Ridgerunner,
I found these statistics of the town,. It is rather small on crime
Crime in Derry (2002):

• 0 murders (0.0 per 100,000)
• 0 rapes (0.0 per 100,000)
• 0 robberies (0.0 per 100,000)
• 2 assaults (66.6 per 100,000)
• 7 burglaries (233.0 per 100,000)
• 39 thefts (1298.3 per 100,000)
• 9 auto thefts (299.6 per 100,000)

sunnydaze

I hapened upon this site because I was trying to remember the date of the helicopter crash in Derry. I was wondering, because a helicopter dropping golf balls onto a golf course for a charity raffle crashed close to where I now live last Friday. (Unlike Derry, the balls were dropped over an empty green area, the closest numbered ball to the pin wins) The two people in the helicopter were the only ones injured. I immediatly thought that this was almost 30 years to the day from the Derry Incident.

I was 17 at the time of the Derry crash, and had I not been at a family picnic on the other side of the county, I would have been at St Joseph's that day. I worked at the time as a photographer for the Latrobe Bulletin, the closest paper to the Derry Area. Upon returning from the picnic and learning of the accident, I went to the scene to see what was happening. I was surprised to see that by evening the scene was virtually deserted. The remains of the helicopter were tightly covered with tarps and roped off, but literally no one was around, I drove to within 15 feet of the wreckage.

I knew many of the people affected, One of the victims was a teacher at our high school. Some were students. A local man that I remained friends with for years was on the helicopter with his daughter, neither was injured but his wife on the ground was killed. Even the newspaper accounts (my boss at the paper lived in Derry) were vaugue and restrained. There really seemed to be a reluctance to accept or acknowledge what happened. At the time, the closest ambulances were located at Latrobe Hospital (7 miles south) and Blairsville (9 miles north). This lack of a local ambulance response led to the formation of the Derry Area Ambulance Service in 1980.

I was a founding member and one of the first paramedics to work for the service. I always found it odd that a group of volunteers working to help the community met so much resistance. Many prominent people fought against the service. After looking at things from ridgerunner's perspective, maybe they were against a cause that was born from a tragedy they wanted to forget. The service was a success, growing from responding to 600 calls the first year to over 3000 a year when I "retired" in 1990.

I later became involved in Derry Borough politics (having moved into the Borough from the Township after getting married) because of the stagnant nature of the community and the unfriendly reputation it had gained. I again saw first hand the way residents overreact. I was an outsider and spoke my mind and had many supporters. However, those who were against me went to great lengths to oppose me. I could never understand why some people would lie and plot to oppose someone that was just trying to make the town better, but maybe ridgerunner's theory may explain it. I'd be glad to talk more about my experiences to those interested, just ask.

Ridge Runner,

Your theory while interesting is not the cause of Derry's decline. I am a victim of this tragedy and I believe suffer from PTSD however the town as a whole does not.

The correct date of the tragedy is September 4, 1978. It was a Monday afternoon and one that changed my life forever. The school librairy had created a book about the tragedy and is still available today. True the town changed after that day but it did not go down hill after that. The down hill part started as the economy was on a downward spiral. You remember the Carter administration don't you? The odd-even gas days in which you could only purchase gas depending on the last digit of your license plate whether it was odd or even, the 21.5% prime rate, the double digit inflation, the high unemployment rate. Those were the factors that aided in ending this little town's days of prosperity. I believe the final blow came when Westinghouse sold it's Derry plant to ICI, then shortly thereafter ICI closed the plant leaving hundreds of Derry citizens jobless. People were either forced to move to a locale with employment or take other jobs that paid less.

Sadly, it is an evolutional process that takes place in small towns. Drive through Blairsville, Connellsville, Jeannette, etc. Low income, low self esteem, a lack of work ethic and a dependence upon Government subsidy are the reason for the town the way it is today. Heroin is rampant everywhere and is something that needs to be delt with the old school way.

Until such time that an industry of good size will invest in the town, it will not return to it's glory days and that won't happen any time soon, if at all.

As to the dreadful events of September 4, 1978. I was directly affected as an immediate family member was taken that day. I went from being who I was to being "that kid whose family member was killed" in Derry. Then after the settlement was reached, those who stood in line at the funeral service asking if there was anything they could do, became those who were jealous of me and my family because of the settlement and the incorrect way in which the amount was reported by the papers. To this day 30 years later, people still say behind my back how good I have it while living off my family member. Isn't that nice? My life has been changed and nearly ruined, memories erased of the whole family we used to be. A break down out of the blue when I see or hear something that gives me flashbacks, the fear of losing others in my family and now that I have children, the fear of losing them. The inability to share in certain things like the first day of school, a picnic, a school function because they bring back memories of my old life that cause me such great pain. Yes, sure I am so well off aren't I?

Do you want to know the sad thing, no one involved in this tragic day really communicates to one another. When I see other victims families, they ignore me, and do their best to walk away. You would think that we would have a bond and a sense of warmth and compassion toward one another, but there is nothing. That in and of itself is hurtful to me.