News and Music Discovery
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Illinois Church Gave Hurricane Aid in '05, Gets Tornado Aid

Organizers of a southwest Louisiana drive to help tornado-stricken Harrisburg, Illinois, says four pickup-and-trailer loads of goods delivered over the weekend are just a partial return for help after Hurricane Rita in 2005.  Phil Thibodeaux of Lake Arthur says a tractor-trailer load of supplies will probably leave nearby Lake Charles about midweek, and Lafayette-area residents are also collecting a lot of goods.  Strong storms and a tornado hit Harrisburg Wednesday, killing six people and injuring about 100.  Thibodeaux says the relationship between the two communities began when Lake Arthur residents met the pastor of Harrisburg’s Little Chapel Church and members of its church band before Hurricane Rita while tailgating at a Talladega, Alabama NASCAR race.

Todd Hatton hails from Paducah, Kentucky, where he got into radio under the auspices of the late, great John Stewart of WKYX while a student at Paducah Community College. He also worked at WKMS in the reel-to-reel tape days of the early 1990s before running off first to San Francisco, then Orlando in search of something to do when he grew up. He received his MFA in Creative Writing at Murray State University. He vigorously resists adulthood and watches his wife, Angela Hatton, save the world one plastic bottle at a time.
Related Content