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Red tape angers storm victim
Northwest Florida Daily News ^ | 08/06/2005 | ROBBYN BROOKS Daily News Staff Writer

Posted on 09/07/2005 10:07:56 AM PDT by Red Badger

¸ Local FEMA manager said he is sad processing for aid takes so long. By ROBBYN BROOKS Daily News Staff Writer

Mississippi evacuee Luan Morgan tried to keep the tone of her voice pleasant for the sake of her 5-year-old daughter Sunday, but her anger was easy to see. “I need help now,” Morgan said. “We don’t have any way to get home. There’s no gas. There’s no nothing.” Morgan evacuated from her Lumberton, Miss., home the Saturday before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. She brought her daughter, Nichole, three days worth of clothing and not much else. “I didn’t think to get our medicine filled before,” she said. “It was no problem to get a prescription here, but then I found out you can’t use Mississippi Medicaid here.” Morgan’s story is similar to thousands of evacuees who fled to Texas, Alabama and Florida to escape Katrina’s devastation. “I want people to know what kind of situation we are facing,” she said. “I just want people to know what is happening to us.” Morgan said she was living week to week before Katrina caused her to be separated from her husband, who was trapped in the storm in Mississippi, and before she found herself without a way to get home. Morgan said she went to a local FEMA center and was told she would have to call an 800 number to apply for assistance. When she followed through with that, she was notified by phone that she must meet with a FEMA representative in Mississippi to receive aid. “I’m here. They have an office here. Why can’t they talk to me here?” Morgan fumed. “I can’t take my daughter back to those unsanitary and unsafe conditions. I need help here, not there.” J.B. Taylor, manager of the FEMA joint-recovery center on Racetrack Road, said he is saddened by the stories he hears day after day, but his office isn’t an immediate-aid center. “They come here looking for money and we can’t do that,” Taylor said. “They’ll leave out of here saying, ‘They couldn’t do anything for me.’ ” Just like with any other government-run operation, sometimes processing for aid is slow, Taylor said. “We want them to come here. We want to get them in the system and direct them to resources that can help them immediately,” he said. People who apply at the recovery center on Racetrack Road will also have the chance to speak with Project H.O.P.E., a group that will help them meet immediate financial, shelter and clothing needs. Sometimes Project H.O.P.E. isn’t utilized fully, Taylor said, because people are so frustrated with the news FEMA representatives can’t give them money on the spot. “My heart really goes out to them,” he said. “But by law, this is all we can do.” Legal reasons or not, Morgan’s frustration is at an all-time high. She is confused by what she calls “red tape” and said she has learned an important lesson. “Put money aside. Even if it is $10 or $20. You can’t depend on the government for nothing,” Morgan said. “We have to take care of each other because the government isn’t going to do it.” Fort Walton Beach native and Mississippi resident Luan Morgan describes some of the frustrations she has experienced trying to get help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Daily News/DEVON RAVINE


TOPICS: Government; US: Alabama; US: Florida; US: Louisiana; US: Mississippi
KEYWORDS: aid; fema; greedy; handouts; humanitarianrelief; ingrates; katrina; moochers; redtape
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1 posted on 09/07/2005 10:07:58 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Formatting is your friend.


2 posted on 09/07/2005 10:08:39 AM PDT by brivette
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To: Red Badger

More of the entitlement mentality.


3 posted on 09/07/2005 10:08:45 AM PDT by Uncle Joe Cannon
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To: Red Badger
“Put money aside. Even if it is $10 or $20. You can’t depend on the government for nothing,” Morgan said. “We have to take care of each other because the government isn’t going to do it.”

Sez it all........

4 posted on 09/07/2005 10:09:06 AM PDT by Red Badger (United States Marine Corps.....An army of WON!...........)
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To: brivette

it was formatted when I posted it!..........


5 posted on 09/07/2005 10:09:40 AM PDT by Red Badger (United States Marine Corps.....An army of WON!...........)
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To: Red Badger
" Nichole, three days worth of clothing and not much else" I'm confused about that. My jeans have lasted for about 4 years now. Maybe she's shopping at the wrong type of stores.

Sucks to rely on the guvment to provide for you. Now if we had a national food stamp program, this wouldn't be a problem (loony Liberal Logic)
6 posted on 09/07/2005 10:11:03 AM PDT by tfecw (It's for the children)
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To: tfecw
I'm confused about that. My jeans have lasted for about 4 years now.

Your Y-chromosome is showing.

7 posted on 09/07/2005 10:20:28 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (We need a strict constructionist - not someone who plays shadow puppet theatre with the Constitution)
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To: Red Badger
This woman is lucky,the government don't give her nuthin and I suspect thats equal to what she pays in taxes.... Not only does the government give me nuthin, I have to pay about a third of what I earn to get nuthin.

By the way, what a stroke of genius...to put away $10 or $20 just in case....pure genius

8 posted on 09/07/2005 10:20:32 AM PDT by Fred911
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To: Red Badger

Whatever Brandeen.


9 posted on 09/07/2005 10:22:35 AM PDT by subterfuge (Obama, mo mama...er Osama-La bamba, uh, bama...banana rama...URP!---Ted Kennedy)
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To: Red Badger

So the pendulum swings and you get fradulent claims with little or no red tape like the Miami area bilking of the 2004 storm aid ... so the pendulum swings ...


10 posted on 09/07/2005 10:26:32 AM PDT by NonValueAdded ("Freedom of speech makes it much easier to spot the idiots." [Jay Lessig, 2/7/2005])
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To: subterfuge

???.........


11 posted on 09/07/2005 10:27:33 AM PDT by Red Badger (United States Marine Corps.....An army of WON!...........)
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To: Red Badger
"Put money aside. Even if it is $10 or $20. You can’t depend on the government for nothing,"

My mother taught me this lesson starting when I was 5. What was she doing, playing around? But then she was a Great Depression era baby herself. The greatest crime the Left has done is that they have broken the common wisdom of ages that people passed down from parent to child for millenia.

12 posted on 09/07/2005 10:34:48 AM PDT by Clock King ("How will it end?" - Emperor; "In Fire." - Kosh)
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To: Uncle Joe Cannon

are you prepared for the next big earthquake, and you home has been destroyed?


13 posted on 09/07/2005 10:37:05 AM PDT by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!)
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To: Red Badger

Sorry. The whiner in the article sounds like a character on the TV show the Simpsons, Brandeen. She is married to the local yokle whose name I can't recall. They are what you'd call mega-hicks.


14 posted on 09/07/2005 10:43:26 AM PDT by subterfuge (Obama, mo mama...er Osama-La bamba, uh, bama...banana rama...URP!---Ted Kennedy)
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To: Red Badger
She is confused by what she calls “red tape” and said she has learned an important lesson. “Put money aside. Even if it is $10 or $20. You can’t depend on the government for nothing,” Morgan said.

Have these people NEVER been through a hurricane? You ALWAYS have enough medication for members of the family who need it. Bring clothes and food and water enough for several days. And you'll HAVE to have some cash. As people even in the interior areas such as Hattiesburg and Jackson MS discovered, when the power goes out, credit card machines are useless, as are ATMs!

15 posted on 09/07/2005 10:49:58 AM PDT by SuziQ
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To: subterfuge

I don't watch commercial/broadcast TV..........


16 posted on 09/07/2005 10:55:51 AM PDT by Red Badger (United States Marine Corps.....An army of WON!...........)
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To: Red Badger

You're better off. I'm a shut-in...


17 posted on 09/07/2005 10:58:09 AM PDT by subterfuge (Obama, mo mama...er Osama-La bamba, uh, bama...banana rama...URP!---Ted Kennedy)
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To: subterfuge

You're shut in a TV set? Do we need to call Sean Penn or Geraldo?...........


18 posted on 09/07/2005 11:07:56 AM PDT by Red Badger (United States Marine Corps.....An army of WON!...........)
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To: Red Badger
Fellow Freepers:

At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.

Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, and shelter.

If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you.

Right now the site mostly covers Houston and Dallas but I will add various churches, schools, and other charities in San Antonio and Ft. Worth tonight. My wife is down at Reunion Arena in Dallas as we speak handing out care packages and otherwise ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer.

There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would be most appreciative if you would get the word out.

Many thanks,

Michael McCullough

Stingray blogsite

19 posted on 09/07/2005 11:34:56 AM PDT by DallasMike
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To: Red Badger
The House and Senate Dems are screaming about President Bush being on vacation while Katrina was happening. President Bush while on vacation gave the orders to declare NO-LA a disaster area BEFORE Katrina hit, thus triggering FEMA and federal assistance into action.

Where was CONGRESS? ON VACATION! Where was US Rep Harold Ford JUNIOR when the vote for the $10.5 Billion in assistance to the storm victims was being taken......ON VACATION!

Now the Dems are screaming about the RED TAPE....They need to point their fingers right back at themselves....THEY put those RED TAPE RULES IN PLACE in the first place!

Puting FEMA or NG tropps inside the expected storm area would have put them and their supplies in danger of being destroyed. They had to be positioned outside the expected storm zone to be able to help the storm victims.

20 posted on 09/07/2005 12:08:36 PM PDT by GailA (Glory be to GOD and his only son Jesus.)
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