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Xenias Praised -- Record setting HUD Official Credits God, Cheerful Disaster Victims Xenia, Ohio May 1974 Charles Betterton may be the only federal bureaucrat in the world who refuses to take credit for his success. He prefers to pass on the credit to God. Betterton, director of the Xenia office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, has managed so far to house 81% of the 1,151 Xenia families left homeless by the April tornado who were eligible for temporary housing. Another HUD official said that at this point, a figure of 50% would have been considered excellent. In one day, Betterton and his staff placed 107 families, a record itself according to veteran HUD workers. But he avoids talking about the records he and his staff of 100 have set, “We can’t take any credit for its happening. It’s a combination of guidance from God and the spirit of the disaster victims. The way people work with each other is what religion is all about” says Betterton. The long-haired, 26 year old, who sports a soft Mississippi Delta accent, admits readily that the housing job in Xenia seemed enormous at first. “I just offered myself as a tool for God to work with and he did the rest,” said Betterton. He feels that record breaking is not where the US government’s emphasis belongs. “The government has become an external body to the people and it’s got to be pulled back down to the people now. We work for thousands of disaster victims and we should serve their needs in the most comfortable and quickest way.” Betterton enjoys talking about Xenians – the most patient and cheerful people he has met in three years of attending to disasters. “I’m learning from these folks how a disaster can improve your life. How you can learn to be more considerate and compassionate,” he said. “It’s so hard to explain. Like last Sunday when sightseers were here with their children in the back seat with their ice cream cones and cameras. They were jamming traffic and there were a lot of Xenia tornado victims caught in the traffic,” Betterton said. “It takes a lot of goodness to cheerfully become a tourist attraction,” he said. Letters of Appreciation and Awards Regional Administrator Don Morrow Regional Emergency Services Officer Philip Zaferopulous
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