Lawrence DeHarde is the principal at the Lynn Oaks School in the lower eastern part of St. Bernard Parish. A lifelong resident of the Parish, DeHarde landed the job at Lynn Oaks this past spring after being out of work for a year following Hurricane Katrina. He's been working in education either as a teacher, assistant principal or principal for over 23 years now, but has faced by far the biggest challenge of his life in trying to get his life back together.DeHarde and his wife, his parents and his brother and brother's wife all lived within about 3 blocks of one another, in the same neighborhood of Chalmette. Various other niece's and nephew's were also close by. All lost their homes to Katrina. Furthermore, the DeHarde boys' (father and sons) homes were victimized by the Murphy Oil spill. Highly destructive yet hardly known outside of the Parish, the Murphy spill contaminated several hundred homes in Chalmette after one of the refineries drums lifted up in the storm and spilled thousands upon thousands of gallons of crude oil. Question: when watching and hearing all the news about Hurricane Katrina in the days and even weeks that followed, do you recall hearing about an oil spill? This was, by far, the largest land-based oil spill in U.S. history. And what news did it make? Not much, nor does it to this day.
Yet here are men like DeHarde, hard working and honest, and without a thing left from his home. Same for his brother, same for his parents. The Oil Company? They have offered and continue to offer families whose homes were damaged in the ballpark of $20,000 restitution. What does that get you? Sole responsibility in cleaning up your home, and no legal recourse or right to ever go back and sue Murphy Oil. As Mr. DeHarde so aptly put it, "that'd be the most expensive $20,000 I ever got." So he turned it down. In the meantime, however, his house still sits in a sludge of dried up mud and oil, and the EPA has ruled that the dirt in his yard is hazardous.
DeHarde's father passed away two months ago, a victim, according to his son, of post-Katrina emotional stress. Then, with the younger DeHarde unaware, the state had his dad's house bulldozed, saying it, too, was a hazard.
I've known Mr. DeHarde for awhile now. I visit him on occasion at the school, and give some donated items or cash that can go towards the kids, the classrooms. He's always extremely grateful. And he wants the school taken care of first. I just wish I could do more for him, for his wife. Mr. DeHarde, in a way, has sort of become the face of this entire storm and its aftermath for me. He knows some folks care..... me, other volunteers, etc. But for the most part, he feels let down and abandoned. If only more people really knew some of the hell that is greater New Orleans right now.
(Note: walking through homes like Mr. DeHarde's, and his brother's, the feeling is totally surreal. You see things that your house had when you grew up, pictures, mementos, toys, special furniture, and you look them in this state and even though they're someone else's, think to yourself no way is this normal, or right, or ok. A few times today, I literally chuckled a bit, and Mr. DeHarde knew why and what it meant. You're just in so much shock you don't really know what to say, and I just laughed at how absurd the whole thing was. Holding his wedding picture in my hands, though (see below, left), no chuckles. Just quiet. Mr. DeHarde is going to be ok, though. The beauty of the people here, particularly in St. Bernard, they'll accept nothing less than getting through and not only surviving, but doing well again).
