8A — The Sunday Courier, Forest City, NC, SundAy, June 12, 2011

local/nation

8A

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Joyce said when she saw the news, “I thought, ‘Oh my goodness.’ The worst part of all for me was I couldn’t get to them. The motherly instinct in me just wanted to get there and hold them.”

Tisha said the outpouring of support from the American Red Cross, Proctor & Gamble and Duracell batteries was something she will never forget. “I will buy Tide and Durcell batteries from now on.”

In Rutherford County, a family member visited the Hobby Lobby website. Ken worked as co-man-ager at the store in Joplin. Listed on the site was a job opening at Hobby Lobby in Spartanburg, S.C., about 35 minutes from Cliffside, where Ken’s mother lives. Ken’s boss in Joplin contacted the Spartanburg store, and Ken got the job.

Another miracle.The family decided to return home, but they

didn’t have a car.Ken’s co-workers and friends at Hobby Lobby

took up money and held a bake sale to buy a 1998 Lincoln Town car. “It was a miracle itself they were able to buy us a car,” Tisha said.

Pulling a 17-foot U-Haul, less than half full with everything they own, the Farrises made the 16-hour drive.

“We could have plundered in the debris, but it was awful,” Tisha said. “They were already out there doing search and rescue. We just left.”

Arriving in the county June 1, their first stops were at the homes of their mothers. Both fathers, Junior Farris and Ray Boyd are deceased.

While the family continues to look for a place to live near Spartanburg, Ken is staying with his mother because it’s closer to work. Tisha and the children are staying in Whitehouse with her mother.

“We thought we had a place, but now we are looking again,” Tisha said.

“‘I’ve been wanting them back here for years,” Joyce Farris said. “I’m so happy they are home.”

“It was sweet coming back home to family. This is a new era of our lives,” Ken said.

“Don’t take your family for granted,” Ken said. “People are proud, they don’t want to ask for things. But we are so grateful for everything.”

“This tornado brought a community together that was somewhat split,” Brett said, referring to the rich and poor section of town. “There is no difference.”

Leaving behind friends in Joplin was difficult, because there was so much devastation and so many families were displaced. “We didn’t even get to say goodbye,” Tisha said.

Maybe some day their paths will cross again, although the family doesn’t plan to return to the Midwest.

In a quiet voice, Tisha spoke again of the night-marish sounds of the tornado.

“And then, 45 minutes later, it was a beautiful, sunny day.”

Tornado Continued from Page 7A

Associated PressLamar, Mo., residents Aaron Finney, foreground, Kieran Hanley, right, and Trevor Hobbs, left, help Missouri State Rep. Mike Kelley (126th District) move a porch into a debris pile near 23rd and Kentucky in Joplin, Mo. Kelley was on tour with more than 30 legislators who came to Joplin to help with cleanup efforts.

Examining the damage

SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz. (AP) — Smoke from a huge wildfire in eastern Arizona that has claimed more than 30 homes and forced nearly 10,000 people to flee has officials worried about serious health impacts to residents and firefighters as tiny particles of soot in the air reached “astronomical” levels.

“It was off the charts,” Mark Shaffer of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality said Friday night.

Calmer winds helped firefighters gain some ground, but also concentrated the sooty air, keep-ing it stagnant and raising pollution to levels not yet seen since the blaze began several weeks ago.

“We’ve got a serious potential health problem on our hands,” Shaffer said. “When you get levels like this, it’s off the map.”

Officials planned to bring in more air qual-ity monitoring equipment over the weekend, and warned people to just stay away.

Meanwhile, the blaze was poised to move into New Mexico on Saturday, pushed by stronger winds, threatening more towns and possibly endangering two major power lines that bring electricity from Arizona to West Texas.

The fire has burned 639 square miles of forest, an increase of 114 square miles from a day earlier, officials said. “It’s getting very, very close to the New Mexico state line,” Jim Whittington, spokes-man for the teams battling the fire.

Huge wildfire spreads