Westminster survivor says thanks to chasers

[Amos Magliocco]

I wanted to share this letter from Westminster resident Clinton Taylor who gave me permission to do so. Eric Nguyen and I were among several chasers who helped with the Colin County Skywarn last week. The others that I know of were Mike Mezeul and Ken Fugate, who first reported the first tornado near or west of Anna, Sam Barricklow, Paul Stofer and others who reported the second and third tornadoes. I'm not sure who was able to stay with it once it was well northeast of Anna, but each of those guys deserves some of this credit.

More importantly, this is direct evidence that reporting via Skywarn can save people's lives. Mr. Clinton says below that he took shelter as a result of TV reports, and a local Sherman-Denison TV meteorologist told me on the phone last week that they were repeating our transmissions almost verbatim over the air. Here's the letter:

From: Taylor Clinton
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 4:25 PM
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: Westminster Tornado



Dear sir,
I am a resident of Westminster and have been for 36 years, there are no sirens of course you know that, if them old people were asleep they had no idea what was about to happen. I know that there is enough money somewhere to have this type system installed, I'm sure that it cost lots of money but who in their right mind can put a price on human life, the people of Westminster are blue collar workers and have no extra money or they would pull together and pay for it themselves. My family and I happened to be up and watching the news and I got them in the bathtub and no sooner than I got the mattress on top of them the lights went out and it sounded like freight train going through the city, this tornado crossed 3133 about a mile and half from my house, what you do is AMAZING and I commend you and your fellow storm chasers for the unselfish acts you perform.

Keep up the good work, we need more people like ya'll.
Thanks again,

Clinton Taylor[/b]

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

I've been pretty non-existent in the chase world this season, but I had to come out of the shadows to reply to this Amos. ALL of you involved in this event deserve a pat on the back (probably more) for your actions. There are plenty out there who are too caught up in the chase to get involved in getting the warning out. The note you received is an outstanding testimate to your character as well as the others who took the time to relay reports via the net. Job well done!!! I'm proud to call you and the others involved my fellow chasers

Tim

 

[John Hudson]

Wow, you guys sure did things right, and y'all should be real proud of a job well done. I hope the media makes reference, at some point, to this positive spin on storm chasers.

John
VE4 JTH

 

[Jarrod Cook]

Good work, indeed! SKYWARN is important, and this prooves it. I know a lot of us (myself included) are both chasers and spotters. I always make it a priority of mine to make sure a significant event is reported first, before taking my first picture. I hope others do the same.

 

[joel ewing]

Well done, Gentlemen. You all have a right to be very proud.
I wonder if Westminster just doesn't have any warning sirens at all, or are there old defunct / repairable ones that could perhaps be re-implemented with minimal $$?
Sure would be nice to follow up on this and see that these folks don't have to worry so much every time there is a clap of thunder at night.
And as we all know, tornadoes will hit a place more than once.