Two Towns Too Tough to Die

Tombstone and New Orleans. They are about as similar as Obama and Gingrich. Two towns dissimilar in most aspects...except one. These towns have faced countless challenges over the years and they are simply too tough to die.

Tombstone, Arizona, known mostly for the 19th Century Gunfight at the OK Corral and for the slogan, "The Town to Tough to Die." It's very existence today defies logic.

I worked on a golf course project in Tombstone before 9/11. Golf in Tombstone, you may ask? I must say, it was a headscratcher for me at the time but I've been in odder golf-site locations. Like Bombay, India for one. However, that's another blog.

Tombstone is a jerkwater desert town in SE Arizona. It is a ruggedly windswept landscape yet spirit-invoking almost forgotten Western town. Picture sage brush blowing across a dirt road in the middle of a John Ford movie set...that is Tombstone today. The craggy faced impenetrable Dragoon Mountains, which was safe haven for Apache Chief Cochise and his 1000 warriors, is the dominant feature in the expansive high desert. The Dragoons protected the Apache from the intransigent Union Army. Cochise, the hunter and the hunted, killed many but lost more. Tombstone the home of infinity views, dreamy clouds, warm winds, fiery sunsets and Boot Hill.

There's something in the air in Tombstone...other than desert dust. With its history of old western lawlessness and violence, Tombstone has a certain funereal eeriness about it. A bloody history grips Tombstone. You can feel it. It's palpable everywhere. But in some perverse way, that air of death, ghosts and spirits are what make Tombstone unique today.

Today's Tombstone is a tourist mecca for those who relish the old West. Oddly, most of the visitors of Tombstone are Europeans who romanticize the American West. The mystique and the daily theatrical reenactment of old western justice and gunfights are what keeps Tombstone alive and kicking. So as the history of death preserves the life of Tombstone today, the history of manmade and natural disasters which regularly visits New Orleans tests and emboldens "The City that Care Forgot". New Orleans is another town that is too tough to die.

I have visited New Orleans a few times as a tourist and I have always enjoyed my time there. The people. The Quarter. The St. Charles Trolley. The Final Four. The architecture. The jazz. The food. The funerals. The bodies of water. And the rain. Talk about rain. New Orleans gets 65 inches a year and that's just an average. I was there once, it rained 5" in 2 hours and the water was rushing into the store from the street. One hour later it was blazing sunny and 90% humidity. Business as usual. Oh, by the way, 50% of New Orleans is below sea level. That doesn't help your wood floors when it pours with hurricane forces.

In recent memory, is there a US city that has had more biblical sized adversities thrust upon it than New Orleans? Manmade disasters such as the ongoing BP oil spill in the Gulf. And, on the natural disaster side, who can forget the devastating Hurricane Katrina five years ago (but let us not forget some of the others Gustav, Rita and Ike, etc). On a lesser more humanly imperfect disasters are the chronically corrupt New Orleans city governments and the exploits of the feckless ex-Mayor, Ray Nagin.

We all know about Katrina and its impact. Unimaginable human suffering. However, the current BP oil leak disaster has been out of control for a month and has caused oil to lap up into the delicate coastal wetlands around New Orleans. Hamstrung BP has been unable to stop the wild flow of oil from the undersea well. Our bumbling government hasn't helped the situation. The estimated 250,000gallons of oil/day keeps expanding it's boundaryless black goo. To date over 6million gallons of oil are floating in the Gulf and migrating to who knows where...unabated. Damages to the wetlands, beaches, fish, ecosystems and businesses of that region are immeasurable. BP says they will pay for all damages...that is, if they survive this event. Meanwhile down on Bourbon Street, the hurricanes (the drink) are lapping up into the sozzled patron's mouths. As bad as this spill is and it is god-awful, life goes on in the "Big Easy."

In the political arena, the state of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans have the dubious distinction of being in the running with the state of Illinois and City of Chicago as the most politically crooked areas of the country. All-pro crooks from Louisiana include ex-Governors Huey Long, Earl Long, Edwin Edwards versus the all-pro crooks from Illinois include ex-Governors George Ryan, Dan Walker, Otto Kerner and that hapless bumbler, Rod Blagojevich. It's a toss-up as to which state has the worst crooks. As Earl Long once said about Louisiana voters, "they don't want good government, they want good entertainment." At least he was "transparent." And the hurricanes keep flowing on Rampart Street.

The greatest testament to the success of a city comes from its own citizens and of the loyalty they demonstrate. Amidst all of New Orleans in-bred issues: below sea level, torrential storms, in seasonal hurricane crosshairs, louche political leaders and now an unspeakable manmade disaster, the majority of the tough as nails citizens of New Orleans desire to stay and not leave it's city. New Orleans survives and refuses to die because of the resolve and resiliency of its own people. They are like Timex watches, they "take a beating and keep on ticking."

And why do they stay? As Nawlins native, Louis Armstrong gargled, "...way down yonder in New Orleans/in the land of dreamy scenes/there's a garden of Eden you know what I mean." Cool chops, Satchmo!