UPDATE: East Texas Officials Say Federal Storm Aid Still Not Reaching Them

[Maddy McCall]

While the national media continues to contrast the strong federal response to Hurricane Rita to the fumbling post-Katrina, this is not the message put out by local East Texas officials in a Beaumont Enterprise online story late today. They said much the same yesterday (as E&P previously reported), apparently to little notice.

Frustrated Jefferson County leaders said they are not getting much-needed help from the feds, and "complained that resources were not making it into their communities to get much-needed services such as water and sewer operating again," the newspaper revealed.

Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith called the bureaucracy "ridiculous" and said the federal government has failed the people of East Texas.

"Unless George Bush is a different man than I knew as governor of Texas, he's going to make some changes. And I'm a Democrat," Griffith said, to emphasize his faith in the president's ability to ease the suffering in Southeast Texas.

"We've had out-of-area leaders come in before and tell us a bunch of bull----," Nederland Mayor Bill Nugent said. "But hopefully this is going to be for real. We'll have faith in her and trust her until she proves (she's) speaking to us like the rest of them have. And if I sound upset, I am. It's time to quit being nice."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001181432

[NYC]

1. Once again, the federal government has failed the people.

...Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith called the bureaucracy "ridiculous" and said the federal government has failed the people of East Texas.

[0007]

3. Captain Goodhair said today, that we must help the folks now

that need help. It doesn't do any good to point fingers. We'll sort it out after serving the people that need help.


Looks like love to me!

[Polethebear]

12. Caption for above.......

Rick:"I love you,George. I can make you happy in ways Laura can't."


George: "Can you cook???"

[0007]

13. Played to the tune of America's favorite song.

"I love you, but you don't give a fuck about me."

[elehhhhna]

18. Check out GW's ear hair EUWWWW. Jumpstart a barf or what?

No wonder he never listens. He Can't HEAR.

I see some brush that needs clearin', bigtime.

[Blaq Dem]

25. Shhhhh!! Hush!!! We're not supposed to know that!!!

Control of the media is supposed to be the new change when it comes to dealing with hurricanes. After thing is fine as long as we don't hear of the problems. After all, Gov Perry is PERFECT. With him in charge of Texas, he won't let the people down.

((sarcasm))

[Pirate Smile]

2. Last paragraph:

"I'm so damn frustrated," Nugent said, "because we've been screaming and hollering for the generators. They keep saying we're going to get them, but they're sitting on trucks at Ford Park, and we can't get the damn things to Nederland. Give me one more day I'm going to get real nasty."

[Igel]

4. Might not be getting there.

But I saw lots of trucks leaving staging at Reliant Stadium today.

Convoys of them.

[Up2Late]

7. Those truck are probably the ones taking the Ice up to Maine...,

...for storage, because of course, nobody near the Gulf Coast could use truck loads of Ice.

[Maddy McCall]

9. I could use it. I'm STILL under boil water orders...

because we lost power for two days during Rita, just after getting it back after Katrina.

It's been hell in SW Mississippi this month.

[Maddy McCall]

8. The judge in the article above told Jeff County deputies to seize FEMA gen

...generators today at 8AM, because they were sitting at the Park staging area, yet not being sent to the cities that need them to get water and sewer supplies back on line.

I live in Mississippi, in the area ravaged by Katrina...same thing happened here. Hundreds of trucks, loaded with supplies, including generators, ice, water, were staged at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They sat there for DAYS (meaning almost a week) before they were sent out, because federal bureaucratic red tape made them sit there. Meanwhile, babies and elderly people were dehydrating and DYING.

You saw the trucks leaving staging at Reliant, but that doesn't mean that they were going to where they were needed. When it takes a judge telling deputies to SEIZE federal trucks, then there's a huge problem.

EDIT TO ADD LINK: http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15279970&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6

[elehhhhna]

20. Chill, Madie! Drownie's gonna analyze all the goofupsand turn in a report.

[Bridget Burke]

15. Reliant Stadium is where the Texans play....

Other parts of Reliant Park have been used to deal with various hurricanes. FEMA is not the only group using Reliant Park; in fact, they are rather far down on the list.

www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3367707

[Igel]

16. I'm betting most didn't get police escorts.

Then again, it's Houston, and I've seen stranger things.

Although the tankers labeled 'potable water' were probably a decent clue. The rest were white trailers.

It was gratifying to see the Rangers' practice bubble back up, though.

[Gregorian]

5. Yeah, but when it comes to blowin' things up...

there's no better pretendsident.




So I wonder if they'll ever start thinking about The People. They're the ones the Constitution talks about.

[Up2Late]

6. Must be why the News is So boring right now, they must be managing it!

SSDS (Same Shit, Different Storm)

Boy, I sure do feel Safer.

[Maddy McCall]

10. JEFFERSON COUNTY, TX, JUDGE AUTHORIZES DEPUTIES TO SEIZE GENERATORS.

BEAUMONT - Getting power generators to water treatment plants, police and fire departments, hospitals and other agencies engaged in the post-Hurricane Rita mop-up continued to be a frustrating obstacle for local emergency response coordinators Monday.


As 50 generators sat idle Sunday at Ford Park, Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith threatened to take them by force from the federal government.

"I called them at 5 p.m. yesterday and said that if they didn't start freeing up generators by 8 p.m., I was going to send police out there to seize them," Griffith said Monday from the Entergy command center.

Griffith said that some of the generators were freed up, but many of them still sat out at Ford Park as of mid-day Monday.

Russell Rickart, a FEMA official, said that although his agency's efforts might appear disorganized and unresponsive, the assistance effort was proceeding on schedule.

MORE AT:

http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15279970&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6

[Polethebear]

11. First off,

Maddy,love the frog at the bottom. LOL!

If anything,it shows bushie doesn't play favorites when it comes to texas.

[Bridget Burke]

19. Neither of the Bushes ever did much for Texas....

We are still suffering from Bush Jr's Governorship.

People along the coast tend to be a bit less uptight than the Good Cornfed Folks in the Heartland. And lots of the petrochemical workers are unionized.

[Maddy McCall]

23. I'd go so far as to say that all of them are unionized.

My cousin is a crane operator at one of the big two down there. All of them are unionized.

[lastliberalintexas]

28. Just FYI- Jefferson County voted for Kerry

Not that this administration would let politics affect their response or anything. :eyes:

And all of SE Texas is Dem- even if the counties voted for Bush for president, they voted Dem down ballot.

[DeepModem Mom]

14. Same in South Louisiana -- please see this thread --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1806030

[Nothing Without Hope]

17. Well, the devastated southern LA parishes where the greatest force of Rita

hit, are not even declared a diaster area and are NOT RECEIVING ANY FEMA HELP BECAUSE OF IT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1806030

[intheflow]

21. Denver Red Cross not authorized to process Rita evacuees.

I just came from there. I actually had the gall to tell a Rita evacuee who showed up to try again in 48 hours, that the day after Katrina the Denver chapter of the Red Cross told me they weren't taking any new volunteers, but when I showed up on their doorstep the next day, it was a different story. I got yelled at for saying that--why, I don't know! It's the fucking truth, and what's the harm in telling people to check back in later?

So I guess I'm saying this OP doesn't surprise me in the least.

[cantstandbush]

22. It just has to be the fault of Blanco and Nagin that TX isn't getting

their promised aid. FEMA has a great relationship with everyone but Blanco or Nagin.

[burrowowl]

24. Must be poor

and or Black or just plain poor.

[lastliberalintexas]

29. Actually, it is both

This area is a rather poor and working class part of the country, with many of the "good" jobs being those in the refineries. And we have a very large African American population, as well as a growing Hispanic population. Jefferson County is very pro-labor, voted for Kerry, working class/blue collar, and probably has about a 35-40% African American population. So yeah, I guess we should have expected this kind of response!

[Seedersandleechers]

26. Would love to see Rather exonerated

[lastliberalintexas]

27. Yeah, Griffith told the feds that if they didn't release them, he was

going to send the police to get them. It was only after that threat that the feds released (some?) of the generators, though most officials still haven't gotten much help from FEMA. Mayor Goodson (Bmt), Ortiz (Port Arthur) and the Nederland city manager have all gone on record saying some rather bad things about the FEMA response. And some of the hardest hit areas outside of Bmt/Port Arthur (such as Hardin and Jasper counties) have barely received phone calls from FEMA, much less any real help.

:hi: Maddy. I hope your family in this are is safe.



on edit- I saw that you'd already posted this downthread. It's rather interesting, because Griffith really hadn't been seen as A GOOD leader down here anymore. I guess he's grown some cajones in the aftermath of Rita. :)

[HippieCowgirl]

30. Why is Jefferson County requesting FEMA's help?

<sarcasm> Can't those people just take care of themselves? Why does the government jump in and make it all happen? Theyre just another bunch of poor people with their hands out expecting you and I to do something for them.</sarcasm>