Human side comes out at storm damage scene

As I drove around Dodge County surveying storm damage July 19, I came across a grieving woman.
For me, emotion got in the middle of doing my job as a journalist.
It was a tough night for Darlene Schmidt of Owatonna as she stared at serious damage to her son’s turkey barns north of Claremont. Straight line winds whipped into the area, causing thousands of dollars in damages to the barns and knocking out power.
She had just sat down in the comforts of her own home and turned on the early evening news.
“I heard damage at Claremont and I thought, ‘Holy crap,’” Schmidt said, noting she didn’t even nish watching the story and immediately got on the phone with her son, Kent Schmidt. He delivered the bad news that he had just partially lost both of his turkey barns.
She decided to venture out and look at the damage herself.
“I didn’t know what I would do when I turned the corner,” Schmidt said. “I’d like to throw up. I hate it,” she said choking back tears. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. This is unbelievable.”

Schmidt recalled the excitement her son had about 30 years ago when he built the turkey barns. He has been passionate about raising turkeys ever since.
She quickly became emotional as she thought about what her son has gone through over the years. Among the many hardships he’s experienced, he lost two children at birth.
Not surprisingly, Schmidt said “It’s hard to see him” going through tough times. But like all good mothers do, Schmidt sticks by her children even in the darkest of times. And this night would be no different.
Crews from the local power company were busy in the area trying to repair the poles and restore power, keeping Schmidt at a distance and away from her son.
“I just want to get to him and put my arms around him,” she said, wiping yet some more tears off her face.
She describes her son as a hard- working man.
“It hurts worse when it’s your kid,” Schmidt said. “He works and he works and he works. He’s so good-hearted. He would give me the shirt off his back.” Just a few weeks ago he loaded the barns with 20,000 turkeys. Though a few perished during the storm, most of them luckily escaped unharmed from Mother Nature’s wrath.

While the damage is an obvious setback, both Schmidt and her son realize how lucky they really were.
“Nobody got hurt,” she said. “It will come together eventually.”
Even though I was there to do a job of covering storm damage, I took some comfort in being there for Darlene Schmidt, who was obviously having a difficult time. She needed someone to talk to, and I listened.
As she waited for the opportunity to put her arms around her son, I put my arms around her by giving her a hug and offering her what little comfort I could. Sometimes being a journalist requires one to step outside the norm and take over the role of being the comforter when times are tough.
I hope, if anything, this shows to others that while we’re in hot pursuit of chasing down a news story, there is a human side to us as well.
At least for myself, I took comfort in helping Darlene Schmidt when she needed it most.