Perry speaks out on Katrina (Compare Perry's response to Blanco's)

News 8 Austin ^ | 8/31/2005 | AP

[Brilliant]

Texans are welcoming tens of thousands of refugees from deadly Hurricane Katrina.

The Houston Astrodome will house evacuees. The weather-damaged Superdome in flooded New Orleans is sending busloads to the venue.

Arrangements had been made to airlift those with special needs to the Astrodome, Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday.

The governor held a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

He has approved $1 million for overtime for officers on security duty at the Astrodome and other shelters.

Reunion Arena in Dallas is also accepting evacuees.

Refugee children will be allowed to enroll in Texas public schools.

Texas is deploying three C-130 aircraft, 300 military police, 120 combat engineers and a support battalion.

Perry also authorized the adjutant general to send members of Texas military forces to assist the Louisiana National Guard.

Texas relief efforts

Here’s a list people and equipment, provided by the governor’s office, from Texas that are helping in relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina:

Seventeen shelters in east and southeast Texas housing more than 2,000 evacuees. Another 38 shelters on standby, including two special-needs shelters.

Eight doctors, five nurses, 10 physician assistants and 30 combat medics from the Texas National Guard stationed at Camp Beauregard in Pineville, La.

Six U-H-60 helicopters, two C-H-47 Chinook helicopters and a C-23 Texas Air National Guard aircraft.

A satellite communications package from the Texas Army National Guard to provide phone and Internet service, along with six personnel.

A 40-member incident command team from the Texas Forest Service.

A search-and-rescue team of 53 game wardens with 52 trucks and 50 boats from the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife Department.

About 50 commercial ambulances.

An 80-member urban search and rescue team, staging in Shreveport, La.

A 35-member water rescue team, comprised of five boat squads, staging in Baton Rogue, La.

About 200 members of the Texas State Guard to assist in shelter operation in east and southeast Texas, staging in Beaumont.

Full mobilization of the Texas Emergency Management Council, consisting of 34 state agencies and organizations.

No charge for evacuees to camp in Texas parks.

[OldFriend]

The government would have compensated Louisiana too and they chose to let their people DIE.

[mathluv]

I was at our local shelter today. Security, in uniform, was present. I asked one gentleman 'who' they were. They are the Texas State Guard - completely volunteer. They pay for their own uniforms, and are not compensated in any way.< p>I then went with my daughter and grandchildren, and people from their church to the donations center. It is in an empty Office Depot building. It was full of all donations, with more coming in all mmorning long.

[GretchenM]

The up side to this is that lives are being saved by Texans that Louisiana authorities cared nought for.

The downside is the Louisiana authorities may get used to the idea of getting bailed out and, therefore, continue not to plan for natural disasters.

[deport]

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Good source for MS stories and info

[Brilliant]

Is there a link to the crying press conference? The media doesn't seem to mention that.

[conservative in nyc]

The Clarion Ledger is a Gannett Snoozepaper. No Gannett articles can be posted on Free Republic.

Try the Sun Herald of Biloxi-Gulfport. They are owned by Knight Ridder, which doesn't have a stupid "not even excerpts" rule.

[tessalu]

I think that we are going to learn that some people should never have been in Leadership positions. Let this be a lesson to us all.

[AtticusX]

I wish the media and even here on FR people would start talking and posting stories about the people in Mississippi, Alabama and anywhere else but New Orleans.

RICHLAND — Clothes, food and other items are piled almost to the ceiling in the bleachers at the Richland High School gymnasium operating as a shelter for Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

When Lt. Latt McInnis of the Richland police found out that people in Lamar County hadn't eaten for four days and there was no sign of organized shelters, he knew exactly what to do.

Instantly McInnis, the shelter coordinator, made a few phone calls around the city and a small group of Richland police and fire department personnel took a utility trailer filled with water, meals and baby supplies to Lamar County's emergency operations center Saturday night. Sunday afternoon, an even larger group returned to Lamar County including a 15-passenger First Church of Richland van full of volunteers, and an 18-wheeler loaded with more food, supplies and clothing.

Earlier Sunday, McInnis said an appeal went out to churches and over the airwaves for more food and supplies to fill an 18-wheeler scheduled to help people in Lamar, Marion and Jasper counties.

"Everything we asked for we got," McInnis said.

McInnis said in addition to the outpouring of food, four brand new generators were donated.

Volunteers of all ages helped load the truck with items, including baby formula, ice, water and other essentials. Pete Adcock, a state fire marshall deputy from Florence, came out to help load the truck.

"If they go down, I'm going to help," he said. Ginette Derive and her neighbor Jimmy Murphy of Winnebago County, Ill. traveled all night Saturday in a U-Haul filled with donated food and clothing to join the caravan. The duo also will take evacuees back to Illinois.

Winnebago County Housing Authority officials confirmed Sunday they would be able to house 30 senior citizens in studio-style apartments and 60 families in Section 8 housing.

Surrounded by volunteers in a tight circle, Derive stood with McInnis in front of the 18-wheeler shortly before it pulled off and spoke to the volunteers.

With the fervor of a coach rallying his team before a championship game, she spoke passionately to the volunteers nodding in agreement.

"Little people like us don't have a lot of money, but we have a lot of heart," she said. "The world is watching us right now and have every excuse to put us down. It would be nice to see (in the media) that the American people care about each other."

http://clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050905/NEWS0110/509050366/1260

[AtticusX]

Waveland, MS

Katrina thrust New Orleans into America's consciousness because of the flooding and resultant chaos. The Mississippi gambling mecca of Biloxi also got a lot of attention because of the economic impact.

The disaster in Waveland, meanwhile, has gotten little attention even though it suffered many deaths and near-total destruction. Of the 6.8 square miles where homes once stood, there is nothing but splintered wood, mud, debris and hundreds of trees torn out by the roots.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/05/MNG6IEIMD71.DTL

[kittymyrib]

How about if you are fleeing to keep from being shot? I call that a refugee.

[bayourod]

" Texans are a special breed especially if you are republican!"

It feels strange to read that. Wasn't long ago when if someone told you they were a Texas Republican you knew you were talking to John Tower.

In 1978 Bill Clements was the first Republican elected to statewide office in over a hundred years.

When George Bush ran for Governor in 1994 there were no Republican elected state officeholders.

Today they are all Republicans, and Democrats don't even run anyone for most offices.

No wonder the Democrats and third party crowd hate him so much.

[AtticusX]

I am from a small rural hospital in central Mississippi. We are leaving at 2:30 AM on Tuesday taking two truckloads of supplies to the hospital in Hancock County. This will be our hospital's second trip to the coast since Saturday.

The hospital in Hancock County emailed us a list of things they needed, basic things that a hospital has to have to care for its patients: normal saline IVs, Lactated Ringer's IVs, Gentamycin IVs, IV Antibiotics of any sort, baby formula, antiobiotic cream, Pedialyte, PediaSure, anti-diarrheal meds, cortisone cream for rashes.

Our administrator was on the phone all morning, calling other hospitals in the Delta, telling them Hancock County hospital needed things, specific things.

By 2 PM today, we had everything we asked for - every single thing. What we or the other hospitals were short on or couldn't release, we went to WalMart and KMart and Fred's and bought - baby bottles, creams, lotions, hand sanitizers, bandaids, tape, bandages.

But every hospital gave everything they could spare, and several of them even delivered the supplies to our hospital in Indianola to save us time. Some hospitals sent cases and cases of IVs, some sent cases of baby formula, some sent antiobiotics, but every hospital that we contacted sent something.

It was so hard while we were in the stores - because everywhere you looked, you saw something that you know somebody needed. I felt guilty as I gulped down a Sierra Mist while in the checkout line; how could I ever again drink something cold without the memory of people suffering for lack of something to drink?

How can I ever complain about a dirty house, or dirty clothes to be washed, or grass that needs mowing after I have seen people who literally have nothing in this world left except the clothes on their backs?

How can I ever not be thankful that when I flip that little switch on the wall that my lights come on, that my air conditioner runs, that my freezer and refrigerator contain cold and frozen food?

Disasters happen. It's a fact. You can take it to the bank. But it's where push comes to shove, it's when the men are separated from the boys, the women from the girls, and the helpers from the apathetic. It's when we find out exactly what we are made of on the inside, how strong or weak our character is.

The scenes of total and utter devastation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast are horrible and heart-breaking at the same time. But the bottom line here is that the people of Mississippi need help.

And we're going to help. Because that's what we do in the South. We help our neighbors. It's not a trait unique to Southerners, but we do it and we do it well.

And I only hope that in 6 months I am still grateful for my dirty house, dirty clothes, overgrown lawn and house that needs painting. I don't want to not remember. We need to remember.

Be good to one another.

AtticusX

The first patient at the state-of-the-art mobile hospital designed for disasters was a puppy. The dog was dehydrated and brought in by hurricane survivors living in a tent city. But it wasn’t very long before suffering human patients found their way into the remarkable medical center set up in the parking lot of a flooded Kmart.

In the first 16 hours, doctors treated about 100 people: nasty head wounds, car crash victims, cuts from storm debris, dehydration.

With such demand, it is hard to imagine that the doctors weren’t allowed to set up shop in Louisiana, their original destination. They were stymied by red tape there.

“Mississippi stepped up and said if they don’t want you, we’ll take you,” Dr. Thomas Blackwell, medical director of the hospital and an emergency doctor at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., said Monday. He said the delay in getting deployed was a dispute with Louisiana over what they’d be allowed to do. Yet he held back criticism.

“If anybody thinks this is going to go smoothly, it doesn’t work that way. This is the biggest natural disaster we’ve ever had,” he said.

Now the futuristic $1.5 million emergency response hospital is getting its first real tryout since the Department of Homeland Security established it. The 113-bed hospital travels in a convoy that includes two 53-foot trailers. Equipment includes ultrasound, digital radiology, satellite Internet, and a full pharmacy, enabling doctors to do most types of surgery.

To get the hospital up and running, doctors cleared trees and other big debris by hand from the parking lot. They needed some bolts and decided to hunt for some in the Kmart, but when they opened it, all they found were bodies inside — more evidence of the deadly storm.

http://clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050905/NEWS0110/50905023/1260

[diogenes ghost]

"Fed Gov't not paying Texas one dime for it." Well, Tex, I wasn't casting asparagus at Texans, I said the were doing great. BUT, they WILL get a lot of bucks from Uncle Sam, as they should. To say otherwise is disingenuous at best.

[flowergirl]

My daughter's friend is an MP in the Ms nat'l gaurd....he has been in Biloxi, Gulfport, pass christian.etc..he said the damage is unbelievable..looks like a bomb..bareslabs.homes gone...bodies washing up on shore from the ocean.he was stunned when my daughter told her the media,etc. was blaming Bush

[RGSpincich]

I wish the media and even here on FR people would start talking and posting stories about the people in Mississippi, Alabama and anywhere else but New Orleans.

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/

Click one of the servers offered at the above link, then click "> clear, and make a general donation", that takes you to a screen where you can direct your donation to Alabama or Mississippi, or where ever....

[danamco]

I suppose no one ever heard of seeking refuge from a storm.


Is it any wonder? When you see these young mothers with children on tv most of the weigh 300-400lbs and can hardly move around by own power. It's incredible, I never seen so many fat women before in one place!??!

[used2BDem]

Blanc-o hasn't responded to anything. (certainly not CRIME in her state) Much less people dying.

[Reagangan1]

I'm still not sure what Blanco actually did to respond to Katrina. Perry asked for federal assistance in dealing with the crisis almost immediately. Blanco was still resisting federalization of Nat. Guard troops as late as Friday.
*******8

Governor Blanco's only contribution was to "cry" at the press breifings and tell people how "horrible" the tragedy was. Oh, and of course, resist "giving up authority to the feds", and later, pouting at a news conferece in Baton Rouge with the President after the President had taken her to the woodshed on Marine One.

[guschat]

not exactly right...

when bus was elected in 1994, there were actually 2 other statewide elected republicns.

one was then-agriculture commissioner rick perry, now governor perry.

[raybbr]

Thanks for the posts. It's nice to read some positive news without the bickering.

Ray