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South Mississippi needs your help (Desperate Appeal from So. Ms. Sun Herald)
Sun Herald ^ | Wed, Aug. 31, 2005 | Sun Herald Editor

Posted on 08/31/2005 2:36:51 PM PDT by Smogger

The coastal communities of South Mississippi are desperately in need of an unprecedented relief effort. We understand that New Orleans also was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, but surely this nation has the resources to rescue both that metropolitan and ours.

Whatever plans that were in place to deal with such a natural disaster have proven inadequate. Perhaps destruction on this scale could not have been adequately prepared for.

But now that it has taken place, no effort should be spared to mitigate the hurricane's impact.

The essentials -- ice, gasoline, medicine -- simply are not getting here fast enough.

We are not calling on the nation and the state to make life more comfortable in South Mississippi, we are calling on the nation and the state to make life here possible.

We would bolster our argument with the number of Katrina casualties confirmed thus far, but if there is such a confirmed number, no one is releasing it to the public. This lack of faith in the publics' ability to handle the truth is not sparing anyone's feelings, it is instead fueling terrifying rumors.

While the flow of information is frustratingly difficult, our reporters have yet to find evidence of a coordinated approach to relieve pain and hunger or to secure property and maintain order.

People are hurting and people are being vandalized.

Yet where is the National Guard, why hasn't every able-bodied member of the armed forces in South Mississippi been pressed into service?

On Wednesday reporters listening to horrific stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics.

Playing basketball and performing calisthenics!

When asked why these young men were not being used to help in the recovery effort, our reporters were told that it would be pointless to send military personnel down to the beach to pick up debris.

Litter is the least of our problems. We need the president to back up his declaration of a disaster with a declaration of every man and woman under his command will do whatever is necessary to deal with that disaster.

We need the governor to provide whatever assistance is at his command.

We certainly need our own county and city officials to come together and identify the most pressing needs of their constituents and then allocate resources to meet those needs. We appreciate the stress that theses elected and appointed officials have been under since the weekend but they must do a better job restoring public confidence in their ability to meet this challenge.

This editorial represents the view of the Sun-Herald editorial board: President- Publisher Ricky R. Mathews, Vice President and Executive Editor Stan Tiner, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Flora S. Point, Opinion Page Editor Marie Harris, and Associate Editor Ed. Tony Biffle.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; US: Mississippi
KEYWORDS: katrina; southmississippi
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To: Rutles4Ever

No problem. It just didn't ring true...


41 posted on 08/31/2005 3:01:10 PM PDT by eureka! (Hey Lefties: Only 3 and 1/3 more years of W. Hehehehe....)
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To: Rodney King

They are infact spray painting the dead ones for later identification.


42 posted on 08/31/2005 3:01:28 PM PDT by U S Army EOD (WHEN JANE FONDA STARTS HER TOUR, LET ME KNOW WHERE SHE IS)
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To: reagan_fanatic
And yet places like NO will be rebuilt, and will at some point be devastated by yet another hurricane, leaving more dead and more catastrophic property losses behind. People never learn.

Does this apply to Miami?

The Great Miami Hurricane (sometimes called the "Big Blow") was a destructive and intense hurricane that battered Miami, Florida in 1926. Born off Cape Verde on September 6, the hurricane roamed the Atlantic Ocean and passed near St. Kitts on the 14th. By the 17th it was battering the Bahamas. Then in the early moring hours of the 18th it made landfall just south of Miami in between Coral Gables and South Miami as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The storm then made landfall near Mobile, Alabama as a Category 3 hurricane.

At first landfall, winds on the ground were reported around 125 mph and the pressure measured at 935 mb (though all such data is suspect). Most of the coastal inhabitants had not evacutated, partly because of short warning (a hurricane warning was issued just a few hours before landfall) and partly because the "young" city's population knew little about the danger a major hurricane posed. A 15 foot storm surge inundated the area, causing massive property damage and some fatalities. As the eye of the hurricane crossed over Miami Beach and downtown Miami, many people believed the storm had passed. Some tried to leave the barrier islands, only to be swept off of the bridges by the rear eyewall. I

nland, Lake Okeechobee experienced a high storm surge, flooding the town of Moore Haven and killing many. This was just a prelude of the 1928 Lake Okeechobee Hurricane which would cause a massive number of fatalities around the lake.

After crossing Florida, the hurricane moved into the Gulf of Mexico. It made landfall a second time near the border of Florida and Alabama. Coastal regions between Mobile and Pensacola, Florida suffered heavy damage from wind, rain, and storm surge, but this paled beside the news of the destruction in Miami.

According to the Red Cross there were 373 fatalities. Other estimates vary, since there were a large number of people listing as "missing". Between 25,000 and 50,000 people were left homeless, mostly in the Miami area.

The damage from the storm was immense; few buildings in Miami or Miami Beach were left intact. The toll for the storm was $100 million in 1926 dollars, just over $1 billion in 2005 dollars. It is estimated that if it had hit in the year 2003, with modern development and prices, the storm would have caused over $98 billion in damage. After the hurricane the Great Depression started in South Florida, slowing recovery.

43 posted on 08/31/2005 3:01:46 PM PDT by kabar
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To: Smogger
Thankyou for providing the background info needed to educate my complete ignorance. I was, of course, referring to the posted article. If you do not want responses to the specific article at hand, then, kindly present some links so that we can be edumacated at our leisure!!!
44 posted on 08/31/2005 3:02:30 PM PDT by crazyhorse691 ( Heaven on Earth is where the nearest Starbucks is 60 miles away.)
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To: TXBubba
I think these people need, Water..Water.ice, it is in the 90's there today, shelter, big army tents, that people can get into for shelter. Food, National Guard, and Army mobile kitchens that can cook something for these people.
It is a shame that a country as rich as ours, cannot help these people. We help every other rinky Dink country, with everything, but our own people are left to the elements. My money is going to the Salvation Army, the Red Cross is too top heavy with suits.
45 posted on 08/31/2005 3:05:20 PM PDT by BooBoo1000 (Some times I wake up grumpy, other times I let her sleep/)
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To: Smogger
Our government did absolutely nothing to stem the flow of illegals across the southern border until people took the initiative and formed their own watchdog group. I'd be willing to bet that some sort of positive reaction would be forthcoming if the Governor sent word to President Chavez of Venzuela seeking help. As I remember, Chavez did make the offer....
46 posted on 08/31/2005 3:06:33 PM PDT by oldfart ("All governments and all civilizations fall... eventually. Our government is not immune.)
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To: crazyhorse691

I was referring to your ignorance of the Sun Herald and their response to the Hurricaine. You can start by following the link to their website. Snippets from it are all over the Hurricaine XX threads, btw.


47 posted on 08/31/2005 3:06:51 PM PDT by Smogger
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To: BooBoo1000
We help every other rinky Dink country, with everything, but our own people are left to the elements.

That's what I am saying. And I'll tell you another thing. It's a lot of poor blacks and poor whites that are suffering the most, but if it was a bunch of poor illegal immigrants suffering, the limosine liberals would be screaming bloody murder.

48 posted on 08/31/2005 3:09:40 PM PDT by Smogger
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To: Sunlance; mhking
Send your donations to Mississippi. The costal areas there are I believe red, in N.O. the people left are a bunch of liberal thugs.

So we decide which of our citizens are helped due to political affiliation, not due to actual damage.

It's a different board now. </headshaking>


49 posted on 08/31/2005 3:10:52 PM PDT by rdb3 ("That which has happened is a warning. To forget it is guilt..." --Karl Jaspers)
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To: rdb3

Sunlance signed up today. A troll, now gone...


50 posted on 08/31/2005 3:12:48 PM PDT by eureka! (Hey Lefties: Only 3 and 1/3 more years of W. Hehehehe....)
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To: Smogger

Sorry to intrupt, but has anyone read the news release from the Red Cross? It strikes me as odd, to say the least. Can I post it here without breaking any rules?

My brother, his wife, and two kids are missing in Pascagoula, and I can't find a place to do a "missing persons" listing.

Sorry, but I really diden't know where else to post this.


51 posted on 08/31/2005 3:13:19 PM PDT by Snoitan5 ("This we'll defend" (Any questions???))
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To: Smogger

Why do I get the feeling that the staff at the So. Ms. Sun Herald don't remember Camille?


52 posted on 08/31/2005 3:13:25 PM PDT by steveegg ($3.00 a gallon is the price you pay for ANWR! Start drilling or stop whining! - HT Falcon4.0)
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To: Snoitan5

I've seen similar posts as their own separate articles. You should try that with some more info. Prayers for good news...


53 posted on 08/31/2005 3:16:25 PM PDT by eureka! (Hey Lefties: Only 3 and 1/3 more years of W. Hehehehe....)
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To: steveegg

What makes you say that? Because the governor and mayor of Biloxi do and they say this is MUCH MUCH worse.


54 posted on 08/31/2005 3:16:29 PM PDT by Smogger
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To: eureka!
I see that the troll has been given a nuclear enema, but what he/she said has been echoed scores of times by long-time members here on multiple threads.


55 posted on 08/31/2005 3:18:02 PM PDT by rdb3 ("That which has happened is a warning. To forget it is guilt..." --Karl Jaspers)
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To: Smogger
We would bolster our argument with the number of Katrina casualties confirmed thus far, but if there is such a confirmed number, no one is releasing it to the public. This lack of faith in the publics' ability to handle the truth is not sparing anyone's feelings, it is instead fueling terrifying rumors.

Amen, brother.

56 posted on 08/31/2005 3:18:25 PM PDT by Petronski (I love Cyborg.)
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To: rdb3

Understood. I think that it has been a kneejerk reaction to the LA politicians seemingly blaming W when it is they that, if anyone, dropped the ball. Also, the looting in NO that has gotten so much coverage has p*ssed off a lot of people, i.e., "I'm not giving money to benefit those animals"--even though the main of those suffering have lost all and are innocents....


57 posted on 08/31/2005 3:22:32 PM PDT by eureka! (Hey Lefties: Only 3 and 1/3 more years of W. Hehehehe....)
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To: Snoitan5

Prayers for your brother and family, Snoitan5.


58 posted on 08/31/2005 3:23:20 PM PDT by Jessarah
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To: Smogger

Just the way that the words were written.


59 posted on 08/31/2005 3:26:37 PM PDT by steveegg ($3.00 a gallon is the price you pay for ANWR! Start drilling or stop whining! - HT Falcon4.0)
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To: eureka!
Understood. I think that it has been a kneejerk reaction to the LA politicians seemingly blaming W when it is they that, if anyone, dropped the ball. Also, the looting in NO that has gotten so much coverage has p*ssed off a lot of people, i.e., "I'm not giving money to benefit those animals"--even though the main of those suffering have lost all and are innocents....

Well I agree with that. I guess the scenes of a bunch of opportunistic predators (who should frankly be shot on site) are a lot more "sexy" than scenes of women with children and old people sitting in the hot sun baking waiting to transported God knows where.

60 posted on 08/31/2005 3:27:39 PM PDT by Smogger
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