Emotional homecomings on Long Street

CLARENCE CENTER, N.Y. (WIVB) - Families forced out of their homes by the crash of Flight 3407 almost two weeks ago were finally allowed to move back home Tuesday.

They're returning to a neighborhood much different than the one they left that night, and the homecomings have been very emotional.

The last crews finished up work on demolishing the home next door to where Flight 3407 came down.

The site is now ready for ten of twelve families to move back, and they're eager to come back.

Clarence Emergency Coorinator Dave Bissonette said, "They want to get, we all want to get our lives back closer to something closer to normal, and you can't do that if you are living with relatives or in a hotel."

The site where the Wielisnki home once stood is now a gravel pad, a charred tree and stones where there used to be grass are all signs of the devastation that was unleashed on this neighborhood.

Bissonette said, "Psychologically, there's a lot of emotion with this type of thing and we're working with them on a family by family basis."

Cheryl Stevens and her husband are back. It's an emotional return as Cheryl takes in the new landscape of her neighborhood.

News 4's Jericka Duncan asked, "What does it look like? What does it smell like?"

Stevens said, "It smells like smoke. It's a weird smell. I don't know if it's my mind or just because people were burning, but it's a weird smoke."

"It's just amazing to consider we are still alive. It is going to be weird to see an empty spot where a house and family used to be."

Cheryl's neighbor Doug Wielinski was the only one inside his home who didn't make it out alive when the plane struck.

Stevens said, "I'm going to miss him as a man that showed that he was a real father, a loving husband and a good neighbor."

In time, the grass will grow, and the neighorhood will come to life again, but residents there will always remember the lives that were lost.

And the Elmwood Village community came together Tuesday night to remember a dear friend who died in the crash.

Friends of Doctor Alison Des Forges gathered at the Elmwood Village Inn to honor her memory, and her tireless work on behalf of human rights.

Elmwood Village Inn owner Karen Williams Powell said, "To me this is the best of Buffalo. I'm not from Buffalo but this is why I stayed in Buffalo. People that believe in social justice issues and it's not theoretical with us, it's not intellectual, it's about coming together to celebrate social justice. And that's what Alison Des Forges gave her life for."

Dr. Des Forges was the world's leading authority on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.