RISING FROM THE RUBBLE, by neil melancon

RISING from the RUBBLE How One Storm-Battered Louisiana Family Keeps Raising Cattle After 200 Years, Severe Storms

By Neil Melancon of This Week In Louisiana Agriculture U BB member Leslie Griffith has raised cattle in a mostly quiet corner of Grand Chenier, Louisiana, where his family has worked the land in Cameron Parish for the last 200 years.

He says “mostly quiet” because every so often a hurricane comes through that makes life miserable for the folks who live in this area. Two massive storms, Hurricanes Laura and Delta, have barreled through the land this year alone. Laura has done the most damage that Griffith has ever seen.

“I lived through Audrey, Rita and Ike,” Griffith recalls. “I learned real quick the power these storms can have. We rode out Audrey, and that was the last time we stayed for one of these big storms.”

In 1957, Leslie and his family rode out Hurricane Audrey – first in their home, then in the attic, and then in a tree. His dad cut a hole in the roof for them to climb out of as the Gulf of Mexico rushed in. The roof broke from the house and their makeshift raft wound up in a tree. Members of his family would get separated in the strong currents and winds – so at one point, 11-year-old Leslie Griffith was lashed to the tree with a rope.

The hurricane took a tragic toll: “My grandfather didn’t make it; unfortunately, he drowned in the storm. We found his body wrapped around one of the other trees along with so much debris.”

The tree that they survived in still stands at Leslie Griffith’s ranch. A divot in that tree where the raft bobbed up and down in the waves is one of the few reminders of that storm more than 60 years ago.

“He peered over the roof during the storm, and all he saw was the Gulf,” Griffith’s wife, Peggy, says. “I can only imagine the terror. That’s why we don’t stay for storms anymore.”

Debris, like the kind that has been left by every storm, can be seen around the 1,600 acres of Lazy Acre Ranch these days. The Griffith home was up on pilings, but after Hurricane Rita in 2005, which devastated the coast. Rita gutted their home, which had to be renovated. A testament to how strong Laura was can be seen in the bricks on top of the trees that survived the storm. Leslie’s home was demolished in the winds that topped 150 mph, along with cattle pens and all their fencing.

It sounds like a lot, and it is. Griffith and his family are

survivors, though. For one, they have a lot of help. Leslie and his son, Jared, hauled Griffith’s commercial cattle to their ranch in Welsh, an hour north of the coast, where they are surviving on the 90 acres Griffith bought after Rita.

“I also want to thank Tim Strohe in Thornwell; he took my 30 Braford mama cows and a Braford bull,” Griffith says. “Six of my other bulls went to Cut Off, Louisiana, with Paul Dufrene of Triple Son Ranch. I can’t thank them enough. That’s what we really need right now; we’re good on money and supplies. I’m just going to need manpower to rebuild everything.

That is where the second source of Griffith’s strength comes in. He is a Vietnam veteran, having served in the U.S. Army. He is one of seven individuals to have earned both the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Combat Medical Badge. Partway through his tour, the Army needed people to be trained as medics, so he and a buddy volunteered.

“We were out in the field giving IVs to each other and practicing some of the other field medicine techniques,” Griffith explains. “After a couple of weeks, they put us back out in the field with medic bags and we did what we could to patch soldiers up.”

He came back from Vietnam with few possessions, but he treasured his dog tags – with an addition: a small metal disc with the Serenity Prayer embossed on it, a gift from his uncle.

“I’d pray with it every night,” Griffith says. He stands in front of the ruins of his home, where an MIA/POW flag lies below the American flag he flew. “Like so many of my other memorabilia, though, it got swept away in Laura.”

Signs of life are appearing in Cameron, weeks after the storm. The oaks are starting to thrive. Cattlemen, like Leslie, are starting to think about how to fence this area back in for their cows. That is why the National Resources Conservation Service was out there this week, trying to find out how to best help Leslie.

Although it is not in his job description, Mark Norman, a soil conservationist with NRCS, came back with a surprise after surveying the fields: Leslie’s dog tags. An emotional Leslie thanked Mark – also a U.S. Army veteran, of Afghanistan and Iraq – from one vet to another.

As Leslie prepares to move once more, ahead of Hurricane Delta – on a similar storm track as Laura – he affirms that no matter what, this is still Griffith land.

“My address will be 1003 Oak Grove Highway, Grand Chenier, ’til I die.” Griffith’s voice is strong and resolute, belying his 75 years of age.

The conviction in his voice that has gotten him through war and disaster is evident. It is also familiar. Every cattleman has to battle just to stay alive, and Griffith is no different. With help from good neighbors – as well as his son and now grandsons to hopefully carry on the family tradition – there is no doubt that Lazy Acres will be busy with the tradition of cattle next year, next storm, and for the foreseeable future.