Re: OT: followup on New Orleans - disgraceful

Anthony Fremont wrote:
>
> "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>
> > I had two hurricanes pass over my home last year. I am tired of the
> > whining about how slow things are moving. Things were not as bad as
> New
> > Orleans, and very little could be done the first few days. They were
> > spent cutting downed trees and trying to repair the major power
> > transmission lines. It was three weeks before the lights flickered
> back
>
> So that explains why helicopters couldn't bring in water/food when they
> came to airlift people from their roofs. How much water did you have in
> your house?


Have you ever worked around a helicopter? Tell me! If you have a
load of food on the copter and you see someone who needs immediate help
do you continue on to deliver the cargo and come back to help them, or
do you dump it in the water and complete the rescue. Oh, yeah! There is
no rescue equipment aboard a cargo copter because it was removed to let
you haul the cargo.

I had no water damage, but two homes near me were crushed by falling
trees. Another burnt to the ground from hurricane damage.



> > to life, then died again a few hours later. Another week passed
> before
> > they came on again. There was no ice or bottled water for almost a
> > week, but the people here had the brains to stockpile a week's worth
> of
> > non perishable food and water.
>
> Did it ever occur to you that perhaps many people did, but with 12' of
> water in their house it was a moot action?


Whatever you say, jackass. A lot of people were trapped in their
homes for days. They would have been able to have water and food while
waiting for rescue.


> > I am tired of people like the Mayor of New Orleans and Jesse
> Jackson
> > trying to play the race card. Everyone in the affected area had time
> to
> > prepare to either leave town or to gather some food and water. It
>
> Really? If someone doesn't have transportation, how would they have
> left?


Not all could have left, but a lot of them refused to leave and had
the means to do so. Every person that left would have been one less to
have to rescue, feed, or bury.

> > doesn't take a lot for a week, at survival levels. The problem is the
> > party attitude, and that they have had so may near misses that they
> > refused to take anything serious about the coming disaster.
>
> Why didn't you evacuate your home when you knew that a huricane was
> coming? Why did you risk life and limb by staying there. Who cleared
> the streets for you?


I didn't have transportation for the first one, and it wasn't a
mandatory evacuation. (Hurricane Francis) I was blessed in that the
only damage i suffered was a bent top rail on my chain link fence from a
tree limb.

I did leave my home for Hurricane Jeanne. I had finally scraped up
enough money to repair the truck and that evacuation was mandatory. I
was at a special needs shelter a mile from my home, till it was closed
down. It was the local high school that was built to double as a
hurricane shelter. I had to go there because of the medications I was
on, and having to walk with a cane. The county wanted to make sure that
people had the medicine they needed, and that it was taken on schedule.

My subdivision was cleared by the residents because the crews and
trucks brought in to clear away downed trees were working to remove
tress that were blocking the repair of the main distribution systems,
not individual streets. I can't handle a chain saw anymore so I dragged
the medium sized limbs that I could grab with one hand onto piles on the
sides of the road. We worked for days to clean up the roads enough that
a fire truck or ambulance could get down the streets if they had to.

> > Jesse Jackson was running his big mouth that there was no planning.
> > Where was his fleet of chartered buses? Where are his thousands of
> > tractor trailer loads of food, ice, water and medicine? Oh, yeah, he
> > never does anything except bitch about what others don't do.
>
> And exactly what are you doing now?


A donation to the Red Cross is all I can do at this time. I would be
in the way trying to get around on a cane and unable to lift things. I
was recently declared 100% disabled, and as much as I hate to admit it,
I can barely take care of myself anymore. The donation will make it
very difficult to pay my bills for the next couple months. I would
donate clothing and household items, but after four years of being
unable to work there isn't anything left that I don't use for myself. I
need clothes myself, and it would be an insult to send things that
should be used to wash a car with. My disability pension is under the
poverty level and I used all my savings in the time I have been unable
to work so there is nothing left to give, I got my pension in January
and so far i have been able to save about $60 after paying the bills.

How about you? Have you done anything other than bitch and moan about
what others have or haven't done?

> > As far as the mayor, why didn't he make the evacuation mandatory?
> > Why didn't he fill warehouses full of food and water? Why didn't he
> > tell FEMA that he was using their convention center to house refugees
> so
> > they could bring in supplies? Oh, yeah. They claim that it wouldn't
> > matter because they were black and no one would listen!
>
> Given that CNN made it clear that people were in the convention center,
> how come FEMA didn't notice? Who gave the orders to move people there?


I don't know what CNN did, or didn't report because I can't afford
standard cable service. Places designated as shelters should have been
made know to FEMA and the Red Cross before the storm struck, not after
the fact.


> > IOW, its another case of passing the buck and shirking
> > responsibility, as usual.
> >
> > The electric utilities, phone companies, and all other utilities
> > should just tell people that they WILL NEVER PROVIDE SERVICE to the
> > flooded area. Not for any reason, ever again. There should be no
>
> Since your power was off for days, perhaps they should have told you the
> same. What about the idiots building on cliffs, the sides of mountains,
> or earthquake faults that are GUARANTEED to move?


My home is not in a flood plain, on a hillside or any other place a
home should not be built. As far as the electricity being off, it was
almost a month total for the two hurricanes. In fact, they just
replaced the last damaged utility pole from Hurricane Frances on my
street a couple months ago, and several homes in this subdivision still
have tarps on their roof lines because there is still a shortage of
shingles and qualified workers.

> > federal money to rebuild on the current site, and insurance companies
> > should not have to pay out if someone insists on staying. If someone
> > insists on rebuilding there will be no businesses to provide jobs, no
> > grocery or convenience stores for supplies allowed to rebuild in the
> now
> > flooded area. The levee facing the gulf should be torn down and a new
> > city built on higher and drier land where this can never happen again.
>
> I'm sorry, but I believe you are being incredibly short sited and
> massively holier than thou. Just like Larkin.


Short sighted? I don't think so. I have tried to keep at least two
weeks worth of non perishables and water on hand after I spent five days
in a coma with the flu in the late 70's. I was at home in Ohio in
February with no heat, the water lines were frozen and I lost over 20
pounds of muscle tissue while in the coma. It was six months before I
could walk the ten blocks to the grocery store and home while carrying a
half full bag of groceries. It was over a year before I had 70% or so of
my strength back. I was never able to recover the rest of it. In the
past I have helped a lot of people with emergencies and I regret that I
am no longer able to do as much. I have done emergency home repairs
for people, fixed their cars and helped with other emergencies. I also
refused to take any payment for any of that work. I was taught as a
child that you have to help your neighbors. That is why I started the
project referred to in my SIG file.

I've been there, done that, and nearly died several times in the
process so don't preach your *** to me.

If you don't like my attitude, just kill file me.

--
Link to my "Computers for disabled Veterans" project website deleted
after threats were telephoned to my church.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
.