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Fourth-grader Breanna Washington asks about the patches on Miller’s uniform. Breanna and 350 others wrote letters to soldiers in Iraq last year. Miller received her letter.

GREENSBORO — It all began with a let-ter from a little girl with braids.

Breanna Washington was a third-grader when she wrote a letter last year to “any U.S. soldier” in Iraq. She thanked them, slipped in a packet of Kool-Aid and mailed it halfway around

the world, with 350 other letters from her school.

That’s where Maj. David Miller found it on a table in an Army headquar-ters in Baghdad. But he had a lit-tle help.

“Hey, Dave!’’ someone yelled. “Aren’t you from

Greensboro?’’He was. So, he picked up the letter

and read a little girl’s wish for him to remain safe and secure. Right then, at a place called Camp Victory, he vowed to do something for that little girl and her school in his new hometown.

Copyright © 2008 • NEWS & RECORD

TODAY’S FORECASTPartly cloudy skies and cooler temperatures. Full report, B8

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COMING WEDNESDAYWine columnist Ed Williams isn’t fond of Nouveau, but he’s groovin’ on the Gamay grape. Savor

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Dudley plans for bigger crowd at Northeast game EVERYONE LOVES ROBOT NUMBER NINE

It’s official: Country is in a recession

WASHINGTON — Most Americans sorely knew it already, but now it’s official: The country is in a recession, and it’s getting worse. Wall Street convulsed at the news — and a fresh batch of bad economic reports — tanking nearly 680 points.

With the economic pain likely to stretch well into 2009, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Ber-nanke said Monday he stands ready to lower in-terest rates yet again and to explore other rescue or revival measures.

Rushing in reinforcements, Treasury Secre-tary Henry Paulson, who along with Bernanke has been leading the government’s efforts to stem the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, pledged to take all the steps he can in the waning days of the Bush administration to provide re-lief. Specifically, Paulson is eyeing more ways to

n Experts say the economy is still shrinking and that trend will continue through at least the first quarter of next year.B J A M CThe Associated Press

Lincoln National stock on a wild ride

Lincoln National’s stock price is slowly rising from a deep crevasse that is swallow-ing the value of insurance com-panies across the country.

Lincoln, the Philadelphia company whose offices in Greensboro employ 1,323 peo-ple in the Life Solutions life in-surance division and a variety of other departments, was closely affected by the Wall Street melt-down because it invests in the markets and many of its prod-ucts are linked to investments.

Likewise, that hurts many

people in Greensboro who are heavily invested in Lincoln, including a major charitable foundation founded by a for-mer top executive of the com-pany.

Lincoln, which bought Greensboro’s Jefferson-Pi-lot Corp. more than two years ago, has seen its stock rise from about $60 just after the merger to $74 in mid-2007, only to fall heavily since this summer. The stock closed Monday at $12.19 a share, down 11.2 percent from its Friday close of $13.73.

Lincoln and several other

n The company has not said whether it will apply for federal bailout funds to boost its financial health.B R M. BStaff Writer

High tide swamps already-watery Venice

VENICE, Italy — Venice could use a bailout. The city built on water has too much of it.

Residents and tourists waded through knee-deep water Mon-day as they navigated the city’s narrow streets and alleys, and its historic St. Mark’s Square was inundated.

Boxes of tourist merchan-dise floated inside the flooded shops around the square and even the city’s famed pigeons sought refuge on rooftops and windowsills.

One of the highest tides in

its history brought Venice to a virtual halt, rekindling a de-bate over a plan to build move-able flood barriers in an effort to save the lagoon city from high tides.

City officials said the tide peaked at 61 inches, well past the 40-inch flood mark, as strong winds pushed the sea

n One of the highest tides in the city’s history brings it to a virtual halt.

B L CThe Associated Press

TODAY’S QUICKREADFamily takes orphan from attack to IsraelMoshe Holtzberg cried for his mother Monday during a memorial for his parents — killed in the terrorist attacks in India. His maternal grandparents later flew Moshe and a nanny, who scooped him up and ran with him to safety, to Israel on Monday. Gunmen had shot his parents to death in Mumbai on Thursday. Full story, A8

J PAT CARTER/The Associated Press

Activist helps homeless to homes A Miami activist is moving homeless people into dwellings that have been foreclosed on, despite the fact that he claims no ownership. He even has a waiting list. With the housing market collapsing, squatting in foreclosed homes is believed to be on the rise across the country. Full story, A2

PHOTOS BY JOSEPH RODRIGUEZ/News & Record

Maj. David Miller, home for Thanksgiving, paid a visit to three area schools Monday — including Gillespie Park Elementary.

THE RETURN TO SENDER

LUIGI COSTANTINI/The Associated Press

A man with thigh-high boots walks past a gondola Monday in Venice, Italy, where the water has risen to its highest level in more than 20 years.

See Venice, Page A6

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INSIDE: Retailers hopeful “Cyber Monday” sales lure buyers. B6

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vows to have a stimulus planready by the inauguration.

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“Holy smokes, look at all this stuff! is is Christmas coming early!”Maj. David Miller, who was presented with handmade cards at Gillespie Park Elementary School.

JERIROWE

A note from a Greensboro girl leads an Army major to visit her school

See pictures from Maj. David Miller’s visit to Gillespie Park Elementary and hear Lisa Bond, the school’s general assistant, sing “The Star Spangled Banner.”

AT NEWSRECORD.COM

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The Associated Press

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