BY DAVID KLEPPERAND MICHAEL MELIAAssociated Press

NEWTOWN, Conn. — Newtownreturned its students to their class-rooms Tuesday for the first timesince last week’s massacre andfaced the agonizing task of layingothers to rest, as this grieving townwrestled with the same issues grip-ping the country: violence, gun con-trol and finding a way forward.

Funerals were held for two moreof the tiny fallen, a 6-year-old boyand a 6-year-old girl. A total of 26people were gunned down at SandyHook Elementary School in one ofthe worst mass shootings in U.S his-tory. The gunman also killed hismother in her home before commit-ting suicide.

The resumption of classes at allNewtown’s schools except SandyHook brought a return of familiarroutines, something studentsseemed to welcome as they arrivedaboard buses festooned with largegreen-and-white ribbons — the col-ors of the stricken elementaryschool.

“We’re going to be able to com-fort each other and try and helpeach other get through this, be-

cause that’s the only way we’regoing to do it,” said 17-year-old P.J.Hickey, a senior at Newtown HighSchool. “Nobody can do this alone.”

Still, he noted: “There’s going tobe no joy in school. It really doesn’tfeel like Christmas anymore.”

At St. Rose of Lima CatholicChurch in Newtown, back-to-backfunerals were held for first-gradersJames Mattioli and Jessica Rekos,

the third and fourth so far and thefirst of eight to be held in the com-ing days at the church. Memorialservices and wakes were also heldfor some of the adult victims.

As mourners gathered outside, amotorcade led by police motorcy-cles arrived for the funeral of littleJames, who especially loved recessand math and who was describedby his family as a “numbers guy”

who couldn’t wait until he was oldenough to order a foot-long Subwaysandwich.

Traffic in front of the churchslowed to a crawl as police directedvehicles into the parking lot. Aschool bus carrying elementary stu-dents got stuck in traffic, and thechildren, pressing their faces intothe windows, sadly watched as themourners assembled.

Inside the church, James’mother stood and rememberedhim.

“It was very somber, it was verysad, it was very moving,” said ClareSavarese, who taught the boy inpreschool and recalled him as “alovely little boy, a sweet littleangel.”

The service had not concludedwhen mourners began arriving forthe funeral of Jessica, who lovedhorses and was counting the yearsuntil she turned 10, when her familyhad promised her a horse of herown. For Christmas, she had askedSanta for new cowgirl boots andhat.

“We are devastated, and ourhearts are with the other familieswho are grieving as we are,” herparents, Rich and Krista Rekos, saidin a statement.

Carol Thornton Carol Lois Thornton, 58, of

Sioux Falls died Saturday, Dec. 15,2012, at the Dougherty HospiceHouse, Sioux Falls.

Funeral services are at 10:30a.m. today (Wednesday) at theYST Boys & Girls Club Gym,Marty. Burial is in the EpiscopalCemetery in Greenwood.

Crosby-Jaeger Funeral Home,Wagner, is in charge of arrange-ments.

Arthur Matson Arthur James Matson of Het-

land, South Dakota, passed awayin Northfield, Minnesota, onThursday, Decem-ber 13, 2012, justshy of his 90thbirthday. He diedafter a one-weekillness with hisfamily at his side.

He was pre-ceded in death byhis parents, Myronand Guline Mat-son, step-motherJessie Matson, infant daughter,Gloria Matson, former wife, RuthMatson, and companion, ArdyceSamp.

He is survived by his lovingfamily: daughter, Kristine Mat-son, of Northfield, MN; grand-daughter, Jessica Fairbanks, andher husband, Blaise Sopwinik, ofWashburn, WI; daughter, DianeMatson, and her husband, MarkVanney, and their daughters,Kathryn, Laura, and Michelle, ofSt. Paul, MN; son, Paul Matson,and his wife, Gilda Lorensen, andtheir daughter, Rosa, of Portland,OR; and brother, Maurice Mat-son, and his wife, Shirley Matson,of Arlington, SD.

Arthur was born on December18, 1922, on his family’s farmnear Hetland, South Dakota. Hegrew up during the Depression,working hard on the farm butalso enjoying the companionshipof his brother and cousins, tend-ing to farm animals, riding poniesacross the dry lake bottom, andplaying basketball. He and hisfamily were members of LakeWhitewood Lutheran Church. Hischildhood was saddened by theearly death of his mother whenhe was twelve years old. He grad-uated from Hetland High Schoolin 1940 and from South DakotaState College in 1947. He enlistedas an officer in the United States

Army Air Force and trained as anavigator. He proudly served hiscountry from 1943 to 1945. OnDecember 28, 1953, he marriedRuth Monson. Their young familymoved from Lake Preston, SouthDakota to Ames, Iowa, where heearned his Ph. D. in agriculturaleconomics from Iowa State Uni-versity in 1964.

During his career, Arthurtaught economics at SouthDakota State University in Brook-ings, SD; Yankton College in Yank-ton, SD; and Westmar College inLeMars, IA. He served on theYankton City Commission, andwas elected mayor for a term. Heenjoyed trips with his family toNorway and Civil War battle-grounds. In his later years,Arthur lived in Flandreau, SD,and pursued an interest in his-tory with his cherished compan-ion, Ardyce Samp.

Arthur was a farmer, teacher,friend to many, and life-long aca-demic who always enjoyed learn-ing new things. He truly excelledat being a father. His children andgrandchildren appreciated hispatience, acceptance of others,and, above all, kindness in all cir-cumstances.

His family wishes to thank theRiverview Manor in Flandreau,SD and the Northfield HospitalLong-Term Care Center for theirloving care of Arthur.

A funeral service will be heldon Saturday, December 22 atLake Whitewood LutheranChurch in Arlington, SD. Visita-tion will be at 10:00 a.m. Burialwill take place in the churchcemetery with full military hon-ors. The funeral service will be at11:00 a.m. with the ReverendDave Schoeld officiating.

Funeral arrangements are bythe Bierman Funeral Home ofNorthfield.

Yankton Press & Dakotan

December 19, 2012

John CimburekFuneral Mass for John W. Cimbu-

rek, 82 of Claire City, SD will be onFriday, December 21, 2012 at 10:30a.m. at St. John’sCatholic Church, Ve-blen, SD with theRev. Fr. Joseph Hit-pas, OMI celebrant.Organist will be Vi-vian Monson. Pall-bearers will be RonHaaland, Lee Vr-chota, Keith Guy,Travis Bergeson,Patrick Cimburek,and Robert Burns. Honorary Pall-bearers will be all of John’s grand-children, nieces and nephews.Interment will be in St. Matthew’sCatholic Cemetery, Veblen, SD, withMilitary Rites by Eddie RobertsonAmerican Legion Post #76.

There will be visitation on Thurs-day, at St. John’s Catholic Churchfrom 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. with a PrayerService at 7:00 p.m.

The Cahill Funeral Chapel, Sisse-ton, SD is in charge of arrangements.

John Wenzel Cimburek was bornon January 14, 1930 near Veblen, SDto Frank and Margaret (Vrchota)Cimburek. He attended school in Ve-blen and worked at Benidt’s GambleStore and then at Benidt Chevroletafter graduation. In December of1950 he began work for Thorp Here-ford Farms until August of 1951,when he was drafted into the army.He served his country from 1951until 1953 where he spent 18 monthsin Japan. John was awarded theArmy Occupation Medal (Japan).After his discharge he attended SDSUfrom 1953 until 1957. John taught theVeterans Agriculture Program atWaubay, SD from 1957 until 1960 and

then he began farming and farmedfrom 1960 until 1976. John then wentto work for Horton Industries at Brit-ton, SD from 1976 to 1995. John wasmarried to Beverly Karnof on March20, 1976 at Sisseton, SD. He enjoyedhunting, fishing, gardening, reading,cooking and especially enjoyed mak-ing soup. John passed away on De-cember 16, 2012 at Essentia Health,Fargo, ND.

John is survived by his wife, Bev-erly of Claire City, SD; five children,James (Kari) Cimburek of Yankton,SD, Justin (Erin Pierce) Cimburek ofVeblen, SD, Jessica (Dwaine) Pavelkaof Verdigre, NE, Jennifer (KevynSchultz) Cimburek of Veblen, SD, andJoshua Cimburek of Claire City, SD;one brother Henry Cimburek ofUpton, WY; one sister-in-law PatriciaCimburek of Columbus, NE; fivegrandchildren, Mathew, Seth,Brooke, Mason, and Brandon ; andseveral nieces and nephews.

John was preceded in death byhis parents, two brothers, Charleyand Frank; and two sisters-in-lawMinneva and Evelyn.

For John’s obituary and on-lineregistry please visit www.cahillfuner-alchapel.com.

Yankton Press & Dakotan

December 19, 2012

Sharon Amell Funeral services for Sharon

Amell, 69, of Ravinia are at 10:30 a.m.Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, at the WagnerCommunity Church, Wagner. Burialis in Lakeview Cemetery, Lake Andes.

Visitation is at the Crosby-JaegerFuneral Home, Wagner, with the fam-ily present from 5 until 7 PM onThursday.

Sharon died Monday, Dec. 17,2012.

Wednesday, 12.19.12ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net

NEWS DEPARTMENT: news@yankton.net 3PRESS DAKOTANthe worldCerberus To Sell Maker Of Gun Used In Shooting

The company that makes one of the weapons used to kill ele-mentary school children in Connecticut is being put up for sale byits owner, which called Friday’s tragedy a “watershed event” in thedebate over gun control.

The private-equity group Cerberus Capital Management saidTuesday it will sell its controlling stake in Freedom Group Interna-tional, the maker of Bushmaster rifles. Investors also continued tobail out of other gunmakers while the retailer Dick’s Sporting Goodssaid it would stop selling military-style rifles.

The activity comes as the political winds appear to be shifting.Some Republicans now say they’re willing to discuss the issue ofgun control — along with mental health issues and violent videogames,

Cerberus cobbled Freedom Group together by buying Bushmas-ter, Remington, and other well-known gun brands starting in 2006.On Friday, a gunman using what is believed to have been a Bush-master military-style rifle killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elemen-tary School in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S history.

“It is apparent that the Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershedevent that has raised the national debate on gun control to an un-precedented level,” Cerberus wrote in announcing the planned sale.Cerberus owned 95 percent of Freedom Group, according to a year-end 2011 filing for the gunmaker on its website.

NRA Ends Silence On School ShootingWASHINGTON (AP) — The National Rifle Association is breaking

its silence four days after a school shooting in Newtown, Conn.,where 26 were killed, including 20 children.

The nation’s largest gun rights organization made its first publicstatements Tuesday after a self-imposed media blackout that leftmany wondering how it would respond to the killings. In its state-ment, the group said its members were, quoting, “shocked, sad-dened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senselessmurders.”

The group also said it wanted to give families time to mourn be-fore making its first public statements. The organization pledged “tohelp to make sure this never happens again” and has scheduled anews conference for Friday.

NBC’s Crew Safe In Turkey After AbductionBEIRUT (AP) — NBC’s chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel

said Tuesday he and members of his network crew escaped un-harmed after five days of captivity in Syria, where more than adozen pro-regime gunmen dragged them from their car, killed one oftheir rebel escorts and subjected them to mock executions.

Appearing on NBC’s “Today” show, an unshaven Engel said heand his team escaped during a firefight Monday night between theircaptors and rebels at a checkpoint. They crossed into Turkey onTuesday.

NBC did not say how many people were kidnapped with Engel,although two other men, producer Ghazi Balkiz and photographerJohn Kooistra, appeared with him on the “Today” show. It was notconfirmed whether everyone was accounted for.

Engel said he believes the kidnappers were a Shiite militia grouployal to the Syrian government, which has lost control over swathsof the country’s north and is increasingly on the defensive in a civilwar that has killed 40,000 people since March 2011.

“They kept us blindfolded, bound,” said the 39-year-old Engel,who speaks and reads Arabic. “We weren’t physically beaten or tor-tured. A lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed. Theymade us choose which one of us would be shot first and when werefused, there were mock shootings,” he added.

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New Year’s Deadlines The Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan will be

closing at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, December 31. The following deadlines will apply: Wednesday, January 2 newspaper 5 p.m., Thursday, December 27 Out On The Town will run Monday, Dec. 31 & Thursday, Jan. 3 –

Deadline Wednesday, December 26, 5 p.m.

There will be no newspaper on Tuesday, January 1, 2013.

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Elmer KothFuneral services for Elmer R.

Koth, 88, of Tripp will be held at1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Decem-ber 22 at Frieden’s ReformedChurch in Tripp with Rev. GregWay officiating. Burial will fol-low in Frieden’s ReformedCemetery, Tripp.

Visitation will be held on Fri-day from 3:00 p.m. until a 7:00p.m. prayer service at theGoglin Funeral Home in Tripp.Visitation will resume on Satur-day one hour prior to the serv-ice at the church.

Elmer died on Tuesday, De-cember 18, 2012 at Avera St.

Benedict Health Center in Park-ston.

Online condolences may besent at www.goglinfh.com.

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GENARO MOLINA/LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

A police officer keeps vigil as students are dropped off at the NewtownMiddle School as classes resume in Newtown, Connecticut, Tuesday, De-cember 18, 2012. Newtown's public schools opened for the first timesince last week's shooting, but with police stationed at entrances both toreassure parents and pupils.

BY ANDREW TAYLORAssociated Press

WASHINGTON — Just twoweeks from an economy-threaten-ing deadline, fiscal cliff talks hit alull Tuesday as House SpeakerJohn Boehner announced that Re-publicans would also marchahead with their own tax plan ona separate track from the one he’sbeen pursuing with PresidentBarack Obama.

The White House and leadingcongressional Democrats immedi-ately rejected Boehner’s “Plan B,”which would extend soon-to-ex-pire Bush-era tax cuts for every-one making less than $1 millionbut would not address hugeacross-the-board spending cutsthat are set to strike the Pentagonand domestic programs next year.

“Everyone should understandBoehner’s proposal will not passthe Senate,” said Senate MajorityLeader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Boehner’s surprise movecame after significant progressover the past several days intalks with Obama — talks thatproduced movement on tax ratehikes that have proven deeplyunsettling to GOP conservativesand on cuts to Social Securitybenefits that have incensed lib-eral Democrats.

Just Monday, Obama offeredconcessions, including a plan toraise top tax rates on householdsearning more than $400,000 in-stead of the $250,000 thresholdhe had campaigned on. And thetwo sides had inched closer onthe total amount of tax revenue

required to seal the agreement.Obama now would settle for $1.2trillion over the coming decadewhile Boehner is offering $1trillion.

By contrast, protecting in-come below $1 million from ahike in the top tax rate from 35percent to 39.6 percent wouldraise only $269 billion over thecoming decade.

But the outlines of a possibleObama-Boehner agreement ap-peared to have shaky support atbest from Boehner’s leadershipteam and outright oppositionfrom key Republicans like vicepresidential nominee Paul Ryan,R-Wis., a House GOP aide said.That aide spoke only on condi-tion of anonymity because theaide was not authorized to dis-

cuss the situation publicly.Though Obama spokesman

Jay Carney had nothing good tosay about Boehner’s new option,he said, “The president is willingto continue to work with Republi-cans” toward a broaderagreement.

The narrower Plan B facedplenty of opposition. Democratsannounced they would oppose it,and many conservative Republi-cans continued to resist any votethat might be interpreted as rais-ing taxes. Republicans were refin-ing the measure Tuesday inhopes of building support amongthe GOP rank and file, but pass-ing the measure exclusively withGOP votes could prove difficult.

“I think it’s a terrible idea,”said Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho.“For a lot of reasons.”

Classes Resume In Newtown, Minus Sandy Hook

Fiscal Cliff Talks Hit A Lull With Boehner’s ‘Plan B’