Katrina barely affected inland Mississippi, but many got aid

[question everything]

Katrina barely affected inland Mississippi, but many got aid

U.S. Attorney's Office checking on 1,000 fraud reports

By Eric Lipton
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

November 20, 2005

JACKSON, Miss. – When the federal government and the nation's largest disaster relief group reached out a helping hand after Hurricane Katrina blew through Jackson, Miss., tens of thousands of people grabbed it.

But in giving out $62 million in aid, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross overlooked a critical fact: The storm was hardly catastrophic here, 160 miles from the coast. The only damage sustained by most of the nearly 30,000 households receiving aid was spoiled food in the freezer.

The fact that at least some relief money has gone to those perceived as greedy, not needy, has set off recriminations in this poor, historic capital where the payments of up to $2,358 set off spending sprees on jewelry, guns and electronics.

Though a majority of the money appears to have been given out legally, the U.S. Attorney's Office is investigating at least 1,000 reports of fraud, including accusations that people lied about claims of damage or where they lived. State and local officials are criticizing FEMA and the Red Cross for doling out money without safeguards, but they also blame their fellow citizens.

(snip)


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051120/news_1n20katrina.html

[babylonsister]

1. The MS repug senator who sucked the

blivet's privates might have something to do with this.

Nothing is more surprising to me than how inept my government handled this major horror, and how many people will be affected for years to come.

Global warming? What will happen next year?

[Zhade]

2. It still shocks me...

...to suddenly realize, from time to time, "there is no New Orleans anymore!"

I fear we are witnessing the shattering of America.

[KamaAina]

11. The reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated

a smaller city than the one we knew, 'tis true, but still umistakably N'Awlins, especially in unflooded areas from Uptown through the French Quarter and Marigny.

Local news available at:

http://www.wwltv.com
http://www.nola.com (annoying registration that asked me for my ZIP code again)

Rebuilding board with at least 2 DUers:
http://nola.us

World's best music streaming at:
http://www.wwoz.org

Listings of everything under the sun, jobs included:

http://neworleans.craigslist.org

Hoping we both get back in someday soon!

[Zhade]

12. I certainly hope so!

Nawlins is a wonderful city.

[WCGreen]

3. HAley Barbour... The former GOP national chair

and now the Mississippi Governor....

[No Exit]

4. So Jackson wasn't blown over by the hurricane.

And I don't know if anyone there got any money to which they were not entitled.

What I do know is that 2 weeks after the hurricane the people of Jackson were running schools, businesses, etc., on skeleton staffs, because there wasn't enough gasoline to go around. Many or most of them were without power for quite a while.

I don't have any animosity towards them.

Meanwhile, still inland but further south, people in the Pearl River area did have major wind damage from the storm. They were without power for approximately 3 weeks. Those who could evacuated north and were stuck away from home for weeks. Roads were impassable, even interstates were closed. So they couldn't go home even when they wanted to.

If our treasury can spend like a drunken sailor on the death march that is Iraq, I don't see why the drunken sailor couldn't drop a little cash into some actual parts of the United States that suffered--even if their suffering didn't come close to what happened to coastal Mississippi, New Orleans, and the Cajun country.

I've seen much worse wastes of our tax dollars.

UNTIL THE CORPORATOCRACY AND ITS CURRENT ABETTORS IN WASHINGTON ARE PROSECUTED FOR THE TRILLIONS THEY'VE STOLEN, I REFUSE TO GET UPSET ABOUT ORDINARY CITIZENS WHO MAY HAVE STOLEN A FEW THOUSAND DOLLARS EACH.

[DrRang]

6. 400 Miles North Was a Mess

I went to a small Mississippi town just 15 miles below the Tennessee border right after Katrina, and trees were down, power had been off for a day and a half, and the town was full of Katrina refugees. And that is 240 miles north of Jackson, so don't be too quick to pooh-pooh what people in Jackson have gone through. Do you really think Haley Barbour is going to put himself out for poor African Americans in Jackson?

[No Exit]

7. Did you even read my post?

I was not "pooh-poohing" what people in Jackson have gone through. QUITE THE OPPOSITE.

I live less than 400 miles north of New Orleans. Trees were down, some electricity was off, etc.

And in answer to your last question, no, of course Haley Barbour couldn't care less about poor blacks in Jackson. Nor, IMO, does he care about whites in Jackson (or anywhere)--unless they have big bulging pocketbooks full of money.

[losdiablosgato]

9. I have a friend who lives outside Jackson Miss

His house was damaged, he lost power for the better part of a week, and he lost two trees. The whole state got hit.

[pitohui]

15. thank you, no exit

i saw terrible damage for hundreds of miles, it was chilling

how dare they rewrite history like this

the thieves are halliburton and dick cheney, not grandma trying to buy a damn generator and some gas to fuel it during 90-degree plus weather

[Hekate]

5. It's W's personal friendship with Hayley Barbour that does it

Doncha think? The governor of Louisiana couldn't even get Bush to take her call, but when he finally showed up in the Gulf region it was to schmooze for the cameras with his good ol' friend Hayley, and talk about sitting on the soon-to-be-restored front porch of Hayley's *vacation* home.

It was so touching it brought a tear to my eye. :sarcasm:

Hekate

[SensibleOne]

8. My 2 cents...an evacuation story...

My mother & sister live(d) in Pass Christian, Ms. 10 houses in from the coast. They evacuated to Hattiesburg, Ms. 90 miles north for Katrina. I didn't know this until the morning after Katrina, when I got a brief call from a Red Cross shelter in Hattiesburg saying my mom & sister were there. A few days later, after seeing the devastation on TV, I had to go find my mother, there was no way to contact her. My hubby & I left in our Ford Truck, determined to find them & get them out of there. We were almost to Miss. (2 days later) when I was finally able to reach someone in Hattiesburg on a cell phone, it was a local Red Cross worker and the phone number was given to me by the local newspaper in Hattiesburg (couldn't believe they were even open!) This lovely woman took my cell number and promised to do what she could to find my mom & sister and would call me back. She did, a few hours later and told me she had found them personally at such & such shelter in Hattiesburg. By then, we had made it to Little Rock, AR. We loaded the truck up with full gas cans for the drive in to Ms. knowing there was none down south. Driving into Ms., you could see the damage from Katrina beginning before we even got to Jackson. In Jackson, signs & trees were down and there was almost no gas. The lines to get gas (which we waited in, not wanting to use our spare gas until the coast, if needed, which had absolutely no power or gas.) were over an hour long. Local police were keeping order and directing people to the next open gas pump. As an aside...we happened to have made this road trip when gas hit an all time high.. in some places $4 per gallon. The cheapest gas on the entire trip was in Jackson, at $2.49/gal (I took notes.) We reached mom & sister 8 days after Katrina and got them out of a shelter that was meant for no more than 500 people. There we over 2,000. The conditions were pretty bad, but I believe the Red Cross were doing what they could with the situation. Also, many of the workers at the shelter had ridden out the storm with my family, at its height winds were over 100 mph in Hattiesburg and the town clearly had tons of damage. We drove into Gulfport to check my mom's townhouse that was at that moment in escrow (she was selling before Katrina.) We left her old beat up car there...it barely made the trip north. We brought mom & sis back to CA with us. The got a car here and drove 2 weeks later because the boss was saying get back or lose your jobs! They did, and now....my mom & sis live in a trailer supplied by FEMA, the townhouse in Gulfport stood and escrow went through. My mom's house in Pass Christian is gone, absolutely demolished. Her insurance is saying they aren't paying cuz of flood (not wind.) FEMA gives about $22k to rebuild. Good luck. She's in the process of deciding to leave there forever. I think she will. It's horrible there...still. A once beautiful waterfront is totalled. It's all very depressing & my mom cries a lot. I want here to come out here (CA) with me. It's too much for a 70 year old lady. I think many of the people in Jackson lost stuff. Maybe not all, but from seeing firsthand, there was damage there. They are entitled to relief. My 2 cents & story. Sorry so long.

[SW FL Dem]

10. Same thing in FL

There was some damage here on the west coast, but most people just lost trees. FEMA was handing out food stamps to anyone who showed up without checking their financial status or asking for proof of loss. I know of many wealthy Repugs who constantly bitch about the poor getting too much from the government who were first in line to get those food stamps and to ask for reimbursement for their generators and chain saws.

[agincourt]

13. Political use of government agencies.

Mississippi has a repug governor and W wanted him to look good, so they got excess aid. Louisiana had a democrat for governor and W wanted her to get the shaft. This criminal in power never stops campaigning; with our tax dollars.

[pitohui]

14. easy to sit there in new york & say jackson was barely affected

i was in jackson during katrina and i can guarantee that this characterization is completely untrue

97 percent loss of electricity and sewer, and because they don't normally see these kind of winds tree-killing houses down all over the places, the state police would not allow us to stay in jackson because of the conditions

there was no gas or electric to be had for at least a week

there may have been some abuses but i'm guessing most of the money went for generators and chain-saws, the rest went for gas to fuel the generators -- if you could buy gas at all

i saw crushed buildings and even a crushed 18 wheeler as far away as meridian, mississippi

if some people lied, prosecute those people, but don't sit there and look me in the eye and tell me that there wasn't serious damage in a town where i rode out the hurricane and saw it for myself

they really think we're stupid, don't they