Posted on 10/23/2007 6:58:00 AM PDT by shbox
Exerted....
"SAN DIEGO Like Hurricane Katrina evacuees two years earlier in New Orleans, thousands of people rousted by natural disaster fled to the NFL stadium here, waiting out the calamity and worrying about their homes.
The similarities ended there, as an almost festive atmosphere reigned at Qualcomm Stadium."
"Bands belted out rock 'n' roll, lavish buffets served gourmet entrees, and massage therapists helped relieve the stress for those forced to flee their homes because of wildfires."
"At Qualcomm, thousands of tents, many set up by relief organizations, provided temporary roofs, while hundreds of people slept on open-air cots. Some elderly evacuees were housed in stadium club boxes.
Aggressive efforts by disaster-response officials to bring supplies helped ensure civility. A heavy police contingent and National Guard troops with automatic weapons stood by just in case."
"You can deal with it, or you can whine about it," he said while erecting a tent in Qualcomm's parking lot, as temperatures hovered comfortably in the low 70s."
Megan Malan, a massage therapist, rubbed the back of a man wearing a firefighter's T-shirt.
She had little in the way of material goods to offer to the victims, so she provided her professional services, for free, to nervous evacuees.
Hundreds sat in the stands watching TV sets, transfixed as news programs broadcast images of destruction. Among them was Bruce Fowler, whose home in the Scripps Ranch neighborhood had survived fires in 2003.
"Every couple of years, you don't want to go through this worry," Fowler said, sipping a root beer. "I never thought I'd be in a place like this, getting handouts."
Most people seemed happy for the free food and drink. A Hyatt hotel catered one buffet, offering chicken with artichoke hearts and capers in cream sauce, jambalaya and shredded-beef empanadas.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
WOW, stay safe over there, sofaman.
However there’s a whole lotta illegal aliens at Qualcomm Stadium at the moment...25 miles from Tijuana.
Good on your SF. I hope his property can make it through. But property is just material things. If they stay safe, the same mentality that got them where they are today will enable them to rebuild.
....and they will do it without government handouts.
What a sterling example of making the best of a bad situation.
I’d expect nothing less from Southern California, at least the SoCal of decades past. Growing up there and living there as an adult, I was always impressed with the ability of folks there to turn what might otherwise be a big mess into, well, a party. I was the beneficiary of that several times: when a freeway disaster stopped traffic for hours
and a bag of Trader Joe’s groceries became a spontaneous picnic; when a wheel fell off our car on Deadman’s Bend north of Laguna and the quiche we were carrying to a friend’s house became the centerpiece of a teenage
beachside mobile-home celebration while we called for a tow...
Spontaneous parties were a happy consequence of SoCal’s local culture, and, after all the horrors of Katrina, I’m delighted to read that it still exists.
That sounds about right...you mean you didn’t blame Bush’s failed trade policies on the defective overseas lugnuts that made your wheel fall off??? LOL
Around here we have what we call Hugo kids. My daughter is a Hugo baby, born July 1990....exactly 9 months after Hurricane Hugo came through and cut power and blocked roads and confined us to dark houses with no power for a week. Hey, we made the most of the situation...
Are you kidding me! They have their free rent taken care of all the way to March of 2009, not 2008, but 2009! And they have other monies coming in. Job? LOL! Freeloading is their job and right now they are in the zenith of their careers!
Absolutely on the mark, and not a thing to add. BTT.
Some are ambitious and find time for extra-curricular gang activities as well.
I gotta respect initiative.
Yeah where is Looter guy I thought he was show up unless he is Saints fan he afraid he get his a*** kick by Raider or Charger fan LOL!
That’s the message I’m getting from those I know there.....they’re either busy, doing something, helping out or trying to find a way to get to their jobs.
ESSSS rack itt ROFL
MONK get in here darling
OUR Fav dude show up FINALLY
You’re probably talking about the freeway pass in my area that collapsed and as an alternative the Old Road pass which goes out into the valley was opened. You’re right, it took months to get the freeway pass rebuilt, but luckily we live in a heavily republican area otherwise it might just have taken years. This area at the time of the ‘92 quake was mainly middle class, now I’d say we have quite a bit of upper middle class living in this area.
You owe me a new keyboard!!!
Bwahahahahaha!!
Hey isn’t that the firefighter from LA that looted the LAFD because of the whole “Big Dawg/dog food” practical joke? Kinda fitting IMHO.
That’s him.
>That mentality of “getting something” is the root of the problem IMHO.<
I am amazed that you didn’t realize sooner what the problem was at Katrina, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FINGERS. Yes, F.E.M.A.!
Without F.E.M.A.’s assistance, even the sun can rise and fall smoothly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.