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Seven of 12 people in minivan killed

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 15, 2007

ELK CITY, OKLA.

A minivan carrying 12 people skidded off Interstate 40 during freezing rain early Sunday and slammed into a semitrailer truck, killing seven, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said. The seven unidentified victims, all adult residents of Mexico, were among 21 deaths blamed on widespread waves of freezing rain, sleet and snow that started Friday: 12 in Oklahoma, six in Missouri, two in Texas and one in New York. Crews struggled Sunday to restore power to hundreds of thousands in several states.

GREENVILLE, N.C.

Fires, break-in strike three Baptist churches

Police increased their patrols of churches across Greenville on Sunday after fires broke out at two Baptist churches Saturday night and a break-in was discovered at a third, all within an hour. The speed of the first fire at the Memorial Baptist Church led investigators to treat both fires as crime scenes, fire chief Mike Burton said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, and authorities said they found no signs of fires at other churches in Greenville, which is about 75 miles east of Raleigh. Damage at Memorial Baptist was estimated at $1-million, Burton said. Damage at Unity Free Will Baptist Church, about a mile away, was estimated at between $30,000 and $40,000. Police were also investigating a break-in at Oakmont Baptist Church, less than a mile from Memorial Baptist.

[Last modified January 15, 2007, 00:00:15]