Posted on 10/31/2005 7:28:36 PM PST by WestTexasWend
Winfred Compton no longer hears gunshots ringing through his neighborhood.
He wonders, he said, why it took a natural disaster - and unspeakable tragedy he witnessed and experienced - to help him escape the crime-riddled New Orleans' Sixth Ward to find hope, peace and a future in Lubbock.
"I feel safe. There's people out there that really do care," said Compton, a 59-year-old disabled veteran. "I just wanted to thank the people of Lubbock for giving me this."
Compton cannot remember the date he arrived in Lubbock, only that it was after he spent too many days in the New Orleans Convention Center and other Crescent City locations, he said. Timing of events became a blur after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on Aug. 29 and police rescued him from his flooded apartment. He lost nearly everything - including his pride, his dignity and his faith in humanity, he said - until he arrived in Lubbock.
The worst part, he said, was four days inside the New Orleans Convention Center.
"I'd seen people die right next to me and not be able to get no help for them," Compton's voice trailed off. "To see other people suffer and not be able to do anything about it, it breaks my heart."
But Compton, confined to an electric wheelchair, was in no position to help any of the thousands of people inside the convention center without food, water or sanitary conditions, he said. Instead, a petite senior-citizen woman, who Compton came to call Li'l Bit, took him under her wing. When his wheelchair ran out of power, the small woman wheeled him by hand and kept him with her group. She helped him with his personal care, too, he said.
"When I left the convention center, I'd lost pride," he said. "A man shouldn't have to live like that."
Compton's ordeal began after he and about 230 other senior citizens and disabled people who lived in a 12-story, high-rise apartment building realized that the building's staff had left them during the storm, he said. Police rescued all of the residents and brought them to the convention center.
Compton hesitates to talk too much about what happened inside the convention center during the four days he was there. However, he said, he still has nightmares about the experience.
"Finally (the situation at the convention center) got enough media attention that the helicopters started landing to get people out of there," Compton said.
From the convention center, authorities took Compton to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, where he spent the next two days. People wanted him to board one plane after another without his motorized wheelchair, which Compton refused to do.
"Medicare just spent $11,000 on this chair three months ago," Compton said. "Do you think they'd buy me another one if I left it behind?"
Finally a flight attendant from Lubbock received authorization to load the wheelchair, and Compton watched as the chair was loaded before he boarded the plane, he said. The flight landed in Lubbock.
Compton, who has had two heart attacks in the past and suffers from arthritis, diabetes and congestive heart failure, needed medical attention upon his arrival.
"When I got here on the plane, they took me straight to the hospital," he said.
Compton suffered from dehydration and pneumonia, he said. He has been hospitalized at University Medical Center three times since his arrival, and he must return for surgery.
"They said a lot of this was probably due to my immune system being so weak from being in that convention center," Compton said.
When he was not in the hospital, Compton was unable to stay with other evacuees at Reese Center. The Salvation Army took care of him, he said, until two men made arrangements for him to temporarily occupy an apartment.
"What I do is I approve people with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)," said Brendan Kelly, who coordinates the city's Katrina relief program. "(Compton) had a lot of medical problems when he got off the plane, and it put him in the hospital for a while. It put him in a unique situation."
Kelly, Oscar Jones of Lubbock's housing authority office and other city personnel made a combined effort to help Compton and the other evacuees who decided to stay in Lubbock, at least temporarily, Kelly said.
Compton mentioned his appreciation for Kelly's and Jones' efforts, and he was amazed that they had found him an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant apartment in just one day, he said.
Compton will be able to stay in his current apartment for several months while he remains on a list to move into public housing, Compton said.
"The contract with the city right now is a six-month contract. That's a FEMA contract," Kelly said.
Kelly added that it has been rewarding to help the evacuees. He remembered Compton clearly.
"He's a great guy," Kelly said of Compton. "He's very likeable."
Compton also speaks his appreciation for Lubbock's Salvation Army and its commanding officer, Maj. Ernest Branscum. He said he watched Branscum, the staff and volunteers "work so hard."
"God bless Salvation Army. They've done everything they can for me. Salvation Army was a blessing," Compton said.
Branscum also remembers Compton. Until officials found a suitable apartment for Compton, he stayed at the Salvation Army. He was still there when Hurricane Rita evacuees arrived, Branscum said.
"He was absolutely no problem," Branscum said of Compton. "He was always complimentary and thanking people. If he could (help), he'd do it."
Compton said he has a way to go to get completely settled in Lubbock. One of the possessions he lost in New Orleans that he misses the most is his therapeutic mattress.
"I saved (money) almost two years for a mattress for my bed ... that cost almost $2,000," Compton said. "When that rain started coming in and soaking that mattress, man, tears came to my eyes, and I just started to cry."
Compton, because of body aches and other physical ailments, has difficulty sleeping on a regular mattress, he said.
But rather than lament his losses, Compton looks forward to the future. He hopes for improved, stabilized health after his pending surgery so that he may get out, be with people and make friends.
"When I got to Lubbock and saw all the people to help us ... I knew right then and there that I was going to make Lubbock my home," Compton said. "I seen things that no man should have to see and no man should have to go through. But if I had to do that again to get to Lubbock, believe you me, I'd do it.
"The sincerity and the true willingness of the people of Lubbock to help is inconceivable to me," Compton added. "They gave me back my pride, my humanity and my faith in the human race."
Kinda makes Barbara Bush right, eh? :)
God bless this dear man and the people who helped him. He sounds a lot more self-sufficient than some of the able bodied crybabies I've heard on the left.
There's no place like Texas.
"I feel safe. There's people out there that really do care," said Compton, a 59-year-old disabled veteran. "I just wanted to thank the people of Lubbock for giving me this."
----Bless the state of Texas.
Plus he went from 99% humidity below sea level to dry as toast at about 3000 feet above sea level. Much better climate.
He's right...the people of Lubbock are exceptionally warm and caring. I spent two years living in Lubbock (Reese AFB) and was literally blown away by their kindness.
God bless this man and I hope he can remember the good in people and get on with his life.
Welcome to our fair state of Texas, Mr. Compton. I think you'll notice quite a difference between a state run by us evil Republicans who actually do something to help people and one run by compassionate Democrats who pay lip service to caring while doing nothing but feathering their own nests.
I have to a".dmit that my knowledge of Lubbock begins and ends with the Mac Davis song "happiness is lubbock, texas in my rear-view mirror"
I was blown away during my time in Lubbock as well, of course, it was that blasted wind that did it to me.... ;-)
LMAO..whatever happened to Mac Davis? LOL!
OMG...the horrific dust storms. And the brutal winters where we'd get light snow and no one ever knew how to drive in it. They were woefully unprepared. Still, I loved living there.
I know you didn't expect an answer to "whatever happened to Mac Davis?" but a cursory google search shows he's been active on the "guest-star" circuit on numerous TV shows and obscure movies for about the last 15 years---his heyday was in the 70s of course---he had THREE variety shows of his own, was in a few hit movies, wrote the Elvis song "In the Ghetto", and numerous others, including my favorite that I heard him do on The Tonight Show, I think, called "Poor Man's Gold".
LOL...no, didn't expect a reply. I thought Mac Davis did his songwriting back in the 60s. I did not know he was still around doing movie bits here and there. Sometimes these folks make tons of money and just fade away, especially songwriters who make big bucks.
Interesting..thanks! :)
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