Buchtelite alum becomes citizen journalist in East Palestine

By Natalie Mowad, Editor-in-Chief ‘23

Former correspondent and

video editor

Abbie Stopka put her journalism experience to use when a hazardous train derailment threatened the environment close to home.

While Buchtelite Alum Abbie Stopka was enjoying a Special Wish trip to Disney World with her goddaughter, she heard about a train derailment in her home state of Ohio.

Train derailments weren’t common, or so she thought, but the social media buzz seemed especially concerned. There wasn’t much in the media at first, and it was hard to get information.

When she started to learn more about the controlled release of hazardous chemicals that Governor Mike Dewine claimed the railroad hadn’t declared, she knew she had to do something

Abbie Stopka had joined the Buchtelite during COVID-19 and served as video editor in Fall 22 before graduating in December.

She currently works at Better Kenmore through the Americorps VISTA program and as a Promotions/Sales Coordinator at Rubber City Radio.

“When I realized how close it was to home, I felt it was an injustice to do nothing,” Stopka said.

Stopka wanted to do her part, so she decided to put her journalism experience to use.

Flexing her investigative skills, Stopka searched social media for East Palestine.

She joined “The Community of East Palestine” group on Facebook and posted that she was an independent journalist wanting to tell people’s stories.

She asked if anyone would be willing to do an interview and Cori Donham, a podcaster out of Canton, Ohio, responded saying he was also investigating the derailment for his podcast.

Donham’s late-night podcast, Grandma’s Front Porch, invites listeners to pull up a rocking chair and talk about anything with anyone, like you could on your grandma’s porch.

Stopka and Donham talked on the phone for hours about the derailment and East Palestine. Both were concerned about the media coverage and the impact the chemicals could have on the people in East Palestine and downstream of their watershed. Donham got Stopka in touch with Christa Graves, a resident of East Palestine who was ready to talk.

Stopka and Graves decided to meet up on a Sunday, so Stopka packed her good shoes, her tripod, her microphones and her iPad with questions.

When Stopka arrived in East Palestine, she felt as though she was in a movie. “What am I getting myself into?” she thought. There were news people everywhere, people in hazmat suit, and sheriffs handing out water to people. Even National NBC was there with the news crews.

It wasn’t much like her experiences covering Akron Pride and the Diwali Festival for The Buchtelite. This was a significant disaster, and she felt concerned that the story wasn’t getting out.

“You can only gather so much from news stories and TikToks,” she said.

That was just one lesson she learned from Graves as she told her and her neighbors’ stories. The residents were scared.

Graves talked about the town and her life growing up there. Stopka said she heard the sadness in Graves’ voice.

One thing Graves stressed was how she loved going to the creek and walking in it throughout her life. She worries that she may never be able to do that again because her childhood creek could be so polluted with chemicals that it could never be safe again.

Graves and her friends liked that Stopka didn’t require anyone to be on camera. It helped them to feel more comfortable sharing their stories.

Stopka mentioned many times that she just wanted the voices of the residents to be heard.

“I want to follow up with Christa to see how her health is. To see if anything changes, if she is degrading,” Stopka said.

Stopka wishes that she was able to continue her citizen journalism with weekly visits to meet with people in East Palestine who were affected, but with her work schedule, it is all but impossible.

“I just think people need to be loud as possible for these people because they are human too. If enough people are loud about it, something can happen,” Stopka said.

She wants to continue to do citizen journalism because she thinks it is important for people’s voices to be heard, especially those who might not have the education or resources to get their stories told.

She wants to help people like them.

As the train derailments continued to be reported on in the wake of East Palestine, Stopka learned that thousands of them happen each year.

It turns out, that it’s not “people like them” at all. It’s people like us.