From Bad to Worse
CNN reports on the latest Midwestern tragedy: 4 dead after twister tears through Scout camp
(CNN) — At least four people were killed and another 40 injured Wednesday when a tornado struck a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa, a state safety official said.
Iowa Public Safety Commissioner Gene Meyer said the four were killed by a storm that slammed into the Little Sioux Scout Ranch near the Nebraska state line.
Meyer said about 120 people, including 93 campers, were believed to be at the camp at the time of the storm.
About 40 people were injured, said Sheri Bauwens, a nurse with the American Red Cross.
Lloyd Roitstein, president of the Boy Scouts of Mid-America Council, said the Scouts at the ranch were advanced Scouts between 13 and 18 years old and were there for a week of training.
He said they were staying in tents and that the site is destroyed.
“All of the buildings are gone; most of the tents are gone; most of the trees are destroyed,” Roitstein said. “You’ve got 1,800 acres of property that are destroyed right now.”
The ranch, which has four cabin shelters in addition to camping space, is about 45 miles north of Omaha, Nebraska, and 45 miles south of Sioux City, Iowa.
Just sad. No place to go, and nowhere to hide.
13 comments
The camp was attacked because God does not want gay people to teach the scouts. People have to realize that God does not nor every has liked homosexuality. We have a God who never changes His opinions. I suggest that the scout troops do not go against what God wants. As you can see, He doesn’t play. Just ask Hagee or Parsley. Or even Rev. Wright.
I was just awakened by some very early morning ( 1 a.m.) and quite heavy rainfall here in Hawaii. Since I was already up I tuned in to CNN to check out the news. I want to commend the brave, young 15 year old Boy Scout who just completed a phone interview with CNN morning anchor Kyra Phillips during CNN’s “American Morning” telecast 7 a.m. segment. His voice trembled as he recollected the horror and chaos of this traumatic experience. Regretfully I did not catch his name, but he certainly exemplifies all the leadership qualities that make me proud of the Boy Scout of America organization.
This young man’s account of what transpired when the deadly tornado hit the Little Sioux Scout Ranch was absolutely riveting. But what was more incredible was his heroic, courageous and selfless reaction to help those around him despite the fact that he himself was seriously injured. My eyes welled up as I listened to his story. I just want him to know that his fellow scouts, troop leaders and affected families are in the thoughts and prayers today of many Americans across the country. God bless all of you!
Patrick Leonard (Honolulu, HI)
PS: Hat’s off to Kyra Phillips for the truly professional and compassionate way she conducted this interview. You could see that she too was moved by the young Scout’s story.
Well, RedPhilly in your eternity in hell, you and Hagee will have plenty of time to reflect on where you went wrong.
On principle I don’t think the media should interview children, and it is really wrong to interview children who have experienced trauma, Patrick. I live in a hurricane target area, and am not a fan of the disaster tourists. Locally we consider them on a lower evolutionary scale than looters.
I was a scout, in the military, and in law enforcement. You do what you are trained to do, because it is easier than thinking about what has happened. It’s one of the ways you cope.
Agree Bryan. I was also a Scout and in the Military (and worked with LEO’s in electronics forensics, and site security).
God also doesn’t like hypocrites and people who hate no matter what it is they hate.
I also can’t stand a hypocrite and morons.
I often wonder, Kryten, whether any of these people have ever read the Gospels. They keep nattering on about the Old Testament and Revelation, but don’t see to remember much else.
The real problem I have with the “hero” talk is that it stigmatizes those who froze. Freezing up is a perfectly natural reaction. The body and mind can’t deal with the situation and they shut down. You don’t know how anyone is going to react until they are faced with a disaster. You can’t help them cope, if you start off making them feel like they are less than human. You can’t really control the “fight-flight” reflex without a lot of training, and if you have already dumped on someone, it is very hard to bring them back.
Hell, “donut dollies”, the Red Cross volunteers were much better at dealing with attacks than most draftees. I forget which base it was at, if I knew, but this woman buttoned up her stall and brought a pillow to her slit trench when we started receiving incoming, while people around her were wondering what they should do. She knew exactly what to do and how quickly it needed to be done, so she didn’t lose her poise.
This was a training moment, and you hope that the leaders dealt with it professionally.
I remember one of my instructors at the police academy saying that the toughest situation we would face would be deciding what to do when, logically, the situation called for doing nothing. He told us to plan out some sort of “make work” procedure so people could see you doing something, because when you are in uniform, people expect you do something.
That’s all very true Bryan. 🙂
Last year, I had to renew my security license and add a few more areas I am now *qualified* in. One was a relatively new (for Aus) qual in Project Griffin . PG is a UK initiative begun in 2004 and now in Aus. I was trained as a Project Griffin field Coordinator/Commander. During the training, we were given a neon orange vest, with the red Griffin crest on the front, and the word ‘Commander’ in reflective white on the back and front. I was asked what I would do if I was in a shopping mall and was notified that an event was in progress. The scenario was a suspect bomb or one or more armed suspect terrorists. I replied that I would grab the first person I saw that looked stupid, put the lovely bright vest on them, and tell them to walk out in the open. If they don’t get shot or blown up, I could then assume that it might be safe enough for me to stick my head out for a look! I said they should remove the word ‘Commander’ and put ‘Target’ on the pretty vests, and make whoever came up with them, wear one at a real terrorist event and see if he lives long enough to think they may not have been such a bright idea! To which, it dawned on the rest of the class, who began to look nervous. The instructor was an ex-UK copper who survived 10 years in Belfast riding in an armored jeep with machine guns. He said that’s what he would do too, and laughed. LOL We were shown several video’s of various terrorist events around the World. One was a shopping mall in the USA and a container of sarin gas. Several people were killed, including two security personnel and two paramedics, none of whom should have died if they had any brains. Some of the things we saw were just too stupid to believe, except that they were security camera footage.
The first rule of security, in any field, is protect yourself! You are no good to anyone dead. You know… that whole site assessment thing that is drummed onto a security person, and seems to be the first thing forgotten as soon as they are in the field.
As for the idiot above… I can’t be bothered. It is totally unsurprising to me that these neo-Christians don’t have a clue about what the Bible actually says. They just pick and choose the bits they like. Unsurprising since it’s mostly anti-social morons and criminals who become neo-Christians and evangelicals. My one greatest hope, is that I am present on the day these morons are judged! It would be worth spending a century or so in one of the 7 levels for laughing at the look on these morons as they are judged to spend an eternity in Hell. LOL
Most of these idiots don’t even understand that *Religion* (all of them) is a purely human invention! God never invented religion! LOL Most of these fools think that just because they are a member of one of the thousands of criminal sects, they get an instant pass into paradise! Most of them will spend an eternity scrubbing toilets in hell. LOL
He who laughs last, laughs best! LOL
The only reason for the high visibility vests is to keep your own lot from shooting you. I was aimed at all too often when I arrived at a shooting incident in plain clothes, even though you make a radio notification before going in and wear your badge clipped on your jacket. Damn body armor is too expensive to have to replace it because of a jumpy officer.
Terrorists would be a SWAT call – better weapons, training, and protection – plus they know each other on sight and work as a unit.
I think a lot of these people cheering on the televangelists are in for a very rude shock at the end.
We don’t have SWAT. We have SAS. LOL 😉 OK… we do have a Police special unit, but I wouldn’t call them *fast response*!
Actually. I like the ex-UK copper. He was a very sane individual, and anyone who survived several years in Belfast during the 80’s & 90’s is someone worth listening to! 🙂 We had many chats after classes, and compared notes. I learned a lot. 🙂 After that Griffin class, he asked what I’d put on the vests… I said that it would depend on my mood. Maybe I’d have 2, one with “If you see me running, try to keep up!”, and another with “Don’t bother me! I shoot to kill!” for the press and assorted idiots with stupid questions. We both laughed. LOL
I saw a pic of a T-shirt some years ago that was similar the first one. On the front it said “I’m with the bomb squad” and on the back “If you see me running, try to keep up!” LOL
Actually, they wore them in Rochester, NY many years ago… until one of the bosses got his nose bent out of shape [i.e. became an officious twit] and banned them.
People think that terrorism started in 2001 in NYC, and have no idea what the world was like in the 1960s and 70s.
Recently saw the documentary about the Weathermen. I had no idea they carried out so many bombings. At the same time, I couldn’t help but be impressed that they didn’t (and actually tried not to ) kill anybody.
But yeah, 2001 was a big attack, but the idea that it all started there is just silly.
There were plenty of others who were trying to kill people all over the world for various reasons. I had the Marxists and Palestinians trying to blow me up once a month when I was stationed in Germany. They killed an officer when when they bombed the US Army buildings in Frankfurt, but we only had structure damage at the Air Force facility.
The so-called super-IEDs of Irag, the Explosively Formed Penetrators, were used against bankers and other high=profile targets in Germany.
That doesn’t take into consideration the Greek whackos, the IRA in Britain, Basque separatists in Spain or the Red Army Faction in Japan.
There were a couple of weeks when Southeast Asia started to look like a good place to be for peace and quiet.
There wasn’t anywhere really appropriate to post this…But it’s worth posting! LOL And… speaking of Heaven, Hell etc… 😉
I just received an email from a friend who teaches in Scotland. This is (I am assured) a true story, and is an *out of the mouths of babes* type. I’ll simple quote it verbatim:
Ahem… Sorry if it offends, but I am sure the truth won’t offend any reality based person here. 😉 😀
Small children tend to be more reality based than many adults.