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CNN Sunday Morning

West Nile Virus Victim Remembered

Aired August 19, 2001 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Health experts from New York are due in Atlanta tomorrow following the death of a 71-year-old Atlanta woman from West Nile virus.

Nine people died from West Nile in the New York area. In Atlanta, reporter Harry Samler has the profile of the lady who died, Blanche Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY SAMLER, WXIA CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You miss her?

NATE SMITH, NEIGHBOR: Yeah. She was a good neighbor.

SAMLER (voice-over): Nate Smith, often called the Mayor, knows everyone around here, including 71-year-old Blanche Hill. Mother, grandmother, matron to the Vine City neighborhood for over 50 years. Victim to West Nile.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was beautiful to everybody in the neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just got word last evening, you know, that there was a problem and that -- how, Miss Blanche had died. And so everybody in the community is just, like, kind of in a state of shock.

SAMLER: Neighbors can't believe it happened. Not long ago, Mrs. Hill was tending to her gardens. But Vine City is a place struggling to turn itself around. There are other homes with gardens, but there are empty lots too. Standing water, abandoned tires, the perfect breeding ground for the West Nile virus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a parking pad in my back that, when it rains, water stays out there two or three days, and I go to work in my garden and the mosquitoes eat you up.

SAMLER: Meanwhile, up the street at Mt. Gilead Baptist Church they had scheduled a neighborhood planning development meeting. But with word of the West Nile virus, as you can imagine, the topic changed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a used tire place right next door to this place. There lots around here that, today, are breeding mosquitoes.

SAMLER: The Vine City Civic Association is worried. This morning, they even brought out a county health official to answer questions and focus on a plan of attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had a tire drive a few months ago, but we only scraped the surface. We need to have that extended.

SAMLER: Meanwhile, back over on Taylor Street, the Mayor finishes his morning stroll. Now that Mrs. Hill is gone, he says it just won't be the same.

SMITH: Yes sir, I miss her very much. She was a nice lady.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: That report again from CNN affiliate station WXIA.

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