NEW ORLEANS — On Sunday evening, many in Alabama’s coastal fishing community planned to attend services for a popular charter captain who committed suicide last week on his docked boat. Authorities had no way to know whether his death had anything to do with the spill, but they hoped it would move others to seek help.
John Ziegler, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Mental Health, said no one had walked into counseling centers set up in fishing communities since the disaster. Then on Friday, two days after the captain’s death, five people came in saying they needed help because of the spill.
As news of the captain’s death spread east to Pensacola, Fla., Baptist Health Care’s Lakeview Center publicized its 24-hour help line, and several calls about the spill came in the following day.
“People saying they were sad, they were angry, they were grieving, they have lost a lot,” marketing director Tish Pennewill said. “Grandmothers talking about how they took the children to the beach for the summer and could no longer do that. People wondering if it was ever going to be the same.”
