Enterprise tornado victims are lawyered up
Posted by BrianBig surprise - some of the people affected by the massive, destructive tornado in Enterprise are suing the city and the school board.
An injured teacher and the parents of an Enterprise High School junior killed when a tornado destroyed the school six months ago have filed claims against the city and the Enterprise Board of Education, alleging that negligence and faulty structure construction caused the deadly consequences of the storm.
Kris R. Bowdin, who is still employed as a teacher by the school system but remains on medical leave, and Tim and Laura Jackson, who lost their 17-year-old son A.J. when the tornado struck the school shortly after noon March 1, presented separate claims Sept. 4 to the Enterprise City Clerk’s office.
Each claim requests $10 million from the City of Enterprise, Enterprise School Board, Enterprise administrators, officials and employees.
From what I hear, it was no big surprise that Tim Jackson was one of the first to file a lawsuit. He has earned quite a reputation as that type of individual.
Quite honestly, the schools did the right thing in this situation and these lawsuits should be summarily dismissed as egregiously foolish. I feel terrible for those who lost a child or suffered injuries, but think about the alternative. If the school had dismissed the children a few minutes earlier there would have likely been stragglers just getting to their cars or still en route to home.
Take a look at the pictures of the high school and surrounding area. It was total devastation. The parking lot looked like a bomb had been detonated. I personally saw a flipped over RV a little more than a block from my parent’s house. If the school had dismissed the kids a bit earlier they would likely be facing far more lawsuits from the multitude of kids that might have died or been injured as a result of being discharged in the path of the tornado. As things transpired they choose to keep the kids in a full brick structure that had withstood considerable severe weather throughout the years. It was a rational choice that any of us would have made.
It saddens me to no end to see people like the Jackson’s use this horribly unfortunate natural disaster to seek out financial gain. They are simply shaming their son’s memory.
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September 25th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Well written letter that expresses my sentiments. These gold-diggers have destroyed the memory of their son, AJ. SHAME ON THEM!!
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Mr. Jackson has gone through so much. I have heard the horrific accusations and threats made to the Jackson family when he was mayor of Level Plains. I was in shock that the town elected someone to lead the town and then was offended when he did not lead a certain way. Everything to me was hearsay and malicious regarding what he did or didn’t do regarding the town of Level Plains. I have known Tim Jackson for years and he would never do anything like that and the people who know him well would say the same.
As far as the school incident…I truly believe that this is his way of dealing or “coping” with his son’s death. It might not be what everyone thinks is right but, everyone deals with death differently. If the school let out at 11 a.m. like the surrounding schools we would have not been in the predicament we are in. However, some say that people might have been killed in the parking lot because; kids like to linger there after school. Well if kids linger there for more than 2 hours especially, when the reason they are leaving school early is due to severe weather, than there is something wrong with that student and the school should not be accountable for that.
The facts are that the school held those kids in and every other school let out hours early. The reason in my eyes would be so that they would get a full day in. When I went to school there that was usually the reason. Nobody could foresee what would happen and if they could the school would have let out hours earlier. I don’t believe the Jackson family is putting blame or negligence on anyone during the incident. Nobody really knows what or why they are suing the school. They could have been approached from an attorney and listened to what he had to say. Granted money will not bring there son back however, why does everyone have life insurance? Why does the school carry insurance? I am sure the insurance company will settle with them whether it’s right or wrong. We should all remember that everyone deals with death differently and maybe this is something that would bring ease and closure to the Jackson family?
This is all so unfortunate and hopefully will bring a better tomorrow.