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Flanagan's island: How Boys Town rescues troubled teens

Updated: 12/5/2005

by Brian Jendryka

In the early morning hours of September 22, 1993, Amtrak passenger Michael Dopheide was awakened by the sounds of screeching brakes and someone screaming, "Oh my God, we're all going to die."

Amtrak's Sunset Limited, traveling at 70 mph, had just jumped the tracks over the Bayou Canot bridge in Alabama, and sections of the train were slipping into the water below. Smoke, fire, and the terrified scream of passengers combined to form what one passenger called a scene from Dante's Inferno.

One of the sinking cars contained Dopheide, along with dozens of other passengers. In the foggy darkness, and without his glasses, Dopheide escaped through a window and swam to safety. But then another reflex took over, and he went back for the others. Keeping afloat by hanging onto floating debris and treading water, Dopheide is credited with saving the lives of 30 passengers that night.

Explanations for heroism are sometimes hard to come by. Dopheide points to his years at Boys Town, a family-based community for troubled youth, as a large part of the answer. A lesion he repeatedly learned at Boys Town was that "No matter what, no matter how difficult the situation is, you're still going to help, you're still going to carry this person to safety."

Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Boys Town has been carrying troubled teens to safety for more than 75 years. It was founded as a boys shelter in 1917 by Father Edward Flanagan, who... [read on]