8A Monday, October 29, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
NATION
How a 2-star Army general
took charge of a broken city
TAMARA LUSH I Associated Press
Panama City manager Mark McQueen poses for a photo near an area
destroyed by Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla., Oct. 24.
BY TAMARA LUSH
Associated Press
PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Mark
McQueen’s sand-colored combat
boots have walked the ground during
many disasters. Afghanistan. Iraq.
Florida’s Panama City.
The two-star general had no sooner
retired from the Army and started his
job as city manager for this Gulf Coast
community when it was slammed by
a category 4 hurricane. Hurricane
Michael became the most devastating
hurricane to hit Florida in decades.
Almost all of Panama City’s water,
sewer, electric and cell services were
wiped out.
Despite McQueen having no munic
ipal experience and having been on
the job only two weeks, city leaders
say he’s exactly the man they need for
the long recovery ahead.
“I believe the Lord sent him,” Pan
ama City Commissioner Billy Rader
said. “God knew this was going to hap
pen before we did.”
The 58-year-old was a rare choice
when commissioners picked him out
of a candidate pool of 80 people, and
not just because his experience was
from the military. When McQueen
accepted the job six months ago, he
asked the commission for a grace
period to wrap up his military service
and end his a civilian job as a church’s
business administrator. There was
another pressing matter, too.
“There was a gentleman who
needed a kidney,” he says casually.
That’s right. In the last four months,
McQueen has retired from the mili
tary, started a new job, helped coor
dinate one of the largest hurricane
responses since Katrina, and donated
a kidney. To a stranger.
In August, he donated his left kid
ney to a man at his church, and took
a few weeks to recover (the recipient
is doing well).
McQueen came to Panama City
in 1988 for a job at a local commu
nity college. He met his wife here,
and they raised their two children
here. Over the years, he rose in the
ranks of the military, from officer to
Special Operations Command, to his
final assignment as commanding gen
eral of the 108th Training Command
headquartered in Charlotte, North
Carolina. There, he commanded some
7,000 soldiers. One of their tasks was
to repair Baghdad’s infrastructure.
Another, more recent assignment
was to help orchestrate the emer
gency response to Hurricane Florence
on Sept. 14. He missed a recent city
commission meeting because of that.
On Sept. 24, he marked his first day
on the job, and outlined to the local
paper what he wanted to accomplish
in his first 120 days.
He spoke of looking “down and in”
and “up and out” to set the framework
for a long-term strategic plan. He men
tioned five-year goals and a long-term
vision that stretched toward 2050.
All that lasted approximately two
weeks.
When Hurricane Michael bore
down on Florida’s Panhandle, he
ordered an evacuation for parts of the
city and unrolled his Army bed mat
and camouflage blanket in the cor
ner of the police chief’s office. As the
eyewall of the monster storm passed
over the city, the police station’s roof
threatened to lift. Water trickled into
the building.
When the storm passed, he sur
veyed the damage in this city of 40,000
people.
Ninety percent of all the power
poles were down. One of the two
wastewater treatment plants was
inoperable. Cellphones weren’t work
ing. The city’s lush tree canopy was in
splinters, covering roads and homes.
“This is Baghdad with trees,” he
said. “One hundred percent collapse
of infrastructure.”
His own home wasn’t damaged
— “only a few roof tiles” — which
allowed him to pour all of his focus
into the city.
Now, more than two weeks since
the storm, he’s still sleeping in the
chief’s office, but took a day to fly to
Washington, D.C.
Winning $688M
Powerball tickets
in Iowa, New York
BY JULIE WALKER
Associated Press
NEW YORK — The co
owner of a Manhattan deli
where someone purchased
one of two Powerball tickets
that hit the $688 million jack
pot said he likely sold the win
ning ticket, but he has no idea
who won.
Jose Espinosa and his
father own the West Harlem
Deli, which lottery officials
say sold a ticket that matched
all six numbers in Satur
day night’s drawing for the
fourth-largest lottery prize
in U.S. history. The ticket
holder will split the winnings
with whoever purchased the
other winning ticket from a
convenience store in a small
Iowa town.
While helping a steady
stream of customers Sun
day, the 41-year-old Espi
nosa joked that he knows he
sold the lucky ticket because
always working: “I’m always
here. I live here.” But he
doesn’t know who bought it.
“It wasn’t me,” said cus
tomer Jose Humphreys,
a 45-year-old pastor at a
nearby church. “But hey, if
somebody hit the lottery and
they wanted to donate to our
church, we would in no way
refuse it.”
The other winning ticket
was sold at Casey’s conve
nience store in Redfield,
Iowa, a rural community of
about 800 people roughly 35
miles (56 kilometers) west
of Des Moines. A clerk who
answered the phone at the
store Sunday declined com
ment and referred questions
to lottery officials.
There was no immedi
ate word on who purchased
that ticket, either. But both
ticket holders beat miserable
odds: The chance of winning
the Powerball jackpot is 1 in
292.2 million.
Lottery officials said the
ticket sold in Iowa marks the
largest lottery prize ever won
in the state.
“Even we are awestruck,”
Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich
said Sunday. “This goes to
show what we’ve said many
times: You never know when
the next big winner will hit.”
Rich said anyone who
played Powerball in the
past few days should double
check their tickets. The win
ning numbers were 8,12,13,
19 and 27, and Powerball 4.
Jackpot winners can’t
remain anonymous in Iowa
or New York, and lottery
officials encourage winners
— who have a year to come
forward — to first consult a
financial adviser.
The drawing came four
days after someone won a
$1.54 billion Mega Millions
jackpot, which marked the
nation’s second-largest lot
tery prize ever. That ticket
was sold in South Carolina,
where lottery winners can
remain anonymous.
Saturday’s Poweball jack
pot was originally estimated
at $750 million but worked
out to $687.8 million by the
time of the drawing. That’s
the annuity total, which
would be paid out over 29
years. The cash value, or
lump sum, is $396.2 million
before taxes.
9th death reported at pediatric center amid viral outbreak
Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. — A ninth per
son has died at a pediatric reha
bilitation center amid an outbreak
of a respiratory virus, New Jersey
health officials said.
An additional “medically fragile
child” who had a confirmed case
of adenovirus at the Wanaque Cen
ter for Nursing and Rehabilitation
died Saturday night, the state’s
health department said.
Adenovirus has not been con
firmed in another person who died
Friday afternoon, officials said. A
staff member also became ill. New
diagnoses bring the total number
of cases to 25.
Those affected range in age
from toddlers to young adults, with
the vast majority under age 18.
Adenovirus usually poses little
risk for healthy people and typi
cally causes mild cold or flu symp
toms. Some strains also cause
diarrhea and conjunctivitis.
The strain found in the rehab
center outbreak is among the more
potent types and sometimes causes
more serious respiratory illness,
especially among those with weak
immune systems.
The first symptoms showed up
Sept. 26, and the state was notified
of an outbreak Oct. 9, officials said.
The 227-bed, for-profit facility,
which is closed to new patients, has
a pediatric center and also cares
for elderly residents.
No new residents are being
admitted for the duration of the
outbreak, which won’t be declared
over until the center can go four
weeks without any new cases.
Celebrate the Holidays
) in Downtown Braselton
November 17th ~ 10am-7Dir
ANNUAL PARADE ALONG HWY. 53
(theme is “Reindeer Games’’)
HOLIDAY SHOPPING MARKETPLACE
LIVE MUSIC & PERFORMANCES
& TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY
www.BraseltonFestivals.com
www.Facebook.com/DowntownBraselton
