Opinion: The tornado turned the town we loved into a wasteland

news7g12/15/2021

3 3 minutes read

Opinion: The tornado turned the town we loved into a wasteland

Gone are the homes and lives of our beloved neighbours. Every house on Oak Heights, the street where the Jennings family grew up, has been wiped out. Much of the demolition was the city park, where we both spent a lot of nights on the Little League and the softball courts.

But we are lucky. Jeff, who has lived in Dawson Springs since 1958 and graduated from high school in 1976, crossed town and weathered the storm in a friend’s basement. Some other people we know did not survive, and have there’s still a lot do not calculate for.

The stories of the dead are heartbreaking, from Newborn 2 months old Oaklynn Koon, who never got the chance to live a full life, with older sisters – Marsha Hall, 72, and Carole Grisham, 80 – people many of us have known all our lives. Scott graduated from high school with Jason Cummins, son of Hall.

The town was in mourning. Just a few weeks ago, an 18-year-old boy in Dawson Springs – Logan McKnight – were killed in a car accident, and almost the entire town attended his memorial in the high school gym, where he wore the Purple Panthers uniform as a soccer player. star basket. The pain of his loss is still fresh. And now this.

The damage is incomprehensible unless you see it with your own eyes. Then, walking around town, it doesn’t even feel like a weather event happening. It feels like a bomb has gone off. Houses, trees – everything seemed to have just exploded.

Tornadoes tore open windows into people’s lives, leaving them alone for the world to see. You see clothes, dishes, toys, and medicine bottles, and you wonder if those who lost them have the resources to replace them. Intellectually, you know you’re standing in what used to be someone’s driveway or front yard, but the landscape looks so different that your mind questions whether you’re really in the same place.

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You look at the lands now covered with debris, and your mind drifts to the green grass, the tall trees, and the children who used to play there. The dogs run around. Neighbors mowing lawn. Flowering. You open and close your eyes in the hope that perhaps this isn’t real – and that a blink of an eye can restore the past.

But it no. And you ask yourself – will this landscape ever look the same again? Will it ever bring life back to the way we used to enjoy it?

Most Americans are hearing about Dawson Springs for the first time. It has a proud history. At the beginning of the 20th century, mineral water was obtained from deep wells supposed to have healing properties, attracting tens of thousands of people annually from all over the country. Pittsburgh Pirates even trained there, including the legendary short path Honus Wagner, because of mineral water.

Over time, the town transformed from a health resort into a coal mining town, an industry that sustained it for much of the 20th century. As the coal business declined, efforts to attract new industries were largely unsuccessful.

Today, however, Dawson Springs is another small village of “overpass country” with deep roots but uncertain future – a village now threatened by the tornado that destroyed it. maybe 75% of the houses, according to the mayor.

The existence of Dawson Springs is a question that is raised as those who have lost everything must now decide where to go from here.

We wanted to share some of our thoughts on Dawson Springs, and to express the town’s gratitude for the care and overwhelming support it has received. The politicians that represent it – from the President to the governor and local officials – have been working very cooperatively. Major media outlets have portrayed the town’s plight with love and accuracy, helping to raise money and supplies to alleviate suffering.

We’ve both received feedback from people around the world wanting to help, and on behalf of proud Dawsonians everywhere, we extend our sincerest thanks for reaching out.

Next steps for Dawson Springs, Mayfield and several other small communities in the affected areas will revolve around housing. What kind of life can be put together in the short, medium and long term for those who have lost everything? For Dawson Springs, a town with a small initial tax rate, what is the long-term outlook if many residents leave, choosing to start their lives again elsewhere? What among those who live word of mouth begins? Who lacks insurance? Whose small business or job has been wiped out?

Some answers are not immediately obvious. But for those of us whose personalities and values are shaped by this middle-class American town and her people, we hope that interest in what happens here will continue beyond the daily and weekly coverage that often accompanies such disasters.

Dawson Springs was once known as a place of healing. Today, through the outpouring of prayers, resources and efforts, it is again. If you can Please donate money or blood. The people of western Kentucky need your help today and for years to come.

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