Suffice to say the July 4th holiday weekend in Central Texas and the Hill Country didn’t turn out how anyone expected. A lot of Texans (us included) are still in shock.
Flash flooding on the Guadalupe River and surrounding area led to the deaths of more than 109 including young ladies from Camp Mystic, a girls-only Christian camp.
More than 150 people are still missing, families have only just begun to start mourning, but it didn’t take any time for the finger pointing to begin.
Especially from those on the scale of the national media outlets.
If you want to read the real stories about what happened in Kerrville, the surrounding area and Camp Mystic, go look at the Kerrville Daily Times.
(The Tuesday, July 8 edition is free through their Facebook page and on their website at dailytimes.com).
If crises have taught us anything in Texas, it’s that community journalism still shines bright, even when our towns and areas are hurting.
When the West, Texas explosion happened in 2013, community journalism helped the outside world understand how something so tragic could happen and showed the impact it had on the residents.
In 2022, the Uvalde Leader-News mourned with the rest of us after the Robb Elementary School shooting. Their front page featuring a completely black front page with only the date captured the darkness we all felt.
The next edition on the following Sunday featured pictures of all 21 young victims with the headline, “They were smart, funny, loved.”
The article shared personal details of the kids in an effort to make sure they were more than a statistic.
Among those featured were: “Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10, who dreamed of becoming a marine biologist; and Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, 10, an aspiring lawyer. Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10, loved coloring and Amerie Jo Garza, 10, enjoyed Starbucks vanilla bean Frappuccinos.”
Kerrville and the other newspapers in the area have strived to capture the stories of those who matter.
A glance through the 30-page edition of the Daily Times on July 8 feature the pictures of devastation that one would expect but there is much more that a reader of stories from outside the area wouldn’t get.
Writers discuss the impact has on local nonprofits and how organizations are stepping up. Articles detail community leaders lost in the storm and some who stepped up to save others in their final moments.
An extensive history of flooding in the area puts the recent events in perspective and shows the impact across time. The pet corner describes how the animals at the shelter were rescued and even present a puppy born during the devastation.
Guest columnists share thoughts on the resilience of the community and coming together as well as offering thoughts on important neighbors who made an impact on their life and were lost during the storm.
Everything in the first section of that paper is related to the flood in some way and it shows just how tragic the events were.
However, the reporting also feels more intimate and you can tell these reporters are talking about friends and neighbors, not just detailing their deaths but reporting on the lives they led as well as the community coming together in grief, support and love.
Our own sister newspaper in San Saba has dealt with flooding, stress and an everchanging news cycle as the river waters still rise.
Both of us have had to report on times of triumph and tragedy in our 18+ year careers, but we can tell you that as community journalists, we take both seriously.
“When the politicians and network news trucks leave, the community paper will still be there—doing the hard work, celebrating life, mourning loss, holding folks accountable and seeking solutions to help prevent such a loss from ever happening again,” Austin Lewter, Tarleton journalism professor and Director of Texas Center for Community Journalism said.
The story never stops with the first reporting and community journalists are there before, during and after. Thank you for allowing us to be your neighbor and the ability to tell your story.
We’re grateful for the opportunity.
Paul Gaudette and Wyndi Veigel-Gaudette are the publisher and content editor of the Dublin Citizen in Dublin, Texas.