This leap day started when tornadoes destroyed the area my youngest daughter and her family reside in, leaving death and destruction in it's wake. It's hair raising to have loved ones in danger, but by sunrise my daughter notified everyone that they were alright, a lot of property damage yet they were unsure if the horses were alright.Thank God they are safe and sound, but my heart bleeds for the families who lost a loved ones, my daughter said that three, and not one, have died and three are missing. Which potentially means that six human beings have died.
Follow @DeniseBundyAt Least One Person Is Dead And Others Injured As Tornado Hit's Ozarks.I think I feel the temperature more when I am nervous, scared and worried because I was shivering uncontrollably in 40+ degrees, so cold it went right to the bone. Even when the temperature rose into the lower 50's I couldn't stop shivering ... I was frozen.National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Griffin said at least three tracks have been identified: one running from the Buffalo area east to Lebanon, another from Kimberling City through Branson into Taney County and a third from Pittsburg, Kan. to the Lamar and Stockton areas.
Some of the most severe damage appeared to be concentrated north near Buffalo and south near Branson, where a reported tornado hopped along the Missouri 76 strip and through Branson Landing.
Griffin said the tornado near Buffalo caused injuries and the one fatality reported so far.
The death happened when a possible tornado hit a mobile home park in southwest Missouri, south of Buffalo, said Lt. Dana Eagan of the Dallas County Sheriff's Office. Another 13 people at the trailer park were injured, she said. Crews would begin searching the area once the sun came up, Eagan said.
Jason Wendlandt, the director of Dallas County Emergency Management, said the worst of the damage seems to be in the area two miles south of Buffalo.Wendlandt said initial search and rescue operations have been completed. He expected to begin a secondary search around 10 a.m.
The damage continued to the east, according to Griffin from the weather service. He said the Tracker Marine facility in Lebanon was reported hit, as well as a number of homes in that area.
South of Springfield, another reported tornado tore through Stone and Taney counties, hopping from Kimberling City through the Branson strip and east to Power Site. Griffin said numerous theaters and businesses have been significantly damaged by the twister.
No life-threatening injuries have been reported in the Branson area, but one person was transferred to a Springfield hospital. Skaggs hospital remains open to provide urgent care.
School was cancelled in Branson, as it was Buffalo, due to the lack of power and difficulty getting staff and students to school.
Empire Electric said they had 6,000 customers without power in the Branson area. Depending on the damage it could take anywhere from a couple of hours to several days getting that restored.
White River Electric - which serves many people outside Branson in Taney County - had 8,700 customers without power at one point, but the number was down to 7,200 as of a 7 a.m. news conference.
Authorities were working to clear roads as quickly as possible, but many, including the 76 strip, were barricaded.
Two shelters have been opened for people whose homes have been damaged. One is the Branson RecPlex, for homeowners. People who live in area hotels are to Branson Towers on Shepherd of the Hills Expressway. The RecPlex also is a place to take pets for temporary shelter.
Staff from the Greene County Office of Emergency Management were in the Buffalo and Branson areas. A structural response team from Springfield Fire Department also headed to Branson, where there were reports of a number of people trapped in their homes.
Facebook pages titled "Branson, MO Recovery" and "Branson Tornado Info" are among those tracking storm damage and recovery efforts.
In Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback declared a state of emergency late Tuesday after an apparent tornado struck Harveyville.
The declaration covered Wabaunsee County, southwest of Topeka. A news release from the governor's office said one person was critically injured and "a number of homes" and a church were damaged, and trees and power lines were down.
Earlier, the National Weather Service reported brief tornado touchdowns southwest of Hutchinson, Kan.
Seeing as Andreas was going to be working outside I took the opportunity to go to Carrizozo to speak with Judge Martha Proctor about the ranch hay trailer. En route back I stopped and met with Jan and we both went to Capitan before heading back to Nogal. I didn't get back to Alto before the sun was starting to set.
Last week a couple walked into TR's store inquiring about me and what had happened with the court trial.. if I had ever had the stolen money returned. I was perplexed as to whom they were or why they wold be asking. So I e-mailed a friend in Austin, Texas, to see if it was perhaps someone he knew.
The mystery remains unsolved, but I told the staff at TR's to direct the couple to this blog should they return.
It's painfully hard being homeless. You try to pretend that everything is normal and somehow you will find a way to pull out of it. In my case, make up the stolen money. But you can feel the slippery slope you are on. I'm filthy. 5 years ago I was always clean. I'm hurting - a pain etched on my face. 5 years ago I still had dreams and aspirations. So when I watched the video I understood... only too well.
Homeless in Hannibal: Following the footsteps of the homeless
HANNIBAL, MO. -- We've had a mild winter so far this year, but it's the season homeless people dread the most.
Unlike big cities, you don't see people sleeping on the streets in Hannibal. But they are there, and growing in numbers.
Freezing winter days like this are some of the hardest for Joe, who's been living on the streets of Hannibal for 20 years.
"It's a hard life and it makes us old men before our time," Joe said.
Joe calls this town his home, and roves it constantly looking for abandoned buildings, bridges and caves for protection from the biting wind.
"You know that there is no place for you to go and get warm, so you have to prepare yourself a long ahead of time," Joe said. "The Hannibal police department doesn't like you building fires. We have to keep warm. What do you want to do -- run around and pick up dead bodies?"
Dumpsters serve as his refrigerators most days, but it's meals at area food kitchens like this that give him a chance to come in out of the cold to thaw out his freezing fingers.
When he picks up his coat to leave, he gathers up everything that he values in this world.
Joe has to keep moving to keep warm and knows the end result if he doesn't. He chokes up as he talks about his friend who froze to death one winter. It's all about survival on the streets, and many times the friends he calls his family don't make it.
"It's been 20 years I've been out here. I've buried six and there was no reason for any of them to go.That's one of the reasons why I'm trying to stop doing this because I'm getting too old to. I can't bury no more people," Joe said.
There are many places Hannibal's homeless make their shelter. One of the most common is along the Mississippi River, near the old amphitheatre.
On our tour of areas inhabited by Hannibal's homeless, we just missed some people who built a fire to keep warm the night before. We found their remnants on the concrete slab that used to be the old amphitheatre. Others take shelter in the old stone city buildings nearby. In another building, Joe recalls a week in which eight or more people lined up their sleeping bags and blankets and slept on a dirt floor.
Another stone building nearby holds evidence of someone living here right now. This tarp is being used to keep the muddy floor from seeping into sleeping bags. Joe says one summer 40 people called this area home, many of them transients who hitchhiked or hopped trains to get here. But Joe says others are just people from around here who are down on their luck and hit the bottom before coming back.
"They're not drunks, bums. I know 50 people in this town who are good productive citizens and none of these normal citizens would know that they were homeless," Joe said.
While homelessness is on the rise in Hannibal, there are many local organizations that are stepping in to help. See that story Wednesday on KHQA's late news at 10.
http://www.connecttristates.com/news/story.aspx?id=724646#.T05RBPlmlFj
There has to be someone related to Robert & Sylve Huckins must have some means to reach them, if it be Michael Huckins, Dr.Kenneth Ogilvie ( Diana Huckins? Dominic Huckins? Malcolm Huckins? ) or Patricia Ogilvie-Huckins and get them to return ALL of the money they stole from us so that I can buy a home and get our lives back. I am begging anyone in this family for help.I don't believe I have EVER witnessed any none violent crime that can be as devastating as stealing someone's home. I am walking in Dorothy McKeevers footsteps, day by day, month by month, year by year.
Liam Griffin, I sat in your law office with two witnesses as you gave me your promise, your guarantee, that our money would be returned before harm came to us.
Patricia Ogilvie-Huckins you were present the day I signed contract with your son. You walked out of the kitchen with Sylve Huckins and your son introduced me to you. He told you that I was the British horse trainer he had told you about, the one he was going to build the home and barn for. Why didn't you say something? There may be a rational and reasonable explanation but I have spent over 3 years, homeless, not understanding it. I understand it even less knowing that though I was a total stranger, both Dorothy McKeever and Sally Canning you KNEW, and you knew what your son had done to them and others.
Dr. Kenneth Ogilvie, I contacted you and simply asked for a reference, not knowing that Robert Huckins was your cousin. Robert Huckins had just stolen over $30,000 from the domestic violence shelter, HEAL, yet everyone was trying to hide it. There was a history of stealing large amounts of money. $65,000 PLUS from Nancy Canning. $89,000 PLUS from Dorothy McKeever, $45,000 from Francis McKinney. The list just goes on and on and on.
Because of Robert Huckins I ended up paying $140,000 to be homeless.. sat in the cold, emotionally, physically and financially broke. In the middle of a recession, with no way to recover the stolen funds.
Today Robert Huckins has his own home...
He also has OUR home.....
He also has a lot of people's money...
And his freedom.
Women are not banks or loan institutions. Women should not be the source of a retirement fund for people who don't want to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. Holding women hostage while playing with the judicial system, a horrendous game of cat and mouse extending YEARS, with the victims whose very homes, families and stability are in jeopardy is cruelty, as cruel as a physical beating. It is financial and emotional RAPE. Homelessness is not justice. It is a slow, painful death.
Please, I beg with everything I have within me, please convince Robert Huckins to stop this torture and return the building fund he stole from us so we too, can have a home.
Relevant pages:
http://roberthuckinsvictim.
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http://roberthuckinsvictim.
http://roberthuckinsvictim.
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http://roberthuckinsvictim.blogspot.com/2011/12/white-nothing-but-white.html
If there be any truer measure of a man than by what he does, it must be what he gives. ~Robert South
