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| Local News | This story pubished online: Sunday, April 25, 2004 12:16 AM CDT |
Residents share their stories following Formosa Plastics plant explosion
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Arriving at a chaotic home after a 12-hour day at work, Randy LeBeane told his family that he should have taken the overtime.
"I should have stayed sixteen (hours)," he said, recalling the comment that prompted laughter at the time.
No one was laughing early Saturday morning as Randy, his wife, Sandy, and daughter Laura took refuge in Hickory Point Mall.
Those extra four hours would have put him inside the Formosa Plastics plant at the time of the explosion. It's a fact that wasn't lost on his wife, who still appeared shaken by the prospect nearly four hours after the explosion occurred.
"You know this is something that could happen, but you put it in the back of your mind," she said.
A 28-year veteran of the plant, Randy said his first instinct was to try and get to the scene and see if he could be of any help. He was turned away by police and told to evacuate the village.
Their thoughts then turned to their friends and those Randy left behind when he clocked out for the day.
Gary Lancaster, his wife and two boys had just returned to their Illiopolis home after a junior high dance when the power went out and they heard a great big boom.
"I just thought it was a big transformer that had blown," he said. A call from a friend alerted him to what really happened and urged him to leave town.
With changes of clothes in hand, the family went to Hickory Point Mall.
It didn't take much convincing, Gary said, since there always has been talk about the damage that could be caused by an explosion at the plant.
"You've got an idea it could happen, but you don't think it will," he said.
The call Gary Lancaster received came from Amy Rigdon of Niantic. She was driving between Niantic and Harristown when she saw a flash in the sky over Illiopolis.
"Then we saw the explosion, it looked like a bright red mushroom in the sky, and the smoke looked like a tornado," she said.
The loud blast came a few seconds later.
"We knew it was Borden. That's the only thing in that direction that could make anything of that magnitude." (The plant used to be owned by Borden Chemicals and Plastic and still is referred to by that name by many residents).
Undeterred, she and her family continued to Illiopolis to witness the event from close range. She took pictures when she got there.
A few hours later, she assumed her post at Hickory Point Mall as a disaster relief volunteer and ended her morning the Niantic Fire District building.
"We're going to sleep here," said 7-year-old Cody Christ, sporting a bright smile and carrying a teddy bear.
"I got my spot," he added, pointing to the oversize First Aid box in the play area in Hickory Point Mall Food Court.
Though it was well past 2 a.m., Cody showed no sign of using his chosen spot soon, deciding instead to climb, run and eat snacks provided by the American Red Cross.
His mother, Penny Christ, had different ideas as she sat wrapped in blanket on the surrounding seat, her feet propped up on an oversize sundae.
"He's trying to get me to go to a hotel," she said, referring to her husband, Bill.
"That or breakfast," he said.
A few hours earlier, she was sleeping in her bed at home when the blast sent her family and the rest of their neighborhood into the street to see what happened.
"Everybody on our street was running to their cars and getting out of town," she said.
The Christs weren't far behind. After checking on some family members in Niantic, they drove to Wyckles Corner, where they hooked up with others who were seeking shelter.
Carolyn Leka wasn't taking any chances.
"I went to Peoria," Carolyn said. "Just in case it went ahead and leveled the place."
Abruptly awakened by the loud explosion, Carolyn said she jumped out of bed and looked outside to see debris flying through the air and landing in her field.
That's all she needed to see before getting in her car, picking up her daughter and getting as far away from the town as possible.
She returned Saturday morning to go about her job delivering mail in the village.
"Even an explosion doesn't stop the mail," she said.
Jill Lee knew exactly what had happened when she heard the explosion, but she looked out the window anyway.
What she saw was fire and smoke rising from the plant across a cornfield just a couple of miles away.
"It shook my heart," she said.
After checking on neighbors, the Lees drove to Decatur and got a room at a hotel.
They returned to their Illiopolis home at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
This wasn't the first time she was evacuated because of something that occurred at the plant.
Asked why she keeps coming back, she replied, "This is where I'm from."
Mary and Corwin Leeper had gone to bed Friday when their power went off and pictures on the wall over the bed fell onto Mary.
"Within a minute, we heard this loud explosion," Mary Leeper said. "Of course, we didn't know what it was. Then there was a real minor explosion, but not like the first one."
Their neighbors told them everyone had to evacuate, so the Leepers spent the night in the Holiday Inn Select Hotel and Conference Center in Decatur but were allowed to go home Saturday morning. Other than the fallen pictures and a broken chandelier, nothing was damaged and no one in their immediate neighborhood was hurt, they said.
— Compiled by Scott Perry and Valerie Wells
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