Posted on 08/31/2005 9:28:09 PM PDT by johnmecainrino
BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) - For about a decade this gambling town on Mississippi's Gulf Coast has been the place to be in the state if you were poor, down on your luck and looking for work.
That changed on Monday when Hurricane Katrina came ashore, leveling hundreds if not thousands of houses, stores and commercial buildings and killing scores of residents.
The legalization of gambling in Biloxi created an economic boom in the early 1990s and the city developed a reputation as a place where a person could get a decent-paying job in the casino or hospitality business.
But not everyone prospered. In the devastated streets and atop the rubble piles where their homes stood before Katrina blew through, a bitter refrain is increasingly heard. Poor and low-income residents complain that they have borne the brunt of the hurricane's wrath.
"Many people didn't have the financial means to get out," said Alan LeBreton, 41, an apartment superintendent who lived on Biloxi's seaside road, now in ruins. "That's a crime and people are angry about it."
Many of the town's well-off heeded authorities' warnings to flee north, joining thousands of others who traveled from the Gulf Coast into northern Mississippi and Alabama, Georgia and other nearby states.
Hotels along the interstates and other main roads were packed with these temporary refugees. Gas stations and convenience stores -- at least those that were open -- sold out of water, ice and other supplies within hours.
But others could not afford to join them, either because they didn't own a car or couldn't raise funds for even the cheapest motel.
"No way we could do that," said Willie Rhetta, a bus driver, who remained in his home to await Katrina.
Resentment at being left behind in the path of one of the fiercest hurricanes on record may have contributed to some of the looting that occurred in Biloxi and other coastal communities.
A number of private residences, including some in upscale neighborhoods, were targeted, residents said.
Class divisions, which often fall along racial lines in this once-segregated southern state, are not new to Mississippi. It traditionally is one of the poorest states in the United States.
In 2004, Mississippi had the second lowest median household income and the highest percentage of people -- 21.6 percent -- living in poverty, according to a report released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Apparently, they're poor for a reason, poor attitude.
--"Many people didn't have the financial means to get out," said Alan LeBreton, 41, an apartment superintendent who lived on Biloxi's seaside road, now in ruins. "That's a crime and people are angry about it."---
It's a crime now?
It never fails does it? Always someone else's fault. No respect for laws, and other fellow men.
This line clinched for me that this was a Reuters article. I didn't even have to look at the byline.
Oh, the irony of a bus driver not being able to find transportation.
Of course they're targeting upscale homes. That's where the good stuff is.
Some of the poor do have a standard of ethics and would not raid someone's property save for food items. Those that raid homes of anyone are cooks to begin with and were waiting the opportunity. They would steal from their own mothers.
Reuters is bashing your homestate again!
The looters need to stop and think. Mississippi is populated with good old boys (from whom I am proudly descended), and all the good old boys I know own guns with which to protect their property.
The media has given up trying to disguise the fact that the vast majority of looting is being committed by African-Americans. Now they are simply trying to justify and excuse it.
Race relations in this country have been set back decades on account of the televised behavior of the overwhelmingly black looters.
if looters can operate brazenly in peckerwood areas of Mississippi, then I imagine they can anywhere
That's a fascinating rationalization. Wrong, but fascinating nonetheless.
(((MS PING)))
Reuters BS ping.
Hey, cease this anti-chef bigotry! ;-)
(I love funny typos.)
I don't doubt that the welfare state has helped contributed to it, but there have been looters and predators for as long as mankind has existed, including for the whole history of "this great nation".
I judge a society by its greatest members, not its least members, because the dregs of humanity are *always* present.
Have you seen the video of all the school buses in NOLA underwater? Who let that happen?
This very right winger is by no means a bleeding heart, but I think it is horrible that a lack of money prevented people from getting away from a killer storm. Being poor should not have condemned them to remain and face Katrina. There are times when helping a fellow human being has nothing to do with left/right politics. What ever it took, it was the right thing to do to help get people to safety. If it cost a little more taxes for that effort, well I will gladly pay it. If they wanted to leave, no one should have had to remain for lack of money. This just sickens me.
We were in Biloxi/Gulfport in the mid 1990s. We turned down a street that must have been downtown, and suddenly we were in the slums. It was a stark contrast from the brand new, decadent, glitzy casinos not too far away. It actually gave me the creeps because I could feel the angry vibes of the people there. Hubby noticed it as well. I'm not at all surprised that some would think themselves justified in stealing from others in this situation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.