OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — The roof to the gym still leaks. The sound system is a hit-and-miss effort. The chairs scattered about the gymnasium don't quite feel like home to the members of Third Baptist Church.
Yet they know things could be worse. The tornado that roared through western Kentucky on Oct. 18 could have done more than destroy the sanctuary and leave the gym a leaky mess.
Four months after the tornado left the church's bell tower in shambles and with the rebuilding process only just beginning, members say they're thankful for the blessings they have.
The Kentucky Council of Churches was holding a community ecumenical service in the auditorium when the storm hit. The Rev. James Byrd said he spent weeks waking up worrying that people hadn't been able to get out, even though nobody was injured.
"There were numbers of people sitting where that thing caved in," Byrd said. "For a long time I would wake up thinking about not getting them out. ... (But) it's just a building. We love the building, but it's bricks and mortar. That can be replaced."
Still, it will take awhile for things to return to normal. Byrd estimates it will take $6-7 million for the gym and the auditorium to be rebuilt. Then again, maybe the storm just forced the church's hand to do some renovations that'd been considering for a while.
"If you look for silver linings, that's one of them on this cloud," Byrd said. "Everything will be better. It will be as good or better than we had."
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Was it attacked by marauders during the tornado, or did the tornado do the ravaging? Headline should have read "...Ravaged by Tornado.....".
A church gets blown down by a tornado and the followers somehow can't logically question it....WOW.