Free Republic

A rally to re-assert states' rights and other freedoms will be held in Biloxi MS during the National Governors' Conference. Any Freepers that can, please join us and bring your friends. A Tea Party all day Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th. Food (Shed's BBQ), live music, vendors and speakers both days. The plans are still being finalized. Sponsored by the South Mississippi 9/12 Groups. Location: Biloxi Town Green 710 beach blvd Biloxi, MS

Archbishop-elect Roger Paul Morin Vatican City, Mar 2, 2009 / 11:35 am (CNA).- Archbishop-elect Morin, who will turn 68 next Saturday, will replace Archbishop Thomas Rodi, who was made the Archbishop of Mobile last April.Bishop Morin has been active in ministry to the poor since 1967, when he worked in the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ summer Witness program. Following his summer experience, Bishop Morin became the director of The Center, a neighborhood social service organization run by the archdiocese. While he served as the full-time director of The Center, Morin enrolled in the seminary, studying in the evenings and...

For the third time in the last seven weeks, the nation's longest diocesan vacancy has been settled. This morning, Pope Benedict appointed Auxiliary Bishop Roger Morin of New Orleans as bishop of Biloxi. At the helm of the Southern Mississippi church of 68,000 -- which took $70 million of damage in 2005's Hurricane Katrina -- the 67 year-old succeeds a fellow New Orleanean, Thomas Rodi, who was named archbishop of Mobile last April and has since done double-duty as apostolic administrator of his former charge. The head of the US bishops' Catholic Campaign for Human Development -- which garnered elevated...

Today is Fred Haise Day in Biloxi and this celebration of the Apollo 13 astronaut's 75th birthday is spreading across the country. We need 2 million people to give $2 and Fred's dream of building the Infinity Science Center in Hancock County will come true. The ground-breaking for the center is Thursday, but the fundraising campaign is still $4 million short of having enough to complete construction. On Veterans Day we launched the $2 Our Hero campaign to raise that $4 million. Immediately people began bringing their $2 to The Peoples Bank and Hancock Bank branches across the Coast,...

I took some video before this saying how the storm won't be that bad, I was mistaken.

I rarely post articles much less vanities, but we're planning a trip to my mother's other home in Vicksburg, MS, in March. Hubby was thinking maybe we'd drive down to Gulfport or Biloxi for a day or two. My questions are these: I know the area was devastated during hurricaine Katrina, are things back to normal? Semi-normal? What is there to do there? Besides casinos. We'll have our 8 year old son with us. Any recommendations? I can look online at places like Virtual Tourist, but it's hard to know how to plan when there is a chance the restaurant...

BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) - Officials from the Federal Reserve on Saturday warned of dangers from a rising tide of trade disputes and the harmful impact on what one otherwise termed a "resilient" United States economy. Three regional Fed presidents steered clear of current economic or monetary policy topics at a panel discussion on the southern U.S. economy at the Southern Governors' Association conference. The presidents of the St. Louis, Dallas and Atlanta Feds, respectively, mostly focused on the dangers of protectionism and the need for an educated and flexible work force to cope with rising foreign competition. The governors convened...

The owner of Tarrasco Steel, a company that supplied workers on the Biloxi Bay Bridge, was arrested and charged with hiring illegals on projects in three states. Some had improper welding certification. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Jose Gonzalez. Tarrasco Steel was hired as a subcontractor for rebar installation services to major projects in Mississipi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. The federal government considers those bridges as critical infrastructure, and they were part of routine inspections of facilities that if damaged could pose a threat to national security and public safety. "There is a serious public safety concern when illegal aliens,...

The owner of Tarrasco Steel, a company that supplied workers on the Biloxi Bay Bridge, was arrested and charged with hiring illegal immigrants on projects in three states. Some had improper welding certification. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Jose S. Gonzalez, 32, at his office in Greenville Thursday, according to a news release. Tarrasco Steel was hired as a subcontractor for rebar installation services to major bridge projects in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. The federal government considers those bridges as critical infrastructure, and they were part of routine inspections of facilities that if damaged could pose a threat...

Margaritaville, in partnership with Harrah’s Entertainment, is proud to announce plans to build a new Gulf Coast destination: the Margaritaville Casino & Resort on the shores of Biloxi. When completed in the spring of 2010, the resort will feature 798 rooms, a full-service spa, a pool/deck area with cabanas, bar and tropical landscaping, all on 46 acres of land south of U. S. Highway 90. Said Jimmy Buffett, “I have always considered myself a Gulf Coast kid. I was born there, grew up there and jumped on a stage for the first time there, before hitting the road. I have...

NASA announced plans on Monday to build a new engine test stand at Stennis Space Center in Hancock County. The announcement represents an estimated $175 million investment in Stennis and serves to support the Constellation Project. That's NASA's plan to return the United States to the Moon and eventually to Mars. The new stand at Stennis will test NASA's J-2X engines, which will be used in the second stage of the Ares I launch vehicle. NASA officials say the new 300-foot-tall open-frame design will allow engineers to simulate conditions at different altitudes. The new stand will be completed in time...

JACKSON, Miss. Mississippi's most experienced state lawmaker, Senator Tommy Gollott of Biloxi, surprised many of his colleagues today (Thursday) by making a last-minute switch from Democrat to Republican. Gollott announced weeks ago that he would seek re-election this year -- but he delayed filing qualifying papers until shortly before today's 5 P-M deadline. He says he switched because the Democratic Party executive committee two years ago threatened to NOT certify a Democrat who had supported a Republican in the past. Gollott says he supports Republican Governor Haley Barbour because he thinks Barbour is doing a good job helping the coast...

Michael Brown, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is shooting off his mouth again. Last week in New York City, he claimed that Mississippi and Louisiana were treated differently after Hurricane Katrina because of their politics. Unfortunately, Louisiana's Democratic governor, Kathleen Blanco, jumped on the suggestion, claiming that Brown had "broken the code of silence about the political conspiracy to hurt the people of Louisiana." Fortunately, Mississippi's Republican governor, Haley Barbour, took the time to consider the source of this conspiracy theory and said Brown's "credibility has been worn pretty thin over the last couple of years...

You'll be happy to hear that Biloxi's gaming business not only has made big strides since Hurricane Katrina devastated the coastline, but also that the restored casinos have expanded what they offer, and new properties are on the way. Before the storm that destroyed tens of thousands of gulf-area homes, Biloxi had nine casinos. Today, seven are back in business, including the glitzy Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, which reopened at the end of August, a year after Katrina hit. After the hurricane, the city changed its laws to allow casinos -- previously confined to floating structures at the water's...

The following is the latest information on casinos reopening on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Open Beau Rivage Resort & Casino opened Aug. 29, 2006, the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The resort also plans to open a new golf course in autumn 2006. Beau Rivage has new restaurants, a redesigned and more luxurious casino, and the stores along the promenade will look more like a street with each having their own look inside and out. In addition, all of the guest rooms have been redesigned and have a new look. NEW - Silver Slipper, the Coast's newest casino opened November...

LAUREL, Miss. — Jones County authorities are crediting two inmates with thwarting the escape attempt of a third. Sheriff Larry Dykes said a trusty at the jail, Danny Lamar Odom, 47, bolted Thursday from a work crew toward a field behind the jail. Dykes said Odom had been working in the kitchen and was helping unload food boxes from a delivery truck when the attempted escape occurred. Dykes said two younger trusties, Reginald Ducksworth and Jacob Lambert, also were helping unload the truck. They chased down Odom and brought him back to the jail. "I've never heard of anything like...

ACKSON, Miss. (Dec. 5) - For Mississippian Rick Looser, the last straw came on an airline flight a couple of years ago when a 12-year-old Connecticut boy sitting next to him asked: "Do you still see the KKK on the streets every day?" That prompted the advertising executive to spend his own money on a campaign to dispel Mississippi's image as a forlorn state of poor, illiterate, racist good ole boys. "Mississippi has more black elected officials than any other state in the country," Looser said. "The old stereotype of the short, fat, white, bald men in suits smoking cigars...

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Saturday renewed the nation's commitment to help victims of last year's Gulf Coast hurricanes and thanked U.S. troops fighting abroad. In his Saturday radio address, Bush said Americans are grateful to those who rallied after hurricanes Katrina and Rita to bring food, water and hope to people who lost everything. "We renew our commitment to help those who are still suffering and to rebuild our nation's Gulf Coast," Bush said. This week, the president will attend a NATO summit in Europe and will meet in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. On Saturday, he...

This historic waterfront city was on the verge of becoming the great gambling destination of the South. Then came Hurricane Katrina. Now the Gulf Coast is fighting to get back in the game. BILOXI, Miss. -- Olivia Boglin stood in her yard, staring down at a pile of Sheetrock. Just staring in the Mississippi heat, dabbing the sweat off her forehead with a wadded-up tissue. A block away, a guy was riding a bicycle slow, so the front wheel swerved with each crank of the pedals. The heat, the humidity and the noon hour had everything almost at a standstill....

Comic Relief held its 20th event Saturday night from the Harrah's property in Las Vegas to help raise money and awareness for victims of Hurricane Katrina. That's a noteworthy cause, to be sure, and we in South Mississippi were gratified to hear that more than a year after the storm, people still recognized we need help here. Of course, that was before the pre-event press releases came out, advertising appeared and the show itself was aired simultaneously on HBO and WTBS. The media advances talked about how bad New Orleans was affected. The billboards and at least one full-page ad...

"I got a cut on my bone," Timothy Sims said as he showed a deep cut on his leg. Sims learned a painful lesson about being in the wrong place, at the wrong time Monday morning. "I go to the bus to catch my bus and all of a sudden I saw this dude across the street trying to fight," said Sims. Sims says the fight at a bus stop on Bonita Drive was between a teenager and a Gulfport student. Sims says he saw the student grab a stick. "He got a stick or something, and just started swinging,"...

PASCAGOULA - Unlike many other Coast cities, Pascagoula is moving ahead with plans developed through the renewal and recovery sessions sponsored by the governor's office and community leaders. The city is partnering with developers to build new homes that draw on the vision New Urbanists have for rebuilding the Coast. In addition, the city is putting an emphasis on its long-term plans for recreation, and is entering into a lease-purchase agreement to buy government-subsidized property for a new community center and retail shops. Pascagoula was among the first South Mississippi cities to adopt FEMA's new elevation requirements, and its residents...

President and Mrs. Bush are spending Labor Day weekend at their ranch in Crawford, Texas.* *This is based only on the information I could find. I could be wrong. On Tuesday, September 5, the president will resume his series of speeches which remind us all of the true nature of our enemy (the Islamic fascists), while criticizing the critics of the WOT (the leftist appeasers). With no other news available, today’s Dose will recap the best photos of the week. Enjoy your Saturday visit to Sanity Island

The President and the first lady spent the weekend at the President's father's house in Kennebunkport Maine, attending a Wedding, church and the President also went fishing with his father. Today the President and the First Lady visited the Gulf Region to check on progress as the one year anniversary of hurricane Katrina approaches. Today Vice President Dick Cheney addressed the 107th National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Seemingly before the wind stopped, certainly before power was restored, they began arriving. The initial wave brought the food, the drink, the clothing, the gasoline to get through those first desperate, chaotic days. The second wave brought hammers, saws, shovels, drills, all the tools necessary to begin removing Hurricane Katrina’s afterbirth. As summer turned to fall and fall to winter, they came, wave after wave after wave. From near and far, points domestic and international, some 350,000 volunteers set aside their lives to help us rebuild ours. And still they come. To paraphrase volunteer Elizabeth Ryan, they climb, pound, beat,...

Scotty Hancock spent a week in southern Mississippi, seeing Hurricane Katrina’s destruction firsthand. Monday night at the old Kroger building on Hicks Drive, Hancock, the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency director, shared his photos, videos and personal accounts of the devastation with RomeKares volunteers. His message to them: You’re doing more good than you could possibly know. “I wanted to let these folks see what their time and donations are going toward,” he said. “There is a lot of good going on down there.” While no pictures may truly capture the scene, volunteers got what some called their best portrayal...

BILOXI - While New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin continues to get criticized for his actions and inactions before, during and after Hurricane Katrina, Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway has been a media darling. It seems that Holloway, 63, has made all of the right moves before, during and after the big storm. Despite that fact that many Biloxi neighborhoods were hit just as hard as Waveland and Bay St. Louis, Holloway's keen preparation and a little luck helped him and his city get back into the fight more quickly than most. “I put our success to the people of Biloxi,” Holloway...

"And it was in a CNN story where we first saw it. Miles O'Brien was standing in front of the Beau Rivage doing a stand up," said City of Biloxi spokesman, Vincent Creel. The CNN reporter told his audience that 30 people died in the St. Charles apartment complex on the beach in Biloxi. Concrete columns and an elevated slab are all that's left of the St. Charles condominiums on Highway 90 in Biloxi. But there were certainly not 30 deaths there. "We never recovered a single body from that location," said Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove. Hargrove also heard...

The New York Times has been suckered again, although this time they manage to avoid blaming everyone else for their mistake. In providing coverage of the victims from Hurricane Katrina, they published a lengthy profile of one refugee, Donna Fenton, a little over two weeks ago. Imagine their surprise when Fenton got arrested for welfare fraud and grand larceny, having never been a Katrina refugee in the first place. The Times issues the correction today: An article in The Metro Section on March 8 profiled Donna Fenton, identifying her as a 37-year-old victim of Hurricane Katrina who had fled Biloxi,...

BILOXI, Miss. The Czech ambassador to the United States will travel to the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week to deliver money for Hurricane Katrina recovery. Petr Kolar, the country's former deputy minister of foreign affairs, will present a check Wednesday for over 111-thousand dollars to the Tapia Public Library in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, which plans to buy books. On Thursday, Kolar plans to present a 100-thousand-dollar check for the revitalization of the Saint Vincent de Paul Community Pharmacy in Biloxi. The money will help the charitable facility purchase medical supplies. Media officials with the Czech embassy said the...

BILOXI, Miss. With drywall, two-by-fours and a patient faith in a sometimes-exasperating God, Burke resident Bart Tucker is trying to raise a small neighborhood from the dead. But in this Gulf Coast City of 50,000, a slender thumb of land smashed by the winds and waters of Hurricane Katrina, nothing comes easy -- least of all miracles. Since arriving in Biloxi with a convoy of supplies and volunteers from his fairfax County church, Lord of Life Lutheran, shortly after Labor Day, Tucker hs spent a total of eight weeks here. He goes home only to raise more money and recruit...

BILOXI, MISS. — Jim Ullery drove along Highway 90 in this coastal community earlier this month, somberly taking in the devastation from Hurricane Katrina with other volunteers from Aiken. Then he stopped the car. “I know that church,” he said. Five years earlier Ullery and his wife, Sandra, had visited friends in nearby Gulfport, spending five days at the Methodist church’s adjacent retreat center. Virtually nothing was left of the church, battered by winds and water last fall. Little more than the shell remained ... along with a cross on the glass front and another on a back wall. “Some...

Editor's note: This is the first in a series on recovery and relief efforts in Biloxi, Mississippi. For more than 50 years the Beauvoir Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library has been assembling Civil War artifacts thought to be lost, including items once belonging to the former Confederate president and U.S. senator. What was documented and placed behind glass displays is lost once again, scattered in a few hours by Hurricane Katrina. When he's working on site, Jack Elliott, from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, stays in a shed left standing at the far end of the 52-acre...

As Aug. 29 recedes into the conscious time of many Americans, the great storm that devastated 70 miles of Mississippi's Coast, destroying the homes and lives of hundreds of thousands, fades into a black hole of media obscurity.

Many Gulf Coast Towns Feel Neglected Monday January 16, 2006 6:32 PM By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press Writer GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - Nicki Henderson has had plenty of reasons to be angry since Hurricane Katrina destroyed her Biloxi home, but it was a simple news item about dislocated dolphins that really made her blood boil. Henderson lost her temper when she logged on to her computer and spotted this headline: ``New Orleans Dolphins Find New Home.'' She knew the dolphins actually came from a hurricane-ravaged marine park in Gulfport, not New Orleans. The headline writer's error reinforced her belief -...

First casino getting back in business Thursday, December 22, 2005 By DAN MURTAUGH Staff Reporter BILOXI -- On Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the Imperial Palace was scheduled to reopen, the lobby was unfurnished and covered in dust, fire alarms were going off and the casino and hotel had not yet received a certificate of occupancy from the city of Biloxi. But by today, if all goes according to plan, the sounds of yelling workers and blaring alarms should be replaced by rattling coins and shouts of "hard eight" and "double down," as the IP becomes the first...

The Mississippi Governor's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding, and Renewal aims for no less than an "economic renaissance for coastal Mississippi," said its chairman Jim Barksdale, a former president and CEO of Netscape. To help create a physical plan, state officials invited New Urbanist Andres Duany, FAIA, to lead a charrette last month in Biloxi, one of Hurricane Rita's hard-hit targets. Joining him were 100 members of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), including transportation planners, environmentalists, code writers, sociologists, and representatives of such large AE firms as SOM, HOK, HDR, and UDA. General teams will deal with regional issues,...

John Anderson is looking forward to a week of church-basement coffee. That murky mix will fuel his body and brain cells to benefit the people of Mississippi, as Anderson and dozens of other community designers descend on what's left of oceanside Biloxi. Rather than seeing crushed houses and destroyed communities, those professionals will be sketching out an optional guide for communities' rebirth, coming up with plans for homes, streets, parks and business areas. Anderson is vice president of planning and design for New Urban Builders in Chico, and associated with Doe Mill Neighborhood. Anderson received a call recently from friend...

Facing criticism that he appeared disengaged from the disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina, President Bush has been looking for opportunities to show his concern. But the White House will take the effort a step further Tuesday, venturing into untested waters by putting the nation's first lady on reality television. Laura Bush will travel to storm-damaged Biloxi, Miss., to film a spot on the feel-good, wish-granting hit "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Mrs. Bush sought to be on the program because she shares the "same principles" that the producers hold, her press secretary said. It's not clear exactly what Mrs. Bush will...

BILOXI, Miss. (NNS) -- Sailors and Project HOPE volunteers from USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) reconstructed a Hurricane Katrina-damaged garage here and made it into a fully operational primary care clinic Sept. 17. The group used donated supplies as well as scattered debris to rebuild the roof and walls of the facility and then separated the room into sections to promote patient privacy. “We came to the area because we learned there was a great need for medical care here,” said Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Dorrance, Comfort's assistant H-1 division head. “We were lucky enough to locate this garage and literally rebuild...

Hey, lunatic-fringe-self-proclaimed-prophet-of-gloom—can you please stop with the “God struck down New Orleans because of Mardi Gras and Biloxi because of their gambling” blather? With that line of reasoning, how would you explain the hurricane that leveled Pensacola last year? Pensacola is no South Beach, nor does it have a Bourbon Street. In fact, I don’t think you can find a city in the US that has more churches per capita than Escambia County, and yet they got the blunt end of the pool cue eleven months ago. Go figure. Look, I realize that drunken college girls flashing their chests for...

For Coast shrimpers, end of a livelihood: A heritage, Southern culture may be lost with the battering from Katrina By Matt Apuzzo/ September 16, 2005 BILOXI -- Hanh Luong has no home and no cash. The only thing he has left, and his only hope for the future, is the Santa Maria, a battered 98-foot fishing boat he worked years to buy. But two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, his boat remains tethered to what's left of Biloxi's piers. The polluted Gulf of Mexico is off-limits to shrimping, and all the major processing plants between Alabama and Louisiana have been pulverized...

Goods From Gulf Will Cost More: Yes, we have some bananas -- costly ones; same for shrimp and coffee By Maria Burnham/ September 18, 2005 Despite the signs in some grocery stores around the Mid-South, residents shouldn't be too worried about the supply of bananas, shrimp and coffee. But they might raise an eyebrow or two at the price. Economists, wholesalers and restaurateurs predict an increase in the price of tropical goods that typically come through the Port of New Orleans and seafood that comes from the Gulf Coast, but say it will only be temporary and that supply shouldn't...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: President and Mrs. Bush left the White House yesterday afternoon to spend at least part of the weekend at Camp David. While her husband was meeting with Russian President Putin yesterday, Mrs. Bush, visited the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia. She thanked volunteers for their efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to reunite parents and children separated by the storm. She also highlighted the ways parents and children can find each other through the Center's website at missingkids.com. To date, they have matched more than 700 children with their...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 16, 2005) – Army engineers are using new technology to generate more than 100,000 gallons of potable water per day for the hospital in Biloxi, Miss., and area residents affected by Hurricane Katrina. An advanced Expeditionary Unit Water Purifier has been set up on the beach in Biloxi to provide water for the nearby Biloxi Regional Medical Center. After the hurricane hit, the hospital had been without water or relying on bottled drinking water for patients and staff. The Expeditionary Unit Water Purifier is the world's largest transportable desalination system, officials said. The relief mission...

Catholic Charities USA brings relief to the streets in Biloxi, Miss. By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service BILOXI, Miss. (CNS) -- More than anything else, people wanted bleach. That's what the Catholic Charities USA disaster relief team found as it drove its caravan of vehicles through Biloxi and the surrounding area hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina. Victims of the hurricane were happy to get food and water, but above all they wanted bleach and other cleaning supplies such as mops and paper towels to begin the long, arduous process of cleaning up. One woman literally broke down in tears when she...

As Biloxi rises from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, it is doing much of it on the backs of undocumented foreign workers. Some are starting to suggest that their contributions are worth at least a temporary visa. "If we are working and helping to raise this city, at least they should give us a work visa," said Manuel Armenta, a 44-year-old Mexican who came to Biloxi five months ago to do cleaning work at a hotel... ...So far, there's been little risk [of deportation]. The Department of Homeland Security has announced a 45-day period in which employers would not be...

GULFPORT, Miss., Sept. 11 - Past the razor wire that has been rolled out along the unusable railroad tracks separating the heavily damaged neighborhoods from the destroyed neighborhoods lies the port that gave this city its name. Put generously, it is a mess. The cargo containers are scattered for miles, the poultry freezers are destroyed and 7,300 jobs are in limbo. In the middle of one of the major terminals sits a casino, the Copa, one of a fleet of floating gambling houses that had revitalized the Gulf Coast, pumping taxes into city, county and state governments and providing jobs...

Exciting news!! I was finally put in contact with my family. Needless to say it has been many sleepless nights. As you can see with the timing of this thread, I have yet to go to sleep. :) If I hear that chick at the end of the phonecline say, due to the hurricane your call cannot be put through or worse the generic speech, it will be to soon. As I was looking through the various online message boards I thought what the hell lets try calling again. It rang, WOW, it rang again getting my attention, I thought,...

While almost all of the attention has been on New Orleans, the fact is that the hurricane (thankfully) turned and didn't hit the city directly. While this was fortunate for the 100,000 residents stranded in the city, it didn't bode well for those in the other cities and towns along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Alabama. They took a direct hit, and it's important that we don't forget about them. These pictures were sent in by a reader who works with the spouse of the photographer, who is in the Air Force Reserve. They were taken very recently, perhaps...