C. J. Huff claims he was "demonized" after tornado, considered suicide

Former Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff claims he was "demonized" by Joplin residents in the years following the May 22, 2011 tornado and at one point contemplated suicide.

Huff's revelations came during an interview with public radio station KCUR in Kansas City, which was also broadcast nationally over NPR.

Huff got school started on time by building classrooms in abandoned big box stores. He was a local hero, all over the national news. He turned to rebuilding demolished schools, taking pains to make them better and safer than the ones they replaced. He was making lots of big decisions, and spending lots of money.

And within a few months, all of that had changed. Exhausted, distraught citizens began fighting him at every turn, Huff said.

“One of the things I learned is that when emotion and logic collide, emotion wins every time,” Huff said. “It didn't matter what we brought, whether it was data or subject matter experts, it didn't matter.”

Huff was demonized by some residents. He said he considered suicide and was eventually driven out of the job.

The interview with Huff was part of a revisiting of the Joplin tornado in the aftermath of the recent devastating tornadoes in Kentucky and across the midwest.