February 28, 2007 12:27 PM

Kevin Vaughan on The Crossing

Kevin_Vaughan(P) Good morning. Thank you all for being here. I look forward to your questions.

Mark_Wolf(Q) Via e-mail from Bill: In additionto the series reprint scheduled for March, has the Rocky Mountain News considered creating a DVD version? All of the online material - sources, photos, videos and documents - could be included.
Kevin_Vaughan(A) Thank you for your interest. We are working on that very question right now. We face some technologicaly challenges, many of which are beyond my ability to understand, but we are working on it. I am hoping that very soon we will be able to announce something along those lines. In the meantime, everything will live on on our website into the forseeable future.

kathi(Q) Kevin, I have a new respect and admiration for the media and reporters after following this series. Your team has done a marvelous service. How long will this series be available on the web site and will the photos and video be on line for awhile? I am hoping that I won't miss the full publication that your newspaper is planning to print. It would be nice if all the chapter photos would be printed along with captions as to who they are?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) Thank you for your kind words. I really appreciate it. The series will be available on our website into the forseeable future. I don't know how long that is, but we published "Final Salute," for example, in November 2005, and the entire presentation is still available at www.rockymountainnews.com, so I expect "The Crossing" to be there for a long time. As for the photos, in some of the historic ones we were handicapped by simply not knowing who was in them. In some cases, people have come forward and helped us identify folks, and we have amended some captions to include that information. In others, it remains a mystery to us because the informationsimply wasn't recorded in1961.

mf(Q) Kevin, I watched the video of the forum in Greeley and see that there is one scheduled for Denver next week. Do you expect the presentation and material to be pretty much the same?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) I do expect the presentation to be very similar. However, I did not feel that I could ask all of the families who attended the forum in Greeley to travel to Denver on a weeknight, so I don't expect that they will be there. But the presentation should be about the same.

mf(Q) Are you scheduled to have any of the family members or victims there to do a presentation as Alice Larson Richardson?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) Certainly any of them are welcome to be there. However, I don't expect them to attend -- it's a weeknight, and they all have busy lives. Alice's talk the other night really made the forum as far as I was concerned. I was so pleased that she was willing to get up in front of all those people and talk about the perspective of a survivor. And I was so touched that so many of those from the families who lived through that tragedy wanted to be there.

Bill(Q) During the forum in Greeley last week it was mentioned that there have been about 600 thousand online visits to the series so far. Just out of curiosity, how many series-related email messages have you received at the News?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) I have not counted my e-mails on this subject in about a week. I would estimate it to be in the range of 800 or so, based on the last count I did and the number that have come in since then. I've really never seen anything like it. Others here have received additional e-mails, and there are about 700 posts on RockyTalkLive, so I remain humbled that this series has resonated with so many people.

Tab(Q) Hello Kevin, How can a person review the archives at the Greeley Museum, Greeley Tribune, or where? Is an appointment necessary? Thanks.
Kevin_Vaughan(A) You can look at the museum's archives any time the research room is open. Peggy Ford is very helpful, and she has shared the files she has with a number of visitors already. I would visit the museum's website, or give Peggy a call, to check on the exact hours.

mf(Q) Kevin, you had previously mentioned that some of the chapters changed as more information came forward...was there anything in particular of significance that came about after the story began?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) In a few cases, we learned additional, small details that enriched the story. In one case, a family came forward and decided to talk only after the series had started, so that necessitated some rewriting to include them in the chapters where it was appropriate.

Bill(Q) Kevin, now that the series is reaching its end do you have any further insight, hindsight or observation regarding the entire endeavor?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) I do. Certainly, I wish I knew six months ago what I know now. What I mean by that is that a number of people came forward and contacted me who were touched by the tragedy in some way that I never knew about or ran across during my reporting. Even in recent days, I have learned small details that make the story more interesting, and there's no real way to add them now because the chapters where they are appropriate were published several weeks ago. I've also learned that seeing a story in print is a different kind of experience. Several of those in the stories, people who cooperated fully and wanted this story told, were very emotional when their individual chapters came out. I had not expected that, and neither had they.

Mark_Wolf(P) The Greeley History Museum is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.

mf(Q) Do you anticipate that you'll have some follow-up stories in the future as new info may come forward?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) That's a good question. I imagine at some point I'll revisit the story. I don't know when that will be, or what form it will take. I certainly plan to keep in regular contact with the families. So we'll see what the future holds.

Mark_Wolf(Q) Tomorrow is the final chapter. Can you give us a quick preview?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) If you think back to the first chapter, the series opened with small, mysterious snaphots of four of the people touched by this tragedy. Tomorrow, we revisit them, see more complete glimpses of their lives today. We also have an epilogue planned for Friday.

Bill(Q) Thanks to all of the folks for sharing a glimpse of their lives to us. And thanks to the Rocky Mountain News for making all of the material available online - it has really enhanced the printed chapters. This has been an exceptional presentation of a tragic event and its repercussions.
Kevin_Vaughan(A) Thank you for your kind words. The families are the ones who deserve the thanks. They agreed to tell a story that many had bottled up for 45 years. They agreed to talk about some of their darkest days. They will always have my gratitude. I will forever feel lucky that I had the chance to get to know them, and that their stories have touched so many people these past six weeks.

Mark_Wolf(Q) We had a question during last week's chat regarding the age of the train engineer's wife when she died. You were going to check on it. What did you find out?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) We are still working on that. Here's where we are: The certified copy of their marriage license -- the only public record I have that shows Anna Sommers' age -- lists her and Herb Sommers as 25 when they married. The gravestone, obviously, lists a different year of birth for her, making it impossible for her to have been 25 when she was married. Because they had no children, some details of their lives have been lost. However, we are trying to figure out which is correct -- the marriage license or the gravestone -- and hoping that more distant relatives we are in the process of contacting may be able to help us. If the marriage license is wrong, we will run a correction in the paper.

Linda(Q) Kevin have you heard how close Tim is getting to having the funds for the memorial?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) Tim told me a couple days ago that he is about two-thirds of the way there. I have since talked to other people who were planning to make donations, so I know he's getting closer every day.

mf(Q) Kevin - I've read that some think this is worthy of a Pulitzer Prize, yet I'm not sure what qualifies a story for one. Nonetheless, it has been an incredible story. What I hope for you and your staff is that, even more than a "prize," is that what you cherish even more is the impact that you have made on history and lives. The answers, emotions, relationships, resolve, and healing that you've done for so many of us. Thank You
Kevin_Vaughan(A) I won't say that we don't care about prizes, because it's a great feeling to be honored for your work. However, I will say that pares in comparison to the real reward, which is knowing that something you wrote touched people in a meaningful way, and getting to know the extraordinary people we write about every day. Over the years, I have been very lucky to get to spend time with many, many wonderful, down-to-earth, fun, amazing people. This story gave me that chance again.

Mark_Wolf(Q) In today's installment, Alice Paxton remains unforgiving of the bus driver, Duane Harms. How common is that feeling among surviors and parents who lost children?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) That feeling is still held by a few people, but many more feel differently. I know when I started out I expected that many people would hold hard feelings toward him, and I was surprised to find the opposite. I also know, however, that none of us knows how we would react in that situation unless we went through it, so on one hand I think it's pretty interesting to see that different people carried different feelings away from this thing.

Brittany(Q) I was wondering if anyone knew if Fridays story had anything to do with the Craven family?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) I hate to be coy, but I am going to be: You'll have to wait until Friday to find out. It's not that I'm trying to build suspense, it's just that I'm still in the writing and editing process, and until I get through that there's always a chance that things could change.

Mark_Wolf(Q) A survivor, Alice Larson Richardson, attributes the fact that families were able to pick up the pieces and move on to the closeness of their small town. In talking to survivors and relatives, how much of a factor do you think that was?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) I think it was a big factor, but not universal. I know some of the families whose children survived felt a rift within the community afterward, an awkwardness around families who lost children. It was not a big thing, but it was there. But I also know many, many of these people leaned heavily on each other to get through their darkest days.

Tab(Q) Just a thank you to Kevin and the team. I have learned a lot from my family being involved that I did not know before. Even though some things will probably never come out, that is okay. I have a renewed respect for all my family and how they got through all of this the way they did. Thanks again.
Kevin_Vaughan(A) You are welcome. I enjoyed the chance to say hello to you at the forum -- and I remain stunned at the number of people there, and the number of family members who came, and the general feeling of the evening.

mf(Q) Is there anything in particular that leaves you frustrated that you haven't been able to answer?
Kevin_Vaughan(A) Well, certainly I would like to have found all the various documents that have been lost to time. I still never have found the actual transcript of the interview with Duane Harms done a few hours after the accident. I was forced to rely on the snippets of it that appeared in the newspaper. I would certainly liked to have talked to everyone who went through this, but I understand for a few people that it was hard and not something they were up to, and I respect that.

Brittany(Q) O ok I was just asking because I am Aleta Craven's grand daughter and I didn't wanna miss anything
Kevin_Vaughan(A) It's nice to have you on the chat. I have really enjoyed the chance to visit with your grandparents and your dad and Aunt Susan. They are like so many others in this story -- people who have enriched my life. I feel honored to have gotten to know them.

Kevin_Vaughan(P) Thank you all for being here. I will be back tomorrow at 11 as we wind things down with the series. Have a great day.