Posted on 06/29/2006 5:20:35 AM PDT by WKB
This winter, FEMA put up over 300 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in New York City hotels. Almost all of them have gone back to their lives, their jobs. But not Theon Johnson. He’s currently sprawled out watching Halloween 5 on one of the two full-size beds in his room at the JFK Airport Holiday Inn. He is one of four evacuees still living in a hotel in the city.
The others left in February and March, when, after spending more than $500 million, FEMA stopped paying for hotel rooms housing some 40,000 evacuees across the country. That left many scrambling for places to live. But thanks to the city’s squatters-rights law, evacuees here were safe. Their rooms weren’t paid for, but since they’d been in them for more than 30 days, the hotels couldn’t just kick them out. Only a judge’s order could evict them.
And Johnson, 49, isn’t that motivated to leave. For one thing, AMC’s in the middle of its “Thrill Me” marathon. Next up, Gothika. “Halle Berry,” he says with lazy lust. These days he’s usually up all night—it’s hard to sleep on an empty stomach. When he has to, he’ll go outside and beg for change, but he doesn’t really like that too much. Most days he just showers and gets back in bed, showers and gets back in bed. Once a week he and another evacuee, a diabetic named Larry, walk to a church off the Van Wyck and get canned goods. When Johnson’s caseworker, Sharon, comes around, she gives him some bus passes and maybe a few bucks, but she’s getting frustrated. “They sit around on their butts watching TV. There’s only but so much I can do if they’re not willing to help themselves.”
After being flown here for free back in September, Johnson’s been at the Holiday Inn since Super Bowl Sunday. On April 21, the hotel served Johnson with three notices of occupancy termination, saying that it would begin court proceedings if he wasn’t out by May 9. He wasn’t, so it did. If the court boots him, Johnson could end up in one of the city’s homeless shelters. He’s been broke for over a month now. FEMA sent him $9,000 in housing aid, but he spent it all on booze, cigarettes, some clothes, and food—partying, mostly. “I spent my money just the way I wanted, and I think [fema] should send me some more,” he says. But it won’t. Johnson’s caseworker says FEMA offered to buy him a ticket home to New Orleans in February, but he didn’t take it. FEMA won’t now. So he’s stuck, at least until the Holiday Inn pays him to leave.
Attorneys with the Legal Aid Society have been negotiating a buyout deal for Johnson and the remaining evacuees, and expect a settlement—he heard about $1,200—imminently. He says he’ll use the money to get a room for a few nights and have some fun before flying back to his little house in New Orleans’ Third Ward. But for now, Gothika’s on. “Halle Berry,” Johnson says. “Halle . . . Berry.”
It is impossible to stay unemployed in NYC.
This guy is one of the reasons they need to bring in illegals to do the clean-up work in New Orleans.
Yep. Mayor Nagen's kind of guy.
Can you give this guy a hand?
Halle . . . Berry.
Yep. Mayor Nagen's kind of guy.
Yep,
“I spent my money just the way I wanted, and I think [fema] should send me some more,” he says.
I call these the human leeches as pets.
Somewhere, somehow, the concept that I have to support him as his "right" got created, and is not likely to ever go away...
A whole industry of other leeches depend on it; these think that they have real jobs, distributing the money earned by normal taxpayers...
Your tax dollars helping rebuild the
Mississippi Gulf Coast Ping.
"What a lazy, shiftless bum. Worthless piece of subhuman detritus."
Now just a minute...this guy may be able to prevent the next nuclear plant meltdown...if he can take his eyes off Halle Berry long enough to give the plant managers the right advice. After all..he's been staying at Holiday Inn expressly.
Nice picture of a proud Democrat.
A whole industry of other leeches depend on it; these think that they have real jobs, distributing the money earned by normal taxpayers..
And Americans continue to vote for them to keep doing it.
heheheheheheheh...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....heheheheheheh
No good deed ever goes unpunished.
And Americans continue to vote for them to keep doing it.
I emailed a link to this article to Neal Boortz this AM. He's on a roll! LOL
This guy reminds me of the father of a now professional basketball player. We worked together at fed-ex in the 80's and he was so lazy he would do absolutly nothing. His favorite thing to say was I'm gonna get me a government job where I don't hafta do sh!t. Guy was 6'4 and stronger than all of us in the shop.
He did get that job with the State of AK and without the hardworking Mom the son never would have been the man he is now. God bless her.
Hey, give the guy a break!! Theon Johnson isn't a bum or a leech, he is just a poor, misunderstood, abused, and homeless man who needs a hand to help him recover all that is lost in his life....what do you mean $9,000 and he wants more...he has lived there in a hotel how long?...he did what?....the hotel is going to "buy" him out?...hey, put that lazy, good-for-nothing @#$%^&*&^&*$#$%^ P.O.S. out on his no good @$%#@%%^&%^&%^&#$%#$% and ship him back to Nagintown and park his butt on the mayor's doorstep!!
Surely FEMA or whoever could have thought of a cheaper place in this great wide open country to relocate him to than a NYC airport hotel!!!
Surely any person could find more to do in 10 months or however long in a new exciting city than just sit on their azzes and watch TV 24/7.
Surely there must be more duct tape around here to wrap my head in.
They should throw this guy out of one of the hotel windows.
What a waste of oxygen he is.
LQ
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