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Posted on 5/3/11 at 5:27 pm to Vince
MJ,
Appears that you may have made a trip to Crescent East. We went back there last Saturday to give out water, blankets, and tarps.
It's pretty bad back there, but not as bad as everyone lets on.
The most intimidating thing is the fact that there is one way in and one way out. It's also down a pretty long road where there is nothing and then you come up on it.
So basically, if you are lost and go in there to turn around, the story goes that you are screwed. The way out will be blocked and you'll be robbed or worse.
Just like the lake, don't believe everything you hear. I don't doubt there is some truth to both stories though.
Appears that you may have made a trip to Crescent East. We went back there last Saturday to give out water, blankets, and tarps.
It's pretty bad back there, but not as bad as everyone lets on.
The most intimidating thing is the fact that there is one way in and one way out. It's also down a pretty long road where there is nothing and then you come up on it.
So basically, if you are lost and go in there to turn around, the story goes that you are screwed. The way out will be blocked and you'll be robbed or worse.
Just like the lake, don't believe everything you hear. I don't doubt there is some truth to both stories though.
Posted on 5/3/11 at 5:35 pm to deaux68
Courtney Upshaw is hosting an NCAA approved function in his hometown of Eufaula this Thursday to benefit the tornado victims across Alabama.
Details can be found on Facebook--"41 Fund". Check it out!
Details can be found on Facebook--"41 Fund". Check it out!
Posted on 5/3/11 at 6:01 pm to RollTide1987
I heard from someone today that a person from Tuscaloosa was found in a tree in northern Calhoun County. I have an aunt from the area and she heard the same thing. Hard for me to believe that.
This post was edited on 5/3/11 at 6:02 pm
Posted on 5/3/11 at 6:05 pm to RollTide1987
Reference to C.Upshaw raising money in Eufaula, Al this week..
Beat me to it.. ha..
Its May 5th at Eufaula Wally mart..
11-1 & 3-6.. I may check it out..
Beat me to it.. ha..
Its May 5th at Eufaula Wally mart..
11-1 & 3-6.. I may check it out..
This post was edited on 5/3/11 at 6:06 pm
Posted on 5/3/11 at 7:20 pm to taylormade
I'm just gonna step out on a limb and say that finding someone from Tuscaloosa in Calhoun County is a rumor.
There's a lot of them out there and there will continue to be.
I just checked this missing list and it is disturbing though. There are a lot of addresses out there that were right in the path.
There's a lot of them out there and there will continue to be.
I just checked this missing list and it is disturbing though. There are a lot of addresses out there that were right in the path.
Posted on 5/3/11 at 7:37 pm to deaux68
LINK?
Posted on 5/3/11 at 9:33 pm to Funky Tide 8
Updated Missing List
I just checked a few of the names on facebook for the heck of it. One of them had the houndstooth ribbon as her profile picture.
I thought about messaging her, but I'm sure somebody will get the word out.
I just checked a few of the names on facebook for the heck of it. One of them had the houndstooth ribbon as her profile picture.
I thought about messaging her, but I'm sure somebody will get the word out.
Posted on 5/4/11 at 1:20 am to deaux68
Damn, they took the article off I guess.
Posted on 5/4/11 at 1:37 am to Funky Tide 8
Posted on 5/4/11 at 2:56 am to itawambadog
Posted on 5/4/11 at 7:37 am to Funky Tide 8
Posted on 5/4/11 at 9:02 am to RollTide MJ
Shelter from the storm
Email Print By Rick Reilly
Baseball is all about getting home. But what happens when you get there and it's gone?
It happened to Hueytown (Ala.) High School baseball head coach Rick Patterson on Wednesday. He walked to his house only to find a tornado had taken it.
Pitchers love making saves. But what happens when the save you have to make is your sister's life?
It happened to 15-year-old Hueytown JV pitcher Brandon Miller that same day. He was hiding under a mattress in the hallway of his house, wearing his baseball helmet, when a twister took the roof off. Then it started to take his 14-year-old sister, Sara. He reached up and grabbed her in the final fraction of the moment.
High school sports is about playing for love of school. But what happens if your school closed for a week because nobody can drive the roads to get to it?
You keep playing is what happens.
In the eye of all that, Hueytown carried on in the Alabama 5A state playoffs Monday, splitting its first two games with Briarwood Christian in the best-of-three second round. Afterward, each Briarwood player donated $20 to Patterson to help out.
And you think your team has distractions?
"Boys, if you wanna help me, keep winning," Patterson told his players before the games. "Because as long as we keep winning, I don't have to think about the rest of my life."
The rest of his life is scattered over blocks and blocks of Pleasant Grove, Ala., where he and his wife, Debra, were supposed to be living. But two months ago, Debra burnt some beans, which set their entire kitchen on fire, which landed them in the Fairfield Inn, which saved their lives.
Just after the tornadoes that killed 236 in Alabama hit on April 27, Patterson called his daughter, a student at the University of Alabama. The tornado missed her by two blocks. Called his other daughter. She was fine, but her house was cleaved in half. Then he drove to his own house and got stopped by fallen trees two miles from it. He was walking the rest of the way when he came upon a neighbor boy.
"Jonathan, how's your house?" the coach said.
"It's gone," the boy said.
"Gone?" said Patterson.
"So's yours," said the boy.
"My house is gone?"
"There ain't nothin' there."
Where would Patterson and his wife have hidden if they'd been in it?
"Under the stairwell," he says. "And that stairwell collapsed. Concrete blocks and bricks are all on top of it. If we'd have been there, we wouldn't be here today."
House flattened. Car crushed. Lexi, his golden retriever, gone.
Equally flattened, Patterson was trudging the two miles back to his truck when he ran smack into the father of a woman from the neighborhood.
"Have you seen my daughter?" the man asked, panicked. "I'm looking for my daughter."
Patterson had seen his daughter, under a sheet, laying on his sidewalk, dead.
The coach took a gulp and the man's shoulders at the same time.
"I hate to be the one who breaks this to you," he said. "But your daughter didn't make it."
The man collapsed in Patterson's arms right then and there.
Death could've come for Miller, too, were it not for that mattress.
He was on the couch when his mom came running inside, screaming for everybody to get in the hallway -- fast! -- and lay down. Miller and his dad dragged the boy's mattress off his bed and put it over them.
"We only had about 10 seconds before it hit," Miller remembers. "That tornado sounded like a big ol' freight train coming through. I watched the roof fly right off my house, right above me. And then my sister started to fly off, too. I grabbed her around the middle of her body and just hung on."
When they crawled out from under the mattress, they saw dozens of large, jagged shards of wood and glass sticking into it. "Those things woulda got us for sure," he says.
And in the midst of all this glass-break and heartache and dust-cake, Hueytown must dig in for the playoffs.
"Lately, Coach hasn't been at all like he usually is," says Hueytown starting catcher David Veasey. "He used to be all intense. Kinda hard to play for. But now, he just seems more laid back. I guess maybe he figures there's more to life than baseball."
Says Patterson, "A lot of people ask me, 'Y'all still gonna play?' And when I say yeah, they always say, 'Good. That'll give me two hours where I can forget about all this."
Something he'll remember, though: One day, he was combing through the backyard rubble when he thought he heard a cry. He hunted it. There, trapped under a pile of rubble, was his Lexi, trembling, but fine.
Some wins come with no game at all.
=========
Hueytown 13-3, Briarwood Christian 12-9, (Game 3, Wed.., 6 p.m., Hueytown) TUESDAY GAME POSTPONED BY RAIN
Email Print By Rick Reilly
Baseball is all about getting home. But what happens when you get there and it's gone?
It happened to Hueytown (Ala.) High School baseball head coach Rick Patterson on Wednesday. He walked to his house only to find a tornado had taken it.
Pitchers love making saves. But what happens when the save you have to make is your sister's life?
It happened to 15-year-old Hueytown JV pitcher Brandon Miller that same day. He was hiding under a mattress in the hallway of his house, wearing his baseball helmet, when a twister took the roof off. Then it started to take his 14-year-old sister, Sara. He reached up and grabbed her in the final fraction of the moment.
High school sports is about playing for love of school. But what happens if your school closed for a week because nobody can drive the roads to get to it?
You keep playing is what happens.
In the eye of all that, Hueytown carried on in the Alabama 5A state playoffs Monday, splitting its first two games with Briarwood Christian in the best-of-three second round. Afterward, each Briarwood player donated $20 to Patterson to help out.
And you think your team has distractions?
"Boys, if you wanna help me, keep winning," Patterson told his players before the games. "Because as long as we keep winning, I don't have to think about the rest of my life."
The rest of his life is scattered over blocks and blocks of Pleasant Grove, Ala., where he and his wife, Debra, were supposed to be living. But two months ago, Debra burnt some beans, which set their entire kitchen on fire, which landed them in the Fairfield Inn, which saved their lives.
Just after the tornadoes that killed 236 in Alabama hit on April 27, Patterson called his daughter, a student at the University of Alabama. The tornado missed her by two blocks. Called his other daughter. She was fine, but her house was cleaved in half. Then he drove to his own house and got stopped by fallen trees two miles from it. He was walking the rest of the way when he came upon a neighbor boy.
"Jonathan, how's your house?" the coach said.
"It's gone," the boy said.
"Gone?" said Patterson.
"So's yours," said the boy.
"My house is gone?"
"There ain't nothin' there."
Where would Patterson and his wife have hidden if they'd been in it?
"Under the stairwell," he says. "And that stairwell collapsed. Concrete blocks and bricks are all on top of it. If we'd have been there, we wouldn't be here today."
House flattened. Car crushed. Lexi, his golden retriever, gone.
Equally flattened, Patterson was trudging the two miles back to his truck when he ran smack into the father of a woman from the neighborhood.
"Have you seen my daughter?" the man asked, panicked. "I'm looking for my daughter."
Patterson had seen his daughter, under a sheet, laying on his sidewalk, dead.
The coach took a gulp and the man's shoulders at the same time.
"I hate to be the one who breaks this to you," he said. "But your daughter didn't make it."
The man collapsed in Patterson's arms right then and there.
Death could've come for Miller, too, were it not for that mattress.
He was on the couch when his mom came running inside, screaming for everybody to get in the hallway -- fast! -- and lay down. Miller and his dad dragged the boy's mattress off his bed and put it over them.
"We only had about 10 seconds before it hit," Miller remembers. "That tornado sounded like a big ol' freight train coming through. I watched the roof fly right off my house, right above me. And then my sister started to fly off, too. I grabbed her around the middle of her body and just hung on."
When they crawled out from under the mattress, they saw dozens of large, jagged shards of wood and glass sticking into it. "Those things woulda got us for sure," he says.
And in the midst of all this glass-break and heartache and dust-cake, Hueytown must dig in for the playoffs.
"Lately, Coach hasn't been at all like he usually is," says Hueytown starting catcher David Veasey. "He used to be all intense. Kinda hard to play for. But now, he just seems more laid back. I guess maybe he figures there's more to life than baseball."
Says Patterson, "A lot of people ask me, 'Y'all still gonna play?' And when I say yeah, they always say, 'Good. That'll give me two hours where I can forget about all this."
Something he'll remember, though: One day, he was combing through the backyard rubble when he thought he heard a cry. He hunted it. There, trapped under a pile of rubble, was his Lexi, trembling, but fine.
Some wins come with no game at all.
=========
Hueytown 13-3, Briarwood Christian 12-9, (Game 3, Wed.., 6 p.m., Hueytown) TUESDAY GAME POSTPONED BY RAIN
This post was edited on 5/4/11 at 9:05 am
Posted on 5/4/11 at 9:15 am to McGregor
quote:
McGregor
That just made me flat out cry sitting in my office.
Posted on 5/4/11 at 9:30 am to RollTide MJ
quote:I agree with you MJ, I've scwalled like a baby too many times over the last 7 days. We just have to keep looking for ways to help those that lost more than us. Hope everyone in T-town is as ok as can be. Getting better in Madison County, but still a long way to go. Hang in there buddy.
That just made me flat out cry sitting in my office
Posted on 5/4/11 at 9:43 am to Notherdamnhog
We're trying to do our best to help out here in Texas.
--------------------------------------------
Thursday and Friday May 5th-6th from 4:00 pm until dark at Christ United Methodist Church parking lot.
4201 State Highway 6 South
College Station, TX 77845
On April 27th, storms raged through Alabama and surrounding states, leaving a path of destruction and despair. Many people have lots their lives due to the storm along with countless other who are left homeless or lost the majority of their possessions.
Tuscaloosa, AL the heart of the storms path is much like the cities of Bryan/College Station. Both have the support of loving communities and are surrounded by large universities.
Aggies for Alabama is a donation drive aimed at providing immediate supplies and donations to the affected areas of Tuscaloosa, AL and surrounding communities. Christ United Methodist Church has graciously allowed us to accept donations in their parking lot on Thursday May 5, and Friday May 6 from 4:00pm until dark.
Needed items include, non-perishable food, snack foods, baby supplies, men’s and women’s toiletries, batteries, flashlights, tarps, and bottled water. All donations will be taken to a central distribution hub located at First Wesleyan in Tuscaloosa, AL on Saturday May 7th.
Please contact with questions or to volunteer at: aggiesforalabama@gmail.com
--------------------------------------------
Thursday and Friday May 5th-6th from 4:00 pm until dark at Christ United Methodist Church parking lot.
4201 State Highway 6 South
College Station, TX 77845
On April 27th, storms raged through Alabama and surrounding states, leaving a path of destruction and despair. Many people have lots their lives due to the storm along with countless other who are left homeless or lost the majority of their possessions.
Tuscaloosa, AL the heart of the storms path is much like the cities of Bryan/College Station. Both have the support of loving communities and are surrounded by large universities.
Aggies for Alabama is a donation drive aimed at providing immediate supplies and donations to the affected areas of Tuscaloosa, AL and surrounding communities. Christ United Methodist Church has graciously allowed us to accept donations in their parking lot on Thursday May 5, and Friday May 6 from 4:00pm until dark.
Needed items include, non-perishable food, snack foods, baby supplies, men’s and women’s toiletries, batteries, flashlights, tarps, and bottled water. All donations will be taken to a central distribution hub located at First Wesleyan in Tuscaloosa, AL on Saturday May 7th.
Please contact with questions or to volunteer at: aggiesforalabama@gmail.com
Posted on 5/4/11 at 9:44 am to Notherdamnhog
quote:
I agree with you MJ, I've scwalled like a baby too many times over the last 7 days. We just have to keep looking for ways to help those that lost more than us. Hope everyone in T-town is as ok as can be. Getting better in Madison County, but still a long way to go. Hang in there buddy.
Yeah, it's been really tough seeing parts of this city that I honestly don't recognize. I'm glad it's getting better up your way. My best friend lives in Madison and when I talked to him yesterday they still didn't have power. He said that he wanted to come down to Tuscaloosa but said when he talked with his mom that she told him he really didn't. I sent him some pictures that I took while out helping do some cleanup and he couldn't believe the damage.
Everytime I see pictures of how it used to look next to how it looks now it breaks my heart. I know that we'll eventually get back to normal, but it's very sad to know that the city you grew up in and love so much is never going to look the same again.
But we gotta just all pull together as a community, a city, a state and keep working till we get the job done. I'm so thankful for the organizations like Toomers for Tuscaloosa that are touching and helping so many people. I've worked with them a couple times this past week and it's amazing to see so many people coming together with a sense of state pride and open hearts.
Posted on 5/4/11 at 10:02 am to RollTide MJ
Posted on 5/4/11 at 10:08 am to RollTide MJ
Posted on 5/4/11 at 10:11 am to RollTide MJ
Hang in there, friend.
On a lighter and ironic note, I have been working from home this week because of office in Huntsville is an area that was the last to get power.
They got it back last night so we all came in this morning. I work over by Bridge Street and Cummings Research Park.
At about 8:15 after all the surrounding businesses started powering up, what do y'all think happened?
Yep - we blew a damn transformer.
So, now I am back working at home again.
This is going to be a cluster for a while, I think.
On a lighter and ironic note, I have been working from home this week because of office in Huntsville is an area that was the last to get power.
They got it back last night so we all came in this morning. I work over by Bridge Street and Cummings Research Park.
At about 8:15 after all the surrounding businesses started powering up, what do y'all think happened?
Yep - we blew a damn transformer.
So, now I am back working at home again.
This is going to be a cluster for a while, I think.
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