accent issue 1

Page 1

First Copy Free

Sept. 20, 2011

Volume 14, Issue 1

theAccent.org

Memories from ashes News → Crime and Safety

Karissa Rodriguez

Editor-in-Chief

Expecting to see nothing but ash where his family’s home once stood before the Bastrop County wildfires engulfed his neighborhood in flames, 22-year-old John Beauford drives towards his home on Tall Forest Drive preparing himself for the worst. “I just can’t believe all this destruction,” Beauford says to his girlfriend Samantha Rogers as they drive past the remains of his neighborhood. Home after home is burnt to the ground and a bleak sense of dread takes over the car’s passengers. Slowly Beauford pulls up in his driveway and he and Rogers gasp as they observe the scene before them. Before them lies the charred remains of Beauford’s home where his mom had arrived earlier to sift through the remains to find anything salvageable. Part of a brick wall remains where their garage used to be and serves as the only semblance that a house once stood there. “My dad taught me how to fix cars in that garage,” Beauford said. “He used to have this old junker, a Ford F150, it always broke down and my dad would teach me how to get it up

and running again. I loved spending time with him in that garage.” Rogers gently places her hand on Beauford’s shoulder but he quickly pushes her away stating that he’s okay. But he’s not. As soon as Beauford steps out of his car he notices his mom, Maggie, sitting on the remains of their front steps crying and holding something in her hands. Tears start spilling from Beauford as soon as he spots his mom sitting alone among the ashes. Beauford moves to sit next to her while Rogers waits in the car not wanting to interrupt the pair. “This was your dad’s,” Maggie tells Beauford as she shows him a charred pocket watch. “He wanted to give it to you a few years back but he just couldn’t remember where he put it.” Beauford’s dad, Jack, died from Alzheimer’s disease in 2008 and Beauford, who had already moved to Austin to attend Austin Community College, decided to move back in with Maggie. “I searched everywhere that I could think of to find this watch after he died,” Maggie said. “Even without the Alzheimer’s Jack could never remember where he put anything.” “Where was it?” Beauford asks his mom. “I found it in a tin cookie jar,” Maggie told him. “He always did love your snicker doodles, Mom,” Beauford said causing Maggie to laugh for the first time in days. The tin cookie jar, along with a fire resistant lock box holding important documents was all that the Beaufords and Rogers could salvage from their home that day. The Beaufords’ home was one of over 1500 homes destroyed in the Bastrop County wildfires which consumed over 34 thousand

acres in the area, or about 25 percent of Bastrop County, Mike Fisher, the county’s emergency management coordinator said during a press conference on Sept. 13. 900 ACC students live in Bastrop County according to 12th Day Class Data reported in ACC’s Fact Book for Spring 2011. “I don’t know what’s next for me, but I think that I’m still going to take my classes.” Beauford said. “I’m only taking two and I kind of need something to keep me grounded.” ACC students who are affected by the fires are asked to contact the Support Center Specialists at their campus to inform the college about their situation. Affected students can also apply for the Student Emergency Fund, which is a resource for qualifying students who encounter an unforeseen financial emergency or catastrophic event which would otherwise prevent them from continuing their education at ACC. The Fund awards a maximum of $500 per student. To be eligible for consideration for the Student Emergency Fund a student must have already completed at least 15 credits at ACC, be registered for at least 6 credits in the semester when the emergency funds would be applied, be able to demonstrate his/ her current financial need with supporting documentation, and have a minimum 2.0 GPA and 50% credit completion rate and be in good standing. “I’m happy to see that ACC is taking some efforts to help us out,” Beauford said. “However, for me personally, I won’t be taking advantage of them because I want something other than the fire to focus on. I just can’t let this fire take over my entire life.” In the meantime, Beauford and his mom plan to apply for federal aid from FEMA and take advantage of other disaster relief organizations such as the Red Cross. “I’m hoping to rebuild the house my mom raised me in,” Beauford said. “We may not have much, but we have each other and I’m going to do everything I can to make our lives whole again.”

See FLEEING, pg. 8-9 for more student stories

Lauren Sams•Staff Photographer

GREAT LOSS — A stone rabbit lays outside the remains of a home that was destroyed during the Bastrop fires.


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