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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Friday, December 7, 2018 3A
Funeral train takes Bush to Texas
DAVID J. PHILLIP I Associated Press
The flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush is carried by a joint services military honor guard
Thursday, Dec. 6, in Spring, Texas, as it is placed on a Union Pacific train.
BY NOMAAN MERCHANT, JUAN A.
LOZANO AND WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press
HOUSTON — Thousands waved
and cheered along the route as
funeral train No. 4141 — for the
41st president — carried George
H.W. Bush’s remains to their final
resting place on Thursday, his
last journey as a week of national
remembrance took on a decid
edly personal feel in an emotional
home state farewell.
Some people laid coins along the
tracks that wound through small
town Texas so a 420,000-pound
locomotive pulling the nation’s
first funeral train in nearly half a
century could crunch them into
souvenirs. Others snapped pictures
or crowded for views so close that
police helicopters overhead had
to warn them back. Elementary
students hoisted a banner simply
reading “THANK YOU.”
The scenes reminiscent of a
bygone era followed a serious
and more somber tone at an ear
lier funeral service at a Houston
church, where Bush’s former sec
retary of state and confidant for
decades, James Baker, addressed
him as “jefe,” Spanish for “boss.”
At times choking back tears, Baker
praised Bush as “a beautiful human
being” who had “the courage of a
warrior. But when the time came
for prudence, he maintained the
greater courage of a peacemaker.”
Baker also provided a contrast
with today’s divisive political rhet
oric, saying that Bush’s “wish for
a kinder, gentler nation was not a
cynical political slogan. It came
honest and unguarded from his
soul.”
“The world became a better
place because George Bush occu
pied the White House for four
years,” said Baker.
As the post-funeral motorcade
carrying Bush’s remains later sped
down a closed highway from the
church to the train station, con
struction workers on all levels of
an unfinished building paused to
watch. A man sitting on a ferris
wheel near the aquarium waved.
Bush’s body was later loaded
onto a special train fitted with
clear sides so people could catch
a glimpse of the casket as it rum
bled by. The train traveled about
70 miles in two-plus hours — the
first presidential funeral train jour
ney since Dwight D. Eisenhower’s
remains went from Washington to
his native Kansas 49 years ago —
to the family plot on the grounds
of Bush’s presidential library at
Texas A&M University. Bush’s
final resting place is alongside his
wife, Barbara, and Robin Bush, the
daughter they lost to leukemia at
age 3.
In the town of Cypress, 55-year-
old Doug Allen left eight coins on
the tracks before the train passed
— three quarters, three dimes
and two pennies. The train left
the coins flattened and slightly
discolored.
“It’s something we’ll always
keep,” Allen said.
Andy Gordon, 38, took his
6-year-old daughter, Addison, out
of school so she and her 3-year-old
sister, Ashtyn, could see the train
pass in Pinehurst, Texas.
“Hopefully, my children will
remember the significance and the
meaning of today,” Gordon said.
Addison was carrying two small
American flags in her hand.
The train arrived in College Sta
tion in the late afternoon with a
military band playing “Hail to the
Chief” and Texas A&M’s “Aggie
War Hymn.”
About 2,100 cadets in their tan
dress uniforms with jackets and
ties and knee-high boots waited for
hours on a cold, gray day to line the
road — known as Barbara Bush
Drive — to the Bush library’s front
doors. The U.S. Navy conducted a
21 strike fighter flyover, a salute
to the World War II Navy pilot, fol
lowed by a 21-gun cannon salute on
the ground.
At the earlier service at Hous
ton’s St. Martin’s Episcopal Church,
where Bush and his family regu
larly worshipped, the choir sang
“This is My Country,” which was
also sung at Bush’s presidential
inauguration in 1989. Those gath
ered heard a prayer stressing the
importance of service and self
lessness that the president himself
offered for the country at the start
of his term.
There were rousing renditions of
the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
and “Onward Christian Soldiers,”
and also performances from some
of Bush’s country favorites. The
Oak Ridge Boys recalled playing
for him for decades — sometimes
at the White House — and joked
that Bush “fancied himself to be a
good bass singer. He was not.” They
then sang “Amazing Grace,” and
Reba McEntire offered a musical
version of “The Lord’s Prayer.”
Thursday’s flavor was distinctly
Texan, unlike days of previous
Washington celebrations that had
more of a national feel. In place of
most federal dignitaries were top
Houston athletes including the NFL
Texans’ defensive end J.J. Watt —
displaying Bush’s love for sports —
and Chuck Norris, who played TV’s
“Walker, Texas Ranger.”
Appeals to outgoing Gov. Walker:
Don’t stain your legacy, veto bills
NC race shines
light on ‘ballot
harvesting’
People gather to protest at the Capitol Rotunda on Dec. 4 in Lansing, Mich. The incoming
Democratic governor of Wisconsin said Wednesday that he plans to make a personal
appeal to his defeated rival, Gov. Scott Walker, to veto far-reaching GOP legislation that
would restrict the new administration’s powers.
BY scon BAUER
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - A
bipartisan group of politi
cal figures appealed to Gov.
Scott Walker to avoid stain
ing his legacy and behaving
like a sore loser by sign
ing legislation that would
weaken the powers of the
Democrat who defeated
him.
Rather than notching
another partisan victory
in his final weeks in office,
they said, Walker should
think bigger. Think of your
recently deceased father,
they pleaded. Think of for
mer President George H.W.
Bush. Think of Christ.
“You can have a long, suc
cessful career ahead,” long
time Republican and major
GOP donor Sheldon Lubar
wrote to Walker in a deeply
personal email. “Don’t stain
it by this personal, poor-
loser action. Ask yourself,
what would my father say,
what would the greatest man
who ever lived, Jesus Christ,
say.”
Walker, never one to shy
away from a fight, gave no
signs Thursday of tipping
his hand. A spokesman said
only that he was reviewing
the bills. He’s been generally
supportive of the measures
in the past, without promis
ing to sign or veto them.
The choice is whether to
satisfy fellow Republicans,
who passed the bills over
objections from Democrats,
or strike them down to let his
successor, Tony Evers, take
office under the same rules
in place when Walker was in
charge.
“It just gets back to what
does he want to be remem
bered for,” said Democratic
state Sen. Jon Erpenbach.
“It’s time to set aside your
political beliefs and do
what’s best for your state. ”
Another Democrat, state
Sen. Tim Carpenter, asked
Walker to consider the letter
Bush left for his Democratic
successor, Bill Clinton, wish
R0BERT KILLIPS I Associated Press
ing him well.
“Governor Walker,
PLEASE do the right thing
and leave Governor-elect
Evers your best wishes
for him, his family and the
state of Wisconsin,” Car
penter said in a statement.
“Governor Walker, what
do you want your legacy to
be?”
BY MATT VOLZ
Associated Press
HELENA, Mont. - An
investigation into whether
political operatives in
North Carolina illegally
collected and possibly stole
absentee ballots in a still-
undecided congressional
race has drawn attention
to a widespread but little-
known political tool called
ballot harvesting.
It’s a practice long used
by special-interest groups
and both major political
parties that is viewed either
as a voter service that
boosts turnout or a nefari
ous activity that subjects
voters to intimidation and
makes elections vulnerable
to fraud.
The groups rely on data
showing which voters
requested absentee ballots
but have not turned them
in. They then go door-to-
door and offer to collect
and turn in those ballots for
the voters — often dozens
or hundreds at a time. Some
place ballot-collection
boxes in high-concentration
voter areas, such as college
campuses, and take the bal
lots to election offices when
the boxes are full.
In North Carolina, elec
tion officials are investigat
ing whether Republican
political operatives har
vested ballots in parts of
the 9th Congressional Dis
trict with high numbers of
Democratic voters and then
did not turn them in to the
local elections office. Ballot
harvesting is illegal under
state law, which allows only
a family member or legal
guardian to drop off absen
tee ballots for a voter.
The investigation is
focusing on areas in the
district where an unusually
high number of absentee
ballots were not returned.
Republican Mark Har
ris leads Democrat Dan
McCready by 905 votes, but
the state elections board
has refused to certify the
results. The head of the
state Republican Party said
Thursday that he would be
open to holding a new elec
tion if there is evidence of
fraud.
Supporters of ballot har
vesting say they worry the
North Carolina election
may give an important
campaign tool an unneces
sary black eye.
Congress passes 2-week funding extension to avert shutdown
BY JENNIFER SHUTT
Tribune News Service
WASHINGTON - An exten
sion of temporary appropriations
for nine Cabinet departments
and dozens of smaller agencies
through Dec. 21 is on its way to the
president’s desk after the House
and Senate passed the measure
Thursday.
The legislation would extend
current funding levels for two
weeks and buy time to reach final
agreement on outstanding spend
ing issues, including President
Donald Trump’s $5 billion south
ern border wall funding request. It
also extends a number of expiring
authorizations including Violence
Against Women Act programs,
Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families and the National Flood
Insurance Program for the dura
tion of the stopgap measure.
After the House passed the mea
sure by unanimous consent on
Thursday, the Senate quickly took
it up and passed it on a voice vote.
That gives Trump more than 24
hours to sign the legislation before
the current stopgap providing
funding for those sections of gov
ernment expires on Friday at mid
night. Without the new stopgap in
place, a partial shutdown of opera
tions at those agencies would begin
at 12:01 a.m.
Negotiations over the seven
remaining fiscal 2019 spending
bills — Agriculture, Commerce-
Justice-Science, Financial Services,
Homeland Security, Interior-Envi
ronment, State-Foreign Operations
and Transportation-HUD — were
mostly on hold this week as law
makers mourned the death of for
mer President George H.W. Bush.
Talks are expected to heat back
up next week when Senate Demo
cratic leader Charles E. Schumer,
D-N.Y., and House Democratic
leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
head to the White House to meet
with Trump. While the meeting
has not been finalized, the trio
was expected to reschedule after
postponing a meeting originally
planned for earlier this week.
The Democratic leaders, how
ever, aren’t showing a lot of wig
gle room, at least in their public
statements.
Schumer said on the floor Thurs
day that Democrats have two pro
posals to keep the government
fully funded beyond Dec. 21.
The first is that Trump accept a
final Homeland Security spending
bill that includes the $1.6 billion
in the Senate’s version of the mea
sure that would provide “for an
additional 65 miles of “pedestrian
fencing” in the Rio Grande Valley.
The second is a package that
includes six of the seven remain
ing spending bills and a continuing
resolution for the Department of
Homeland Security that would last
through the end of fiscal 2019.
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