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WAYCROSS JOURNAL-HERALDWaycross, Georgia Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 wjhnews.com

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WWhhaatt ’’ss IInnssiiddeeWWhhaatt ’’ss IInnssiiddeeVol. 91, No. 183Vol. 91, No. 183

Billy GrahamBilly Graham ________________________44Classified AdsClassified Ads ________________1212ComicsComics________________________________1414Dear AbbyDear Abby ____________________________44EditorialsEditorials ____________________________55Extended ForecastExtended Forecast ____________22Family NewsFamily News ____________________1111ObituariesObituaries ____________________________33SportsSports ________________________________6-86-8

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Hi96/75Lo—page 2—

Count The BonesThere are 206 bones in thehuman body. How manybones are there in an alliga-tor? You can look it up online— or you can go to the Oke-fenokee Swamp Park andcount the bones in the skele-ton of long-time main attrac-tion Oscar (in today’s top ofpage 1 photo).

Ruling Appeal Could Delay California Gay WeddingsSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A judge

struck down California’s same-sex mar-riage ban as an unconstitutional violationof gay couples’ civil rights, but a pendingappeal of the landmark ruling could pre-vent gay weddings from resuming in thestate any time soon.Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn

Walker overturned the voter-approved banknown as Proposition 8 Wednesday, de-claring that limiting marriage to a man anda woman serves no legitimate purpose andis an “artifact” rooted in “unfoundedstereotypes and prejudices.”“Rather than being different, same-sex

and opposite-sex unions are, for all pur-poses relevant to California law, exactlythe same,” Walker wrote in an unequivo-cal and strongly worded 136-page ruling.“The evidence shows conclusively thatmoral and religious views form the onlybasis for a belief that same-sex couples aredifferent from opposite-sex couples.”While the ruling affects only California,

the appeal will go to the 9th U.S. CircuitCourt of Appeals, which has jurisdictionover nine Western states. The outcomethere eventually could force the U.S.Supreme Court to confront the question ofwhether gays have a constitutional right to

wed.“This ruling, if allowed to stand, threat-

ens not only Prop 8 in California but thelaws in 45 other states that define marriageas one man and one woman,” said BrianBrown, president of the National Organi-zation for Marriage, which helped fundthe 2008 campaign that led to the ban’spassage.Currently, same-sex couples can legally

wed only in Massachusetts, Iowa, Con-necticut, Vermont, New Hampshire andWashington, D.C.Protect Marriage, the coalition of reli-

gious and conservative groups that spon-

sored Proposition 8 — and wound up de-fending it in court after Gov. ArnoldSchwarzenegger and Attorney GeneralJerry Brown refused to — said it wouldimmediately appeal the decision.Walker, meanwhile, said he would con-

sider waiting for the 9th Circuit to renderits decision before he makes his opinionfinal and requires the state to stop enforc-ing the ban. The judge ordered both sidesto submit written arguments by Friday onthe issue.Hundreds of same-sex marriage sup-

porters celebrated the verdict at publicgatherings in San Francisco, West Holly-

wood and New York City, while acknowl-edging they have watched court victoriesevaporate before. California voters passedProposition 8 five months after the stateSupreme Court legalized same-sex unionsand an estimated 18,000 same-sex couplesalready had tied the knot.Joe Briggs, 32, an actor who attended

the West Hollywood gathering Wednesdaynight, said he was thrilled to hear aboutthe ruling but was curbing his enthusiasmbecause of the legal fight still ahead.“It’s a long process. Last time we were

allowed to marry for like a day and then(see GAY, page 3)

Man IsKilledIn WreckPickup TruckClips RailroadWarning SignalAnd OverturnsEarly TodayA 19-year-old man was killed

in a single-vehicle traffic accidentearly this morning, said WareCounty Sheriff Randy Royal, andauthorities are searching for a an-other person whom they believewas in the pickup truck and ap-parently left the scene of thewreck on foot.The body of the victim (iden-

tity is being withheld for now)and the 2004 Dodge Ram pickuptruck in which he was travelingwere found near the intersectionof South Augusta Avenue andBell Street at 2:30 a.m. today bydeputies, Royal said. A motorist who came upon the

wreck’s aftermath had reportedthat a railroad signal and crossingarms in the southbound lane at anearby crossing had been shearedoff and the pickup truck waslying on the side of the road.The deputies found the pickup

truck 200 feet from the crossinglying on its roof and determinedit had been traveling south onSouth Augusta Avenue when it hitthe railroad signal and broke itoff, then spun and rolled for somedistance before coming to rest up-side down.It was determined the victim

(see WRECK, page 9)

FORCED OUT BY FLOOD

APPHOTO

Pakistani army volunteers carry an elderly villager during an evacuation operation in Sanawan nearMultan in Pakistan on Thursday.

Flood-Hit Pakistan To Evacuate500,000 Residents In The SouthKARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Pak-

istani authorities began evacuating halfa million people living along theswollen Indus River in the country’ssouth today, as floods caused by theworst monsoon rains in decades threat-ened new destruction.The floods have already killed an es-

timated 1,500 people over the pastweek, most of them in the northwest,the center of Pakistan’s fight againstal-Qaida and the Taliban. An estimated

4.2 million Pakistanis have been af-fected, including many in eastern Pun-jab province, which has seen numerousvillages swallowed by rising water inrecent days.The flooding is one of several crises

that has hit Pakistan since mid-July, in-cluding a suicide bombing in the north-west city of Peshawar, a plane crashthat killed 152 people in the capital,and a spurt of politically motivatedkillings that have left dozens dead in

the southern city of Karachi.This afternoon, a bus plunged into a

swollen river in Pakistan’s section ofthe disputed Kashmir region, killing 20people and leaving around 20 missing.Eight injured passengers were rescued,government official Chaudhry Imtiazsaid.The government’s overall response

has been faulted, especially becausePakistani President Asif Ali Zardari

(see PAKISTAN, page 9)

BP To PumpCement, PlugBlown-OutGulf Oil WellNEW ORLEANS (AP) — BP planned to start

pumping cement into its blown-out oil well in theGulf of Mexico today, following up on a key de-velopment in the effort to kill the well when mudthat was shoved in successfully held back the flowof crude.After a series of unsuccessful attempts to stem

the flow of oil a mile underwater, the tide appearedto be turning in the months-long battle to stop themassive oil spill.BP PLC said Wednesday it was finally able to

force the oil back down to its underground reser-voir with a slow torrent of heavy mud in an earlystep toward plugging the well up for good.The news came as a federal report indicated

only about a quarter of the spilled oil remains inthe Gulf and is degrading quickly, with the restcontained, cleaned up or otherwise gone.But for the people who lost their livelihoods or

still see oil washing up on their shores, the news islittle consolation.“There are still boats out there every day work-

ing, finding turtles with oil on them and seeinggrass lines with oil in it,” said charter boat captainRandy Boggs, of Orange Beach, Ala. “Certainlyall the oil isn’t accounted for. There are millions ofpounds of tar balls and oil on the bottom.”Harry “Cho-cho” Cheramie, a 59-year-old

shrimper who grew up on the deck of his father’sshrimp boat, said he’s also got good reason to beskeptical.“I don’t think we’ve finished with this,” he said

in Grand Isle, La. “We haven’t really started todeal with it yet. We don’t know what effect it’sgoing to have on our seafood in the long run.”Despite the progress in the mud-pumping effort

known as the “static kill,” BP executives and fed-eral officials won’t declare the threat dashed untilthey use the relief well — though they haven’tpublicly agreed on how to do it.

(see SEAL, page 13)

South Korea Launches Drills Despite Threats By North KoreaABOARD THE ROK DOKDO (AP) —

South Korean troops fired artillery anddropped sonar buoys into the Yellow Sea asnaval drills kicked off today near the spotwhere a warship sank four months ago.Some 4,500 South Korean troops aboard

more than 20 ships and submarines as well asabout 50 aircraft were mobilized to take partin the five days of naval exercises off thewest coast, including spots near the two Ko-reas’ maritime border, the Joint Chiefs ofStaff said.North Korea called the drills a military

provocation that threatened to re-ignite waron the Korean peninsula.“If the puppet warmongers dare ignite a

war, (North Korea) will mercilessly destroythe provokers and their stronghold by mobi-lizing most powerful war tactics and offen-sive means beyond imagination,” the rulingCommittee for the Peaceful Reunification ofthe Fatherland said in a statement carried byNorth Korea’s official Korean Central NewsAgency.

KCNA reiterated the committee’s messagein a separate report later Thursday, warningNorth Korea will retaliate at “even the slight-est sign of attack.”Soldiers aboard the 14,000-ton ROK

Dokdo, an amphibious landing ship, patrolledthe deck as Lynx helicopters dropped sonardevices into the sea in search of enemy sub-marines. A 1,200-ton frigate remained onstandby, ready to bomb the target.The fleet dispatched for the exercises also

include three 1,800-ton submarines, a 4,500-ton destroyer, and some 50 fighter jets, Cmdr.Won Hyung-sik of the Joint Chiefs of Staffsaid in Seoul.The drills come just weeks after South

Korea’s joint military exercises with the U.S.off the east coast — maneuvers held in re-sponse to the deadly March sinking of theCheonan warship, which killed 46 South Ko-rean sailors.A five-nation team of investigators con-

cluded in May that a North Korean torpedofired from a submarine sank the 1,200-ton

Cheonan as the warship carried out routinesurveillance. North Korea denied sinking theship.The waters off the west coast have been

the site of several naval clashes between thetwo Koreas. The three-year Korean Warended in an armistice in 1953, but NorthKorea disputes the western maritime borderunilaterally drawn by the United Nations.North and South have engaged in three

bloody battles near the line, most recently inNovember 2009, and the Cheonan went downin March not too far from the border.Pyongyang warned earlier in the week it

would “counter the reckless naval firing pro-jected by the group of traitors with strongphysical retaliation” and advised civilianships to stay away from the maritime border.The North also threatened to respond to

last month’s South Korea-U.S. military exer-cises with “nuclear deterrence” but SouthKorean military officials said there was nosign of unusual North Korean military activ-ity.

AP PHOTO

A South Korean navy officer is on watch during militarydrills in the Yellow Sea of South Korea Thursday.