STILL NEEDING HELP - HANCOCK CO. MISSISSIPPI

Latest news from: KATRINA VOLUNTEERS - HANCOCK CO., MS

CHRISTMAS IS COMING - HELP IS NEEDED - 62 Days Until Christmas:
There will be a toy distribution at our facility in early December.
If your family is in need of assistance contact: (601) 795-9979.
We will need assistance organizing the Christmas toy give-away.
If you would like to adopt a child in Hancock County for Christmas, or an entire family - we critically need your assistance.



We are needing the following help from local volunteers:
Assistance for intakes at the office on Thursdays from 1-4pm
Assistance mowing lawns for elderly citizens on fixed incomes who can not mow the lawns themselves.
We need assistance finishing homes for elderly and disabled in Harrison, Hancock, Pearl River County, and Stone County.
Small jobs both skilled and unskilled. You can make a difference in someones life today.



We are looking for:
* To purchase a used riding lawnmower
* Donation of Propane stove
* Donation of Fridge
* Donation of Freezer
* Donation of leftover building supplies
* Looking for volunteers to visit "shut-ins" and isolated elderly residents
* Looking for volunteers to assist getting clients to appointments who can not drive or do not have a vehicle

PRES. OBAMA SKIPS MISSISSIPPi

President Obama is bypassing Mississippi on his Gulf Coast visit
Hattiesburg - WDAM

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I am asking: WHY is the President skipping out on Mississippi, where the EYE of KATRINA made landfall?!

The WDAM story, which came across Twitter, is full of long-winded excuses made by Obama's team, but I say there are NO REASONS that he should not have come to Mississippi and made a tour from Pearlington to Pascagoula!!! Nothing short of that should have been No. 1 on his so-called Katrina visit to "The Gulf Coast!"

No amount of telling the President what Katrina did to Mississippi can replace the importance and profundity of actually walking through the results of Katrina!

It seems that Katrina only made New Orleans worthy of a visit from the President. And it still seems like most of the nation continues to believe that "New Orleans" and "Gulf Coast" are one and the same.

Sad indeed!

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posted via iPhone

OCEAN SPRINGS - RECOVERY IN ST. ANDREWS: SLIM TO NONE

WLOX story - RECOVERY IN ST. ANDREWS

When I read this story, I remembered yet again how I felt after the landfall of Katrina.

I remember immediately after Katrina hit the Mississippi Coast that I was focusing on Ocean Springs as that was the place I'd fallen in love with in Nov. 2004. In trying to get any and all information on damages that I could, I remember that St. Andrews was very badly hit. I would see it mentioned numerous times in posts to message boards. Those days were horrible when communications were down and extremely limited. Save for two people in particular in Ocean Springs, I wouldn't have found out quite so much about my dream place. They even drove around and gave me reports of damage! And me, a stranger. Friends indeed.

With dreams of moving to the beloved "OS" in 2007, Katrina wiped that dream-slate clean! Housing issues: the ensuing rising costs of rents, home prices, and insurance was just not what I had "dreamed of." Of course, I know that is true even more so for those who lived there to begin with and who have been so diligently trying to rebuild their lives. My dream is of little importance compared to their needs.

St. Andrews is just one of many areas that still needs rebuilding and re-populated. In a few months, it will be 4 years since the infamous destruction of so much of our beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast and areas inland as well. The snail's pace just seems to keep on creeping along though, and hopefully, one day recovery will be a reality.

Those "two people" I mentioned:
Ocean Springs/Katrina - Lonny D. Root
Hurricane Watchdog - Lisa Wesson
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Ocean Springs

Downtown OS- Washington Ave.

The Ruskin Live Oak

Night Time at Inner Harbor - Egrets Roosting

BAY ST. LOUIS- NEEDS GROCERY STORE

WLOX story - BAY ST. LOUIS LEADERS OK FUNDING FOR GROCERY STORE STUDY

On my trips to Bay St. Louis and Waveland, I found that the only place to buy grocery items was at Wal-Mart in Waveland. It's not that long of a drive, if you're already close in to town, but it's quite a hassle with all of the traffic.

If you think about it, it seems quite pathetic if your very own city doesn't have its own grocery store. For one thing, I'd assume that it would mean loss of taxes to the city itself. Certainly puts a strain on time management issues for the Bay folks when they need groceries. Perhaps this new "study" will confirm the need.

POPP'S FERRY BRIDGE - UPDATE

Barges drifted to left of the draw section, According to city engineers two 90-foot sections and eight pilings were destroyed in the accident. The Popp's Ferry is 3,983.5 feet or three-quarters of a mile long. (photo from Coast Guard)

MAYOR WANTS "STATE OF EMERGENCY"

On Monday, March 22, Biloxi Mayor A. J. Holloway will ask the City Council to declare a state of emergency due to the barge collision that closed the bridge early Friday morning. Such a declaration will make clear that this bridge is of utmost importance to the city and that repairs need to get underway as soon as possible.

In the Biloxi Newsletter that I subscribe to, Bmail, the mayor stated, “I want to count the repair time in days, not weeks or months, and I'd like to get that bridge back up and running in 60 days or less.” He said that the "city plans to follow the same repair plan that saw the storm-ravaged Popp's Ferry bridge repaired less than four months after Katrina."

Holloway continued by saying, “This bridge is critical to our day-to-day travels, and we're not too far away from the June 1 opening of hurricane season so I want a state of emergency declaration to let our state and federal partners know the enormity of this situation.”

POPP'S FERRY BRIDGE HIT BY BARGE

BILOXI'S POPP'S FERRY BRIDGE WILL BE CLOSED FOR MONTHS –

South end of bridge was hit by a barge this morning at 7:30. The draw section was up for the 8 connected barges to pass through the bridge. A live report from WLOX said the tug was veering to the south of the bridge when it should've been going through the middle.

Thankfully the only car that went in the water was the brige tender's car. Marge Johnson, the bridgetender, was the only person on the bridge at the time and she was rescued. Traffic was lined up on the south end waiting for the barges to pass. Some of that traffic included school buses.

According to WLOX news in Biloxi, one barge is under water and another is taking on water. On the south end, 150' section of the bridge is missing. The bridge broke away and fell into the water just feet from the bridgetender's house.

This is a huge traffic issue, once again, for getting in and out of Biloxi. Those who used the bridge as a regular route will now have to detour to Cowan-Lorraine, Pass Road, and I-110. In addition barge traffic, especially coal barges for the MS Power Plant, will be hindered by this massive destruction of a major bridge.

Popp's Ferry was heavily damaged by Katrina but was repaired and re-opened in January 2006.

WLOX Live Video/Reports
Popps Ferry Bridge
Katrina's Destruction

$2.8 BILLION FOR RECOVERY - UNSPENT

SOUTH MS REBUILDING PROJECTS – SNAIL'S PACE RECOVERY

$1.2 billion in FEMA public assistance funds
$218 million for CDBG community revitalization
$590 million for CDBG regional water/wastewater infrastructure
$570 million for CDBG Port of Gulfport
$200 million for CDBG Hancock County long-term recovery
(Stats from Governor Barbour's office)

Barbour says the money is there, it just needs to be used and if it's not used by Sept. 1, it may get taken away by the state. For example, only $16.7 million of the community revitalization money has been spent. Also, construction has begun on only 23 of the 86 projects that are supposedly in the pipeline to the Gulf Coast's dream of recovery.

As for Barbour's attempts to solve this beleaguering matter, he was supposed to meet with the director of Homeland Security on March 6th. He wants all issues between local governments (councils in general have been a huge sticky-wicket to work with) and FEMA settled by June 30.

I think that is a huge request at this late date. Why hasn't he taken a steps to solve this situation long before now? What has he been doing all these months? Where has the money been "sitting"? Has it collected interest??

This is truly ridiculous!

BAY ST. LOUIS- COTTAGES CAN STAY

FINALLY! COMING TO THEIR SENSES –

After many, many months of back-and-forth messing around, the Bay St. Louis City Council passed an ordinance allowing residents of the MEMA cottages to keep their homes. They must meet the requirements to buy their homes from the state but they can now keep them in residential areas. Initially, the council was only going to allow them if they were moved to a "trailer park" which was totally asinine and counter productive to recovery.

Councilmen still wanted to have their way with some of the items on the planning & zoning commissioner's list of recommendations, but they did ease up on some things. People in the cottages now have more time and less limitations on when and how they obtain the various required permits. Time has always been of essence to matters concerning recovery on the coast. It has especially been so with lower income, elerly, disabled, or single-parent families.

Originally, there were so many stipulations being applied to the cottages as permanent housing that it seemed people were being blatantly discriminated against. Recovery was being denied! Now though, the deadline for people to comply with the new "rules" is Aug. 31, 2009. . . FOUR YEARS AFTER KATRINA! About time, Council people!

MEMA COTTAGE RALLY - PROTEST IN WAVELAND

The following announcement was initiated by KATRINA RELIEF VOLUNTEERS whose home base is located in Waveland, MS/Hancock Co.





Come help advocate for equal rights in housing options

Housing advocates and activists are coming in from all over the country this weekend - many arriving today (Sunday). These are people who have dedicated their lives to making sure that housing is available to all. People next door and ministers - all with the same heart for the cause.

Where: Bourgeois Park (the ball field at Waveland) - Corner of Waveland Ave. and Central Ave.
When: Monday Jan. 26th. :: Time: 11a.m.

Relief Volunteer blog - continuous updates and lots of photos.
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More Subversive Delay Tactics by Waveland City?

According to the Sun Herald, Waveland Mayor Longo said, "residents who filed the lawsuit made a mistake. The Board of Aldermen had decided to allow cottages to stay when the board meets next." He continued by saying, "The crazy thing is, it was about to happen . . . now nothing can be done until it's heard by a judge."

Longo evidently is in some form of denial when he states that, "It's unbelievable that they would file suit. If you truly needed it, you were probably going to get your cottage." I think the key word here is "probably" as that is "flexible wording" that really doesn't mean anything. He isn't operating on "specifics" that will help those who need help the most. Else, why is it that the first MEMA cottage deadline is prior to the next scheduled meeting of the Aldermen. AND, the residents filing suit against the city were DENIED permission to keep their cottages as permanent housing!