From: david gudmunsen (kroctec@btopenworld.com)
Date: Tue Sep 06 2005 - 20:09:34 PDT
Under the present circumstances I am sure most of us are glad to have non MV
postings from guys on the ground and close to the action. Plus the
oppotunity of giving our support in any way possible.
Royce,
Personal thanks for that posting to mil-veh forum and a very good
confirmation of the accuracy in excellent hour long documentary shown on the
main BBC TV channel in the UK last night (Tuesday).
My thoughts and prayers are with all you folks - the reportage that we have
all seen because this event has happened in about the most connected country
in the world also opens our perception on events such as the Asian Tsunami
(where much news was weeks and indeed months coming out) and other major
human catastrophies involving 10s of millions people and more. This in no
way diminishes what has happened in those southern states.
Once again thanks so much for your witness and practical Christianity.
Best regards from David Gudmunsen
on 9/7/05 01:04, Royce C Hayes at rc_hayes1@juno.com wrote:
>
> 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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