Posted on 11/29/2005 4:39:00 AM PST by Flyer
With Christmas around the corner, a group of Katrina evacuees worry they can't give the holiday to their kids.
Hauling home a Christmas tree is at least a $30 cab ride.
For Sheryl Lee whose New Orleans home was destroyed, her brand new house is a "dream come true," she said as she wiped tears from her eyes.
Yet for all that it offers, it is also a trap.
"No way to get to a shopping or nothing," Lee said.
The Clarke Springs subdivision, with its neat rows of humble homes, sits outside the beltway. The nearest Metro bus stop is a 30-minute walk.
Sheryl and her neighbors, all Katrina evacuees placed by the city of Houston, do not own cars.
"It's not close by too many things. So far out," said Colette Montgomery, Katrina evacuee.
Neighbors believe at least 40 Katrina families live in the Clarke Springs subdivision. What they're worried about now is whether they can provide Christmas for their kids.
Like all kids, Sheryl's 9-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son love Christmas, but look around and you won't find a single decoration because hauling home a tree is at least a $30 cab ride.
"And that kind of money I don't have right now," Lee said.
With no car, not only is a job hard to come by, so is Christmas.
"Although they [children] lost everything they had once before, but I could try to get them just a little of it. Might not be all, but it's a little," said Lee.
Why have they been living out of boxes for years? Are they not intelligent and resourcefull, able to find a new life? Are the shelters all full?
"These people have no right, no right whatsoever to complain. The gimme gimme gimme more more more attitude makes me sick."
My thoughts, exactly!! This is LBJ's legacy to the US. Hey, here's a thought -- LBJ's family lives in Texas and has millions -- his wife and daughters should donate their inheritance to these poor, unfortunate people! (sarc)
Does anyone remember the whining character on one of the earlier SNL? I can still mimic her very well but I do it in jest.
LBJ was only taking from the haves and giving to the have nots, what a load of shite. My grand parents decorated with popcorn and walked five miles to go fishing when their food got low. But they did not weigh three to five hundred pounds like most of the evacuees.I saw some of them had asses that alone weighed one to two hundred pounds alone. That walk might be very healthful. My beautiful car has 273,000 on the speedo that broke a year ago, but I figure it will last me for several more years with TLC. I am having tomatoe sanwiches today and I am very thankfull for that, I am very blessed. Nobody has come by and offered me a house and cash, amoung other freebies, so far.
If a bunch of them contacted a tree lot and ordered ten or more trees....you can bet they could arrange to have them brought out on the back of a pickup.
Also a great time for teaching the kiddos how fortunate they are to be where they are. Well you and I would do that anyway. These will blame us because the packages are not piled halfway to the ceiling. But don't worry South Carolina - I've seen these types make out like bandits at Christmas - better than my own.
Oprah works schemes on behalf of advertisers, so it's not all actual "giving" by Oprah of free houses and such (remember the "free car" thing? the recipients mostly could not come up with the taxes they were expected to pay for the cars...).
Oprah's intelligent and touts spirituality (somewhat, at least) but she uses the physical, material world not to elevate but to hyperventilate, to excite, and it's a form of lust in my view. She might try using the same amount of energy and financial maneuvering and instruct people how to get their own fine homes.
However, I congratulate her humanitarianism as to housing anyone in need. The flourishing aspect to her material fascinations, however, actually disservices those in need after a point.
To wit, that suggestion by you as to what the houses will look like in the coming years. Unless they develope pride and caring about the houses -- usually an indication of value of what one's worked hard for -- the places will become yet more depressed environments, just like the places they escaped originally. Oprah should focus on the why's involved in that before doling out houses and advertisers' graces.
And well you should have. It is very very difficult to evict someone regardless of the arrangement. I considered taking in an elderly person after Katrina but they don't usually come by themselves. And then we were out of our home for 9 days after Rita. A wonderful elderly widow in Houston was brutally murdered by evacuees that she tried to help.
I know there are some good people who do appreciate the help and a Texas tv station does more harm for them than good by broadcasting this goon's whines.
Wanna know who I feel sorry for? The people that scrimped and saved to BUY a home in that neighborhood. Now they are saddled with this bunch of crybabies with their hand out.
Wanna bet whose yard is mowed?
Or which porch has an old sofa?
These people are used to living in an inner city ghetto, it's all they know. They might have lived in a dump, but they had access to public transportation and a big screen tv. They miss it. Maybe they should all be put on a bus and sent back to New Orleans.
Huh?
The nearest Metro bus stop is a 30-minute walk.
What, FEMA didn't issue her feet?
It's not close by too many things. So far out
Transportation isn't the reason she can't get a job. Her inability to string together a coherent sentence is the main reason.
...and the best ways to steal Christmas trees.
Eventually, apron strings need to be cut. These people aren't going to voluntarily get of the government dole.
It's a scenario that is repeated time and again, yet the victimhood supporters are willing to ignore the evidence.
I can tell by reading articles and listening to the coffee shop conversations that a lot of folks are sick of these whiners....FEMA needs to send all remaining funds to the building of a wall between us and Mexico (NOT to Africa as Slickster is now suggesting)!
I'm having a grand time decorating my apartment with stuff from the Dollar Store.
My wife wasn't even sure she came to the right door when she found it wrapped up like a giant gift (paper, tape, ribbon): $3.
Extravagant table settings for two: $10.
Decorative potholders, towel, mug, candle: $4.
Coming soon, a gleeful array of lights, decorations, candles, garlands, gifts, wrappings, ... all for $1 or less each.
Tree? not sure yet. I've seen them free the night before ... and what fun that is, gradually filling the house with decorations and then ending it with a bang of a big fancy tree acquired and fully decorated for a few dollars!
And whence the money? If she has no income, at minimum go collect & refund soda cans, turning refuse into a houseful of holiday fun.
A new home for free? and she's whining about no decorations? should be more concerned about no imagination.
FEMA is asleep at the switch! Just another sign of the rampant corruption of the neocon Bushbots!!!
Plus, its not fair to make someone wrap gifts without a Jack Daniels and water to sip on while performing that work.
Wow, so clean and new. Probably most of them will be trashed within 6 months.
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