Two disasters, four years

Lawrence residents share insights on how we live now

It is just a coincidence, of course, that the fourth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks coincides with America’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

As the memory of one disaster is interrupted by another, however, one might expect to find Lawrence residents feeling uncertain, even a little angry.

There is some of that, the Journal-World found this week during interviews across town. But there is more.

There is encouragement that, in both 9-11 and Katrina, Americans responded to suffering with an outpouring of generosity.

There is, among younger people, a desire to find careers that allow them to help people through the suffering they have seen during their formative years.

For some Lawrence residents, there is too much work to be done in their lives to do much more than utter a quick prayer and move on.

And perhaps for everybody, there’s a desire for comfort, for relief from the awful images that have dominated recent weeks and recent years.

That’s Sandy Flachsbarth’s job. The first-grade teacher at Woodlawn School said her students haven’t talked much about Katrina.

“Every once in awhile, something comes up in the news and they ask a question,” she said during a break Thursday morning. “Once I answer it, they’re fine. … They just want to be reassured, and once you reassure them, they’re fine.”

Rex Porter, owner of Rex's Barbershop

Rex Porter, barber

Rex Porter’s barbershop is a place to get away from the news, seemingly. The walls are lined with black-and-white photos of famous athletes, and a television pipes ESPN to customers awaiting their turn in the chair.

But ESPN last week was regularly broadcasting appeals for donations to hurricane charities, and Powell found himself pondering the disaster. He wondered why police and firefighters in New York became heroes during 9-11, while their counterparts in New Orleans were sometimes vilified, amid reports some officers had simply turned in their badges during the worst moments of looting and storms.

“The guys in New York, they put their souls into it,” said Porter, 41.

He’s impressed by the generosity of Americans and Lawrencians to hurricane victims, but said: “It’s pretty sad that a disaster has to bring people together.”

And he said that amid all the action and calls for donations, one thing has been missing.

“I feel like praying is the major thing we can give,” he said. “I hate to say it, but we haven’t heard much about prayer.”

Corey Galloway, window washer

Corey Galloway was 14 during 9-11. “It seems like every couple of years, something happens,” he said while cleaning windows downtown.

Corey Galloway, window washer

He said he didn’t expect major disasters to continue on such a regular cycle, but the Free State High School graduate acknowledged that the cataclysms of recent years may have shaped his future. He plans to give up his window washing job, go to college and major in criminal justice.

“I’m going to study criminal justice as a way to help people out … making a safe place and giving people an idea of what they can have in their lives,” Galloway said.

But Katrina made him impatient. He doesn’t want to wait to help people.

“It makes me want to do something for them,” he said of New Orleans’ troubles. “Go down, and help out.”

Carrie Pettus, social worker

“I think the way to describe how I feel is helpless, pretty distraught,” Carrie Pettus said while sitting outside a downtown coffee shop.

Pettus said she figured the Hurricane Katrina disaster illustrated how the gap is widening between the haves and the have-nots – and she blames President Bush for that.

Carrie Pettus, social worker

The president’s priorities, she said, are “with people who have money … and it’s not with people who have tone with their skin.”

But the 29-year-old said she doesn’t see a short-term solution to the problems made apparent by the destruction in New Orleans. What gives her hope is the 2008 presidential election.

“Honestly, I do think people are starting to organize. There’s a resurgence of grassroots movements,” she said. “I hope that exposure motivates people to get involved.”

Tracy Ford Stacey, homemaker and event planner

“I don’t think it’s time for blame,” Tracy Ford Stacey, 35, said as she window-shopped on Massachusetts Street with her 4-year-old son, Ryan.

Tracy Ford Stacey, homemaker, event planner

“In the future, if you want to see where there are cracks in the system, that’s fine,” she said, “but for now we need to emphasize the positive.”

And Stacey said she saw some positive acts blooming out of New Orleans. Her first-grade daughter, for example, took a $1 hurricane aid donation to Deerfield School – thus winning permission to chew gum in class.

“She feels she’s making a difference, and that’s good,” Stacey said.

Stacey said she called the Roger Hill Volunteer Center to offer help organizing children’s activities for any evacuees who arrived in Lawrence, but the center was too busy with other volunteers to take her initial call. It was encouraging to know so many people wanted to offer help, she said.

“They had to call me back,” she said. “It was neat to be put on hold.”

Hilary Brown, restaurant owner

Hilary Brown said she once was a news junkie, “but sometimes you have to be a doer.”

Hilary Brown, restaurant owner

That’s been especially true now as she prepares for Wednesday’s opening of her new business, Local Burger, in the former location of Mojo’s at 714 Vermont St. Her days start at 5:30 a.m. and can often last until midnight – all work, no time for CNN.

“I haven’t seen any images (from New Orleans), and I’m glad,” she said. “But I have donated.”

Brown said she’s not particularly worried about opening a restaurant during a time of skyrocketing gas prices, economic uncertainty and national mourning.

“I feel like, along with all these different tragedies, a lot of good things are in the air. I feel hope,” she said. “When things get out of balance, they’re going to rebalance themselves.”

Teresa Staskal, Pelathe Community Resource Center director

More than 120 people a month show up at Pelathe’s doors for food from the center’s pantry. Another 500 take advantage of the center’s bread distribution pantry. But the cupboards are nearly bare, and Pelathe’s grants have dried up – leaving the center barely able to get by.

Teresa Staskal, Pelathe Community Resource Center director

So Teresa Staskal finds herself too busy to think much about New Orleans.

“Right now,” she said, “the needs of the community are more than we can handle.”

Staskal, 30, has been Pelathe’s director for two months now, working to keep the center – which primarily serves the city’s American Indian community – afloat. She hasn’t had time to watch the news in recent weeks.

“I’ve been here 70, 80 hours a week,” she said. “I have three kids and a husband. … He keeps up on (the news), and I hear from him what he thinks is going on.”

When city social service agencies considered the possibility of hosting hurricane evacuees, Pelathe had to bow out.

“Unless we had a significant amount specifically set aside for those families, I don’t see how we could help,” she said. “I’m always willing to help out, if we had an influx of refugees. But our resources just aren’t there.”

Sgt. Robert Williams, National Guard recruiter

Sgt. Robert Williams was stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y., during a devastating 1997 winter storm. His unit trekked out into the area to find senior citizens and other area residents who were stuck in their homes without power.

Unlike New Orleans, evacuees were mostly allowed to bring their pets along. A tent was set up at battalion headquarters to hold all the animals.

Sgt. Robert Williams, National Guard recruiter

“We had privates walking dogs throughout the night,” Williams said with a laugh.

He was hesitant to cast blame for the seemingly slow federal response to the hurricane disaster. He said he knew the National Guard has had its hands full since 9-11, with deployments all over the world in the War on Terror – many of his Lawrence comrades have recently been deployed to Iraq.

“I definitely think the looters caused a big problem,” he said. “There were probably mistakes, but me not being there and just watching news a half-hour a night, I can’t say. I wish they would stop that (criticism) and just help the people.”

A veteran of other disaster responses, Williams can’t help but imagine similar problems here.

“You consider, what if it happened in Lawrence? What if people ran up and down Massachusetts Street, looting businesses?” he said. “That’s sad to see that going on.”

Sandy Flachsbarth, Woodlawn School first-grade teacher

Chris Neal and Sandy Flachsbarth, Woodlawn first-grade teachers

Being an elementary school teacher means more than leading spelling lessons and supervising recess. Sometimes it means helping youngsters wrestle with the world.

“They get the idea from TV that something’s happened,” said Sandy Flachsbarth, 64.

And they’re ready to help. One student this week brought a penny jar to show and tell to solicit Red Cross donations from her classmates.

“She did a wonderful job, and she was so proud of herself,” Flachsbarth said.

But helping students understand big events isn’t always easy. Sometimes it’s difficult for adults to comprehend a disaster.

“I try to make sure I have the facts straight, so I’m not giving them the wrong information,” Chris Neal said. “Some of them are going to feel sad, some of them won’t understand. And I have to work to prepare myself to handle the situation.”