Katrina Live Threads, Part XV

Tim sounded quite unhinged today. His nearly yelling questions at Chertoff was unprofessional in the extreme.

Even my left leaning sister called me today, after watching some of the Sunday shows, and asked me how people could blame Bush. I remain unsure how this is playing around the country.

441 posted on 09/04/2005 8:58:56 PM PDT by Dolphy

Tony w/b back tomorrow--moved his return up a day. This from the most enthusiastic Tony fan in the Piedmont of NC, my better half.

442 posted on 09/04/2005 8:58:57 PM PDT by Tarheel ( Murphy's law #21--Internet flame wars are started by two cats who did not like their supper.)

All the housing now is being reimbursed by FEMA...why do you think Texas stepped up so quick. I mean the stadium costs, security, hospital, etc.

FEMA was looking at buying every mobile home in stock in the United States, and told the manufacturers to start hiring people...there is some large plan on housing these people in new areas.

443 posted on 09/04/2005 8:59:37 PM PDT by BurbankKarl (u)

To: StillProud2BeFree

The Louisiana SPCA may have rescued "Snowball"

:-)))

444 posted on 09/04/2005 8:59:58 PM PDT by tomkat

This article disturbed me, because I know people who want to volunteer -- sounds like the Red Cross won't want them if this information is correct:

http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050904/NEWS01/509040328

Red Cross bureaucracy causing frustrations

By Billy Gunn
bgunn@thetowntalk.com
(318) 487-6378

It's been a week since Hurricane Katrina evacuees started arriving, dazed and heartbroken, fearing for loved ones and what the future holds.

Many escaped with little clothing, their kids and pets in tow, not much money in their pockets, jobs vanquished.

They grew roots quickly wherever in Cenla they landed: small churches and campgrounds, at least one hotel that let them live in lobbies and fed them.

It was the closest thing to home they've had, and Central Louisiana welcomed them with bountiful generosity.

However, some of the refugees and those who have helped them are frustrated with the Red Cross and its intractable bureaucracy, its tendency to look to the rule book before taking a step, whether it be registering evacuees for shelters and getting help from sorely needed volunteers.

Also, the Red Cross-mandated migrating of evacuees from small shelters to large is ripping some from the small venues where they feel safe to much larger ones where people are placed hundreds to a room with no privacy and a shortage of bathrooms.

Leann Murphy, CEO of the American Red Cross of Central Louisiana, said her agency is in "crisis mode," they're doing the best they can and that she understands the frustrations of evacuees and volunteers alike.

Just walk in the Red Cross' command central on Jackson Street, and one encounters a house almost mad: volunteers dodging each other, cellular phones' different tones sing, a closed door for a much-needed private moment.

But the enormity of the crisis, the influx of refugees (on Saturday the number at approved Red Cross shelters in Central Louisiana was 6,000, with thousands more staying elsewhere), doesn't seem to bring a change in Red Cross procedures.

'Ridiculous'

"The Red Cross, they are ridiculous," said Tim Murry, a manager at Alexandria's Holiday Inn Convention Center, where 100 to 200 evacuees have lived since Katrina's landfall.

The hotel, like many other places with no Red Cross assistance, has sheltered and fed the southeastern Louisiana residents, or former residents, since they arrived: some yesterday, some a week ago.

Murry said he and Raj Patel, whose family owns the inn, on Friday tried to get the temporary tenants registered with the Red Cross but were met with resistance because of the emergency agency's steadfast adherence to its rules.

Before registering, the hotel would have to demand that evacuees leave, then they'd have to find a registration center and fill out a form supplied by a certified Red Cross volunteer, Murry said.

As a compromise, Murry and Patel offered to bring registration forms to the hotel and have evacuees fill them out there to keep their tenants, many of whom have not a buck for gasoline, off the road.

And, they said, the Alexandria Riverfront Center is connected to the Holiday Inn, just steps away.

The Riverfront is one of four big Red Cross shelters in Rapides Parish that continues to take on evacuees; two busloads of New Orleans evacuees arrived Friday night.

But those staying at the Holiday Inn, where in banquet rooms they've made makeshift beds out of chairs, couldn't walk up stairs and register, Murry said.

"I just said screw it. I'm keeping them," Patel said. "The important thing is that they register with FEMA."

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is a critical link to those displaced and needing federal assistance.

Evacuees at the Holiday Inn said Red Cross volunteers did come and tell them about the procedures and what the agency required.

It wasn't a good exchange, said those who've constructed boundaries where families can keep a semblance of privacy in the inn's banquet room.

The Red Cross volunteer "came barging in here and said that we're destructing the hotel," said Christina Rosa of Metairie, who didn't remember the volunteer's name. "They said the hotel does not want you."

"We had problems with the Red Cross being kinda rude to us," said Sharon Sam of New Orleans.

Both women said the generosity of Central Louisiana and especially Patel and the Holiday Inn staff was a godsend: all were fed, local pastors came by to see check on them, local Salvation Army volunteers supplemented their needs, they felt safe.

But, Marco Sosa said, "This changed a lot of people's mind about the Red Cross."

Riverfront Center

In the Riverfront Center, hundreds lay on cots and milled around in the over-cooled complex Saturday, and Marion Smith missed the smaller confines of Northwood Elementary, where she and other St. Bernard Parish evacuees had stayed.

"I loved it there," she said. "It's so crowded here."

Then Cynthia Jate, who drove the St. Bernard bus passengers to safety, told Smith, "I got hold of your son. Pack your bags, he's coming (from Houston) to get you."

Stunned and teary, Smith said nothing, just listened.

"He said he's been to Marksville to Mississippi, Lafayette, lookin' for you," Jate said. "He's so tickled."

Jate told other St. Bernard residents "anything's better than here. You don't know these people.

"All the St. Bernard people, I'm trying to get them out," said Jate, clearly in charge.

A volunteer

Leatha Basco also is mad at the Red Cross.

Though disabled, she thought she could do something, anything, for refugees pouring in from the southeastern part of the state.

So, she left Forest Hill Friday morning and drove to the Rapides Parish Coliseum's Exhibition Hall, one of the big-venue Red Cross shelters, the one landmark she knew how to get to.

She put in a couple of hours, cleaning the restrooms and helping by lending her cellular phones to refugees desperate to find loved ones and wanting news on their homes.

Basco then attended training, where "they said that if you can't put in eight, 12, 24 hours (at a time), they don't want you. I just got up and walked out."

"There's a lot of people out there that give a little time," she said. "I guess I'm good enough to clean the toilet but not good enough for anything else."

Murphy, the Red Cross CEO, said her manpower resources are stretched thin, and that might deviate from agency rules and let volunteers work shorter hours.

The minimum-hours rule, she said, is in place for more orderly scheduling.

Originally published September 4, 2005

445 posted on 09/04/2005 9:00:31 PM PDT by buickmackane (reporting from Pineville, Rapides Parish, LA)

To: Cboldt; Howlin

Here is someone from MoveOn.org Civic Action in Little Rock, AR that is willing to share her home.......

with Students, professors/teachers, medical personel, and families

lol!

http://www.arkansasarts.com/programs/aie/detail.asp?ID=139

Housing for 6 people in Little Rock, AR

Our home is available until September 14 for up to 6 people. 3BR, 2BA. Students, professors/teachers, medical personel, and families welcome. We are in mid-city, Capitol View neighborhood. Large backyard for children.

Pets OK: no Smoking OK: no Handicapped accessible: YES Near public transit: YES

446 posted on 09/04/2005 9:00:57 PM PDT by kcvl

"would have been crazy enough to go into the Superdome after the first night?

Did they go in before the first night? I never saw any coverage inside at all. I guess they aren't the "heroes" they want the people to believe, eh?

OH Yeah, Geraldo "rescued" a woman today! BAH

447 posted on 09/04/2005 9:01:07 PM PDT by A Citizen Reporter

Louisiana Evacuation Plan supplement, most recently revised in 2000. Page 13, paragraph 5: Evacuation, hence 'evacuee'.

448 posted on 09/04/2005 9:01:20 PM PDT by SeaBiscuit (God Bless all who defend America and Friends, the rest can go to hell.)

Thanks for the link - will look at it in the a.m.
My brain is mush for now.

G'nite y'all...

449 posted on 09/04/2005 9:03:49 PM PDT by tomkat

Am I wrong to think that this indeed was a request from Gov. Blanco to Pres. Bush for federal help before the storm hit?

As I read that, it is simply request for several different types of federal funding assistance and a single request for assistance in the physical removal of debris. Certainly nothing in there pertains to evacuation or search and rescue operations.

450 posted on 09/04/2005 9:03:58 PM PDT by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")

DONT EXPECT THE GOVT TO SAVE YOUR BUTT

I don't want to go back and re-google to try and find where I read it, but when I was putting together my Earthquake kit I remember reading that each household should have enough supplies to support themselves for at least 3 to 5 days. Some of the links said it could(depending upon the devistation and scenairo) take at least that long for help to arrive. Thats just what happened here. Seems like it shouldn't have been a surprise to the NO planners.

451 posted on 09/04/2005 9:05:09 PM PDT by not_apathetic_anymore

To: buickmackane

452 posted on 09/04/2005 9:06:11 PM PDT by conservative cat

***What husbands? I think I can count on the fingers of both hands the numbers of families I've seen ... mostly single moms and kids.***

It's almost to the point for me that I'm wondering... Is the entire city of New Orleans comprised of poor, uneducated single mothers living in the projects and on the public dole? That city was a powder keg waiting for the match!

That's what is being presented, anyway.

453 posted on 09/04/2005 9:06:27 PM PDT by ShellieGOP (Thank God for Free Republic!)

For real. Has Mr. Broussard never studied that little thing we call the "Civil War"---- and besides he's a far cry from Jefferson Davis,,,,God rest his soul

454 posted on 09/04/2005 9:06:28 PM PDT by DrewsMum

To: kcvl; NautiNurse

The Housing Thread here on FR was pulled for divulging too much personal information. I just thought I'd mention it because it appears in the template at the beginning of each new thread. Thanks!

455 posted on 09/04/2005 9:06:54 PM PDT by buickmackane (reporting from Pineville, Rapides Parish, LA)

Okay, so this particular sentence:

"I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster. I am specifically requesting emergency protective measures, direct Federal Assistance,..."

This sentence specifically asks for help to save lives.

Are you saying she was just not clear enough in what kind of help to save lives? That it was still just asking for money to save lives?

Just trying to get this.....

456 posted on 09/04/2005 9:07:55 PM PDT by Cedar

It is very clear that DHS had the authority to roll FEMA into this on its own accord. ... And the ability of the Feds to bypass those old 'standard' procedures is clearly set forth.

Is that a part of the Stafford Act? Can you point out where it is?

http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_02/44cfr206_02.html

457 posted on 09/04/2005 9:07:56 PM PDT by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")

To: buickmackane

The Red Cross may put up barriers, but you can go around them to working with local agencies, churches, thrift centers. The RC is not the only way to help.

Here in Texas (and probably every state in the South) there are people that made it out in their vehicles to a hotel, but are now stranded. Almost every town is in action. Camps, hotel conference rooms, warehouses, you name it is being set up. There is a place for a willing hand!

Just think of the babies that need blankets, children needing school supplies. There is SOMETHING you can do, if you have the heart.

458 posted on 09/04/2005 9:08:10 PM PDT by myprecious

To: FreedomCalls

standard request any Governor makes when a disaster area has been declared. Helps free up funding cash etc. FEMA was in the state Sunday prepositioning aid etc. Tuesday it looked like MS got the brunt of it and so efforts began to focus there and it ws assumed I guess that local authorities would take care of most of the immediate concerncs in NOLA.. then the new "Hurricane Proof" 17th St Canal Broke open. Waters flooded late Monday night through Tuesday mid-morning and NOLA went 80% underwater.

What the Gov't did in 3 short days is nothing short of a Miracle. Sure there were failings, but that was more on Local and State and the Feds had to overcome those. Bush did hte absolute right thing recognizing these failing and getting Lt Gen Honore down there.

459 posted on 09/04/2005 9:08:17 PM PDT by james_f_hall

No one is arguing that the State of Louisiana did not ask for help prior to the hurricane. The problem that the State of Louisiana (Governor Blanco and mayor of New Orleans) wanted to be in charge of managing the crisis and they failed miserably before and after the hurricane. When the Feds stepped in late last Wednesday and took control of the operations everything start working much better.

460 posted on 09/04/2005 9:09:08 PM PDT by jveritas (The Axis of Defeatism: Left wing liberals, Buchananites, and third party voters.)

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