Polson man faces second dose of terror

A Polson man was just blocks away from the recent terrorist bombings in London last week — the second time in four years Steven Hawkins has witnessed firsthand a devastating terrorist attack.

Hawkins has been in London the past two years where he works for JP Morgan Chase, and was in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. He has been with JP Morgan for five years and has covered a wide range of corporate restructurings and sovereign debt negotiations including Enron, and was part of the restructuring advisory team for the Republic of Iraq. His job requires a lot of travel, some of which requires visits to the Middle East, however he finds more danger on his home turf.

His office is about a short walk from Tavistock Square, the site of the bus explosion, and about five minutes from Liverpool street, the site of one of the explosions in London's subway system, known as the Tube.

Fortunately for him, he was in his office at the time of the incident.

"There was an emergency services response at Liverpool street and Aldgate which was quite noticeable," he said. "However, due to our proximity to the site and as a safety precaution, we were not permitted to leave our building for a fairly significant part of the day. Therefore, a lot of what we saw of the incidents came to us via television."

His experience during 9/11 was a little closer to home.

"The attacks on Sept. 11th were indescribable. The sights, smells and sounds of being in the city at that time were often overwhelming. I recall the disbelief that I felt when the towers collapsed, the stress of being evacuated from various buildings over the following days due to bomb threats and the sadness of walking through fields of missing persons posters and photos for weeks following," he said.

When asked to what he attributes being at both 9/11 and the London bombings, Hawkins attributed it to "Poor timing."

"My job requires a fair amount of travel and our offices tend to be located in the world's financial centers. I just happened to be based in New York and London during the attacks."

In both incidences, Hawkins immediately contacted his mother.

"He called about 10 [minutes] to 6 [a.m.] to tell us what was going on because we hadn't heard anything," his mother Rita said.

During 9/11 he managed to get an email out to her before the city shutdown.

"He's lived through both of these now and I'm like 'Now we've got to get you someplace safe,'" Rita said.

Hawkins does have plans to move somewhere safer. He said it is likely that he'll be moving to the "more rural setting" of Portland when he gets married next year.

Hawkins has had the opportunity to live in various cities in the U.S. and Europe, and he said he appreciate his visits back to Montana more and more each year because of that.