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Tennessee Twister
Legal
services programs regularly help local communities ravaged by
natural disasters, but what happens when the program itself is
ravaged?
The
main office of West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS) was
devastated by a violent tornado that ripped through downtown
Jackson on May 4. Fierce winds and golf-ball-sized hail pelted
homes and city buildings, leaving advocates at WTLS without
anything resembling a habitable working space. (The tornado
struck just before midnight, so no one on staff was injured.)
The
deadly twister was déjà vu for the people of Jackson. The
storm, which took twelve lives, was the second tornado to strike
Jackson and claim casualties in recent years. “There was
another tornado that came through town four years ago, but then
our office wasn’t destroyed and we were able to jump right in
and offer a bunch of pro bono disaster relief services,” WTLS
Executive Director Steve Xanthopolous recalls. “This time it
took us a little bit longer.”
Not
very long, however. Despite power outages, a half-foot of rain
left in the tornado’s wake, and no office from which to work,
WTLS attorneys began representing clients in court just days
after the storm. “Sometimes, attorneys had to travel 50 miles
to another county to do a hearing, but they were able to do
it,” Xanthopolous says.
The
director says his staff has remained in good spirits, thanks in
part to the goodwill of their legal aid colleagues. “Late last
week we received a gift package from the Atlanta Legal Aid
Society,” Xanthopolous relates. “There was a check for $170
and a note that said, ‘Hey, get yourselves some pizza, soda,
and beer and relax a little.’”
The
WTLS staff is currently working out of temporary office space
roughly one-third the size of their former office. Xanthopolous
estimates that the old building will not be ready for at least
another eight months. Until then, the staff is making due.
“We’re almost back to normal at this point,” he says,
“as normal as you can be under much more difficult operating
conditions.”
n
photos,
from top: Downtown
Jackson, Tenn., was hit hard by the storm that destroyed
2,000 homes and businesses. Steve Xanthopolous' office
was left uninhabitable, while Gail Baldwin (left)
and Barbara Bean visit theirs to see what can be
salvaged. WTLS employees, fearing their building might
collapse, placed support beams along its exterior.
photo credit: Steve
Xanthopolous |
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