Tuner launches malaria initiative

Atlanta media mogul Ted Turner says he has formed a $200 million partnership with Lutherans and Methodists to fight malaria. Today Turners' United Nations Foundation philanthropy launched the malaria project with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the United Methodist Church. Turner made critical remarks about religion in the past but now says he's working with the churches because they have a good reputation for overseas humanitarian work.

Virginia Tech slaying victim to be laid to rest today

Jamie Bishop
The funeral for Jamie Bishop of Pine Mountain, a professor at Virginia Tech University who was killed in the shooting massacre at the school on Monday, April 16, will be held today.

The service is planned for 3 PM at the First United Methodist Church of Pine Mountain, where his parents, Michael and Jeri Bishop, live and are members.

First United Methodist Church
of Pine Mountain (Dave Bender)
More details on this story are available here, here and here.

Pine Mountain: Candlelit vigil remembers Jamie Bishop

Jamie Bishop and wife Steffie in an
undated photograph.

Almost 300 of Pine Mountain's 1,500 close-knit residents packed the First United Methodist Church Tuesday evening, in a candlelight vigil for Professor Jamie Bishop, gunned down in his classroom at Virginia Tech University Monday.

Worshipers gather at
First United Methodist Church
after memorial service. (Dave Bender)

Reverend Matthew Mitchell led an evocative service in the candlelit room, reading out a moving, and at times, humorous sermon that Jamie had himself written and given in 1989. Chaplain Quincy Brown of nearby LaGrange College, who also held a memorial service earlier in the afternoon, read the 23rd Psalm and The Lord's Prayer. The Chancel choir sang Amazing Grace.

"It was quite a nice service we had here today," said Sam Hill, a Pine Mountain resident and friend of the family of the vigil. "The crux of the sermon was, that you never know when your time's going to come, and to be prepared."

Eaborating on the idea of a predestined fate, Hall said, "We all thought in the congregation that Matthew was given a copy of that sermon, so that he could share it with the congregation here tonight."

Stunned residents of this rural town, near Calloway Gardens, know the Bishop family well. Michael Bishop, Jamie's father is a professor at LaGrange College, his mother Jeri is a counselor at Rosemont Elementary, where Jamie attended school.

Reverend Mitchell also knows the family well. Residents and churchgoers say the Bishops are active in the church; Michael teaches Sunday school there.

"You can't have a finer family in the church than the Bishops," Mitchell told GPB News. "They're the kind of people who, after a Wednesday night dinner, clean all the pots and scrub the floors," he said. "They're very involved in all ministry aspects of the church."

Pam Sewell, who teaches at Rosemont, said Jeri spoke with the school's principal, Natalie Givins on Monday night about how to break the awful news to the children:

"'Just do one thing, and tell those kids just to do the best they can,'" Bishop said. Sewell said the issues weren't immediately discussed with the pupils on Tuesday. "If any of the children had heard anything on the news, we just said, 'we'll talk about it later.'"

"'When Mrs. Bishop got back, she was going to need a lot of hugs, and that those would be the band-aids on her heart,'" Givins gently explained to the children, Sewell said.

"Then all of our fourth and fifth-graders children made hearts, with little messages to her on them, and they're all over her door, waiting on her." Sewell said, adding that she was "sad and hurt for [the Bishops] and all the families. We're here [at the vigil] to respect and honor her."

Michael and Jeri, and Jamie's sister Stephanie attended a memorial service the same evening at Virginia Tech University. They drove there on Monday, as soon at they were told of Jamie's death.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of this story.

Meanwhile, a Columbus resident and grandmother of two students who attend Virginia Tech University is breathing a lot easier today.

Helen Burke, 81, anxiously watched her television hour after gory hour on Monday, appalled by scenes of the shooting mayhem that killed 32 students and faculty.

But her granddaughter, Arlane Gordon-Bray, was not in immediate danger having stayed in her room on campus as the day's bloody events unfolded. Only much later in the afternoon did Burke get word that her grandson, Marque Burke, was also safe.

Gordon-Bray is an assistant residence hall manager at the school, and an international studies and French major, according to a story appearing in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Pine Mountain resident among Virginia Tech slaying victims (Updated)

Christopher James Bishop
Undated photo from his
web site.

35-year-old Professor Jamie Bishop of Pine Mountain was among the 33 killed -- including the gunman -- in Monday's mass slaying at Virginia Tech.

Bishop was the first person shot in the Norris Hall academic building.

Bishop was previously a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Georgia where he obtained bachelor and master's degrees in German.

"We don't have much happening here, as far as the bad stuff..." Steve Earles, a close friend of the family in Pine Mountain told GPB News.

"They'll be a lot of support and love through out Christian faith ... for the Bishops," offered Earles, who teaches Sunday School together with Michael Bishop, Jamie's father.

Pastor Matthew Mitchell of the First United Methodist Church, where the Bishop family attends services said the family were “devoted church-goers and a part of our community.” Mitchell said the community was “in shock” from the news, and characterized the family as, “well-known, well-loved - just wonderful people.”

A memorial service for Bishop will be held at the LaGrange College chapel at five PM on Tuesday. A candlelight vigil is planned for seven PM, at the church.

Jamie Bishop is survived by his wife, Steffie Hofer, his sister, Stephanie, and his parents, Michael and Jeri.

Steffie is also a German professor at Virginia Tech. Michael is a professor at LaGrange College and a highly-regarded science fiction writer, and Jeri is a counselor at Rosemont Elementary School in LaGrange.

The parents drove to Virginia Tech soon after receiving word of the shooting.

President George Bush is scheduled to attend a memorial service at the school today.

Another Georgia native -- freshman Ryan Fowler of Lincoln County in east Georgia -- was not in the dorm where the first two victims were killed, because he had an early-morning meeting.

Bishop's professional website is here: http://www.memory39.com/

This post will be updated as more information becomes available.