Residents Defy Warnings, Return to Ravaged Town

Scores of residents disregarded warnings and returned Friday to the devastated coastal town of La Conchita, where a mudslide earlier this week killed 10 people.

“As people reenter, they need to know that they’re going into an area that’s highly unstable,” Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper told the Board of Supervisors before a community meeting at the Ventura County fairgrounds. “We may not be able to access La Conchita if there is another slide. I want to make that clear.”

A spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also said La Conchita families should heed warnings that it is unsafe for them to return to their homes.

On Wednesday, Schwarzenegger visited the site and appeared to encourage residents to return and rebuild their town, a statement that had disturbed local officials.

Friday, spokeswoman Ashley Snee struck a different note. “The governor has an enormous amount of sympathy for the victims of the disaster and understands the desire for them to return to their homes,” Snee said. “However, he believes that safety should be the top concern, and right now they should take direction from the local public safety officials.”

There was little sign of residents’ doing so. After authorities acknowledged that they couldn’t legally prevent residents from going back, back they went.

Some decided to stay, while others gathered personal belongings, vowing to return for good when utilities are turned on in the next few days.

Among the returnees -- at least for a while -- was Jimmie Wallet, whose bitterly defeated quest to rescue his wife, Mechelle, and daughters Hannah, Raven and Paloma became one of the week’s indelible images.

Midway through the morning, Wallet and several of the friends who had shared a home in the town with him arrived at a garage near the foot of the mudslide, where rescuers had heaped belongings pulled from the mud.

For about two hours, Wallet and the others sifted through piles of dolls and stuffed animals, crushed guitars and sodden photographs, brushing off the mud, holding up the items for inspection. The sound of backhoes and jackhammers punched the air as they shared memories.

“Look, I found Raven’s jacket,” said a tearful Annie Brazelton, 24, lifting up a tiny red coat that had once belonged to Wallet’s 6-year-old.

At another point, Wallet, wearing a leather vest decorated with two tiny green handprints, picked up a home-school textbook on creativity that 10-year-old Hannah had used. He stared at it for long minutes before setting it down.

Periodically, other town residents would stop by to talk with Wallet or offer a consoling hug. At one point, he greeted firefighters who had joined him in the rescue effort.

The group collected mud-caked photographs of Wallet’s smiling children and a surfboard and battered acoustic guitar that had belonged to Charlie Womack, another of the mudslide’s victims, whose home, in which Wallet and others had lived, had served as a kind of community center for many.

“They were beautiful girls,” Brazelton said of the youngsters. “And Charlie was just a beautiful man. He gave everything. He was the heart and soul of the community.”

Brazelton’s stepfather, Thomas Cottrill, said his stepdaughter did not plan to return to the community where she had lived nearly all her life.

“There’s just too much misery,” he said, gesturing at the mud and broken homes.

Others, however, were far more positive about their desire to return.

James LaVoo, a registered nurse who has lived in La Conchita for two years, said he would stay at least for the night and could be back for good when power is restored.

“I love it here, and I’m not too afraid of the hill,” said LaVoo, 43, who once was among those reported missing. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to be faithful to my community.”

Larry MacDonough, 55, a longtime resident, stood in the organic garden he had planted near the small trailer he shares with his roommate, just feet from the huge mud pile.

“Everything’s uncertain, but I feel I’m going to get back in here. I’m just hoping Ventura County can do something about the hill up there,” he said.

Ten-year resident Todd Henney, 37, also looked long and hard at the hillside above the street where his 99-year-old grandfather, Stanley Henney, lives.

The elder Henney vowed to be back when the lights came on. His grandson wasn’t so sure.

“From this angle, it doesn’t look that threatening,” said the younger man, standing in the shadow of the mountain where the wall of mud had taken out a row of houses. “But I’m still up in the air as to whether I’m going to stay or not.”

Resident Larry Ryan, 57, said he would return, but not soon.

“I don’t want to be irresponsible, but everything is a risk,” said Ryan, a 21-year resident. “Just going out on the freeway is a risk. I’ve been through three divorces, two landslides, cancer and the ‘60s.”

Roofing contractor Alan Sloan, 33, looked up at the mountain and decided it wasn’t worth the risk. He loaded a trailer with tools and other equipment, the first of many trips needed to vacate his home of two years.

The day after helping neighbors dig out from the mud and debris, Sloan found a new place to live in Oxnard. “I’ll be paying twice the rent and won’t have a view of the islands,” he said. “I will definitely miss it. If I didn’t feel my life was in danger, I wouldn’t leave.”

Residents were issued passes that allowed them to enter the village of fewer than 100 homes nestled at the foot of the coastal mountain range between Ventura and Santa Barbara.

“We do not, as a government, have the right to keep them out of their homes,” Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks said. “It is and will remain a geologic hazard. But many residents still wish to return. Some are very adamant about getting back to their homes as soon as they possibly can.”

County officials said they had wanted to wait at least until the weekend before allowing residents in, but they sped up the process when the California Highway Patrol decided to reopen U.S. Highway 101 on Friday.

Residents whose homes were declared uninhabitable were not allowed inside. Instead, firefighters retrieved belongings, including furniture, birth certificates and family pictures.

“We’re going to go back right now and move some stuff out,” said Diane Jennings, 56, a 12-year resident of La Conchita. “After that, we’re going to Lake Havasu to visit family. Who knows, we may start looking for a house while we’re there. The next week will determine how we really feel about living there.”

County officials told residents and supervisors Friday that the debris field from the mudslide that stopped in the middle of town remained highly vulnerable to a repeat performance of Monday’s disaster.

If the mountain of mud, rocks, branches and remnants of destroyed houses were to give way, it could block the only entrance into town from Highway 101, Roper said.

Signs were erected in La Conchita and fliers were distributed to residents, warning that the community was a geologic hazard area. “County officials advise against entry into the hazard area,” the signs said. “There is no warning system for these hazards. Enter at your own risk.”

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Times staff writers Richard Fausset and Peter Nicholas and staff photographer Spencer Weiner contributed to this report.