I wish to thank all of those great people who made the evacuation of Lightner Creek the highly successful operation it was.
Naturally, you have to first thank and praise each and every one of those hardworking firefighters and law enforcement folks for being so well-prepared to respond as quickly and efficiently as they did. I salute you.
I especially want to personally thank every Red Cross Disaster Relief team member and other La Plata County personnel for doing so much to help those of us directly affected by the evacuation. Every volunteer I met in the evacuation center went out of their way to make our lives as comfortable and stress-free as possible. Thank you and God bless you all.
Next, I want to thank all my fellow evacuees for the kindness, courtesy and respect they showed for one another in the evacuation center. What could have been a difficult ordeal was actually a rather pleasant experience. It turned into an opportunity to meet a lot of different and interesting people and, more importantly, to make friends with neighbors one might otherwise never have met.
There was only one disappointment for me. I was the first resident waiting in line at the road block to re-enter Lightner Creek. To pass the time, I asked the state patrolman and the Sheriff’s deputy if I could shoot their guns while waiting for the “all clear” to pass through the road block. They replied with a very stern, “No!” They were the only party poopers I met.
Finally, I want to thank Durango for being the kind of community it is. I’ve lived in Lightner Creek since 1976 and I am proud to call myself a “Durangotang.”
Clyde Doney
Durango
