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Face of a disaster: Jimmie Wallet's frantic search for family in California mudslide ends in grief
AP ^ | January 12, 2005 | GREG RISLING

Posted on 01/13/2005 11:01:24 AM PST by ConservativeStatement

No one lost more than (Jimmie) Wallet, who had gone out for ice cream when the mudslide hit, killing at least 10 people. His wife, Mechelle, was the first to be found. Around 2 a.m. Wednesday a group of firefighters and several of Wallet's friends carried her to the makeshift morgue at the town's gas station.Two hours later, his youngest daughter, 2-year-old Paloma, was removed on a stretcher. Her older sister Raven, 6, was next, soon followed by 10-year-old Hannah. The three girls were found next to each other, apparently sitting on a couch when the slide broke apart their house, pushing it for about 100 yards and covering it six feet in muck.

(Excerpt) Read more at sanluisobispo.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; laconchita; mudslide; wallet

1 posted on 01/13/2005 11:01:27 AM PST by ConservativeStatement
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

I was in tears driving home while Glenn Beck read this story.


2 posted on 01/13/2005 11:02:24 AM PST by bmwcyle (Washington DC RINO Hunting Guide)
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To: bmwcyle

It was very disturbing to me to watch the media shove their microphones in his face, begging for an interview.


3 posted on 01/13/2005 11:03:38 AM PST by Howlin (I need my Denny Crane!)
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

what a horrible nightmare


4 posted on 01/13/2005 11:05:23 AM PST by Mr. K (all your tagline are belong to us)
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To: Howlin
"How do you feel?"

"It feels like have some stupid news person asking me stupid questions."

5 posted on 01/13/2005 11:08:42 AM PST by bmwcyle (Washington DC RINO Hunting Guide)
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To: bmwcyle

I saw him being interviewd on one of the cable channels.
:-(


6 posted on 01/13/2005 11:12:39 AM PST by ConservativeStatement
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To: Howlin
It was very disturbing to me to watch the media shove their microphones in his face, begging for an interview

Amen!

7 posted on 01/13/2005 11:17:37 AM PST by KJacob (If I yawn it is only in anticipation.)
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To: Howlin

Despicable jackals!


8 posted on 01/13/2005 11:24:00 AM PST by Polyxene (For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel - Martin Luther)
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

If you read the geologist reports on La Conchita it actually sort of makes one want to prosecute all the parents who lived there who lost kids for murder....

The evidence was obvious and plain as day the area was unsuitable for human habitation.


9 posted on 01/13/2005 11:24:20 AM PST by Strategerist
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

My wife's hairdresser owns a house with her sister a quarter of a mile from the mudslide. The neighbor kids were walking their dog when this poor fellow came home, the authorities at the scene wouldn't let him into the area -- despite his family being there -- he pulled out a gun and fired off some rounds. The dog-walkers ran for cover and then home.


10 posted on 01/13/2005 11:29:43 AM PST by bvw
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To: Strategerist
The front page of the Santa Barbara News-Press featured an article about a woman who had been buried and survived. I know her personally since I worked two offices down from her for 4 years. She is a fine person and a hard worker. The slide trapped her in her home, broke two vertebrae, twelve ribs and her clavicle. She nearly died.

That said, I fully concur with your assessment. Ten years ago I remember her explaining about how she and her ex had to dig out of an earlier slide. This destruction was no surprise to anyone. You might as well build a house on the lip of an active volcano. Arnie says that they "will rebuild." Nonsense. This place should be declared a hazard and turned into a tent camp - one which is closed during the winter rainy season.

For my part, I would be very interested to see what role of land use planning laws or other government actions were in this tragedy. If you make it expensive and or time-consuming to do the right thing (build a big damn wall) you are part of the problem.
11 posted on 01/13/2005 11:40:36 AM PST by RKV ( He who has the guns, makes the rules.)
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To: RKV
You might as well build a house on the lip of an active volcano.

I was just thinking the same thing after I posted. There's a spectrum of risk from getting your house hit by a meteor (could happen to anyone but it's REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY rare) to having your house destroyed by a tornao in Oklahoma (REALLY rare, despite the common impression) to living in this La Conchita place (basically, this area was GUARANTEED to be destroyed in a landslide every 20 years at most) There's a point where you have to draw a bright line of stupidity.

I'd have to read more on the history of the area; I've read 3-4 articles now, and the earlier FR post with the geologists report. I'm unclear on what exactly the efforts were to force people out of there. And the thing is it's not like the children had a choice. It's one thing if a bunch of single adults want to live there; the children aren't the ones that decided to.

Based on what I've read about the resident's lawsuit against the irrigation above them, and their attempt to blame the whole disaster on the county for not "terracing" the hillside (which I'm sure would have cost a bajillion dollars for such a massive engineering project) it's clear they were all in a state of idiotic denial.

I have a friend who is a native Californian who has since moved east who recalled the area clearly (had to drive by every day on the way to and from Vandenberg) and remembered the previous landslide. She wasn't surprised at all that it happened.

12 posted on 01/13/2005 11:50:31 AM PST by Strategerist
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

Read this. You will conclude those choosing to live there were, in a sense, suicidal.

http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/projects/la_conchita/apcg2001_article/apcg2001_article.html


13 posted on 01/13/2005 11:50:57 AM PST by Ramonan (Honor does not go out of style.)
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To: Strategerist
I live about an hour north of there, and the local papers are already saying that the residents are going to be filing lawsuits against Ventura County for not having evacuated them before the slide.

The county is saying that they've had sensors in place since the last slide, and that there was not discernible activity.

It's gonna get REAL uglly - and I wish Arnold had not made that comment to them about "helping them rebuild". I know he was touched by the heartache and the tragedy of it, but that remark is gonna come back to haunt him.

14 posted on 01/13/2005 11:54:58 AM PST by Inspectorette
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To: Strategerist
If you read the geologist reports on La Conchita it actually sort of makes one want to prosecute all the parents who lived there who lost kids for murder....

AND! I heard on the radio this morning, that they want the government to fix the hillside so that the can stay in their littel place of paradise.

I kid you not!!

15 posted on 01/13/2005 12:12:16 PM PST by It's me
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To: MassRepublicanFlyersFan

I haven't seen the details on this, but with that kind of mud, it's solid but it's supersaturated with water. Probably lots of fine clay and not much sand. You get some rain, and a little more water goes into the mud, and just a little more water, and all of a sudden it goes from solid to liquid in the blink of an eye--and then back to solid again as the water escapes, with the people caught inside.

In effect, it turns from mud with water in it to water with mud in it, then back again.

Ugh.


16 posted on 01/13/2005 1:03:52 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Strategerist
The evidence was obvious and plain as day the area was unsuitable for human habitation.

The township/borough/city zoning board also bears some responsibility. They should condemn the ground and allow no more structures on it. The tax revenue isn't worth the destruction and tragedy.

17 posted on 01/13/2005 1:26:56 PM PST by pa_dweller (lose = no longer in possession of <> loose = not tight or restrictive)
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To: Cicero

< After the 1995 slide, Varele said, he thought about the dangers "all the time."

"It was sort of our choice to live there. It's not that we're dumb. It's just that it's a wonderful place," he said.


No, I think you are dumb. At the very least, get out at the first sign of rain. It had been raining for days.

No way is this the gub'ment's fault.


18 posted on 01/13/2005 1:28:01 PM PST by GOP_Proud (Those who proclaim tolerance have the least for my views.)
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