The Homewood Star | June 2011 |
www.TheHomewoodStar.com
neighborly news & entertainment for Homewood
Volume 1 | Issue 3 | June 2011
Sports Vulcan’s Birthday
City Council
- pg 12
-pg 5
- pg 7
Homewood reaches out to Hackleburg By ASHLEY BERKERY and MADOLINE MARKHAM
After the devastating April tornadoes, Homewood Police Officer Mike Jackson returned to Hackleburg and found the high school he had attended in ruin. An EF-5 tornado – the fiercest kind of twister – had obliterated 95 percent of the small town’s structures. “I was heartbroken,” Jackson said. “I saw a lot of friends’ houses and places I used to go—the high school, the football stadium, my church—all destroyed. Most people made it through though.” Jackson was not in Hackleburg alone. Homewood was there with him. Jackson’s friends still living in the town had told him there was no one there with the recovery and relief experience and equipment necessary to help, so Jackson talked to fellow police officers and eventually Mayor Scott McBrayer that Saturday night. At 5 a.m. the next morning a crew from the city was on the road to help. Jackson had called the Hackleburg fire chief, a friend from his church there, and told him what they were bringing. “The tears in his eyes said it all,” Jackson said. “Hackleburg was a great small town
June Features
Caroline Hubbard of the Homewood Chamber of Commerce and City Councilman Fred Hawkins in Hackleburg on May 14. Photo courtesy of Homewood Chamber of Commerce.
to live in,” Jackson said. “They are hard working people dedicated to family. Most are farmers or work at the Wrangler plant.” The Homewood team worked about 16 hours that day with a special operations truck from Homewood’s Station One and cadaver dogs as part of search and rescue. CBS 42 news sent a cameraman,
and Mayor McBrayer talked about the experience on the evening news. The fire department returned the next day to search the downtown area. “Once the mayor got involved and media got involved, relief in Hackleburg snowballed,” Jackson said. A 200,000-square-foot warehouse was filled
The lyrical life of Father Goose
• Editor’s note
2
• Mayor’s Minute
4
• City Council
5
• Vulcan’s Birthday Bash
7
• Restaurant Showcase
8
• Entrepreneur Spotlight
9
• Father’s Day Gift Guide
10
• Homewood Sports
12
• Business Spotlight
14
• Lauren Denton
15
• School House
16
Charles Ghigna “Father Goose” in his writing “treehouse” in Homewood. Photo courtesy Charles Ghigna.
• Calendar of Events
18
By MADOLINE MARKHAM
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with so many supplies in one week that Hackleburg shared them with neighboring Phil Campbell, another town in the tornado’s direct path. The mayor and Homewood Chamber of Commerce organized a crew to return to
See haCKLeBUrG | page 11
Fire department first on the scene in Pleasant Grove By ASHLEY BERKERY
Charles Ghigna, better known as Father Goose, leads children on adventures. “I like to take kids on journeys of imagination and then return them to their own world,” he said. His timeless poems and stories celebrate the wonder and magic of life through a child’s eyes. Children can’t help but delight in his vibrant, playful lyrics that paint pictures of animals and nature. Ghigna has written more than 5,000 poems and published more than 50 children’s books for Random House, Disney, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster and
c i r b a F e f i L f o
other publishers. Ghigna, 64, writes in his “tree house,” the attic of his 1927 English Tudor home on West Linwood Drive where he has lived with his wife, Debra, for nearly 35 years. “Something magical happens when you write,” he tells the elementary students he speaks to. “Writing a book is like a magic carpet to travel country and world, but what I like best is being here [in Homewood], sleeping in my own bed.” “You can write about anything and
The Homewood Fire Department was the first outside crew to reach the tornadoravaged Pleasant Grove only 30 minutes after the storm hit on April 27. “In my 17 years with the fire department, this was absolutely the most devastating thing I have ever responded to,” Homewood Fire Lieutenant Brian Bonner said. “People were crawling out of debris, and the need was just so great.” While tending to a house fire and downed trees in the Homewood area that night, a crew of 15 was immediately dispatched to the scene. The team, including the fire chief, fire inspector, administrative officer and line fighters, worked fervently through the night searching for missing persons and clearing debris to make way for emergency vehicles. At 4 a.m. April 28 the crew returned to Homewood only to change out crew members, and by 7:30 a.m. the new crew arrived back in Pleasant Grove clearing, searching and treating injuries until after dark.
See Father Goose | page 15
See FIre DePartMeNt | page 18
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