LA CONCHITA RESIDENTS RETURN BELONGINGS, MEMORIES PULLED FROM RUBBLE.Byline: Andrea Cavanaugh Staff Writer LA CONCHITA - Jimmie Wallet picked through piles of his family's belongings Friday, the first day residents of La Conchita were allowed to return to their homes after a deadly landslide landslide, rapid slipping of a mass of earth or rock from a higher elevation to a lower level under the influence of gravity and water lubrication. More specifically, rockslides are the rapid downhill movement of large masses of rock with little or no hydraulic flow, ripped through the community four days earlier. Wallet's wife, Mechelle, 37, and daughters Paloma, 2, Raven raven, common name for the largest member of the family Corvidae (crow family), ranging throughout the arctic and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The raven, Corvus corax, is a glossy black scavenging bird about 26 in. , 6, and Hannah, 10, died in the mudslide that tore open their home. Their possessions were recovered by rescue workers and placed in a neighbor's garage where Wallet, who had tried desperately to save the four, sought solace Friday. ``There's no sorrow for them - they're in heaven. The sorrow's here,'' Wallet said, gesturing toward a diaper bag stuffed with Paloma's things. Toys, clothing, photos and books were jumbled together with the belongings of Charlie Womack, one of 10 people killed in the bluff collapse and the owner of the home where the Wallets lived. Womack, whom friends described as a free spirit who opened his home and his heart to everyone he knew, had about a dozen people living with him at any given time. Annie Brazelton, 24, who also lived in Womack's house, combed comb n. 1. a. A thin toothed strip, as of plastic, used to smooth, arrange, or fasten the hair. b. An implement, such as a card for dressing and cleansing wool or other fiber, that resembles a hair comb in shape or through the items, shivering shivering /shiv·er·ing/ (shiv´er-ing) 1. involuntary shaking of the body, as with cold. 2. a disease of horses, with trembling or quivering of various muscles. shivering see shiver, stringhalt. with grief each time she spotted a familiar object. ``This is Raven's skirt - 6 years old - she's gone,'' Brazelton said tearfully tear·ful adj. 1. Filled with or accompanied by tears: tearful eyes; a tearful farewell. 2. So piteous as to excite tears: a tearful melodrama. , holding up a small pink garment. A gold lame lame (lam) incapable of normal locomotion; deviating from normal gait. lame adj. 1. Disabled so that movement, especially walking, is difficult or impossible. 2. cape tossed over a chair belonged to Womack. ``He liked to dress up.'' A black-and-white snapshot of Jimmie and Mechelle Wallet grinning cheek-to-cheek sent tears coursing down her face again, an awkward archaeologist peeling back the layers of her own life and the lives of those she loved. Womack's son, Isaiah, 24, slumped onto a broken chair and looked listlessly list·less adj. Lacking energy or disinclined to exert effort; lethargic: reacted to the latest crisis with listless resignation. through a folder of documents. Nothing in the garage will help him with the monumental task ahead, he said - looking out for his 14-year-old sister, Tessa. ``None of this stuff matters,'' he said. ``I'm just trying to stay strong for my sister. We've just got to regroup re·group v. re·grouped, re·group·ing, re·groups v.tr. To arrange in a new grouping. v.intr. 1. To come back together in a tactical formation, as after a dispersal in a retreat. our lives.'' Residents were issued passes and allowed to return to their homes Friday morning after a community meeting at the Ventura Fairgrounds n. pl. 1. same as fairground. , where authorities again warned them about the danger of more mudslides. ``It's not the role of government to tell people where they can live or how they can live or what risks they're willing to take,'' Sheriff Bob Brooks told the hundreds of residents who packed the meeting. ``Can I recommend that you go back? No. In fact, I recommend you don't go back.'' The number of condemned homes increased Friday from 21 to 23. Several of the red-tagged homes are undamaged, but stand nearly in the shadow of the bluff that authorities fear may collapse again. ``I'm going back. I feel my home is in a safe area,'' said Shirley DeFazio, 54, a resident for more than three decades whose home was undamaged. ``I'm very happy to be going back. This has been a nightmare.'' The town has been without utility service since the slide. Electricity, water and gas service is expected to be restored within a week. Some residents returned to their homes to retrieve belongings. Others came only to pack, saying no amount of love for La Conchita will ever compel Compel - COMpute ParallEL them to live there again. Grace Chang, 31, crammed cram v. crammed, cram·ming, crams v.tr. 1. To force, press, or squeeze into an insufficient space; stuff. 2. To fill too tightly. 3. a. To gorge with food. everything she could into a pickup, even though she had nowhere to go. Her rented home is just two lots away from a house that buckled under the slide. ``It's too risky. We're too close.'' Highway 101, closed at the city of Ventura by another mudslide Monday morning, reopened Friday for the first time since the slides. Train service through the area is expected to resume Feb. 1. Shortly after Highway 101 reopened, a traffic jam in the northbound north·bound adj. Going toward the north. northbound Adjective going towards the north Adj. 1. lanes snaked miles south of La Conchita, packed with motorists eager to get to jobs or homes or just to catch a glimpse Verb 1. catch a glimpse - see something for a brief time catch sight, get a look see - perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight; "You have to be a good observer to see all the details"; "Can you see the bird in that tree?"; "He is blind--he of the muddy scar that now mars the bluff above the seaside town. Only residents of La Conchita with passes issued by police were allowed to enter the community. Many residents said they were eager for life to return to normal. Ted Jennings returned to his home of 12 years just long enough to retrieve the amplifier for his bass guitar. His band, Runaway Max, was playing a gig Friday night in nearby Carpinteria. Although Jennings plans to move back into his home as soon as the electricity is back on, he won't stay there long, he said. ``It's supposed to rain this weekend. I'm going to look at property in Arizona.'' Andrea Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3669 andrea.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1) Isaiah Womack, son of mudslide victim Charlie Womack, gives fellow La Conchita resident Annie Brazelton a hug. (2) Firefighters placed some personal belongings personal belongings npl → efectos mpl personales retrieved from the mud in a garage on Friday, the first day that La Conchita residents were allowed to return to their homes. (3 -- 4) Annie Brazelton, left, reacts as she finds a photo of Jimmie Wallet and his wife, Mechelle, the photo that Wallet holds at right. Mechelle and three of the Wallets' daughters - Paloma, Raven and Hannah - were killed in the mudslide. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer |
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