Mississippi Gulf Coast

The damage done to the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Katrina was devastating.

Here is a video showing
before and after shots in the Gulfport-Biloxi area.

Thanks to Seawitch for this video.

Mr. Responsibility

Seems like the scuzzbucket of the week last week has redeemed himself....a
little bit.

From the Times Picayune:
John Lyons Jr. has decided not to pursue his lawsuit against a Broadmoor man who said he rescued more than 200 residents from post-Katrina floodwaters after commandeering Lyons' boat.

Looks like Mr Lyons finally came to his senses and thought over how ridiculous and
self-serving his suit was. But he couldn't stop at that. He just had to say
"The big issue here is not the monetary damages that I incurred from the loss of the boat," he wrote. "It is about holding people responsible for their actions.

"Does a natural disaster give an individual the right to break into private property, take possessions of others, not return them and then have no responsibility to the rightful owner? If this becomes a precedent, then we, the citizens, will ultimately pay the price."

Lyons said he too was a victim of Hurricane Katrina and that he evacuated 10 people from a flooded home, including several elderly women and a young child.

"To complete this evacuation, I borrowed a pirogue and personally paddled these people eight blocks through fallen trees to dry ground. After numerous trips back and forth, when everyone was out and safe, I waded back through chest-deep floodwater to return the pirogue to the owner's home."

Isn't he special.

Weather

We've been blessed this week with a taste of low humidity (60% is low). It's been awesome. I even worked in my yard this morning before the sun got high in the sky. Cooler weather wakes us up. Makes us feel alive again. We didn't have much of this cooler weather last year, post Katrina. Here's a post that says it so much better than I can

Welcome back, Cap!!

Hubby and I went to eat at the newly reopened Captain Humble's restaurant last night.



It was very good. The restaurant has opened in a new location, just down the street from the old one. Unfortunately, Katrina ripped the roof off of the old building and ruined all of Cap's pictures from when he was a DJ at WRNO back in the 80's.

If you want generous poboys, come to Cap's. It's a small, nicely decorated restaurant in a convenient location. The food is delicious. If you're a fan of a big, fat, sloppy award winning roast beef poboy, check out Cap's.

To get your sandwiches to go, call 985-649-7801

While we were there, Cap was saying he wanted to open for Selene. Not knowing
much about mythology, I assumed he was talking about a Mardi Gras parade and thought (he's either early or late!). Didn't get it until I visited TravelingMermaid's blog today. Thanks for clearing that up, TM!!!

So we're boring

I'm having a difficult time in understanding what it is that some New Orleanians
don't like about the denizens north of Lake Ponchartrain.

Here's an example. Be sure to check out the comments.
Granted, we didn't receive the devastation the NOLA did from Katrina. Is that it?
Or is it that we're just downright boring? Is that a legitimate reason to
dislike us? Why the need to derogate us? Does our being boring offend them in some way?

Are they angry because the government failed them in so many ways? Well move over, kids,
you ain't alone.

80% of the homes were damaged by Katrina in the city of Slidell.

Here's more on what we've been through and where we are going.

I don't want to get into a pissing contest over who's suffered the most.
It doesn't matter.
What DOES matter is that we all SURVIVED Katrina.
Both southshore and northshore.
Like it or not, we're in this together.

We're both fighting insurance companies, power companies, contractors.
We're both trying to pick up the pieces and restart our lives.
We're both experiencing a rise in crime since Katrina.
We'll ALL have the horrendous memories of that storm for the rest of our lives.

People who live north of Lake Pontchartrain do so for their own reasons and needs,
just as people who live in "the city". Why is it so difficult for some to accept?

We're in this together, let's quit this infighting and get on with the battle.

Who cares?

Why is THIS news?

Scuzzbucket of the week

Driver who seated blacks at back of school bus to retire

9/6/2006, 7:18 a.m. CT

The Associated Press

COUSHATTA, La. (AP) — A northwestern Louisiana school bus driver who was suspended for seating black children in the back of her bus will be allowed to retire effective Oct. 4.

Deloris Davis, who will have been employed with the Red River Parish School District for 25 years on that date, offered her retirement, through her attorney, in a letter handed to Superintendent Kay Easley minutes before the start of Tuesday night's parish school board meeting meeting.

The board voted 4-3 to accept the retirement.

Iva Richmond, whose 14- and 15-year-old children were on the bus, said last month that her children had ridden with a black bus driver in previous years, but their bus assignment changed this year. When the new school year started, the white driver told them she had assigned them seats, with the black children at the back of the bus.

Richmond said she complained to a local principal, who told the driver that if any children were assigned to seats, all would have to be. The next week, the driver assigned black students to two seats in the back of the bus, Richmond said.

Board attorney Jon Guice said Davis had no record of previous reprimands. He also said that Easley investigated the complaints and believes Davis' actions were not motivated by race. He said Davis contended that the nine black children were the last ones to get on the bus on her route.

Some at the Tuesday meeting were unhappy with the decision to allow Davis to retire. The crowd overflowed the 49-seat meeting room and when the decision was announced to those standing outside, it was met with shouts such as "Fire the superintendent" and "Do we pay for her to retire?"

___

Information from: Alexandria Daily Town Talk, http://www.thetowntalk.com

Slidell surviving...

Three links, if you're interested....

Slidell looks back one year after Katrina


PTSD in Post-K Slidell


Slidell's Police Department braved Katrina's 6-8 foot storm surge.

Kudo's to NOLA bloggers

I'd like to congratulate several New Orleans' bloggers mentioned in an upcoming article in The Nation.

Taken from the above link, The Nation says
The most comprehensive list is currently posted at thinknola.com/wiki/List_of_New_Orleans_bloggers.

Most bloggers offer political commentary, on-the-ground reports of life in New Orleans, and links to other bloggers. The most insightful include:

Your Right Hand Thief (Oyster)
People Get Ready,(Schroeder)
Suspect Device (Greg Peters)
The American Zombie (Dambala)
The G Bitch Spot (G)
Gentilly Girl (Morwen)
Library Chronicles
Ashley Morris

All great bloggers, these folks are passionate about New Orleans and her recovery. I admire their tenacity and their individual points of view and their courage for hanging in there.

Neither a New Orleans native nor a resident, I still possess a deep love for the city and all the beauty she offers.

I'm a Slidell resident. Slidell is a quiet bedroom community 25 miles northeast of NOLA. We're not glamorous like "The City", but we here are true southerners. We experienced Katrina with both wind and flood damage. From the city's webpage The Weather Service reports that Slidell had sustained winds of 176 mph and gusts of 190+ mph during Hurricane Katrina. In addition, Slidell was hit by a 23' - 26' storm surge that devastated much of the city.

There are still FEMA trailers all over Slidell - 1 year Post K. We are recovering, but - like the rest of the Gulf Coast - We are still not okay

Please remember that New Orleans is not the only Katrina victim. There are thousands of us from Mobile, Alabama to the Louisiana-Texas border.

Deepest, heartfelt thanks go out to all who came to our aid in the past year. You cannot know how much all of you have helped. I still cry when I think of the outpouring of care that was sent this way one year ago. I cry tears of appreciation for our fellow citizens of the world.

Go to the thinknola wiki for the full list of New Orleans area bloggers. Great reading and insight there.








Technorati Profile

Recovery Ignorance

Damabala gives us prime example of the widespread problem of "recovery ignorance" that exists in this country in this post.

I truely wish more people would see When the Levees Broke to realize the breadth of Katrina's destruction. Some people believe that the recuperation should be over. "I mean, it's been a year...." is the attitude often heard outside the Gulf South.

"You had Mardi Gras, you must be back to normal" is another misinterpretation of why we had carnival .

No matter how hard you try, you can't change what people think without educatin' them. There are A LOT of people who need educating out there.

As everyone from Katrina's footprint will tell you, you cannot understand the size and scope of what has happened down here without being here . You need to smell it, see it first hand.

It will take years for this area to recover. New Orleans is having a hard time getting back on their feet The Mississippi gulf coast is coming back business-wise. There still are a lot of people who need real homes to live in.

Initially forgotton Pearlington is coming back .

If you want to compare recovery between NOLA and Mississippi's Gulf Coast, I'd say the main reason our neighbors to the east are coming back faster is the fact that they don't have Ray Nagin as a "leader". He's a pretty crazy sonofabitch.

Here is a great interactive map detailing comeback struggles of some New Orleans' businesses. Containing audio and video experiences, I think it's worth checking out.

Katrina's path affected Mississippi differently than NOLA in that New Orleans drowned where Mississippi was just flat wiped out.

Again, the only way people "not from here" who question the recovery are going to understand the enormousness of Katrina's wrath is through education. I started this blog and my Katrina Webpage to do just that.

Here are some good places to start:

Katrina One Year Later Essays and Epilogues

NPR's article on one year later Worth a look.

The Washington Post gives us a photo essay of the last year down here.

The Gulf Coast news Katrina Photos Bear in mind, folks that these are NOT pictures of isolated destruction. This destruction happened ALL OVER. These are photos of the norm.



"Having opinions without knowledge is not of much value; not knowing the difference between them is a positive indicator of ignorance."
-- Diane Ravitch