When young Stephen Clapper left El Ocho for his beloved Texas, we just knew he would do well. But from the looks of it, he’s rippin’ the lid off the joint! Okay, so that was lame and not the least bit funny. But neither is Mother Nature when she decides to put her foot down on an innocent village. That appears to be what happened here as Clapper explains:

We had a couple tornadoes touch down in a couple small towns just south of San Antonio. This was probably the worst damaged home. We did a bunch of live shots from where I’m standing. The Weather Channel was on the other side of the house.

Ahh, The Weather Channel. Ya know, your mother-in-law’s favorite station is a beast on the scene of a natural disaster. I know it’s their bread and butter, but a little less self-importance would go a l-o-o-o-n-g way when dealing with people who can put their home in a wheelbarrow. But since I didn’t log in to talk about that, I’ll move on… Just keep Cantore away from me, would ya? HE knows why…

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, Stephen Clapper, the prodigal photog. Dude left us many months back and I for one miss him. Not only was he professional beyond his years and totally chill, he’s a talented musician! More importantly, he was a grown-ass man. Wish I could say the same for every young photog I know. They’d be wise to emulate Stephen, though with a last name like ‘Clapper’, we never, ever, ever called him Stephen.

Now, back to the debris field. Of all the twisted vistas we third responders show up at, nothing sticks with you like a broken home. Then again, if you can traipse through a pile of scrap that used to be someone’s home and NOT come away with permanent mental images that will never leave you, you are one stone cold news shooter with an eroded soul. Most of us can cite chapter and verse the times we’ve shown up to find some neighborhood missing in action. Me, I could write whole books on just the demolished trailer parks I’ve toured.

But as Amanda Emily points out, I probably never will.