Clinton has begun to recruit a team of advisers to run her campaign one of which is Patti Solis-Doyle, who will be the first Hispanic to manage a presidential campaign. She is against the War in Iraq and for stricter homeland security policies, universal healthcare, and balancing of the federal budget.

Barak Hussein Obama (D) —Born Aug. 4, 1961 is the junior US Senator from Illinois, he’s the fifth black senator in history and the only African American currently in the senate. As early as 2002, Obama was a critic of the Iraq war announcing on television that he would vote against the Iraq Resolution. He delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and won his seat in the US senate that year by a landslide 70 percent of the vote. Recent opinion polls show Obama in close second to Hillary Clinton. He is pro-Israel, and hostile towards Iran. He is very against the privatization of social security and agrees with Roosevelt’s New Deal policies, especially in the welfare sector.

John Sidney McCain III (R)—Born Aug. 29, 1936 is the senior US Senator from Arizona. He ran for president in the 2000 election, but was defeated in the Republican primary by President George W. Bush. He is the son and grandson of US Navy Admirals. McCain was a POW in Vietnam for five and a half years from 1967-1973. He is serving his fourth term as Senator after first being elected in 1986. He supports most of Bush’s foreign policies. At the Republican National Convention in 2004, he praised the Iraq War. He opposes the plan to withdraw troops from Iraq. McCain is pro-Israel and for the protection of the environment, sometimes running contrary to the Bush administration. He also diverges from the Bush administration by favoring decreased federal debt over tax cuts. He thinks the gay marriage issue is a state decision and supports the loosening of policies that restrict people from immigrating from Mexico into the United States.

Rudolph William Louis “Rudy” Giuliani—Born May 28, 1944 is a lawyer, businessmen and politician from New York. He served two terms as Mayor of New York City (1994-2001) in which, he improved the city’s quality of life significantly and extraordinarily reduced the amount of crime. He became a national figure following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Since 2001, Giuliani has been very successful in private business. He established Giuliani Capitol Advisors, an investment banking firm which he later sold, and joined the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm, he announced his intention to run for president in February 2007. Giuliani is opposed to abortion but recognizes a woman’s right to choose. He supports federal funding for children in bad schools to attend private schools and also supports stem cell research. He is against increased rights to gunowners and supports stricter gun laws. Giuliani favors the death penalty and believes in science over religion. Rudy applauds Bush’s Supreme Court nominations. The former mayor also believes in the sanctity of the United Nations.