David Eulitt

2011 Year in Review

Lightning struck the roof of the St. John's Hospital in Joplin, Mo. on Monday afternoon, May 23, 2011, following a tornado which swept through the city on Sunday evening. Severe weather hampered rescue operations with several storms passing through the area. Riverside police officer Jeff Taylor, assisting local rescue authorities, died from injuries from a lightning strike during this storm.
   
While her Joplin, Mo. home was completely destroyed, Amy Jump, lower, her husband and three children all survived the tornado which devasated Joplin on Sunday evening. Jump and her neighbors were sifting through the rubble Monday morning, looking for salvagable items and photos.
  
During a severe weather alert which forced the medical volunteers and patients to the basement of Memorial Hall in Joplin, Mo., certified nurses assistant Nancy Metzger, center, helped console Margaret Mosley, whose home was destroyed in the tornado Sunday evening in Joplin, Mo. Margaret's husband, William, at lower left, was treated with 17 stitches from the tornado. Memorial Hall was the site for triaging injuries from the tornado.
     
  
Shawn and Joella Zaccarello of Joplin pitched in to help sort through the damage of their uncle's home at 2203 E. 20th Street on Tuesday, May 24, 2011, destroyed by Sunday evening's tornado that swept through the city's central section.
   
The scene of a six-mile swath of destruction from a tornado Sunday evening passed through the center of Joplin, Mo. was seen from atop a hillside looking east on Monday afternoon, May 23, 2011. St. John's Hopsital, damaged in the tornado's path, is seen at left.
   
The hopes of a search and rescue team were raised when "Fire," a search and rescue dog, signaled a human scent in a pile of rubble Tuesday, May 24, 2011, in Joplin, Mo. following the devastation caused by a tornado that swept through the city's central section on Sunday evening. The destroyed building, a dentist's office, had human dental impressions buried in the rubble, which triggered the dog's signal.
     
  
Thane Snider worked in the yard of his childhood home at 2606 Jefferson in Joplin, Mo. on Wednesday morning, May 25, 2011, following the devastation caused by a tornado that swept through the city's central section on Sunday evening. A statue of St. Peter lay among the rubble as Snider looked for power tools to assist in the cleanup.
  
David Blank looked for a spot to place an American flag found in the rubble of a home he was helping clean up at 2411 Kentucky in Joplin, Mo. on Thursday morning, May 26, 2011, following the tornado that swept through the city's central section on Sunday evening. Blank, who stopped to help William Brewer clean up his house, said he was driving to the area when his wife wanted to turn around to put their plants away in case of hail. "It's the one time in my life I've listened to her," Blank joked.
  
Steven Weersing, 17, of Joplin, Mo. suffered massive trauma from the May 22nd EF-5 tornado that destroyed the central section of Joplin, Mo. "A lot of people want to see my stomach and all that….I don't mind," said Weersing of the injuries and fungal infection that ate away his skin and bone kept him at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. from June 1st until September 2nd. "That's mostly why I show them, 'cause I survived something really crazy. I died and came back to life."
     
  
An EF-5 tornado tore apart the second-floor apartment of Jordan Aubey, 27, a television reporter in Joplin, Mo., on May 22nd, 2011. The powerful tornado lifted he and the bathtub he was crouched in up into the skies. The resulting injuries…a shattered hip, and cuts and gouges across his face, hands, legs and feet…clarified his outlook on life. "I don't consider myself lucky, I consider myself blessed. The bottom line is that after you survive something like this, you're not wandering aimlessly. You do feel like you have a purpose."
   
Leona Rice of Carl Junction, Mo. was attending church services in Joplin during the May 22nd EF-5 tornado that destroyed the city's central section. Rice was about to leave the restroom at Joplin's Full Gospel Church when the church collapsed around her, trapping her leg in a drain, severing it. Five parishioners died in the tornado, which killed 161 and injured 900. Rice, who drove school buses for the Carl Junction school district, plans to return to driving school buses once she is comfortable with her new prosthetic leg. 52 days after the storm, she remarked with pride, "I drove myself home from the hospital."
   
Lacey Eagleshield of Joplin, Mo. carries the evidence on her face of the May 22nd EF-5 tornado that destroyed the central section of the city, where she received scars to her face from the deadly storm. "My fiancé and I were engaged before the tornado hit and we were going to get married this coming summer," Eagleshield said. "After the tornado, we were like, 'Life is too short. Why wait? Let's get married now." She and her fiancé were married on December 10, 2011.
     
  
George Allman stood outside his heavily damaged home five months after the May 22nd EF-5 tornado in Joplin, Mo. Allman, who was buying the house on a "contract-for-deed" purchasing arrangement, was given eviction notice 15 days after the tornado by his landlord lender if he did not come up with the entire $3,868 still left as balance due on the contract. His landord lender kept the insurance settlement money. Allman's friends eventually helped pay off his balance and is now fixing the house with donated parts from other damaged homes in his neighborhood.
  
Joplin, Mo. police officer Wayne Buck stands outside his patrol car on the site of his former home at 2109 S. Grand Avenue in Joplin, Mo., destroyed in the May 22nd EF-5 tornado. Buck and his family decided not to rebuild on their former site, instead choosing to commute from a nearby suburb. Buck was in his home during the tornado with his family, who were unharmed. Immediately following the tornado, Buck helped with search and rescue in his street clothes.
   
Arthur Price, left, was shackled by Jasper County Sheriff's deputies outside a mobile home at 1101 S. S Street in the FEMA mobile home park just south of Joplin's Regional Airport on October 27, 2011. Price was later released uncharged as he was not a resident in the mobile home but Robert Lyle Sneed (not pictured) was arrested on possessing materials to make methamphetamine.
     
  
Sheri McAllister will have fewer neighboring homes to look at out her picture window following the May 22nd EF-5 tornado wiped out the majority of their neighborhood at 2701 S. Winfield in Joplin, Mo. Sheri and her husband Edward McAllister have chosen to rebuild their home on the exact site of their previous home which was destroyed.
   
Andrew K. Godwin, PhD, joined The University of Kansas Cancer Center in October 2010 as part of the Cancer Center's goal of obtaining National Cancer Institute designation status. Dr. Godwin, the associate director of translational research, works in the field of personalized medicine and drug development. Dr. Godwin was photographed in his office on the University of Kansas Medical Center office in Kansas City, Kan.
  
AnnaBella Peterson, 8, of Kansas City has been in child beauty pageants since she was 5 months old. Her next pageant will be in Arizona in February 2012. Her mother, Nicole, prepares AnnaBella for her photo session.
     
  
Retired Kansas senator Bob Dole, who held office in the Senate from 1969-1996, returned to his hometown of Russell, Kansas for Prairiesta, a once-a-decade celebration of Russell's founding in 1871. Dole was one of the honored guests at the celebration, where Dole posed for a portrait on June 10, 2011.
   
Reola Ivory, 70, keeps an American flag taped to her living room window of her Kansas City, Mo. home. Ivory commented Monday on the news of Osama Bin Laden's death on Sunday night, killed by U.S. military forces. Ivory lost her son, Lacey Ivory, a sergeant major in the Army, who was killed at the Pentagon on 9/11/01.
   
Flames inside a fully-engulfed Westport Presbyterian Church at 201 Westport Road kept Kansas City, Mo. firefighters outside the structure trying to contain the blaze with aerial ladders on December 29, 2011 as bystanders watched and videotaped the damage.
     
  
Flames inside a fully-engulfed Westport Presbyterian Church at 201 Westport Road kept Kansas City, Mo. firefighters outside the 107-year-old structure as firefighters tried to contain the blaze with aerial ladders on December 29, 2011. Kansas City fire investigators placed the fire's cause on faulty installation of an air conditioner unit. Fire officials set damages at $3 to $4 million.
   
Daniel Brewer, a muralist with Arbuckle Signs of Kansas City, Mo., paints the eyes of movie actress Audrey Hepburn from her movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" on a brick inlay atop the Optical Innovations shop at 107 W. 63rd Street in Kansas City. Brewer will also paint another mural on the west side of the building.
  
Priyanka Kotipalli, 10, of Overland Park, Kan., sneaked a peek through her glasses before performing without them on at the Wyandotte County Ethnic Festival 2011 with her fellow dancers from Nartan Dancers of Overland Park at the Kansas City Kansas Community College Field House. The admission-free event featured music, performances and food from cultures who have immigrated to the Kansas City metro area.
     
  
Robert Walters of Overland Park, right, held his son, Dakota, 18 months, while looking over the selection of fireworks at Value Fireworks on the corner of Rainbow Boulevard and Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City, Kan. Walters and his family annually buy fireworks for their holiday celebration with family in Cameron, Mo.
  
Jean-Claude Belmat, a straps aerialist with UniverSoul Circus, waited for his introduction to the big top during Wednesday afternoon's matinee performace in Kansas City, Mo. north of Kemper Arena. The circus troupe, which began in 1994 as an all African-American circus, travels ten months a year with performers from countries ranging from the United States to Africa, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Colombia, Dominican Republic, China, Cuba, Russia, and Brazil. The performances run through Sunday.
   
The arm of Scott Hobart, technical director for the Coterie at Night, painted yellow corn stalkes on a corn maze constructed of masonite built outside the Just Off Braodway Theatre at 3051 Central Street in Kansas City. The corn maze is part of the spooky presentation for "Children of the Damned Corn," a production by Coterie at Night which opens at the theatre on October 14th and runs through October 30th.
     
  
Owen Brooks, 7, of Olathe, tossed rocks into the swollen Missouri River at sunset while Brooks was attending KC Riverfest with his grandfather at Richard L. Berkley Riverfront Park in Kansas City, Mo.
   
David Becker, right, of Mitchell, South Dakota, looked over his 8-year-old paint horse, "G.P. I'm Cool Impulse," whom he and his daughter, Olivia, 11, shorten down to "Hailey," during preparation in the American Royal for The World Wide Paint Horse Congress Show. Olivia (not pictured) is expected to show Hailey in the youth walk/trot class.
   
Brayden Mudd, 3, of Garnett, Kansas, wearing a feline stocking cap, selected a white pumpkin to buy with his mother during an afternoon visit to the KC Pumpkin Patch in Gardner, Kansas in an outing for Brayden's first pumpkin carving on the Halloween season.
     
  
Mike & Melissa Ransdell, wedding portrait, August 2011
   
Paula Funderburke of Tampa, Florida reached back to throw a 15.5 lb. stone during competiton in the Braemer women's put competition of Master's Womens division of the Scottish Highland Games at E.H. Young Riverfront Park in Riverside, Mo. on Sunday, June 12, 2011. Funderburke, 42, had a best throw of 18 feet, 3/4 inches to place second in her division. The Braemer put is thrown with one hand from a stationary position while the athlete is not allowed to move his feet forward until after the stone leaves her hand.
   
Blue Spring South High School senior quarterback Connor Harris, left, scrambled to elude the tackle of Lee's Summit West High School senior Chris Wiseman, right, in the second quarter at Lee's Summit West.
     
  
Players for the Panamanian National Team mobbed Luis Tejada (buried in the pile) after Tejeda scored the game-tying goal in stoppage time in the second half in the CONCACAF Gold Cup doubleheader match between Panama and Canada on June 14, 2011, at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. Panama and Canada finished in a 1-1 tie.
   
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Omar Bravo was undercut by Chicago Fire's Bratislav Ristic, lower, late in the second half during the MLS game on Thursday evening, June 9, 2011, during the inaugural game at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. The game ended in a 0-0 tie.
  
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings celebrated the team's 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers during Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on February 6, 2011.
     
  
Green Bay Packers quarterback and Super Bowl XLV MVP Aaron Rodgers, center, was congratulated by rookie running back James Starks following the 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Arlington, TX on Feb. 6, 2011.
   
Kansas City Chiefs center Casey Wiegmann, left, took a snap from his son, Bo, 3, right, after Monday afternoon's Chiefs training camp practice on the campus of Missouri Western State University.
   
Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry walked to the practice field at Spratt Stadium before Wednesday evening's Chiefs training camp practice on the campus of Missouri Western State University.
     
  
Kansas City Chiefs guard Darryl Harris, top, stripped the helmet off rookie linebacker Amara Kamara during one-on-one drills in afternoon drills at the team's training camp practice on the campus of Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Mo.
   
The Kansas City Chiefs players stood in the tunnel prior to pre game introductions against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, December 4, 2011 at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL.
  
Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles let his dreadlocks fly prior to the game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, September 11, 2011, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
     
  
Kansas City Chiefs running back Thomas Jones knelt in prayer prior to the game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, September 11, 2011, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. Jones wore patriotic gloves as a tenth-anniversary tribute to those who died on 9/11.
   
Smoke from pre-game pyrotechnics blanketed the field for the first series of plays between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, September 11, 2011, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
   
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Jon Baldwin (89) couldn't hang on to this second quarter pass attempt in front of Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings (26) and outside linebacker Lance Briggs (55) on Sunday, December 4, 2011 at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL.
     
  
The inflatable Chicago Bears mascot was on the field during pre game introductions against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, December 4, 2011 at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL.
   
Kansas City Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston (50) sacked Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Hanie (12) in the second quarter on Sunday, December 4, 2011 at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL.
   
Kansas City Chiefs inside linebacker Derrick Johnson (56) tipped a pass intended for Chicago Bears wide receiver Roy Williams (11) that was deflected and caught by Chiefs safety Jon McGraw (not pictured) in the Bears end zone in the fourth quarter on Sunday, December 4, 2011 at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL. At right is Kansas City Chiefs inside linebacker Jovan Belcher (59).
     
  
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel (7) celebrated his 52-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Bowe in the fourth quarter of the Chiefs' 22-17 win over the Minnesota Vikings on October 2, 2011 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
   
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel (7) reacted after overthrowing a deep pass to Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe (82) in the third quarter against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, September 11, 2011, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The Bills won 41-7.
   
San Diego Chargers nose tackle Antonio Garay (71) was all ready for Halloween during Monday's football game against the Kansas City Chiefs on October 31, 2011, in Kansas City, MO.
     
  
Kansas City Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston (50) celebrated the 23-20 overtime win with a Halloween mask over the San Diego Chargers on October 31, 2011 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
  
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Jon Baldwin (89) pulled down a 39-yard touchdown catch over San Diego Chargers cornerback Marcus Gilchrist (38) during Monday's football game on October 31, 2011, in Kansas City, MO.
  
Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Quinten Lawrence, left, twisted Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Williams, right, after a second quarter catch during preseason action on August 12, 2011, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
     
  
Kansas City Chiefs running back Jackie Battle dove over the pile of San Diego Chargers players as he scored a fourth quarter touchdown during Monday's football game on October 31, 2011, in Kansas City, MO.
  
Kansas City Chiefs running back Dexter McCluster (22) lept high in the air on a third quarter run against the Miami Dolphins on November 6, 2011 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The Dolphins won thier first game of the season, 31-3, over the Chiefs.
  
Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley (88) stiffarmed Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Travis Daniels (34) in the third quarter on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
     
  
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Anthony Becht (88) celebrated his 16-yard gain in the fourth quarter over Green Bay Packers strong safety Charlie Peprah (26) on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The Chiefs won the game, 19-14.
   
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Steve Breaston (15) hugged teammate Anthony Becht (88) following the Chiefs' 19-14 upset win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
  
Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli greeted New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) prior to the game on November 21, 2011 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. Pioli was formerly the general manager for the Patriots.
     
  
Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Wallace Gilberry (92) strips the football from New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) in the second quarter on November 21, 2011 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. The Chiefs recovered the fumble.
  
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Tyler Palko (4) was sacked by New York Jets nose tackle Sione Pouha (91) in the second quarter on Sunday, December 11, 2011 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. The Chiefs lost 37-10.
  
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct for his comments to line judge Mark Steinkerchner (84) on Sunday, December 11, 2011 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. The Chiefs lost 37-10. Haley was fired by the team the next morning.
     
  
Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Brandon Carr (39) broke up a pass intended for Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace (17) in the second quarter on November 27, 2011 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
  
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe (82) dropped this pass in the end zone in the second quarter between the defense of Oakland Raiders free safety Matt Giordano (27) and Oakland Raiders cornerback Stanford Routt (26) on Saturday, December 24, 2011 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The Chiefs lost 16-13 in overtime.
  
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Kyle Orton (8) threw a pass in the fourth quarter against the Oakland Raiders on Saturday, December 24, 2011 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The Raiders won 16-13 in overtime.
     
  
Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Brandon Carr (39) and wide receiver Steve Breaston (15) sat on the bench after the 16-13 overtime loss to the Oakland Raiders on Saturday, December 24, 2011 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The loss eliminated the Chiefs from the playoff race.