And when he would not be per-suaded, we ceased praying the will of the Lord be done. Acts 21:14

Penny Pickett, Lubbock

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High: 101Low: 72Tomorrow: Sunshine mixing

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BeyondTheCaprock

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — “The only harder thing than creating a hit show is know-ing when to end it,” said Marc Cherry as he looked ahead to the final year of “Desperate Housewives.”

As ABC made official that the hit series would end after its upcoming eighth season, its creator, Cherry, joined ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee to insist the decision had been made jointly.

“I’m very aware that some shows overstay their wel-come and I didn’t want that to happen with ‘Desperate Housewives,’” Cherry told re-porters during a Sunday ses-sion of the Television Critics Association conference. “We wanted to go out in the classiest way possible.”

Cherry said he and Lee began discussions a year ago about when the series should be shuttered.

Cherry said he had put out calls to all the show’s cast members in recent days and spoken to about half of them.

“It was bittersweet and lovely. There was a touch of shock, but not completely,” Cherry said in describing the conversations, adding that he and the stars shared a feeling of gratitude for the experi-ence of doing the series.

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‘Housewives’ facing final season this fall

Is your smartphone hacked? Google deals with hackers recording calls on Androids. Page B4

New guidelines aim to increase student safety when playing outdoor sports. Page B6

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Catholic birth control: Catholic hospitals fear they may be forced to cover birth control free of charge./A5

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Rick Perry, a televised de-bate and a test vote in Iowa

could stir up the race. A2

MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2011

Many of the men who en-listed in the military service for World War II came from rural backgrounds.

They had experienced the Great Depression and a living from whatever food they could raise on the family farm.

Bernice McConnell, who also became a soldier, could relate. She has memories of what

she facetiously refers to as “the good old days.”

“We didn’t go hungry, but we did eat cornbread and milk

every night.”She added, “We milked four

cows twice a day — I milked two of them myself before walk-ing three miles to school. We weren’t barefooted but we only had one pair of shoes.”

McConnell recalls, “There were seven of us kids and our parents in a three-room house. No electricity — we had oil

lamps to read and study by, a wood stove to cook on, and a heater in the largest bedroom where two double beds were. That also served as our living room.”

Though she lives in Lubbock now, that was near Hallettsville in the San Antonio area.

One of her indelible memo-ries relates to a 120-foot well

where water had to be brought to the surface by lowering a bucket on a rope attached to a windlass.

With seven children, parents and assorted passersby, the bucket was often empty.

McConnell leans forward to confide what she remembers

SEE GOOD OLD DAYS, PAGE A3

Bernice McConnell left the farm to become a soldier

SEALs crashed on aid mission

KABUL, Afghanistan — The 30 Ameri-can service members — most of them elite Navy SEALs — who died when their helicopter was shot down had rushed to help Army Rangers who had come under

fire, two U.S. officials said Sunday.The heavy loss shows that clandes-

tine tactics carry huge risks despite the huge success of the SEAL mission that killed Osama bin Laden more than three months ago. Most of the SEALs who died Saturday were from the same unit that killed bin Laden, although none of the men took part in that mission.

The U.S.-led coalition plans to rely more on special operations missions as it reduces the overall number of combat troops by the end of 2014.

This weekend, the rescue team had

subdued attackers who had pinned down the Rangers and were departing in their Chinook helicopter when the aircraft was apparently hit, one of the officials said.

Thirty Americans and eight Afghans were killed in the crash, making it the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. The Rangers, special operations forces who work regularly with the SEALs, secured the crash site in the Tangi Joy Zarin area of Wardak province, about 60 miles southwest of Kabul, the other of-

ficial said.Both officials spoke on condition of

anonymity to describe the event, as the investigation is still ongoing. The SEAL mission was first reported by CNN.

NATO was recovering the remains of the twin rotor Chinook helicopter. A current and a former U.S. official said the Americans included 22 SEALs, three Air Force combat controllers and a dog handler and his dog. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because military

SEE CRASH, PAGE A3

by KIMbERLy DOZIER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AfGHANISTAN/Most in crash were elite navy SEALs, most from bin Laden mission

Second CallingThe Rev. Edson Way was New

Mexico’s cultural affairs offi-cer when the call came to him like a voice over the radio. The Rev. Scott Campbell was work-ing in conflict resolution at a computer company when he answered the call.

The Rev. Kate Hutson had been serving in the commu-nications field when answer-

ing the call suddenly seemed like a possibility, and the Rev. Ruby Moultrie taught music and served as a music minister when someone encouraged her to consider answering the call.

Each of these ministers felt called into pastoral life after decades spent working in other careers.

They are not alone.More than half of graduate

students enrolling in theologi-cal training programs during the 2010-11 school year were more than 30 years old, ac-cording to data from The Asso-ciation of Theological Schools. The association is a member-ship organization of more than

SEE THE CAll, PAGE A3

by IRIE PRICE

AVALAnCHE-JOURnAL

Closing arguments are sched-uled to begin today after five weeks of testimony in a federal civil rights trial.

Alberto Sifuentes and Je-sus Ramirez sued former Texas Ranger Sal Abreo, the city of Littlefield and Officer Leo Ponce and Lamb County and Criminal District Attor-ney Mark Yarbrough in April 2009.

Sifuentes and Ramirez spent more than a decade behind bars for the 1996 robbery and murder of Evangelina Cruz at the Littlefield Jolly Roger con-venience store.

The pair’s convictions were overturned in 2008 after an appellate court found the de-fense attorneys in the origi-nal trials ineffective to the extent it violated Sifuentes’ and Ramirez’ constitutional rights.

Then, Sifuentes and Ramirez filed a lawsuit against the po-lice they claim arrested them without probable cause, and the prosecutor they claim withheld evidence that could have been used to aid in their defense.

Their attorneys have ex-pressed their intent to seek $12 million each for Sifuentes and Ramirez.

Lengthy summations can be expected before jurors retire to pour over the law applicable to the case and the instructions governing the numerous ques-tions they must answer.

To comment on this story: logan.carver@lubbockonline.com 766-8704

shelly.gonzales@lubbockonline.com 766-8747

Sifuentes trial’s closing arguments begin today

by LOgan g. CaRvER

AVALAnCHE-JOURnAL

COUrTS/ Closing arguments follow five weeks of testimony

injured PlAyer bAckTech cornerback Urell Johnson to return after a year out of the game. D1

zACH LOnG AVALAnCHE-JOURnAL

Father Edson Way’s calling as a pastor came as a second career after spending time as a new Mexico State Cultural affairs officer.

zACH LOnG AVALAnCHE-JOURnAL

Father Edson Way reads from the bible.

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fAITH/Pastors discuss leaving careers for a life in professional ministry

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