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9-Year-Old Shooting Victim Was Aspiring Politician

It was the snowy East Coast winters that drove Phyllis Schneck and her husband to Arizona a decade ago. The couple, who met as teens in their home state of New Jersey, spent the final years of their 56-year storybook marriage in a quiet retirement community in northwest Tucson where she was known as an expert quilter who would stop by her friends' houses with homemade lemon curd and other confections. On Saturday morning, Schneck, 79, headed to the Safeway where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was holding a "Congress on your Corner" meeting with constituents. Though she was a Republican, she had recently listened to Giffords on a conference call — mostly likely during her recent campaign, her daughter said — and was hoping to shake her hand.uggs online store While she waited to meet the congresswoman, a gunman, allegedly Jared Lee Loughner, opened fire, unloading 31 bullets. Schneck and five others were killed. Schneck's friends remembered her as a kind and caring neighbor. She had run a women's club back in New Jersey and became an active member of her Presbyterian church in Tucson — often donating her handmade quilts and needlepoint projects to benefit area food banks and children's charities. One neighbor recently saw her at a neighborhood luau, where she arrived in a green floral muumuu bearing her legendary pineapple upside-down cake. A homemaker for much of her life, she centered her world on her three children, seven grandchildren, her 2-year-old great-grandchild, and her husband, Ernie Schneck Sr., who was the brother of her childhood best friend. Schneck did administrative work for a time at Fairleigh Dickinson University, but was mainly devoted to community work and raising her children, her daughter said. The kitchen was the center of activity in the family home, daughter Betty-Jean Offutt said. Ernie Schneck Sr., who worked as a sheet metal fabricator in New Jersey, was always home at five o'clock sharp so he wouldn't miss his wife's cooking.uggs on sale online "When the food is good, you go home," said Offutt, who described her mother's macaroni and cheese as "top shelf." Ernie and Phyllis Schneck shared a sharp sense of humor and often bowled together. They spent summers in a small lakeside community in New Jersey. Ernie Schneck Sr. died of cancer several years ago. "They had a wonderful, happy marriage for 56 years. … It was love," Offutt said. Her mother, she said, "would give you the shirt off your back.… If you didn't have anywhere to go, she'd invite you over to dinner." The Nets are in the advanced stages of a blockbuster three-team deal that would send All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony to New Jersey, league sources confirmed to SI.com. The Nets are deep in discussions with the Nuggets and Pistons for a deal that would send Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton and Anthony Carter to New Jersey; Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, Anthony Morrow, Ben Uzoh and Stephen Graham to Denver; and Troy Murphy and Johan Petro to Detroit. Both Denver and Detroit would receive first-round draft picks from New Jersey, sources said. Holding up the deal, sources say, is Detroit's desire to pry more draft picks from New Jersey for taking on the salaries of Murphy and Petro. Murphy is in the final year of his contract, worth about $12 million, and according to a source, he'll seek a buyout if traded. Nets center Petro still has two years and approximately $6.8 million left on his deal. The issue is unlikely to prevent this deal from happening, a source said.cleara nce uggs outlet Despite reports indicating Anthony was only willing to sign an extension with New York, New Jersey has never wavered in its belief that if a deal could be brokered with Denver, then Anthony would sign the three-year, $65 million extension the Nuggets offered him last June. The inclusion of Hamilton, who has two years and $25 million remaining on his contract, is another sign that Anthony is willing to agree to an extension with the Nets. The driving force between the latest trade scenario, which was first reported by The Bergen Record of Hackensack, N.J. on Friday, is Leon Rose, who represents both Anthony and Hamilton and has been pushing the Nets to include Detroit in the discussion. A league executive involved with the talks texted SI.com that "Melo will sign with Jersey. Nets are completely convinced of that now." The Knicks have never been seriously involved in the discussions for Anthony. While New York can offer Denver more talent (Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Landry Fields have been made available), they don't have the draft picks the Nuggets crave. The Knicks don't have a first-round pick to trade until the 2014 season. By acquiring Billups, 34, and Hamilton, 32, the Nets believe they can meet Anthony's desire to be competitive now while selling him on their ability to use his presence and a new $900 million arena in Brooklyn to make additional moves to acquire an elite free agent in 2012. Orlando's Dwight Howard and New Orleans' Chris Paul are, according to sources, both targets of the Nets in 2012. Floodwaters have cut the southeast Queensland communities of Dalby and Gympie in two, amid fears the latest flooding will swamp about 180 properties. The town of Dalby, west of Brisbane, is in the grip of its fifth flood since December 20. At 11am today, the Myall Creek was at 3.4 metres and rising and will get beyond the 3.5 metres seen on December 27, when 100 properties were flooded and 160 people evacuated. The flooded Mary River on Exhibition Road, Gympie, showing where two bridges were submerged by water on January 10. Photo: Jenny Nancarrow ..Residents who'd made some progress in cleaning up homes swamped two weeks ago will see it happen all over again on Monday. Western Downs Mayor Ray Brown said residents were sick and tired of the drama. "We have a lot of unconfirmed reports from landholders of an enormous amount of water upstream from the town," he said. "At the moment we cannot predict a peak. It's still rising." Evacuation centres, emergency personnel and medical help are available on both sides of the divided town, with the last major road route into the community expected to be cut soon. To the northeast, floodwaters have also split Gympie in two, with about a dozen businesses already under water. Acting Gympie Regional Mayor Tony Perrett said up to 40 businesses and 40 homes could be inundated if the Mary River reaches 20 metres, as expected, in the next 24 hours. The Bureau of Meteorology has warned the river could go even higher than that. If it gets to 21.9 metres it will match the 1999 flood that saw homes and businesses inundated and the city declared a natural disaster area. Mr Perrett said Gympie had seen far worse floods in the past, and the city was well prepared and businesses began moving their stock off the ground when heavy rain began on Friday. Emergency services personnel have been doorknocking residents in at-risk areas, saying they must be prepared to flee and an evacuation centre has been set up to take people in. Among the businesses already flooded is the Royal Hotel on the corner of Mary Street. During the 1999 flood, it was submerged to its roofline, and assistant manager Jess Philpot expects about the same this time. "You want to cry," she told AAP on Monday, as about 1.5 metres of water washed through the pub's bottom bar. "It's going to go up to the roof. In '99, it was lapping at the awnings."uggs on sale store She said she was stunned at how quickly the water had come up. "Last night we couldn't see the water from the hotel. This morning it's inside." Police have urged people not to travel to Gympie with major routes cut. The Mary River catchment saw a massive dumping of 322mm in the 24 hours to 5am today. Meanwhile, low-lying areas along the Brisbane River could see some flooding by Tuesday or Wednesday, Bureau of Meteorology hydrologist Peter Baddiley said. Residents have been offered sandbags and Emergency Management Queensland acting assistant director general Warren Bridson urged all Queenslanders to have emergency kits ready. "This is a very uncertain time for Queensland residents and even if you don't experience flooding today, it pays to be prepared for the coming days, weeks and months," he said. Meanwhile, floodwaters have cut off the towns of Kilcoy and Toogoolawah in the Brisbane Valley. The Somerset Regional Council is holding an emergency meeting. Mayor Graeme Lehmann said there was also concern for communities around Wivenhoe Dam, northwest of Brisbane. About 15 houses at Toogoolawah, near the dam, were evacuated overnight and about 40 people were forced to take refuge at an RSL hall. "There's a great inland sea at present," Mr Lehmann told the ABC. "This is the third time that's happened in the last months so people have had crops under water and out of water so those crops will be lost." More heavy rain is expected across the southeast corner on Tuesday, but it should ease to showers on Wednesday. Dams outside Brisbane are being credited with saving the city from widespread flooding. The Wivenhoe Dam is at 140 per cent and Somerset Dam is at 150 per cent, and there's a lot more capacity available. soccer star David Beckham announced Sunday on his Facebook account that he and wife Victoria Beckham will welcome their fourth child this summer. "I've got some great news to tell you all," Beckham wrote. "Victoria and I are expecting our fourth child this summer. The boys are very excited about the arrival of a new brother or sister." The couple married in 1999 and have three sons together: Brooklyn, 11, Romeo, 8 and Cruz, 5. Victoria Beckham, formerly known as Posh Spice from the girl band Spice Girls, expressed a desire for more children in 2009, saying, "I think one day, if we're blessed to have more children, it would be amazing." Since their marriage, the Beckhams have become a fixture in fashion and sports culture around the world, earning them the nickname "Posh and Becks" from the media