Woodburn Independent Online

Woodburn — one year later

A year after the bank bombing, Woodburn has changed in many ways

• By: Jason Horton  
• Published: 12/12/2009 10:40:09 AM

Photo By: Jason HortonLeading the way
City Administrator Scott Derickson, Police Chief Scott Russell and Mayor Kathy Figley stand outside a memorial to Capt. Tom Tennant at the Woodburn Police Station.

One year ago today, tragedy struck Woodburn. The Dec. 12, 2008 bombing at West Coast Bank did more than take the lives of Woodburn Police Capt. Tom Tennant and Oregon State Senior Trooper William Hakim, critically injure Woodburn Police Chief Scott Russell and wound a bank employee. It brought Woodburn to its knees.
It did not, however, cripple the town.
 
A strange thing happened — the community got stronger, and closer, and despite the pain and the loss, eventually came healing. Where the devastating event may have derailed many small organizations, the city of Woodburn didn’t buckle when the situation seemed unbearable.
 
“The depth of professionalism and quality of individuals working for us is amazing,” said Woodburn City Administrator Scott Derickson. “Everything would have come to a screeching halt in other places, but it didn’t here.
 
“What I’m most proud of, in city government, when given the choice of despair and sadness, we chose hope, forgiveness and courage, and that’s why we kept advancing the city in the face of tragedy. It wouldn’t have been like that in other places.”
 
Mayor Kathy Figley said she believes people are more in tune with each other now.
 
“We are not so concerned about things that, in the grand scheme of things, are not that important,” she said. “We are more focused on the essentials … and we are more grateful and more in touch with our fellow human beings.”
 
 
Woodburn needed to heal
 
In the aftermath of the bombing, several elements allowed the city to continue to function, and allowed the grieving process to begin for police officers and department employees. Many outside agencies came in and took over the calls for the police department; then, the community responded with an outpouring of support.
 
Shortly after the bombing, Derickson met with the city council — several of whom had been newly elected — and told them that whatever agendas they had previously, they were going to focus solely on the health of the community.
 
“It’s not my job to tell elected officials what they can and can’t do,” Derickson said, “but we needed to face the challenges that were laid out before us.
 
“I have focused all of my energy on healing and solidifying all the good. The worst acts of evil sometimes result in good … and the good that came from this was a community that chose to create a lasting testament to good and pride and in a lot of ways, love.”
 
That lasting testament included the formation of Woodburn Proud, the mayor’s nonprofit charity which began to form community events, signs, banners, ribbons and helped make Woodburn a tight-knit family.
 
“The flowering of Woodburn Proud, which I hope is a movement that lasts for many years, has given people a renewed respect for each other,” Figley said. “It was a horrible incident, but it can happen. There’s a recognition now of people and making a point to let them know how you feel.”
 
Figley said she is proud of how Woodburn responded, as a whole.
 
“We had something incredible happen to us,” she said. “It’s not something that happens in towns, it happens in war zones. Instead of blaming, though, we focused on healing, and renewing and turning something bad into some good things.
 
“Tom gave a lot to the community and I think people are acting on that. We are getting so much fresh blood and that is a good thing. I know Tom is looking down and is happy about what’s going on. Something good and something beautiful can’t be killed, but it is transformed. Beauty and goodness don’t die.”
 
Derickson said the bombing changed him profoundly.
 
“I think I value those professional relationships more than I did before,” he said. “City government is really comprised of individual people, and in a lot of respects, we’re a family and it’s important to take care of each other so we can take care of our citizens.”
 
 
Sense of community
 
Russell, who has been back to work since early July, said he sees a different Woodburn since the incident.
 
“We are more of a community. There have been other issues that have faced us this past year and I have found people more willing to step up and fix them, whether it be school or livability issues … we’ve seen people volunteer at the police department that we didn’t have this time last year,” he said.
 
“I’ve always been amazed, since I was named chief, how much positive input we get versus the negative and that has gotten more in the past year.”
 
Derickson said the community is more engaged than it was prior to the incident.
“That is the legacy of the bombing today. The sacrifices have inspired us to be a better community, a more active community, a more engaged community and a community that now has ownership in itself, and those are the things that will be the lasting testament to what happened last year,” he said.
 
“I feel the tragedy of what happened every day. But I also have a tremendous amount of pride that I got to be a part of this community in how it responded.”
 
The changes will be long-lasting, too, Derickson said, noting how leaders have stepped up to take on more responsibility in the community.
 
“Here’s something else that happened, something that has emerged in the aftermath of the bombing — leadership.
 
“Not just leadership in the highest levels of the community, but at the lower levels, too. Leadership that formed the glue that held the community together.”
 
Russell said his department knows how much help it received in the days and weeks after the incident.
 
“Staff is more in tune with the fact that we were helped out greatly … and we want to return that debt,” he said. “When you’ve had people help you the way we did, it changes the way you view the world.”
 
 
Russell healing, moving forward with career
 
It took six months of ICU stays, surgeries, rehabilitation and more surgeries before Russell was finally able to come home to Woodburn last May over Memorial Day weekend.
 
It’s been a long road to recovery for Russell, who lost his right leg in the blast along with other facial injuries and damage to his left leg. However, the chief is back at work, doing as much as he physically can right now, which is around 20-25 hours a week.
“As far as myself, I’m doing well,” he said.
 
“I am enjoying being back to work, about half-time and that continues to increase and I’m enjoying doing stuff with my family and celebrating Christmas at home this year instead of in the ICU.
 
“Physically, I’m doing well, too. I don’t take the wheelchair with me anymore when I go out — I’m always walking and that’s a wonderful change.
 
“The past few months have been big changes and now we’re in incremental changes, and that takes patience.”
 
Russell said the process of learning to walk on his new prosthetic leg has been difficult.
 
“The balancing is the hard part, because of a lot of that is with your eyes closed … after 15 minutes of that, though, you are mentally and physically exhausted,” he said.
 
Out of the bombing, a lot of attention has been cast on to first responders and Russell said it’s nice to see so many get positive recognition.
 
“A lot of people have expressed their gratitude and that is meaningful to us.
 
“A lot of times you have tough things to do and the public wants more and more,” he said. “It’s natural for the public to want us to solve all of society’s ills, so it’s pleasant when people recognize what you do, too.”
 
After Tennant’s death, the police department had to shuffle duties and move officers around.
 
In the end, after Capt. Charlie Blevins retires at the end of this month, the department will have two new captains in Jason Alexander and Doug Garrett, who was recently hired from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
 
“We’re excited on a lot of levels. The thing we’re trying to focus on ... (is that) change is inevitable, whether this incident happened or not, and hopefully we’re better and we are excited about the changes,” he said.
 
“I know that our staff is stronger for what they’ve had to endure. We are more aware of the impacts, I think, that our victims feel, because unfortunately we’ve had the privilege of being a victim.
 
“We can empathize with them more. Our staff is always looking to help other organizations that need help.”
 
 
Will Chief Russell get back to full-time duty?
 
While getting back to work part-time has been nice, Russell’s goal is to get back to being the full-time chief of police.
 
“I’m able to perform all of my daily duties. I just need to get to the point where I can walk unassisted and shoot and get qualified to carry my gun again … and driving is the next phase for me,” he said.
 
The Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, which certifies police officers in Oregon, has given Russell two years, 90 days, to fully recover, before being required to undergo the process of recertification.
 
For Russell, that deadline would be March of 2011 — after which, he would be required to take a two-week refresher course in firearm training.
 
“My plan is to get back to where I was. My doctors and therapists have all given me the go-ahead. … Now, it just gets back to the patience, which is the hard part.”

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