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WE BREAK MORE NEWS AT WEDNESDAY / DECEMBER 19 / 2007 Classifieds: 532-4222

OFFICER WILLIAM ERIC FREEMAN: 1971-2007

Local
Police are looking for a
child predator who sexually
assaulted an elementary
school student in Madison
on Monday and tried to
lure another student in
‘Unyielding courage’
marked Eric Freeman
Huntsville on Tuesday. B1

Two elderly sisters on their

way to the post office to
mail Christmas gifts are
killed when their car is hit
by a dump truck on U.S.
431 near New Hope. B1

State
A key witness at the trial of
Don Siegelman and
Richard Scrushy is released
from federal prison. B4

Authorities have closed the

investigation into the disap-
pearance of Natalee Hol-
loway and do not have evi-
dence to charge anyone. B4

Nation
The Senate votes to provide
$70 billion for U.S. military
efforts in Iraq and
Afghanistan, handing a vic-
tory to President Bush and
his GOP allies on Capitol
Hill. A3

A teenager whose appendix

ruptured at sea gets safely to
shore after an unusual res-
cue in which the Navy air-
lifted her from a cruise ship
for emergency surgery. A8

Sens. Barack Obama of Illi-

nois and Hillary Rodham
Clinton of New York re-
main deadlocked in Iowa, ac-
cording to a new poll. A12

World
U.S. Secretary of State Con-
doleezza Rice cautions
against any action that
could destabilize Iraq after
Turkey sent about 300
troops across the border in
pursuit of Kurdish sepa-
ratist guerrillas. A7
Business
Devotion to job,
à à à family recalled
Dow Nasdaq S&P 500
+ 65.27 + 21.57 + 9.07
With Huntsville about to
set a record for the lowest
annual rainfall since at least
1894, the U.S. House votes
to provide more money for
drought relief. A9
Sports
Roger Clemens denies allega-
tions that he took perform-
ance-enhancing drugs, call-
ing them “a dangerous and
destructive shortcut that no
athlete should ever take.” E1
Full weather, B6
Forecast: High today
Mostly cloudy.
An Alabama State Trooper stands at attention as the procession for officer William Eric Freeman approaches State Line Cemetery on Tuesday.
More than 1,000
gather to honor
fallen HPD officer
By PATRICIA C. McCARTER
and NIKI DOYLE
Times Staff Writers
patricia.mccarter@htimes.com
niki.doyle@htimes.com
HAZEL GREEN – Pho-
tographs that flashed on big
screens at the front of the Beth-
lehem Baptist sanctuary at
Eric Freeman’s funeral showed
that he was more than a police
officer gunned down Friday
night.
There was Freeman pressing
his face to the face of his new-
born son … napping on the
sofa, more than a year later,
with the same child, now a
chubby-cheeked toddler …
doing he-man poses with an-
other son … staring down the
barrel of a paintball gun …
looking proud in an LSU jer-
sey … hugging his cheerleader
daughter … kissing his pretty
wife.
The slide show reinforced
what everyone’s been saying
since the 36-year-old
Huntsville police officer was
shot during a fairly routine traf-
fic call: It just isn’t right. This
one shouldn’t have been taken.
Eric Schultz/Huntsville Times
More coverage Retired officer
• Capital murder sus-
pect Kenneth Shipp fills out
financial papers as he looks
for an attorney. A4 helped nab Shipp
• Shipp’s roommate
says the suspect was bat-
tling depression. A4 When shot fired, cer restrain the
• Pictures from Tues- man who fired.
day’s ceremonies. A5 his training just That knee-jerk
kicked into action reaction spread
quickly across
A note written by Gov. Bob By NIKI DOYLE the city.
Riley and read at the funeral Times Staff Writer “It sounded
called the officer “an Alabami- niki.doyle@htimes.com like Huntsville
an of distinction, an American You always wish you could lit up in sirens,”
of heroic proportion” and re- do more. Hancock Hancock said.
ferred to his “unyielding It’s something that Billy Hancock said
courage.” It was presented to Hancock, a retired Huntsville he was sitting in traffic at the
Freeman’s widow, Leslie, along police investigator, has thought intersection of Bailey Cove
with an Alabama flag that flew for days since he helped sub- and Weatherly roads when
over the state Capitol Monday due a man who allegedly shot Kenneth Shipp rear-ended his
officer Eric Freeman last week. 2005 silver Chevrolet Subur-
in her husband’s honor. When the gunshot rang out
ban.
More than 1,000 people Friday night, Hancock leapt
Please see HONOR on A5 forward to help another offi- Please see RETIRED on A5

53 Adopted son,
Low tonight
NASA finds source
of fuel gauge trouble
41 birth mother
meet at work Manager unsure
how long it’ll take
back launch delays this month.
Until Tuesday’s tanking test,
NASA had been aiming for a
What’s inside Jan. 10 liftoff of Atlantis with
Abby/D2 Editorials/A6
to fix connector a European space station lab.
Bridge/D2 Horoscope/D2 Lowe’s delivery driver ends By MARCIA DUNN “We’re going to follow this
Business/A9
Classifieds/C1
Life/D1
Lotteries/A2
search at store’s cash register AP Aerospace Writer trail where it leads us and we’re
Newhouse News photo CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. going to solve this problem,
Comics/D3 Movies/D5 By PAT SHELLENBARGER Steve Flaig and his recently located birth – NASA on Tuesday traced and then we’ll go fly ... whether
Crossword People/D2 Newhouse News Service
puzzles/D2, C3
mother, Christine Tallady, share an affectionate fuel gauge failures in shuttle it’s Jan. 10 or Feb. 10 or March
Sports/E1 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – For years, Steve moment at Lowe’s in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Cryptoquote/D2 Sudoku/C6
Atlantis’ tank to a bad con- 10,” shuttle program manag-
Flaig, a delivery truck driver at a Lowe’s store here, nector, and a top manager said er Wayne Hale said.
Deaths/B3 Television/B6 “I have a complete family now, all my kids,”
had searched for his birth mother. he did not know how long it In orbit, meanwhile, space-
He found her working the cash register at the said Tallady, who has two younger children. “It’s would take to replace the part walking astronauts helped
Huntsville, Alabama front of the store. a perfect time of year. It’s the best Christmas pres- or when the spaceship might pinpoint the source of a flawed
Vol. 98, No. 272, XX pages
Contents © 2007, The Huntsville Times For several months, he and Christine Tallady ent ever.” fly. mechanism in the Interna-
had known each other casually as co-workers. For Flaig, it was the reunion he had dreamed The erratic shuttle fuel tional Space Station’s power
Last Friday, they met for the first time as moth- gauges – part of a critical safe-
er and son. Please see MOTHER on A8 ty system – forced back-to- Please see NASA on A3