I keep saying this has been the worst year I have ever been through!!!
I am going to scream UNCLE!!!!!! I need one month without a death.
Death needs to take a holiday!






June 12, 2008



BLENCOE, Ia. – Zach Jessen scrambled under a table just before the tornado hit.

He and about 20 other Boy Scouts huddled in a bunk house at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch, preparing to watch a movie when a Scoutmaster ordered them under the tables. Jessen grabbed another Scout under his right arm and prayed.

Eagle Grove boy: Read about Aaron Eilerts, 14, of Eagle Grove, one of the four youths who died in the tornado.


""I was just praying and hoping I would make it through," Jessen said Thursday.

The tornado that tore through the 1,800-acre camp was classified an EF-3, said Becky Griffis, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Omaha. Wind speed is estimated to have been 145 mph. The tornado was on the ground for about 14 miles and cut a straight path that begins near Interstate Highway29 in far northwest Harrison County to Moorhead.

Jessen, a 14-year-old from Fremont, Neb., was still wearing his brown Boy Scout shirt Thursday morning. His right arm was scraped and swollen, his wrist sporting a white hospital bracelet from a brief stay in a hospital in Onawa.

Jessen's was one harrowing and heroic story among many at the ranch, tucked in the Loess Hills about 40 miles north of Omaha. Jessen and about 100 youth and 25 adults were there attending a weeklong leadership training event, Pahuk Pride.

Jessen was in one of two bunk houses where scouts and their leaders took shelter when the storm bore down on them.

About 60 scouts took shelter in one and mostly escaped injury. About 20 scouts, including Jessen, were in a similar building about a quarter mile away in the same valley. It was there were all four scouts died, said Blencoe Fire Chief Ed Osius, who was among the first on the scene.

Osius said the tornado also destroyed the home of the permanent Scoutmaster at the camp. The Scoutmaster, his wife, and infant child and a teenager were all injured, Osius said.

The scouts attending the event, Pahuk Pride, were selected for the honor by Scoutmasters around Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. Besides leadership skills, those who survived will bring back to their troops incredible stories worthy of a merit badge.

Jessen said when the weather began to turn bad Wednesday evening he left his tent and took shelter in a one-story, wooden bunk house built on a cement slab.

The scouts were going to watch a movie when warning came about the storm, possibly from a weather radio on the ranch.

"As soon as he said 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail,' the power went out," Jessen said. A Scoutmaster yelled for them to get under the tables. Then the doors blew open. The tornado tore the roof off.

Jessen said he remembers the noise of the rain. The rocks. The freight-train sound of the tornado. He also remembers when a pickup truck was tossed into the stone chimney, knocking it into the bunk house. "When it hit," Jessen said, "it sounded like an explosion because it fell directly on the cement."

Jessen was in charge of eight other scouts. One of them was killed when the chimney fell.

At a news conference Thursday, Gov. Chet Culver said he could not confirm the chimney collapse caused the deaths. "I don't believe at this time that we know the cause of death, exactly," Culver said.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff flew over the ranch Thursday and said it didn't look like the scouts had a chance. He said it looked as though a bowling ball rolled through the valley.

Jessen said there was some screaming in the chaos afterward, but mostly scouts were trying to help the wounded. The fire chief said the scouts were already gathering the wounded in one location when he arrived.

Jessen said he eventually found time to make a cell phone call to his mother, Gayle, and then his father, who were speeding to the scene along with other worried parents.

Al Jessen said his son called a couple hours after the tornado hit. "He said, Dad, I'm in the Onawa hospital."

A scout leader himself, he knew the boys were limited to water only at the camp. "I flew up to Onawa and got him a Gatorade," he said.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman praised Jessen and the other scouts. After seeing the devastation, Heineman said it was amazing more weren't killed.

"I'm proud of that young person," Heineman said. "I'm proud of all the scouts for all they did."

HEH CAA


I recall seeing this on the news here in Niagara !
What a freak tradgedy , I really don't know what to say under these circumstances , when lives are taken by violents storms . The after shock after it is all over and the devastating out comes are very troubling to say the least .

My thoughts and prayers are with you kiddo , sometimes we just dont have all the answers my friend , and I do hope and pray for you and your family to stay safe my friend .

take care
always thinking of you



Gentle Hugs

P.S. CAA , were you related to anyone ?

No red,
I did not have any children there. I am afraid that
it hit my husband and hs men the most.
They were the first firemen to chop their way in, Yes
chop their way in! the road in was covered with downed
tress. The first thing they found was the Dean's and they
were a mess!! The 8 month old baby was bleedng from a head
cut. The other 2 children were beat up,but the Mom looked
like someone had beat her with a baseball bat. We are having
a fund raiser for them this Sunday.
But the worst for the Guys was the 4 boys that were dead.
they could not Id them due to head injury. I will take the Guy's
a long time to get over it. One little guy was Id by his
underware. SO Red it has been hard for us around here.

And I lost another Uncle last week. I am so tired of death
Red!!!! SO far this year has been the worst!!
Thanks for caring Red11111

Heh CAA .... I'm sorry to hear of all the sorrow you have gone through in this past year with loved ones ... I recall going through this very same .. death death death all on my hubby's side of the family ... and it was getting to be too too much ... So I can relate with you on a very disturbing topic inwhich we are never prepared for .

I truly hope and pray the men and your hubby can come to an understanding of the death around them , inwhich makes it very hard , especially when you have kids of your own. And know the pain the parents and family will go through .. for a long long time ....

Hey CAA ... good luck with the fundraiser , I hope all goes well .

take care my friend ....

=^..^=