As a lawyer in Dallas, Miers became president in 1996 of Locke Purnell, Rain & Harrell, a firm with more than 200 lawyers where she worked starting in 1972. After it merged a few years later, she became co-manager of Locke Liddell & Sapp. When Bush was governor of Texas, she represented him in a case involving a fishing house. In 1995, he appointed her to a six-year term on the Texas Lottery Commission. She also served as a member-at-large on the Dallas City Council. In 1992, she became the first women president of the Texas State Bar. She was the first woman of the Dallas Bar Association in 1985.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pete Shane, a law professor at The Ohio State University, predicted that "it's going to be a long drawn-out exercise."

Shane noted criticism of Bush's choice of Michael Brown to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a man who was later demoted and then resigned after a sluggish governmental response to hurricane Katrina. Of the choice of Miers, Shane said: "He's going to pick his best friend in the White House counsel's office to be on the Supreme Court? It seems like a flat-footed thing to do."

21 seniors die when tour boat overturns on NY lake, no Canadians involved

Warren County (N.Y.) Sheriff's Department boats stay near divers during a search of Lake George after a senior citizens' tour boat overturned, killing at least 21 people Sunday in Lake George, N.Y.

LAKE GEORGE, New York - A postcard perfect day of sailing along a placid mountain lake turned abruptly tragic Sunday when a tour boat carrying nearly 50 senior citizens flipped over in 21 metres of water, killing 21 and injuring dozens more. The glass-enclosed Ethan Allen was carrying tourists from Michigan on a fall foliage tour when it flipped over shortly before 3 p.m. The accident on Lake George may have occurred when the boat was hit by the wake of a larger vessel, Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland said. "We haven't ruled anything out yet," Cleveland said. Cleveland initially said the tour boat was carrying a group from Canada, but a spokesman for Cleveland said hours later that no Canadians were involved. The boat was just north of the village of Lake George, a popular tourist destination that bustles in the summer and quiets down after Labour Day. With calm waters, temperatures in the 70s and bright sunshine, it was perfect boating weather and the long, narrow lake was busier than it normally would be on the first weekend in October, boaters said. "It should have been a day of enjoyment," said New York State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett, who was out boating on the lake earlier Sunday. "Instead, it was one of sadness." Cleveland said it appears the accident happened so fast, none of the passengers was able to put on a life jacket. Adults are not required to wear life jackets in New York but boats must carry at least one life jacket per passenger. U.S. Representative John Sweeney said a survivor he talked to at the hospital told him the boat flipped in about 30 seconds. The 12-metre boat was carrying 48 or 49 passengers - police were still interviewing survivors to get a firm number. It has a maximum capacity of 50 passengers. "This was as calm as it gets," said Jerry Thornell, a Marion, Mass., resident who has a summer home in nearby Bolton. Thornell is a former Lake George Park Commission patrol officer and was a lake enforcement officer for the county sheriff's department. Thornell said he could remember no other disaster like the Ethan Allen. Trenton, Mich., Mayor Gerald Brown told Detroit television station WJBK that 14 Trenton residents were among those on the boat. Of those, three were killed, six survived, and the conditions of the other five were unknown. Brown said the group of 14 left Tuesday on a weeklong bus and rail trip to see the changing fall colours along the East Coast. The trip was organized through Trenton's Parks and Recreation Department and arranged through a Canadian company, Brown said. "We're in mourning," Brown said. "It's not a very big community. Many of those people I knew. We're still not sure which ones didn't make it." By 5 p.m., all the passengers had been accounted for, Cleveland said. The Ethan Allen lay at the bottom of the lake in 21 metres of water.

Officials gave conflicting information on the number of dead and the number of passengers throughout the evening. Originally, it was reported that 19 people were dead, then 21, then 20. The National Transportation Safety Board was expected to be on the lake Monday, the sheriff said. Twenty-seven people were brought to Glens Falls Hospital, all cold and wet, some with broken ribs and some complaining of shortness of breath, according to hospital spokesman Jason White. He said seven people would be admitted to the hospital and the rest released. White said 21 people were killed. "Most of these people are in absolute shock," said Assemblywoman Betty Little. Sweeney said the tour started in New Hampshire, went through Vermont and arrived at Lake George on Sunday. The tour was supposed to end Tuesday in Saratoga Springs. Shortly after 9:30, a Coach USA tour bus pulled up on the darkened north side of the Glens Falls Hospital, away from reporters. About 10 people, mostly older women wrapped in blankets, walked out of the hospital and boarded the bus. At the Georgian Hotel in Lake George, a police cruiser and other emergency personnel kept the media away from the hotel. Police investigators were at the hospital Sunday night. The boat's owner, Jim Quirk, whose family has owned and operated Shoreline Cruises for decades, told the Glens Falls Post-Star: "It is a tragedy and it's very unfortunate." Police said the Ethan Allen's pilot, Richard Paris, whom investigators were interviewing, had not been tested for drug or alcohol use, because there was no evidence of intoxication that would warrant such a test. The boat was last inspected in May 2005 and no problems were found, according to Wendy Gibson, spokeswoman for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Cleveland said the captain, who was well known by law enforcement and well liked, survived. He was the only crew member aboard. Shortly after the accident, several police boats were on the water and there were at least half a dozen divers in the lake near a small cove on the west side of the lake. The water was 20 C. Patrol boats that reached the scene within minutes found other boaters already pulling people from the water. As rescuers conducted recovery efforts, the dead were laid out along the shore and the scene was blocked off by police with a tarps. About 6:35, a hearse, police vehicles and several SUVs started taking the dead from the scene. "Nothing of this magnitude has ever happened," said Bennett of the state police. A year-round resident said she brought blankets and chairs for the survivors who were being brought to shore. Dorothy Warren said one survivor told her "she saw a big boat coming close and she said, 'Whoop-dee-doo. I love a rocking boat.' " Warren said the woman did not know how she got out of the water but said her mother was killed. By Chris Crola