Free Republic

JEFFERSON PARISH, La. (NNS) -- Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 40, deployed to the Gulf Coast region in support of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita relief efforts, are helping a private school here to recover from damage caused by the hurricanes. Students at Saint Louis King of France Catholic School are on schedule to meet their self-imposed Oct. 10 deadline to be back in the classroom, thanks to the Seabees. “The hurricane affected everybody, and that includes the [repair] contractors,” said Pam Schott, Saint Louis King of France’s principal. “So there’s no one here to help us get...

PLAQUEMINE PARISH, La. (NNS) -- Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 40 and local Plaquemines Parish residents teamed up in September to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) expedite establishing housing for hundreds of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. One of FEMA’s plans for relocating evacuees involved Plaquemines Parish landowners like Ray Tolar, who volunteered his land to host trailers for local families to stay in. In Tolar’s case, FEMA placed 19 trailers in his front yard, and Seabees are installing water, sewage and electrical connections for the trailers. “The faster and better we can install these lines,” said Construction...

Airlines already crumbling under crude oil prices face another eye-popping expense: the record cost of turning crude into jet fuel. Since hurricanes Katrina and Rita idled much of the Gulf of Mexico's refining capacity, most U.S. airlines have been paying an extra premium to refine or "crack" the oil into kerosene-like jet fuel. In July, before the storms, airlines paid the equivalent of $11 per barrel of crude on top of the spot price to keep planes aloft. Now the "crack spread" has spiked to nearly $59, meaning it costs nearly as much to refine jet fuel as it does...

Dionne Lacy and her fiance, Reginald Randle, were surprised to see a large dent in their garage door Monday when they returned from an exhausting, five-day evacuation trip to Bernice, La. What they initially thought was wind damage to their Texas City home turned out to be the work of thieves who ransacked their residence and others in the South Point subdivision, making off with thousands of dollars' worth of property. "It was devastating. I don't feel safe, and now we're talking about purchasing a gun to protect ourselves, and I never wanted a gun in my home," she said....

BILOXI, Miss. - Victor Garcia thought he was going to die when he darted out of his apartment in sandals during last month's hurricane and saw refrigerators and roofs flying overhead. But what he's encountered in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina is almost as bad, he said.Unlike most Gulf Coast residents who lost all their personal property, Garcia, 37, won't be contacting the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help. No cash grants, no loans. No new shoes, no furniture for his temporary apartment, no replacing his old Honda Civic.Garcia is one of thousands of illegal immigrants who moved to Mississippi...

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Big Whew blew over Texas, leaving Port Arthur underwater and whole lot of stress across the state. It is highly stressful to be in a car with two adults, three children, the dog and the cat for a 12- to 20-hour trip from Houston to Austin, Dallas or San Antonio. It is also stressful to have two adults, three children, their dog and their cat move into your 1,200-square-foot house with you, especially if your sister-in-law thinks anyone who criticizes George W. Bush is a tool of Satan. Stress-sensitive groups like Alcoholics Anonymous were doing land-office...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's standing with the public improved over the previous week as he made a highly visible effort to manage the consequences of the second major hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in a month, a new poll out Thursday found. Bush's job approval rating in the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll climbed to 45 percent, and 71 percent said they approved of his handling of Hurricane Rita, which struck land Saturday near the Texas-Louisiana border. The poll surveyed 1,007 adults between Monday and Wednesday, and had a margin of error of 5 percentage points. A similar poll...

President George W. Bush's job approval has risen after slumping to new lows on criticism of his handling of deadly Hurricane Katrina, two polls showed on Thursday. Bush's approval rating climbed to 45 percent in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll taken September 26-28, up from 40 percent in a similar poll taken a week ago. A Fox News poll also showed Bush with a 45 percent approval rating. That survey, taken on September 27-28, showed a rise in Bush's standing compared to a mid-month poll that gave him a 41 percent approval rating. A high-profile response by Bush to Hurricane Rita,...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS) -- Navy Exchanges (NEX) began distributing health and comfort items, or comfort kits, Sept. 29, free to the many military members and their families affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. These comfort kits are available to people located within the federally declared disaster areas in and around the Gulf Coast. "The Department of Defense provided funding, which enables us to provide these comfort kits to those service members and their families in need during this devastating time," said Rear Adm. Robert E. Cowley III, commander, Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM). "While the Navy Exchange has been...

9/29/2005 - DUKE FIELD, Fla. (AFPN) -- Hurricane Katrina did more than claim lives and destroy property. The deadliest storm in U.S. history flooded acres of land with standing water, providing a prime breeding ground for mosquitoes and filth flies. To counter a mass increase in mosquitoes in the Gulf Coast region, Air Force reservists sprayed more than 1 million acres of New Orleans between Sept. 12 and Sept. 20. As soon as their mission following Hurricane Katrina is completed, they will shift their focus to the east Texas and west Louisiana areas affected by Hurricane Rita. "The bayou area...

9/29/2005 - ELLINGTON FIELD, Texas (AFPN) -- Two Airmen with the 147th Civil Engineer Flight here provided critical support to the Southeast Texas Regional Airport by restoring power to the facility after it was disabled by Hurricane Rita. Senior Master Sgt. Michelle Milliard, the engineer flight noncommissioned officer in charge, along with Staff Sgt. Al Martinez, a power production craftsman, and Claudette Manning, a civilian contractor, conducted an airfield damage assessment at the Nederland, Texas, airport Sept. 25. During assessment, they were approached by airport manager, Hal Ross, who told them that even if the trees and debris that littered...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Different storm, different results for President Bush. A poll released Thursday found the president is getting much better marks from the public for his handling of the response to Hurricane Rita than he did for Katrina late last month. Katrina swept through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana in late August, wiping out cities along the Gulf Coast and flooding New Orleans. The Bush administration and state and local officials have been criticized for a sluggish response. Seven in 10 respondents say they approve of Bush's response to Rita, while 22 percent disapprove, a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll found. Only...

Rita sends rural Texans back to 'caveman days' By PAM EASTON Associated Press Writer WOODVILLE, Texas — Five days after Hurricane Rita came ashore, some East Texans took baths and brushed their teeth using water from the Neches River while others affected by the storm waited in line for federal assistance and gas. Crumpled tin roofs and canopies in Woodville's town square still littered parking lots Wednesday. Downed power lines and trees were in people's yards and lined nearly every road. Many people were still without power or water. "We went from normal life back to caveman days in a...

Some personal observations on Rita... For starters, I'm on line now thanks to a newly purchased(since in a stroke of brilliance, I recently sold my 6 year old generator that I never used and only loaned out a few times) 5600W generator. I was also able to purchase the last 21,000 BTU "window" a/c from Sears in Lufkin Texas. For those unaquainted with "tropical" climates, with the temp and humidity competing for which one gets to 100 first, "uncomfortable" is an understatement. Especially for me because I would prefer to get out and work in 40 degree weather then even...

During our Rita evacuation, my husband and I came to the realization that neither of us makes good sheep. Never have, never will. There are some people that expect and want the government to take care of them. They feel helpless to do for themselves what they believe the government should be doing for them. Such a mentality makes me want to scream! And it's dangerously insidious: "If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular...

If you bought a home 10 years ago for $100,000 and just sold it for $300,000, have you engaged in price gouging? Most people would say "no," provided there were willing buyers and sellers of both sides of the transaction merely responding to the market at the time. As a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, some politicians have demanded prosecution of "price gougers." In many states, like Florida, "price gouging" is illegal. The Florida statutes say, "It is illegal to charge unconscionable prices for goods or services following a declared state of emergency." Hmmm, I know what the law...

Bus firm faced prior complaints, violations12:42 PM CDT on Thursday, September 29, 2005Assocaited Press DALLAS - The firm that operated a bus that caught fire while fleeing Hurricane Rita, killing 23, was the subject of complaints by elderly passengers in 2002 who said vehicles reeked of fuel and were in disrepair, according to state records. One of the three complaints against Global Tours and Charters, now Global Limo Inc., led to a state investigation that found several violations. No enforcement action was taken, according to 58 pages of records released Wednesday by the Texas Department of Public Safety. No one...

Economy Was in Good Shape Before Katrina and Rita; Growth Expected to Slow in Second Half WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economy was growing solidly before hurricanes Katrina and Rita, whose double blow is expected to make for rocky business activity in the months ahead. A Commerce Department report released Thursday showed that gross domestic product grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter -- confirming that economic activity was humming along at a respectable pace before the disasters struck. GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is the best...

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil held firm above $66 a barrel on Thursday stoked by fears that hurricane-wrecked U.S. refineries would be unable to churn out ample heating fuel to warm American consumers this winter. But Europe was riding to the rescue again, booking tankers of gasoline and heating oil to move transatlantic to help prevent a full-blown fuel crisis in the world's biggest oil consumer. Strikes in France, a leading U.S. oil products supplier, meant French refiners might sit on the sidelines. U.S. crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 6 cents at $66.41 a barrel by 1000...

The Dutch are gearing up for climate change with amphibious houses. If rivers rise above their banks, the houses simply rise upwards as well. Such innovation could be good news for hurricane and flood-stunned America. But are water lovers prepared to live on swimming family arks?