From: Royce C Hayes (rc_hayes1@juno.com)
Date: Tue Sep 06 2005 - 18:04:53 PDT
Subject: From the hurricane, close to home...
For those of you who have only the TV and the media propaganda for info
on
the hurricane, I have a little first hand news...
My neighbor and best friend's whole family lived in St Bernard Parish,
Louisiana. It is no more. They have nothing left. The American spirit
remains undaunted, however, and people down here are doing what we always
do
- taking care of each other...
The first people came in a group of five, because they thought the wind
might get bad, and they had trees around their mobile home. Usually, they
just go to her mom's house and "ride it out". This is the attitude of SO
MANY people there. It is where the famed "hurricane party" comes from.
Liz's sister NEVER leaves, and stayed in Slidell for this one. They are
all
fine, but a tree fell on the home of her husband's partner and best
friend
since high school. He didn't make it. His family is with them now. The
communications has been the worst problem. We just heard from a niece who
stayed. She said she was lying on the sofa when the water bashed in the
back door, ripping up the carpet. They were in the attic before they even
knew what was happening. They stayed on the interstate a day or so, when
a
nurse picked them up and took them to Baton Rouge, where she was finally
able to call her mom and let her know she was ok... yesterday.
The second group of fourteen, I think, came Thursday. By this time, the
word was out, and churches and individuals were bringing everything from
food to toilet paper, clothes galore, bedding, dishes, whatever you need
they all say, just let us know! We can keep a person or two if you need
us
to... But my friend's husband's boss has rented a house for them to live
in. He'll pay the mortgage for as long as they are there. He has since
found four more houses, and if we don't need them all, "just check out a
refugee center, and find someone who does." This is a job he started a
month
ago... We are waiting on the next group of seventeen, and we can't get
their
cell phones. They were in Birmingham, but they heard there were jobs in
Texarkana, so they went there. But there weren't, so they were coming
here... We don't know when, they have to call us, when they are able.
The Baptist churches in my town of less than 10,000 sent their cooking
unit
Tuesday. They can feed 10,000 folks a day from that. The Churches of
Christ here are sending two tractor trailer loads of stuff today. Some
EMTs
from the hospital went down Wednesday with medical supplies. Darryl
Worley,
a country music artist who is from here, rented the rooms at the State
Park
Inn for people to stay in. A local realtor rented the ones at the Comfort
Inn, and ordinary people are opening homes, cabins, and pool houses to
total
strangers... They don't want to donate to the Red Cross, after the people
from 9/11. They are finding other ways. The PEOPLE of this country are
responding, and the government is accepting their help. That should tell
you how big it is.
These people thought they were going home in a day or two. Maybe close to
a
week at the MOST! They are so used to hurricanes that it is just kind of
like a bad thunderstorm to many of them. They left a weeks worth of food
and water in a high spot in the house for the dog, and the birds, in a
couple cases, one brought the dog along. They just had no concept. These
homes are now almost under water. They found a picture of their street
last
night, and there were rooftops showing, "so maybe there is still some
hope!"
They have been flooded out over, and over, and over, and they just
replace,
clean up, whatever they have to do and get back to normal. An in-law of
one
of my neighbor's nieces said night before last that after six major
overhauls, she just wasn't sure how many more times she could do it...
Their home is gone, confirmed, she has her wedding pictures, but not the
rest of them, of the kids, of her parents. She brought her jewelry, her
wedding pictures, a few clothes. Ever think what you'd take if you had a
few hours to pack and only a sedan size car to take it in? But her kids
and
grandkids are all safe, and a hospital in Jackson insisted on doing an
ultrasound on her son's pregnant wife. She cried when she found out it
was a
boy and they were gonna name him after her husband. He appeared healthy
and
strong, continuing in a normal pregnancy in an abnormal world now. They
are
staying with strangers who took them in, somewhere in Mississippi.
The TV says we (the government) aren't responding. People, this is THE
biggest thing we have had in this country since the War Between the
States... None of us have a clue. They are not showing the thousands of
bodies floating in the parishes on our TV, but they apparently are in
Turkey. A friend's friend from Turkey emailed him and said the rest of
the
world likens this to the Tsunami... We live in a world of instant
gratification. This stuff can't just be done overnight! Our first
responders, at least in the South, are usually our neighbors, but the
neighbors were all gone. The neighbors are now Texas, North MS, North AL,
and Tennessee... And we are responding. But this is no racial issue, it
is
just that there wasn't time to get the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of poor
blacks,
AND poor whites, AND poor other ethnicities onto public transportation,
which is what they depend on, and take them out of there. And where would
they have taken them? How long did it take to evacuate the Superdome?
That
was only about 100,000. And the people were shooting at the rescuers even
then... The storm was upon them. It was safer they thought to stay, than
to go, again, where??? Drop food and water into a place where people are
killing each other over a better spot in the Superdome? Can you imagine
what the reaction to a drop would have been, with no one but the
exhausted,
starving, dehydrating New Orleans Police to keep law and order in 100,000
people? They would have rioted, killing MANY more.
The military, the National Guard, the rescue organizations know what they
are doing. They have plans for a purpose... The TV as usual, gives us the
sensational side of the story. The true racists, who keep their people in
poverty for their own political reasons, put their spin on it. The
journalists fight for stories. If they can get in, why aren't they
rescuing
people? The drug addicts are in withdrawals, the militant are trying to
take over whatever they can, the evil are prevailing, people are taking
what
they have to to survive, and fighting over what there is. The
opportunists
are taking their opportunities where they can... This is huge y'all. No,
the response wasn't acceptable to a country where we get what we want
when
we want it, where we probably waste enough food each day to feed the
people
in New Orleans, where we spend money on bottled water because it is
trendy,
where we throw out clothes we are tired of, where we cut holes in clothes
to
sell them! In a country where my dogs live better than many children,
where
a major crisis to our kids is not having a TV in their bedrooms, the
government's response may not have been acceptable in its timing, but it
was
pretty orderly, it DID come, the President DID go to the front and walk
among the people, and it WILL continue until the rest of us are probably
complaining about it because of the tax burden. In the words of some good
folks down here, "Y'all, we ain't seen nothin' yet..."
I'm gonna get ready and go to church now, to thank them for all they've
done. And to thank God for all I have, that my family is safe, and that I
am doing what I can to help. Sorry for the political message, but I hope
it helps get things in perspective for some of you. No, not really sorry.
I am proud of this country. I am proud to live here. I am proud of my
God.
I am glad to serve Him. And I have NEVER been prouder to be part of
Hardin
County, Tennessee! GOD BLESS AMERICA! God Bless you, EACH AND EVERY ONE!
Streetie
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