About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2020)
LOCA^OP HEADLINES The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Thursday, February 20, 2020 3A Photo for the Times Eddie Noonkester. Body of missing hiker located Contention continues Bloomberg, Sanders under attack at Dems’ Nevada debate JOHN LOCHER I Associated Press From left, Democratic presidential candidates, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Bernie Sanders, l-Vt.,former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., stand on stage before a Democratic presidential primary debate Wednesday, Feb. 19, in Las Vegas, hosted by NBC News and MSNBC. BY ALEXANDER POPP apopp@dawsonnews.com Authorities say that the body of missing Appala chian Trail hiker Eddie Noonkester was recovered by searchers late Wednes day afternoon. At a press confer ence held in Ami- calola Falls State Park on Wednesday evening, Dawson County Fire Chief Danny Thomp son reported that Noonkester’s body was discovered at about 2:30 p.m. in a rugged, inaccessible area of the park, near the Len Foote Hike Inn. Noonkester, a resident of North Carolina, started hik ing the Appalachian Trail on Friday, Feb. 14, and went missing shortly after a series of phone calls were made to Dawson County authorities over the weekend. On Sunday, Dawson County authorities received a call from a friend of Noonkester, expressing concern for the hiker’s health. Shortly after that call, Noonkester himself called the Dawson County 911 and was interviewed by an on-duty battalion chief, according to Thompson. “In speaking with Eddie, it did appear that he sounded confused initially,” Thompson said. Following the interview with Noonkester, authori ties mobilized a search, but were unable to find any sign of the hiker until approximately 1 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17, when staff of Len Foote Hike Inn located some of Noonkester’s per sonal belongings near the Hike Inn trail. Efforts to find Noonkester contin ued through Monday night with six K9 teams search ing a large grid area around the Approach Trail in Ami- calola Falls State Park, and on through Tuesday morning until the weather deteriorated. The search was sus pended on Tuesday night due to weather conditions, but resumed on Wednes day with more than 130 searchers and additional resources from north Geor gia agencies. Thompson said that Noonkester’s body has been taken to the GBI Crime Lab for further analysis. But according to Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson, there have so far been no indica tions of foul play. BY STEVE PEOPLES, ALEXANDRA JAFFE AND MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press LAS VEGAS - From the opening bell, Demo crats unleashed an aggressive verbal assault on New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg and raised new questions about Bernie Sanders’ take-no-prisoners politics in a contentious debate Wednesday night that threatened to scramble even further the party’s urgent quest to defeat President Donald Trump. The former New York City mayor was forced to defend his divisive record on race, gender and Wall Street in his debate-stage debut, while Sanders, appearing in his ninth of the 2020 primary season, tried to beat back pointed questions about his health and his embrace of demo cratic socialism. Fierce exchanges throughout the two-hour affair marked the most aggressive sustained period of infighting in the Democrats’ yearlong search for a presidential nominee, reflecting rising urgency in a 2020 primary season that is already deep into its voting phase. Nevada votes Saturday. South Carolina the week after. And more than a dozen states host a series of Super Tuesday contests in less than two weeks. In a fight for her politi cal life, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was a leading aggres sor against Bloomberg. She was on the attack throughout the night fol lowing a sharp slide in the polls, calling Bloomberg “a billionaire who calls people fat broads and horse-faced lesbians.” She wasn’t alone. Sanders lashed out at Bloomberg’s policing policies as New York City mayor that he said tar geted “African-American and Latinos in an outrageous way.” And former Vice Presi dent Joe Biden charged that Bloomberg’s “stop-and-frisk” policy ended up “throwing 5 million black men up against the wall.” Bloomberg defended him self on all counts and took a shot at Sanders’ electability: “I don’t think there’s any chance of the senator beating Donald Trump.” Bloomberg later seized on Sanders’ rising wealth: “The best known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses!” Sanders defended owning multiple houses, not ing he has one in Washing ton, where he works, and two in Vermont. While Bloomberg was the shiny new object Wednes day, the debate also marked a major test for Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who is emerging as the front-runner in the Democrats’ nomination fight, whether his party’s establishment likes it or not. A growing group of donors, elected officials and political operatives fear that Sanders’ uncompromising progressive politics could be a disaster in the general election against Trump, yet they’ve struggled to coalesce behind a single moderate alternative. Former Midwestern Mayor Pete Buttigieg went after both Bloomberg and Sanders, warning that one threatened to “burn down” the Democratic Party and the other was trying to buy it. He called them “the two most polarizing figures on this stage.” Longtime establishment favorite Biden, Obama’s two-term vice president, des perately needed to breathe new life into his flailing cam paign, which entered the night at the bottom of a mod erate muddle behind former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. And after a bad finish last week in New Hampshire, Massachusetts Sen. Warren was fighting to resurrect her stalled White House bid. 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