Family need sent Mississippi dairy farmer to Iraq

[Amerpie]

On Health Care, Farm Policy, Job Creation and a Hostage in Iraq

JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) -- Thomas Hamill's neighbors knew all too well about the hard times that drove the gentle family man to sell off his dairy herd and take a high-paying but dangerous job in Iraq, where he has been missing since he was abducted last week.

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Hamill fought hard to keep the dairy business that had been in his family for three decades, working long, exhausting hours to pay off loans to the Merchants & Farmers Bank, friends said

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But he needed to find a way to raise his two young children and pay for heart surgery needed by his wife, Kellie.

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The rolling hills of Noxubee County are covered with rich, black soil, but its residents struggle with poverty. The median household income is only $22,000 and unemployment is around 11 percent.

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"An artillery round has landed within feet of him and he's constantly getting bricks thrown through his truck windows," Kellie Hamill, a 911 emergency dispatcher, told The Macon Beacon.

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