[StBernard] Hurricane demonstrated county's heart

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Thu Aug 24 20:04:05 EDT 2006


Hurricane demonstrated county's heart


[published on Thu, Aug 24, 2006]
When you spend your entire adult life in the local news business, you tend
to think locally.


That doesn't mean you don't care about the rest of the world. It just means
that you try to view the rest of the world in a way that your neighbors see
it. You ask questions about how it is relevant to them, relevant to us.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, nearly 1,000
miles away, it might not have seemed local. But anyone who lives in our area
knew the generosity of the people who live here and knew it would be a local
story in a matter of time.

Our readers did not disappoint. Schoolchildren organized clothing drives.
Fundraisers popped up everywhere. People got in trucks and borrowed trucks;
firefighters and police officers volunteered to head south to help in any
way they could. People who had never even visited Louisiana or Mississippi
became connected.

Then there are natural connectors such as Brent Smith, a 45-year-old
heavy-equipment operator from Prairie Grove. Talk with Brent for 10 seconds
and you'll know he didn't grow up in Prairie Grove.

Smith is a native of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, which was virtually
destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. TV news and newspapers brought him back
home.

"I was devastated; it was like a rerun every night," Smith said. "You felt
helpless. You couldn't do nothing."

Smith's sister still was living in St. Bernard Parish; his parents were
nearby in also-devastated Slidell, La. They, like most of their neighbors,
lost everything.

"I hope everybody appreciates what they have when they get up in the
morning, because in one day it can all be gone," he said.

Smith wouldn't remain helpless for long.

He called school chum Louisiana state Sen. Walter Boasso and St. Bernard
Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens and asked them what he could do. He got his
friends together at Operating Engineers Local 150 in Lakemoor, and contacted
McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren and McHenry County Board Chairman Ken
Koehler.

Over the next several weeks, Smith delivered six police cars, two pickups
and two sport utility vehicles donated by McHenry County officials to help
the parish, which lost about 80 percent of its patrol cars. He delivered
five semi-trailer loads of food, clothing and cleaning supplies donated by
area people and businesses for St. Bernard Parish residents.

"There was a lot of help from a lot of people in McHenry County, and it was
unbelievable," Smith said. "It was like a parade when I came. They told me
to tell everyone who donated to thank them very much."

It would be impossible to write about all the ways that local people such as
Smith were affected by Hurricane Katrina, but reporter Jocelyn Allison will
tell many of their stories in Sunday's Northwest Herald as the anniversary
of this tragedy approaches next week.


-Kevin Lyons is the news editor for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached
at (815) 459-4122 or via e-mail at kelyons@ nwherald.com.




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