A day in the life of Hallam
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BY CARA PESEK / Lincoln Journal Star
HALLAM — The pilot car, a beat-up, brown GMC, leads the way into town, past the heavy machinery and sunburned crew repaving the road, past the still-crooked telephone poles and sheared-off trees.
The town bustles. Construction workers install siding and windows. A crew hooks up a sewer line to a new house. A few people work in their yards, although on this warm morning less than a week before the one-year anniversary of a storm that all but destroyed Hallam, the wind is blowing so hard that even walking outdoors is difficult.
Bill Bratton, a member of Church of the Brethren, struggles with a piece of metal soffit. Members of his church arrived in Hallam to help rebuild houses a few months after the storm, he said. They took a break for the winter, but are back again now.
Bratton, who lives in Pennsylvania, is using vacation days from his job as vice president for a regional restaurant chain to do something different than he does back home. Rebuilding is work, he said, but it's still relaxing.
This is Bratton's third day in Hallam. For a dozen more, he'll work on the ranch-style house and sleep in one of two banged-up trailers that provide temporary homes for 15 church members.
He doesn't mind.
"I guess I get as much out of it as the people that we help," he said. "It's a change for me. It's a good group of people to be with, and we enjoy each other."
A few blocks away in the city clerk's office, three women answer phones, shuffle through papers, tally the most recent population of the quickly growing town.
A year ago, the city clerk worked 25 hours a week. Now, Vicky Polak works full-time and has two deputy clerks to help her.
In the past few weeks, the office has been busy making plans for an anniversary celebration. Polak says she has done a lot of interviews for newspapers and television stations.
As if on cue, the phone rings. She asks the reporter on the other end to call back after lunch.
The office was closed for a day this month so the auditorium next door, badly damaged in the storm, could be razed. That was both a good day and a bad day, Polak said. It was sad to lose another town landmark. But the building, with its cracked windows and plastic-covered roof, was a daily reminder of a day no one wants to remember.
Life goes on. Polak and her family moved back into their home six months ago. Her daughter graduated from Crete High School last week and will attend Southeast Community College in Beatrice this fall.
There are street signs to put up, grants to apply for, meetings to attend.
"I think we're just all a little bit tired," Polak said.
It is noon. A dozen construction workers and Hallam locals have gathered for lunch in MacDonald's F-4 Pub, which reopened on Mother's Day. The new flat-screen television is tuned to the 10/11 news, which previews a segment on Hallam that will run that evening. Outside the pub's front window, 10/11 reporters work on the story.
Owner Karry MacDonald is glad to be back. She cried a little at the grand reopening, she said. It was like being reunited with her family.
Since then, lots of construction crews and interested passersby have meant brisk business at lunch. The pub, she thinks, is off to a good start.
Still, she said, there have been a few days when being back was too emotional and she had to go home.
The tornado has become part of her business. She added the level of the tornado — F-4 — to the name and commissioned a mural of the nine people who were in the bar during the storm.
But she's tired of talking about it, of answering questions and granting interviews.
"It's the same story over and over again," she said.
After lunch, across the street, Ray Moyer nails trim into place in a building he's used for the past 10 years as a workshop for restoring vintage cars.
In the first weeks after the tornadoes, the corner where his shop sits was the hub of the town. It was where tornado victims and clean-up volunteers could get a sandwich or some barbecue or a soda or bottle of water. It was a place to visit with a neighbor for a few minutes.
The donated food has been gone for months, but the corner still is, in a way, a hub.
Several mornings each week, Moyer has plugged in his coffee pot, set out some Styrofoam cups and invited the community for coffee.
Some days, he said, just one or two people stop by. Other days, maybe a dozen will visit.
"If my truck is here, they'll stop."
Moyer, who is retired, lives in Lincoln. But he likes having his workshop in Hallam, which is why he's repairing the damage. His front windows offer him a view of downtown, and over the past few months, he's watched Hallam change.
"I think the people of Hallam should be proud," he said. "Hallam is a new town. It's a brand-new town."
A few blocks away, Pamela Hookham pulls her white van into the driveway of her brand-new house.
She has just returned from Lincoln, where three of her children met with a therapist. Her youngest says she hears tornado noises in her head all the time. Her 11-year-old sleeps under her bed.
The Hookhams rebuilt and they've moved back into their home, bought new cars and furniture and clothes.
But Pamela says they haven't recovered.
"Let me tell you what we gave up for our brand-new house," she said.
They've depleted their savings to come up with the difference between what insurance would cover and what a new house costs. Their house payments have increased from $560 a month to more than $1,125. Their girls — 16, 11 and 6 — have few new clothes.
Pamela's husband, Bob, has used all his vacation days cleaning up after the tornado, which means the family won't take any trips this year.
Before, Pamela Hookham said, they loved there life in Hallam. She home-schooled their children. She and the kids worked in the garden and cooked meals for the neighbor.
Now, her children are terrified of storms. Her family is financially strapped, but can't afford to move. Hookham can't foresee things improving. When she gave her youngest daughter her $6 allowance, Hookham was dismayed when she bought a book about sever weather instead of a doll or a new toy.
"It's hell," she said. "It is hell."
Late in the afternoon, a demolition crew digs up the foundation of the old auditorium. Two men make repairs to a nearby shed. The crew working on the road outside of town winds down for the evening.
The wind blows, just as hard. And life goes on.
Reach Cara Pesek at 473-7361 or cpesek@journalstar.com.
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