Small place crashes in southwest Mobile County; no word on fate of anyone aboard

Published: Monday, November 29, 2010, 10:17 PM ??? Updated: Monday, November 29, 2010, 10:19 PM

ST. ELMO, Ala. -- A single-engine plane crashed in bad weather in a farm pasture in southwest Mobile County on?this evening, according to responders at the scene.

There was no immediate word on the fate of anyone who was on board the plane.

The plane crashed about a half-mile west of a dead end on Wyn Road, about four miles north of St. Elmo. It was found in a pasture on the Leroy Hill farm, according to a neighbor.

Cpl. Chris McLean, a spokesman for the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, said the first reports of a crash came in at 6:47 p.m. The Sheriff’s Office and the Mobile County EMS responded.

McLean would not say how many people were aboard the privately-owned aircraft. No one was transported to the hospital from the scene, he said.

Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration were en route to the scene Monday night.

Witnesses said they heard an aircraft struggling to stay in the air, followed by a loud noise.

"You could tell by the sound of the engine that it was in trouble," said Frank Childress, a resident of nearby Straub Road. "Screaming, (and) all of a sudden, there was a big boom, and then it was quiet."

The same struggle was heard by Philip Vaughan, a resident of Wyn Road, who said he went out to look at the impact site. "There’s not much left of it," he said.

McLean said there was evidence that the aircraft caught fire on impact.

Flying conditions at the time of the crash were rough. Winds from the southeast blew from 15 to 20 knots, and clouds were reported hanging less than 1,000 feet from the ground.

Both Childress and Vaughan indicated from the sound patterns they heard that the plane may have been attempting to make an approach to St. Elmo Airport, which is parallel to U.S. 90 about four miles south of the crash scene. It is the nearest runway to the crash site, and its tower beacon was visible from March Road near where the plane went down.

McLean said FAA investigators were called from Anniston to come to the scene, and he said it would be past midnight before they arrived.

He said there was no early indication where the flight originated or was bound, and McLean did not know what model of aircraft it was.

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Boot Passailaigue

Boot Passailaigue

Posted by Max Brantley on Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 6:57 AM

John Brummett joins the chorus calling for the Arkansas Lottery Commission to send the South Carolina carpetbagger Ernie Passailaigue home. He could take some more overpaid lumber with him. It is, says Brummett, a false calculus to answer the many shortcomings of operation by citing college scholarships. We can produce the same with sound operation, probably more. Ernie P. and his top two assistants account for about 150 scholarships between them in their $750,000 haul, not mentioning expensive New York hotel suites, caviar shots on the state's dime and more.

Tags: Arkansas lottery, Ernie Passailaigue

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Man shot after robbers ram his car and kidnap him in Prichard

Published: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 4:25 PM ??? Updated: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 4:25 PM

PRICHARD, Ala. -- Two men rammed a couple’s car this morning, robbed them?and then shot the man after forcing him to take the robbers?to his home, Prichard police said.
?
The victim, who was not identified, was in University of South Alabama Medical Center with multiple gunshot wounds to the legs, Prichard spokesman Pat Mitchell said. He added the man is expected to recover from his injuries.

The woman was not injured, Mitchell said. She was also not identified.

Mitchell said the couple was heading home after attending a local nightclub. He said they were near Whistler Street and Dykes Road in Whistler shortly before 3 a.m. when their car was struck by a blue 1989 Pontiac Grand Am.

The couple’s car was knocked into a ditch on Whistler Street, and it was then that the men in the Grand Am pulled guns and forced the couple into a wooded area, where they were robbed, Mitchell said.

The man was then forced into the Grand Am and was told by the robbers to go to his home on Cooper Avenue, about a mile west of the collision scene, Mitchell said.

Once at the home, Mitchell said, the men again demanded money and drugs, and it was there that they shot the man before leaving in the Grand Am.

The robbers wore ski masks and all black clothing. Mitchell said the victim believed they were black males.

No arrests have been made. Mitchell said anyone who has information about the case can call Prichard police at 251-452-2211.

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The Sunday line

The Sunday line

Posted by Max Brantley on Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 4:11 PM

It's yours. I'm ready for the long weekend to end. Though there was significant news today:

* The leaked diplomatic cables dominate headlines.

* John McCain says it's time to talk about "regime change" in North Korea. President Obama look better now?

* Ever heard of Emad Hatem Abdullah? Said to be a Little Rock resident, he was arrested for tossing explosives of some sort in Virginia on Thanksgiving, Channel 4 reports.

Tags: Emad Hatem Abdullah

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Tomorrow's forecast today for coastal Alabama: Rain likely for Monday

Published: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 6:34 PM ??? Updated: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 6:34 PM

Today's low was 35. The record for Nov. 28 is 25, recorded in 1938.

Monday: Mostly cloudy, rain likely. Highs in the upper 60s to low 70s. Lows in the mid-50s to upper 60s. Chance of rain 50 percent, increasing to 70 percent Tuesday night.

Tuesday: Rain likely. Highs in the upper 60s. Lows in the mid- to upper 30s. Chance of rain 80 percent.

(For a complete forecast, see Monday's Press-Register. For other Alabama weather news, visit al.com/weather.)

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Profile in courage

The courageous one would be Brian Muller, a gay Arkansas native, discharged from duties disarming bombs in Afghanistan after his sexual orientation was revealed, as reported in today's Democrat-Gazette.

You supply the adjectives for U.S. Sens. Lame Duck Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. I'd asked them for positions on repeal of the ban on gay military service last week. Lincoln repeated the same ringing support for the concept that she'd given shortly before joining Pryor as the only two Democrats joining a filibuster against repeal. She still won't say she'll vote for repeal no matter what.

Pryor, who dodged my question entirely, now tells the Democrat-Gazette that he opposes repeal; that he thinks homosexuality is a sin and that he has reservations about housing gay troops with straight troops (as if this hasn't occurred forever). He's been fully indoctrinated by the Religious Right's false arguments — that military chaplains won't be able to continue to preach morally justifiable discrimination; that gays are just lying in wait to assault straight soldiers if only given the cover of open service. Pryor, at his core, is a Religious Righter, so I get it (though why he's fiddled around in coming out until now, I don't know). But what possible reason is there for Lincoln to be hesitant to do right, for once, without the wobble? Take a cue from Brian Muller and woman up, senator.

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Funeral arrangements incomplete for the Rev. Wesley James

Published: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 5:12 PM ??? Updated: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 5:12 PM

MOBILE, Ala. -- Funeral arrangements for the Rev. Wesley James were not announced today, according to Lovett’s Funeral Chapel.

James, 58, a longtime civic leader and pastor of Franklin Street Missionary Baptist Church, died Saturday. James had been pastor at the church since June 1988.

James also served on the board of Mobile Area Water and Sewer Service and worked with a number of affordable housing initiatives in Mobile and Prichard.

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