Photos Convey what Words Cannot Story by Johnny Sain
September 11, 2001, will be regarded as on of the most tragic days in American history. As commander of Arkansas-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT), Dardanelle resident Tim Tackett is one of our brave citizens whose duty it is to run into the heart of disaster such as this. “As soon as I saw everything that was happening on 9/11 I knew that my team would be deployed.” Tim’s unit is best described as a MASH unit and comes under federal control when catastrophe strikes anywhere in our nation. The team was bound for Ground Zero shortly after the flight ban was lifted and soon found themselves in a surreal landscape of death and destruction beyond anything they had faced before.
“It was very much like a funeral,” explained Tim, “Besides the obvious shock of witnessing all of this destruction, there was just the feel of a family funeral. Everywhere you looked there were people looking for family members, fire fighters and other emergency workers looking for fellow emergency workers.” While Tim was there helping to save lives he also saw an opportunity to tell a story, a story that could reach beyond the pictures on the news and touch a more personal level. “I’ve always been interested in photography, when my buddies were buying cars in high school I spent my money on a camera. I decided I would try to capture the human side of the tragedy
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Reflecting the Character of the Arkansas River Valley
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September 2011