MIDLAND CITY,
Ala. (AP) -- This town of 2,400 nestled amid peanut farms and cotton
fields has long relied on a strong Christian faith, a policy of "love
thy neighbor," and the power of group prayer.
Those
beliefs have been strongly in evidence in the six days since a gunman
killed a school bus driver, snatched a 5-year-old boy off a bus full of
youngsters and fled with his hostage to an underground bunker.
Police
say 65-year-old Jim Dykes killed 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland J.
before escaping with the kindergartner, who has Asperger's syndrome and
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to a state lawmaker
who has spent time with his mother.
On
Sunday, more than 500 people filed into the Civic Center in the nearby
town of Ozark to pay their final tribute to Poland, whom they hailed as a
hero for protecting the other children on the bus before he was gunned
down and the little boy grabbed.
Fliers
imploring people to pray for the little boy were stuck onto the
chain-link fence outside of the Midland City Elementary School, where he
is enrolled. The fence also has been adorned with black, white, and red
ribbons.
Residents have gathered for
candlelight vigils on a nightly basis to pray for the child. And people
are hopeful the hostage drama will lead to a renewed faith in God and to
a closer-knit community.
"This has drawn a
lot of people closer to Christ," said Midland City Mayor Virgil Skipper.
"When you get something like this, it always changes things."
Skipper
described Midland City as a place where people work, pray and spend
time with their families. He said the only other event that shook up the
town this badly was in 1963, when a train crashed into a station wagon
in the middle of town and 11 members of the same family were killed.
Only a 1-year-old girl survived.
"That was the worst thing I can recall, until this," Skipper said.
In
a community where neighborly love appears to be the guiding force, the
bus driver's death and little boy's kidnapping have both rattled and
saddened residents.
"We're devastated this
could happen here. We don't know what to think," said Winifred Ramsey,
77, a retired insurance agent who has lived in Midland City since she
was 12. "We never thought anything like this would happen. We're just
slow-paced and love our neighbors."
Taylor
Hodges, the pastor of the Midland City Baptist Church told his
congregation on Sunday that, "We're grieving the loss of a way of life
here in Midland City. That's what it feels like to a lot of people
here."
Despite the trauma, community members had not forgotten their Southern hospitality - and it seemed to be catching.
Across
a busy highway from the dirt road leading to Dykes' house, members of a
nearby church cooked barbecue for the news media over the weekend.
On Sunday, four FBI agents brought fried chicken.
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