Scuzzbuckets of the Week

MESA, Arizona Oct. 3 (UPI) -- The sight of an old man being hit by a truck in Arizona touched off a feeding frenzy among witnesses who allegedly stole the dying victim's groceries.
sick sick sick sick sick people.

Thru Childrens' Eyes

Katrina Through the Eyes of Children is a sampling of the cathartic art that has been created in a collaborative effort between the children who live in Renaissance Village, (in Baker, Louisiana)

currently the largest FEMA trailer site in the country, and teams of registered art therapists who have been working with them since October 2005.

An eye opener for us all, this project brings home what the children affected by the storm were/are feeling. It wasn't just what was shown on CNN. Katrina profoundly touched everyone in the Gulf Coast area. And only the future will show us the long term affects of this disastrophe on the kids.

Related link:
Two Years After the Storm

Farewell, Sheriff Lee

Harry Lee has passed.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff was born in New Orleans and passed away October 1, 2007 from leukemia. Say what you want about him, but he never pulled and P.C. bullshit like most politicians do. He called it how he saw it. You'll be missed, Harry.

Voice of the Wetlands Festival

The fourth annual Voice of the Wetlands fest will be held October 12-14 at Southdown Plantation in Houma. Here's a link to the flyer

The Voice of the Wetlands' president is none other than Louisiana native Tab Benoit.

This very talented blues guitarist started the VOW in 2003 to bring attention to the vanishing coastline of Louisiana. Besides the fantastic line up of music, there will be flights over the Louisiana wetlands available for $35 per person in groups of 3.
To take advantage of this special rate, please call Hammond's Air Service (985) 876-0584 or you can click here for more contact information.

Hubby & I will be in attendance on the 13th where we look forward to seeing the VOW Allstars, featuring Tab Benoit, Jumpin' Johnny Sansone, Anders Osborne, Louisiana's "rockin fiddler" Waylon Thibodeaux and Big Chief of the Mardi Gras Indian tribe, the Golden Eagles Monk Boudreaux

So come on down to Houma and enjoy the music and get educated on the Wetlands.

Walker Website

I checked out a website of someone who left a comment on this blog. She's from Buras, Louisiana.

Her website details what became of Buras and all of Plaquemine Parish during and after Katrina. She also provides links to the different areas of the Parish and how they were affected and how they are recovering, from Industry to Schools to Agriculture and Livestock. This site is definitely worth a visit if you want to know what's going on down south of New Orleans. It's an extremely comprehensive website.

Plaquemines Parish is eroding away thanks to the barrier islands of Louisiana eroding at an extreme rate. In places up to 100 feet of shoreline are disappearing every year..

messenger

Go here to create your own.

A lesson on the Wetlands

Hat tip to Varg

What will it take?

We Could Be Famous: Embarrassing Dysfunction in N.O. Criminal Justice System

Nagin

Chris Rose has written an article about the in-name-only mayor of New Orleans.


Here's a little taste
The truth is, I don't know what one man can do to fix the problems around here. And that's the rub; we never will know what it would have been like to have an effective leader who unified the community for a common goal and took our fight to those who screw us over, someone who said: This is all wrong.


Right after the storm there was so much hope about bringing the city back. More than 2 years later those hopes have vanished.

As Chris writes
.....we can pretty much rely on our mayor to say or do something of such enormous folly at least once a month that it has become routine and we have now come to accept it as part of the New Normal around here, that's just the way it is


Sad, so sad.

Highway 90

Hubby & I took our monthly tour down Highway 90 to assess its progress in recovering from Katrina.

In the small neighborhood of Venetian Isles there's a building boom, but you wouldn't know it by this section.
Venetian Isles Fire Department is still working without a building.

September 2007

September 2006

Katrina Cottage

There's a lot that appears to be used by FEMA as a storage place for used FEMA trailers. We spotted this Katrina Cottage sitting there. Seems like this will be the replacement for those problem-plagued FEMA travel trailers used by thousands of Katrina victims.

About a mile away from the FEMA site is a boardwalk for viewing a small section of Bayou Sauvage, a national wildlife refuge that runs parallel to Highway 90.


We hadn't stopped here for quite a while so we decided to check it out.

We found this "shrine" dedicated to someone nicknamed "Zeke the Alligator Savage". Very interesting.
It's heartening to see nature coming back. While this area was laid flat by the storm, you can see the progress it's making in these two shots


September 2007

March 2006
Over in Lake Catherine the rebuilding progress is finally in full swing. Camps and homes are being rebuilt using updated materials and processes.

This camp has a steel structure

This "camp" is about three times the size of my house!!!

Here the remnants of someone's home


At Chef Pass we saw this big old shrimp boat

The new Rigolets bridge is progressing nicely

Get away

dreams of Maine