The story seems condescending and belittling to me.
"The tiny convenience store and cafe that usually serves chicken farmers, cattle haulers and loggers has become an information booth for visiting police, FBI agents, technicians and others searching woods and marshes for remnants of shuttle Columbia."
"When the space shuttle shattered over the pine forests of east Texas, it did more than shake homes and shower pastures with twisted debris. It rallied a region of people whose work ethic and faith are as solid as the earth they farm."
You can almost see the smugness dripping off the page.