By Tom Kelly
Editor and Publisher

It was a few minutes before 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 4. Earlier, a blowing rain, accompanied by rumbling thunder and a rising wind had begun in the early morning darkness not long after 4 a.m., noted with growing concern by a few early risers around the village, some of whom listened in on the chatter of their police and weather band radios. Heavy weather alerts were coming continuously.

In Downtown Dodson, the Corner Quick Stop grocery and convenience store faces the intersection where the town's double-barrel caution light blinks amber facing the north-south traffic on Highway 167, and red facing the east-west traffic of LA Highway 126. Proprietor James (Andy) Anderson sat behind his counter, drinking coffee and swapping yarns with the morning visitors, logging and drilling contractor Tony James, logging contractor C.A. Broomfield, and retired over-the-road trucker, cross-country motorcycle cowboy, and local fire department volunteer, Henry Allen Kornegay--all members of the come-and-go fraternity of local guys who drop in most every morning. Kornegay's two-way pocket radio tuned for emergency calls, crackled away. From Alexandria, Anderson's grandson, driving to work, used his cell phone to call the store and advise Papaw to "batten down the hatches," for severe weather which the car radio warned was in the area; Andy called home to pass the word to his wife, Margaret. Tony James walked to the side window of the store to watch effects of the rising wind.

A block south, and around the corner, at Gansville and Fourth Street, Rebecca Broomfield had arisen from bed to take her year-and-a-half-old daughter Briley, to quiet her in a rocking chair in the next room; the baby had awakened, crying. Rebecca, an 18-year-old single mom, had just on the day prior moved into the Hogan house, one of Dodson's oldest structures, owned as rent property by her aunt, Mrs. Gay Broomfield Roncal. The house is across the street from the back lot of Richard Broomfield's Dodson Equipment Company, which was closed, it being Sunday.

Next door, Preston Leger (pron. Lay-Zhay; he's a displaced Cajun from South Louisiana, "naturalized" after many years in the Piney Woods) and his wife, Shane (Sha) Broomfield Leger, went about Sunday morning with an eye out for the weather. The house, another of Dodson's old-era structures, was acquired by her parents from the original owners, the Sholars, in the 1940s. She is C.A. Broomfield's sister.

Mr. and Mrs. Greg Brooks were asleep in their mobile home residence on a lot owned by logging contractor, equipment sales owner, and storekeeper Steven Gaar, on the south side of Gresham street between Highway 167 and the Dodson Town Hall at Gresham and Fourth.

At the village's extremes, on the south end, on the west side of Highway 167, Marcela Smith was at home in a mobile home rented from Toby Boyett, situated side by side with another home occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Coker and their daughter, and owned by Boyett's step-father, Andy Anderson, the storekeeper. In a third mobile home on the block, bounded by Second street, Highway 167 and a short one-block unmarked street across from the Church of Christ, Boyett's son, Chad, his wife and two children, were at home. Toby Boyett lives in a house next door to the Andersons on Second Street.

On the other end of town, at the north end of Sixth Street, across LA 126 (Stovall Street), the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Cochran was quiet; they were at the Trade Days in Canton, Texas, marketing the pure-bred Cocker Spaniel dogs which they breed for sale. Opposite the Cochran residence, Mrs. Cochran's father, John Coonce, is at home on his compound which includes a large pen of fox hounds which he runs.

Counting east from the railroad tracks, the north-south Highway 167 is Third Street, which contains Dodson's one-street wide, four-blocks-long business district, including Anderson's Quick Stop; A Family Affair flower and gift shop, and the adjacent Roncal Clinic, operated by Dr. Roncal and Mrs. Broomfield; the U.S. Post Office; S.H. Gaar & Son grocery; Gaar Equipment Co.; HTC Metals; Tony James logging offices; Dodson Equipment Co.; and The Piney Woods Journal offices located in the frame building which originally housed the Dodson Town Hall; The Dodson High School campus lies on either side of Sixth Street, bounded by Jones, Gresham, and Fourth streets.

On the north end of Sixth street, a mobile home park contains nine units, all but one owner-occupied; the lot, and the one currently unoccupied home, is owned by Loyd E. Vines, who is also the Mayor, and owner-operator of the Dodson Fish Market restaurant on Highway 167 a short block north of the U.S. 167-LA 126 intersection and smack-dab alongside the on-going major road construction that runs through the Dodson business district during the state's TIMED four-laning program, keeping local and through-traffic problematic day-to-day.

The clock is ticking; the wind, the rain, the thunder is rising. The weather radio is running at fever pitch, sounding the shrill radio alarm every few seconds. At 8:03 a.m., the Weather Service radio reported a tornado, rating EF0, nine miles west of Quitman in Bienville Parish with maximum winds 65-70 MPH; several trees are uprooted along LA 508 east of the village of Bienville; several more along LA 155. Between 8:10 and 8:30 a.m., winds reaching 100-110 MPH were reported in the town of Natchez, south of Natchitoches LA, with 53 residences, 11 vehicles, two businesses and two boats damaged. In Grant parish, "numerous" homes are damaged, a barn destroyed, trees snapped along U.S. 71, and power outages are reported in Winn parish with six residences damaged by falling trees. Homes and outbuildings at the Broomfield homes south of Dodson were damaged by winds which preceded the actual tornado.

And now, "It's the Big One, Elizabeth." Between 8:40 and 8:43 a.m., the rating EF2 tornado, with winds between 110-120 mph, raked a path 1.5 miles long and 300 yards wide, touching down at the first structure located in the Village of Dodson, the Dodson Church of Christ, continuing on a diagonal path across the center of Dodson, and exiting 1.3 mile North-Northeast of the Village.

At the Church of Christ, the south roof was blown out, causing water damage inside the building. Simultaneously, a tree fell across the adjacent parsonage, punching a hole in the roof, admitting water which damaged carpets and ceiling tiles. Nevertheless, the congregation met for worship services. Shortly after the wind, a passerby on Highway 167 stopped to inquire about damage to the church, and wrote out a check to assist with repairs.

One of the most spectacular hits came next, when force of the wind lifted the mobile home occupied by Marcela Smith, turned it upside down and slammed it against a second mobile home nearby, occupied by Christine Bowen and Joseph Browning, smashing the side wall and roof. A car parked between the two residences was upended and lodged on its nose amid the debris. Moving northeast across the lot, heading for the midsection of Dodson, next came the mobile home occupied by the Chad Boyett family. A tree fell across the midsection, breaking in the roof and walls. The first residence was obliterated (see photo, Page One); Ms. Smith relocated to another mobile home north of Dodson, but has notified the owner, Mrs. Gay Broomfield, she has nightmares from the trauma, and is moving in with friends in Jonesboro. The second home is being repaired for later occupancy; the third was rated a total loss, and the occupants have moved to Winnfield.

Continuing its northeast path, the tornado smashed roofs and caved in walls on two unoccupied converted mobile homes at the corner of U.S. 167 and Jones Street which were under repairs, then knocked a large oak tree sprawling across the brick residence of Hoyt Harrington, of HTC Metals on Third Street, unroofed two brick residences on Jones Street, and moved through a stand of large pines, which fell across the mobile home occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Greg Brooks, knocking them out of bed. Their home and a vehicle were trashed by the trees; the home was a loss, and is being replaced.

The frame home of Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Coker, facing Fourth street opposite the Town Hall at the corner of Gresham, took major hits from wind and from several large trees, and could be totaled. The family have established temporary residence elsewhere.

Halfway through its transit, the tore storm down tall pine trees and threw them across the roof of the recently completed Dodson Equipment Company building, which faces Third street, with its back to the equipment lot opening onto fourth street. The steel beam overhead structure was buckled by the weight of the trees plus the 100-plus mph wind, causing it to collapse into the office area and supply storage on the east side. Damage estimate runs in excess of $115,000, easily the largest single hit of the major weather event.

Dodson Equipment faces a double inconvenience, with the U.S. Highway 167 construction stalled in the front lot with installation of a major drainage system to evacuate most of the rainwater from the east side of the village underneath the highway.

And as Rebecca Broomfield sat rocking her crying baby, a two-feet diameter oak tree crashed through the roof of the Hogan house at the corner of Gansville and Fourth streets, into the bedroom, across the bed, where mother and child had been asleep scant minutes before.

After this providentially narrow escape, the tornado sideswiped the Preston Leger home next door, bringing down a tree into the roof, breaking off edges of the eaves, and breaking several large, old trees in the front yard. Repairs are underway, and broken trees are being removed.

Making a dash continuing north, the twister moved into the mobile home park bounded by Gansville, Sixth, and Stovall streets. One unoccupied trailer, owned by Loyd Vines, was wrecked. Of the others, owner occupied, three had some roof damage, but appeared to be in good condition.

For its finale, the tornado stormed across Stovall, onto the short end of Sixth Street, taking trees down across the small pre-fab building used as a workshop by Phillip Cochran, knocked down two sheds, and took slabs of siding and roof tiles off the residence. Cochran teaches special education in the Jonesboro school system. Friends who did not know the family were not at home, called their number and reached them at the Canton, Texas Trade Day, to ask if they were all right. That's when they learned about the storm. Extensive repairs are underway to repair the house, which is structurally OK, and clean up the debris from fallen trees.

Dodson Mayor Loyd E. Vines had arisen from bed moments before 8 a.m., and noted the threatening weather. Moments after 8:30, the lights went out, and he stepped outside to see if a tree had fallen on the lines leading to the residence, at the northeast corner of Highway 167 and LA 126, also known as Stovall street, on property adjacent to the Dodson Fish Market. He immediately determined that there was major trouble, and made he way to the Town Hall, on Gresham street at Fourth, across from the northeast corner of the Dodson High School campus.

"The first person I saw was Tony James," Mayor Vines said. "Tony immediately asked, 'Where do we start?'"

James, a logging contractor, had left the Corner Quick Stop coffee group when the storm hit, quickly sensing that there was trouble afoot.

Mayor Vines told James, and other volunteers who were streaming in, the first priority was to clear the streets, which were matted with fallen trees, limbs, utility poles, wires, and various debris deposited and lodged by the extreme wind. The first concern was to provide access for emergency responders and vehicles to search for any wounded or others who might be trapped in their homes.

Vines placed calls to officials of the Winn Parish Police Jury, the Office of Emergency Preparedness, and to other emergency responders, including the local and area volunteer firefighting units. Others came without being contacted, presenting themselves to help where needed.

In a community which lives by logging and hauling, it was not difficult to dispatch crews of professionals with saws, loaders, trucks, and other gear to get the job done. Since the trees to be removed were not standing in a well-maintained forest environment, Mayor Vines was concerned about the safety of workers. He wanted someone who could handle a chain saw in a delicate situation, so he called an old associate, Earl Lasyone. The two of them worked together as loggers earlier in life, until Vines suffered an accident which took off a foot--literally, a physical foot. A falling tree turned, and trapped him. The foot was severed above the ankle. Surgeons replaced it, he recovered and eventually went back to the woods. However, he found that each time a tree started to fall, he got nervous. He went to other work, eventually went into politics, running for and being elected to two terms on the Winn Parish Police Jury, before giving that up for the Mayorship of Dodson, and a career as fish market and restaurant operator, with his wife Nedra.

With his old associate Earl Lasyone at hand, the tough job of getting the hard cuts done safely and take the load off houses and power lines, things went well.

Logging contractor Steven Gaar said he had gone to church at New Hope Methodist five miles east of Dodson. The congregations at Dodson Methodist and New Hope, each diminished in numbers, alternate between the two venues. As the morning events were about to begin, a passerby burst in the door and asked if anyone inside were from Dodson. "If you are, you better get over there. They've had a bad tornado!" The minister dismissed the service, and Steven quickly made his way back, and began assisting others already at work with the cleanup.

In an "after-action" discussion, Dodson Police Chief Pat Ashley, and Patrolman Phillip Vines said, "Contractors Tony James, Bill Griffin, Steve Gaar, and Timothy LeBarron deserve special recognition. They did work above and beyond the call of duty," in the cleanup, which lasted virtually around the clock for four days.

As the cleanup began, within minutes, or so it seemed, after the storm did its damage, members of the area Volunteer Fire Departments began a canvass of all residences to determine the extent of damages, injuries, and special needs. It was this contact through which many of the local residents learned that the town had been struck, and joined in the "dig out."

By an unofficial count by The Piney Woods Journal, during that three-minute blast, approximately 30 percent of the residences in the community lying east of the railroad took damage. Of what appear to be 27 mobile homes in the village, 12 have some level of damage, plus seven more either 100 percent destroyed, or damaged too severely to be occupied. Of a total of 59 built-in-place structures, 11 took various levels of damage, and at least two appear qualified as total losses, for a total of 32 residences damaged.

Members of the Dodson Board of Aldermen and other Village employees cooked food and served the workers. Individuals and organizations alike performed services that were, indeed, above and beyond the call, and without which the community would still be struggling.

Numerous donations of goods, services, and money came from a variety of individuals, firms, and organizations. Among the donations received was a total of $5,480 in cash. Of that amount, $5,000 came from one source, at the Bank of Winnfield, to be used "as needed," according to the donor.

This became the subject of a slightly media-inflated conjectural discussion about what was happening to "all that money" that was "pouring in" to Dodson. As more media attention was given to the disposition of the funds, Mayor Vines drafted a committee of local business owners to recommend. After a review of the services rendered in the cleanup, the committee recommended, and the Mayor agreed, to pay the funds on a pro-rated basis, to the contractors based on the ratio of their actual out-of-pocket expenses for fuel and supplies used in the cleanup. The total fund available was nowhere near an amount actually expended by the crews and their equipment.

Obviously, no amount of money available to a small community like Dodson would come close to paying for what was largely donated and volunteered. Dodson Police Chief Pat Ashley kept a partial list of individuals, firms and organizations involved in various phases of the cleanup. The list follows, with the knowledge that it is incomplete because not everyone who helped stayed around long enough to "check in," and were not known to the locals.

Leroy James Drilling, Louisiana State Police, KNOE TV8, Star 101.9 radio, City of Winnfield, Entergy, Highlines Construction, W.A. Kendall, Amy Middleton family, Mitchell Pharmacy of Jonesboro, Winn Parish Medical Center, Louisiana Spirit, Michael and Darrell Franks family and crew, Pat Keith, Frank Smith, Earl Lasyone, Big Chris, Gary Banta, John Coolmas, Judy James and Fiance, S&E Design (Stanley Gresham), DOC Johnny Creed, Jimmy's Tree Service, Timmy LeBaron Construction, J.B. Griffin Construction, Tony James, Steven Gaar, Michael and Richard Broomfield, Winn Parish Police Jury, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, James COnstruction, Gilchrist Construction, CCA-Winn Correctional Center, Jackson Parish Correctional Center, Richwood Correctional Center, LaSalle Correctional Center, Crockett Point Baptist Church of Crowville, Red Cross, Dodson Assembly of God, Dodson Baptist Church, Teen Challenge, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, Office of Emergency Preparedness, Winn Parish Sheriff's Department, Winn Parish Fire Department (Cranford Jordan).

Editor's Note: There are many more individual stories buried in the details of this account, some of which we know about and have not the time or space to add, and many others, which we could not know about because of the complexity of the event and its impact on so many in our small community. A few of those may make separate stories at another time.

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