'Times-Picayune' Cartoonist Kelley Plans Return to Big Easy

By: Dave Astor Steve Kelley won't be an off-site editorial cartoonist much longer for The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

Kelley was in California when Hurricane Katrina hit, and has been working from the West Coast ever since (E&P Online, Sept. 13). When reached Tuesday in San Diego, Kelley said he will probably return to work in New Orleans next week.

The Times-Picayune announced Monday that it will soon resume operations in the city (E&P Online, Oct. 3).

Kelley will briefly visit New Orleans this week before going back there to live again. He is flying to Jackson, Miss., on Tuesday, and plans to reach New Orleans by car Wednesday. There, Kelley will check on relatively minor damage (including blown-off roof tiles) to his New Orleans house and talk with insurance adjusters. Then he'll fly back to California Thursday before returning to New Orleans for good next week.

The former San Diego Union-Tribune staffer said he's used to cartooning off-site on occasion. But Kelley noted that it will obviously be easier for him -- and for his Times-Picayune editors -- to be working out of his office again.

And he misses New Orleans. "It's a great city with a lot of heart and soul, and I have a lot of good friends there," Kelley told E&P Tuesday. "It was very difficult to see the city take such a bruising and to see so many people distraught." Many residents, he said, are or will be suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Kelley will have his own car to drive when he returns, because it has been in the top deck of an airport parking lot since late August. "I might have to take out a second mortgage to get it out of there," he joked.

The Creators Syndicate cartoonist said his home -- located on somewhat higher ground near Lake Pontchartrain -- will probably be livable, too, although it doesn't have electricity yet. Kelley does realize that the eight-mile ride from home to work will be sobering, because he'll pass through one of the most heavily damaged neighborhoods in New Orleans.

Kelley expects his office to be in decent shape, because it's on a highly situated second floor of the Times-Picayune building.

The cartoonist, who was contacted by E&P Online, emphasized that he had it easy compared to many Times-Picayune staffers and other New Orleans residents. He said the much more important Times-Picayune story is the arduous, heroic job of reporting done by various people at the newspaper when the hurricane and flooding hit. "I'm the one who didn't suffer in all of this," he concluded.