Tornado-ravaged Okla. town might not rebuild
PICHER, Okla. (AP) - May 12, 2008 As she began the task of salvage Sunday, Sigle kept a smile on
her face, noting that she was fortunate to be visiting family in
Missouri when the massive twister hit Saturday night, killing at
least six people in this northeastern Oklahoma town. Tornadoes
killed at least 22 people in three states that night.
"I'm OK with everything," Sigle said. "The Lord is going to
take care of anything. ... I was going to move anyway. I guess I'll
just have to move sooner."
That sense of inevitability appeared to grip residents as they
picked through the remnants of their homes. The lead and zinc mines
that made Picher a booming town of about 20,000 in the mid-20th
century closed decades ago; leftover waste has turned the area into
an environmental disaster and a Superfund site.
Many families have moved away to escape the lead pollution,
taking advantage of state and federal buyouts in recent years.
Piles of mine waste, or chat, have long towered over the town
across a highway from the devastated neighborhood; they're now
peppered with debris from homes flattened by the tornado.
Law enforcement officers and the Oklahoma National Guard
patrolled the area overnight into Monday to prevent looting, said
Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of
Emergency Management.
The tornado - spawned by storms that also killed at least 16
people in Missouri and Georgia - could be the ultimate incentive
for those 800 or so residents who have been reluctant to leave, now
that most of their homes have been ruined, said John Sparkman, head
of the housing authority.
"I think people probably have had enough," he said. "There's
just nothing to build back to any more."
Some residents, like Sigle, were waiting for better buyout
offers before their homes were damaged.
Gov. Brad Henry, who toured the area by air and on foot Sunday,
said the buyout program won't stop just because homes were leveled.
He went so far as to say he would "guarantee" that those awaiting
buyouts who lost their homes would be treated fairly.
"We will make sure the people get the assistance that they
need," Henry said.
Because of Picher's Superfund status, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency is unlikely to grant assistance to homeowners to
rebuild in the town, said Oklahoma Emergency Management Director
Albert Ashwood. But he echoed Henry's assurances about the federal
buyout program, which is funded by the Environmental Protection
Agency.
One of the homes those crews likely will examine will be that of
Jeff Reeves, 43, who has followed his grandfather and father as
Picher's fire chief. He has lived in Picher all his life and has
watched it slowly decline.
"With everything else that's going on here, I'm not sure there
is a recovery," he said.
Among the first things Sigle looked for when she arrived at her
house Sunday afternoon was her late husband's prize collection of
Mickey Mantle memorabilia.
Friends already had removed a safe containing the collection
from what used to be her bedroom, and she quickly opened the safe's
door.
"Oh, hallelujah!" Sigle said when she saw the baseball cards -
Mantle grew up in nearby Commerce - and an undamaged ball signed by
the former New York Yankees star.
Sigle, who has taught second- and third-graders in Picher for 37
years, also found a slightly soiled T-shirt that read, in part,
"Gorilla Spirit Lives On," a nod to the mascot of Picher High
School, which will probably close in the next few years.
The storm will speed up what was probably going to happen
anyway, she said.
"I know I lost a lot of junk. I guess it's time to clean up and
see what I need."