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State to fly evacuees to Hub City (Lubbock)
Lubbock Avalanche Journal ^ | 9/22/05 | James Gallagher

Posted on 09/22/2005 12:46:02 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana

City officials learned early Thursday morning that the state plans to fly as many 2,000 Hurricane Rita evacuees to Lubbock some time today.

The first plane, believed to be a Boeing 737 carrying about 130 people from Beaumont, is expected to land between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. today at the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport.

City officials do not yet have an exact arrival time.

Aviation Director James Loomis said the airport's control tower will give city officials at least 30 minutes notice of the plane's arrival.

Mayor Pro Tem Tom Martin said the city expects most of the evacuees to be people with "special needs," which includes the elderly, disabled, mentally disabled and people who have trouble getting around on their own.

"The priority for the government is to help those who can't help themselves," he said.

Those arriving in need of immediate medical attention will be taken by ambulance to either Covenant Medical Center or University Medical Center.

The rest will be taken to a temporary shelter at the Reese Technology Center, which housed about 400 Hurricane Katrina victims two weeks ago.

On Wednesday, city officials had stood down their shelter operations and said they didn't expect any evacuees to be sent here. But during the night, the federal government sent in military planes to fly out evacuees.

The city is gearing up for the arrival of two military planes that are expected to bring between 300 and 500 people each.

"We don't expect this to be the end of it," Martin said.

The city is in the process of setting up three other shelters around the city, including the Lubbock Coliseum, the Civic Center and Lubbock Christians University's field house.

All four centers combined can house about 1,700 people.

The city has also contacted area nursing homes and hotels about housing the rest.

Whisperwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is opening a wing to house about 20 people.

"I don't know if we're getting any or not," said the center's administrator Linda Parks.

The American Red Cross also reports that about 100 people who left the coast on their own are staying in the area.

To comment on this story:

james.gallagher@lubbockonline.com t 766-8753

brian.williams@lubbockonline.com t 766-8717


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: evacuation; evacuees; hubcity; lubbock; rita
The city had just finished clearing the shelter of Katrina evacuees. Looks like being in a semi-desert environ is starting to be an asset to the Hub.
1 posted on 09/22/2005 12:46:05 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana
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To: Army Air Corps; JFC; WestTexasWend; GW and Twins Pawpaw

Llano Estacado PING


2 posted on 09/22/2005 12:46:48 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana (No amnesty needed...My ancestors proudly served. [remodel of an old '70s bumper sticker])
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To: hispanarepublicana

Maybe they should just become Bedouins and wander around the South.


3 posted on 09/22/2005 12:48:05 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!)
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To: hispanarepublicana

Put The General in charge of the situation! ;-)


4 posted on 09/22/2005 12:49:14 PM PDT by day10 (Rules cannot substitute for character.)
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To: ElkGroveDan

You joke, but when I had to traverse the Texas Tech campus in the middle of blinding sandstorms, I was very tempted to wear Bedouin-type attire.


5 posted on 09/22/2005 12:50:41 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana (No amnesty needed...My ancestors proudly served. [remodel of an old '70s bumper sticker])
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To: hispanarepublicana

I have done that a few times.

Walking at a 45 degree angle just to stay upright in the wind. In undergrad, I had to walk from Holden Hall to the Law School where I worked in the Law Library.


6 posted on 09/22/2005 1:16:42 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: hispanarepublicana

LOL...if you'd tried that in the mid- to late-70s at Tech you'd have been beseiged with marriage proposals from all the Iranian students camped outside the Student Union, protesting the Shah. ;)

Thanks for the ping!


7 posted on 09/22/2005 1:16:59 PM PDT by WestTexasWend
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To: Army Air Corps
Walking at a 45 degree angle just to stay upright in the wind.

Well, at least we got a free teeth-cleaning from the sand-blasting.

8 posted on 09/22/2005 1:18:07 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana (No amnesty needed...My ancestors proudly served. [remodel of an old '70s bumper sticker])
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To: hispanarepublicana

I heard about the ruckus that some of the Katrin evacuees caused at a football game. What a shame.


9 posted on 09/22/2005 1:18:21 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: hispanarepublicana

I heard about the ruckus that some of the Katrina evacuees caused at a football game. What a shame.


10 posted on 09/22/2005 1:18:27 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: WestTexasWend

Isn't that around the time the Shah's son was living in Lubbock?


11 posted on 09/22/2005 1:18:48 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana (No amnesty needed...My ancestors proudly served. [remodel of an old '70s bumper sticker])
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To: Army Air Corps

I didn't hear.....what happened?


12 posted on 09/22/2005 1:19:16 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana (No amnesty needed...My ancestors proudly served. [remodel of an old '70s bumper sticker])
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To: hispanarepublicana

Well, a group of evacuees were invited to attend a home game and some season ticket holders donated their seats for that game to the group of evacuees. During the game, the evacuees started taunting the folks around them and were trying to start fights as well as trying to hassle the people around them. When event staff tried to ask them to behave properly, some of the evacuees become belligerent; at this point, some LPD officers were called in to remind the folks that they were guests and that their behaviour would determine whether they would stay or be escorted out of the stadium.


13 posted on 09/22/2005 1:26:48 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: hispanarepublicana

I figure that walking across campus in a sandstorm is a great way to have a free scrubbing of one's skin; it rids you of all those dead skin cells. Skin care, west Texas style.


14 posted on 09/22/2005 1:28:58 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Army Air Corps

That's too bad. Are they still here, I wonder?


15 posted on 09/22/2005 1:40:51 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana (No amnesty needed...My ancestors proudly served. [remodel of an old '70s bumper sticker])
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To: hispanarepublicana

From what I understand from local news broadcasts is that small number of the Katrina evacuees have stayed to become members of the community.


16 posted on 09/22/2005 1:43:42 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: hispanarepublicana

Yes, he was in pilot training at Reese. Very nice guy, too. Wanted to interview him about his extremely generous donation to the Goodfellows Christmas campaign, but he very politely (and understandably) declined.


17 posted on 09/22/2005 1:44:34 PM PDT by WestTexasWend
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To: Army Air Corps

Yeah.....there was that great article in the Statesman (gee, that's not something you hear everyday) about the Bemiss family.


18 posted on 09/22/2005 1:45:19 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana (No amnesty needed...My ancestors proudly served. [remodel of an old '70s bumper sticker])
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To: hispanarepublicana

Press Release from campus:

TECH ANNOUNCE




Subject:
Hurricane Rita Evacuees

Description:
Dear Members of the Texas Tech Community

We have been contacted today by the Governor’s
Division of Emergency Management and asked to
house evacuees from Hurricane Rita. The request,
made also to the City of Lubbock, involves Reese
Technology Center, the Lubbock Municipal
Coliseum, and possible space on our campus. The
same request has been made to other universities
in the state as we all try to do whatever we can
to prepare for this terrible storm and its
aftermath.

As the situation exists this afternoon, September
22, 2005, the evacuees will first be housed at
Reese until that facility is full. Next, further
evacuees will be moved into the Lubbock Municipal
Coliseum. Any overflow evacuees after those
facilities are filled will be housed on the Texas
Tech campus in Gaston Hall, currently unoccupied.

Texas Tech Police Department will assist the City
of Lubbock in providing security for these
temporary residents. The American Red Cross and
the Salvation Army will assist in providing food
and other necessities.

Please be considerate of these fellow Texans as
they are forced to evacuate their homes. If you
would like to volunteer to help as Hurricane Rita
displaced families arrive at Texas Tech, please
contact the Center for Campus Life at 742-5433.

Jon Whitmore
President

Posted:
September 22nd, 2005


19 posted on 09/22/2005 2:26:04 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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