Alabama 4/98 Tornado Pictures Page 5

Remember on the beginning page I told you about the Secret Service Agents
being in Pratt City on April 14th. to "secure" the area for President Clinton's
arrival on the 15th. I told you that I ended up being involved in their
"security plans". Well, this is what happened. There was a tennis court next
to the Pratt City Community Building where we would park our vehicles and
the larger trucks were parked on the grass by the tennis courts. When the
Secret Service Agents were making their plans, there was one area between
the Alabama Emergency Management Mobile Unit and the portable potties
where you could see from the street to the entrance of the Community Building.
They were trying to figure out a way to "close this off". The Secret Service
Agent that I had been talking to asked me who was driving the Red Cross truck.
I told him that I was. He then told me, "Okay, tomorrow morning when you
get here, I will tell you where I want you to park it. We're going to use the truck
to block that area there". Sure enough, the next morning when I arrived, he
motioned for me to pull the ERV over by that area and got me to pull forward
and back-up until he had it situated just like he wanted it. In the following
pictures you will see what I am talking about.
 

The following pictures were either taken by me or for me with my camera.
There is an explantion below each of them telling what they are and where
taken. Ordinarily, I only post pictures of "things and objects", not people,
but I couldn't very well ask the Red Cross and other Volunteers to move out
of the way just so that I could take the pictures. They had as much right to be
there as I did. So, you will see people in most of these pictures on this page.
 

The top picture shows where I would park the ERV on a day to day basis.
The middle picture is the area that needed to be blocked.
The bottom one shows the area after the ERV was parked.
 

If you notice in the top picture up above, the ERV has a long, narrow
window on the left side of it. When President Clinton first arrived, I got
up into the ERV and took these two pictures through that window.
 

In this picture, I got out of the ERV and stood behind it. As the President
was approaching the entrance to the building, I called out, "Mr. President"!
he turned towards me, as you can see, and waved ~ I snapped the picture. :)
 

In these pictures, President Clinton had finished with the people inside.
When he came outside, you can see that he was walking over to where we,
the Red Cross and other Volunteers, were standing. He got to where we were
and started talking to us and shaking our hands. Then, all of a sudden, the
citizens that had lined the street basically mobbed him and started asking
him all kinds of questions that were related to the damage from the tornado.
This is something that I will be able to tell the grandkids about when they get
old enough to understand what it's about. Like I said before, it's the Office that
he holds, not the man, that makes this a moment that I will always remember.
"I Got To Get Close To And Shake The Hand Of The President of the United States".
 

Please remember that all information and pictures on these pages
are protected under the copyright laws of the United States.
They cannot and may not be used or altered for use on any
other site without permission from the owner.
© Bertha Rudisill Desormeaux
January 20, 2000
 

If at any time, while you are visiting my Red Cross Disaster pages
and you see a picture of your "home or property", I will remove it.
But I will only do so after you have confirmed it to my satisfaction.

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Thanks For Being Patient And For Making It This Far
Why Not Take A Couple More Minutes To Sign My Book
That Way I'll Know Who My Company Has Been
Many, Many Thanks :)
 

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