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Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008

Carlisle sick of media attention

TRAILER INCIDENT IS SUBJECT OF RIDICULE

So here is where the story of the tipped trailer stands.

Frances Barton, the Carlisle woman whose mobile home still sits in tatters by the side of U.S. 68, might soon get a new home.

Nicholas County Sheriff Dick Garrett, who tried to save the mobile home but ultimately ordered it tipped into ruin, has had more than enough of Internet notoriety.

And, over at the satirical Web site FARK.com, they've commemorated the event with a T-shirt: Never hire a guy named pancake to move your double-wide.

But while out in the viral world comments swirl and opinions are shared unfettered, the real people in the real town are dealing with a media firestorm they little could have imagined.

Take Chris Myers. He has been called "Pancake" since he was a kid, and that's how people around Carlisle know him. He claims all he did was try to help a friend of a friend move her home — which, for the record, was a single-wide.

And, suddenly, he's getting calls "all hours of the night" making fun. He's lost count of how many calls he's taken.

"It's like I tried to kill the president or something," said Myers, 32, who said he has not gotten paid for the move and has used his tractor to move a mobile home without trouble before. "This," he said, "has gotten blown way out of proportion."

The short version of what happened is this: Barton tried to move her mobile home via farm tractor. The wheels popped off the trailer, which blocked a major road for hours. Garrett and his deputy, and a professional tower from Lexington, tried for hours to move the trailer and, about 2 a.m., Garrett ordered two men driving tractors to tip the unit over, destroying it.

Since then, what happened on U.S. 68 on the wee hours of Nov. 14 "is the talk of the town," said Dr. Bob Sparks, who practiced dentistry in Carlisle for 41 years until he retired.

And beyond.

The story of Barton's ill-fated trip has been repeated on Web sites as varied as www.handelonthelaw.com, the cyber home of the high-energy radio host/lawyer Bill Handel, and www.mustangworld.com, the digital dwelling of lovers of the high-powered car.

And for every concern expressed about the four adults and eight kids left homeless, a far greater number are poking sometimes merciless fun at pretty much everyone involved or expressing outrage that such fun was ever poked.

What's being filtered into the broader world — 12 people living in a trailer that was ordered destroyed by a sheriff — Sparks said, "is not a good image of Nicholas County," where residents are generally "good salt-of-the-earth kind of people."

The sheriff, Garrett, said he's gotten angry calls from all over and has been called all kinds of names since a video of him appeared on CNN on Thursday. Clearly irritated when reached on the phone Friday, he said he didn't care what anybody thought as long as the people of Nicholas County, who elected him more than once, are behind him.

Then he hung up.

Veteran journalist Al Cross, director of the Institute of Rural Journalism and Community Issues, said it's tough for small towns to be in the spotlight, especially in Kentucky.

"As a state, we have something of an inferiority complex," said Cross. And we might have good reason, he said. "We are one of two states that can be the easy object of late-night commentary." In other words it's pretty easy for Jay Leno or David Letterman to take an offbeat story, insert a backwoods stereotype and get an easy laugh. (The other state would be West Virginia, he said, because other poor, rural states farther south more readily bring up race issues, making the laughs more complicated.)

So the prickly feelings when folks start chattering about something that happens at home, he said, "all goes back to the feeling of being picked on."

"Sometimes rural places feel like they are being looked down on by urbanites and suburbanites," he said.

Sparks said that along with those unhappy with the town's portrayal, there are some who want to help. His Rotary Club is trying to raise money, and an account has been set up at a local bank.

A local business has offered to give Barton a used mobile home. A Florida woman who saw the story on CNN has offered up to $10,000 for Barton to buy a new mobile home. Both prefer to remain anonymous.

But outward support on the ground remains sparse. It's hard to find anyone willing to talk on the record about the hoopla that has followed the incident. The secretary at the judge-executive's office refused to pass along a reporter's message to the judge-executive, who is out of town. (And hung up.) And several others contacted by the Herald-Leader made it clear that feelings are running high and they'd rather not comment.

As for Barton, she's grateful for the help she's gotten, but still unsure how she is going to get the debris cleaned up before her Monday deadline. Garrett gave her 10 days to clean up the mess or face a fine.

Barton said that work is still being done by family and friends with little equipment.

It all seems a little curious to those watching from a distance. Monya Leonard saw the story on CNN and immediately wanted to help. The Broadview Heights, Ohio, woman said she was moved by Barton's tearful plea for her kids and has mounted an e-mail campaign to gather help for Barton.

"I don't want to judge the town," she said, "But can't we just put aside our opinions and help the kids?"

As for Myers, trying-to-be-helpful trailer-hauler turned, in his opinion, scapegoat, he's just sick of the whole thing, and wishes people would move on.

"I've had enough."