About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2018)
TODAYS TOP HEADLINES 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. 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