Free Republic

MOBILE, Ala. A Katrina evacuee from New Orleans is charged in Mobile with attempted murder in the beating of her baby daughter described by authorities as brain-dead. Christy Ross relocated to Mobile after Hurricane Katrina struck in August. In court yesterday, the 31-year-old woman appeared emotionless before Mobile County District Judge Michael McMaken, who denied her bail. The child, 13-month-old Tawanda Dune, remains on life support in a Mobile hospital -- injuries include a broken leg and blows to her forehead and the back of her head. The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Ashley Rich, says the child is on life...

KANSAS CITY -- A hurricane evacuee who is accused of firing shots into a carful of people and killing a child has been arrested by police in Woodville, Mississippi. Early Tuesday, Kansas City Police sent out a murder warrant for 24-year-old George H. Haynes who they believe was involved in the incident that left two-year-old Jontae Hoskins dead and two other children wounded. The other children who were shot include a four-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl who were taken Sunday to area hospitals in serious condition. Police said four adults and four children were riding in a car as the...

KINGSTON, Mass. - A Louisiana man displaced by Hurricane Katrina has been given 30 days to vacate the town-owned property he has been living in rent free for six months after he was arrested twice in one day. Seantomas Shaw, 39, was arrested early Monday and charged with marked lane violations and driving without a license. He was arrested again Monday night and charged with driving without a license and other charges, including forging a Registry of Motor Vehicles document. Shaw was sentenced in Plymouth District Court on Tuesday to three months in jail, suspended for one year, on the...

A Knoxville Police Department officer shot and killed an armed suspect at Walter P. Taylor homes early Thursday morning, just as the suspect was about to fire through a door at another officer, according to KPD. The suspect, Larry Ardis, 56, a Louisiana man with a lengthy criminal record, was armed with a fully loaded .44-caliber magnum revolver, and had a box of ammunition in his pocket, KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk said. A woman who encountered Ardis prior to the shooting has told investigators that he was "ready to kill and wanted to kill," and was wearing plastic over his...

WORK! Stop the presses!Someone finally said what needed to be said…publicly. During some government meeting in Houston, three New Orleans council members (guests?) said to “evacuees” what was on so many people’s minds: Get off your duffs and work. New Orleans doesn’t want its poorest residents back — unless they agree to work.That was the message from three New Orleans City Council members who said government programs have “pampered” the city’s residents for too long. (Source) Houston transplants who want to return to New Orleans got a dose of tough love. “We don’t need soap opera watchers right now,” said...

ATLANTA -- Evacuees from New Orleans plan a protest in Atlanta to the city's plan to hold Mardi Gras celebrations in two months. An angry and raucous crowd of evacuees chastised New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin last week for approving the festival. He told the crowd he actually opposed celebrating the festival but tourism leaders forced his hand. In Atlanta, a group plans a protest at 2 p.m. Monday on West Peachtree Street ahead of Monday night’s Saints-Falcons game. Protesters fear seeing revelers in the French Quarter at Mardi Gras will make agencies trying to help evacuees withdraw their help....

Stephanie Swisher is settling in nicely as a freshman at the University of Virginia, enjoying classes, Naval ROTC, club volleyball and football Saturdays. Things are going so well, in fact, that she would rather not return to Tulane University in New Orleans -- the school she had expected to attend until Hurricane Katrina struck. "The argument that everyone's giving me is that I'm a freshman so I've never known Tulane, I need to give it a chance,'" she said. "My argument is, why should I have to?" But Swisher probably will have to give Tulane a chance. Despite her wishes...

(West Columbia)-Larry Young read, "The last night FEMA will pay for hotel costs is November 30." It's the letter Larry received Tuesday night. The lines were still unbelievable to him Wednesday morning. Young said, "We were told they would cover our expenses until we found a personal residence." But Larry still hasn't found his picket fence, and he says FEMA isn't doing much to help him look. Young said, "I don't know where I'm going from here. I don't know what I'll do from here." Larry has called Columbia home for a month and a half. He's located his wife,...

Nearly three months after being forced from her home in New Orleans, a hurricane evacuee finally heard some good news. In a drawing Saturday televised live, Betty Wiltumer-Zenon's name was announced as the winner of the Acadian Home Builders Association's first "Home for Thanksgiving" drawing, an event that raffles off a new home and donates the proceeds to area charities, such as Habitat for Humanity, Faith House and the Acadiana Children's Shelter. Wiltumer-Zenon could not be reached for comment, but has been living in Lafayette since leaving New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, said Adrienne Breaux, public relations coordinator for AHBA....

For two weeks in September, the Eighth Wonder of the World was miraculously transformed into the largest emergency shelter in the universe, where 17,500 Katrina survivors found comfort, hundreds of families were reunited, and New Orleans showed its first signs of rebirth.

About 300-thousand Hurricane Katrina evacuees can get free cell phones and 300 free minutes of calls under a plan approved by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC says the offer is open to every household approved for housing assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The participating wireless carriers will be reimbursed $130 for each household taking advantage of the program. The $39 million will come from the Universal Service Fund. The FCC says wireless carriers cannot require consumers to enter into long-term contracts. It also permits consumers to choose not to receive a new telephone handset in exchange for...

Darryl Delatte, 57 years old and 22 months shy of retiring as a mechanic, was rescued from his flooded New Orleans home after Hurricane Katrina and dropped on an interstate. There, he watched people die -- and wondered why no help came. "Everybody kept passing you by," he says. Now, at a cavernous disaster relief center in Houston, he ponders the promises made by government officials -- of land and jobs for evacuees back home, of a rebirth of the city's essential, vibrant black community.

MONROE, La. -- A Hurricane Katrina evacuee who called the Red Cross and threatened to blow up targets related to Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Red Cross, and Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi will be sentenced in March. Billy Wayne Livingston, 38, of Gulfport, Miss., who reportedly lost his home in Hurricane Katrina, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Monroe to making bomb threats over the telephone. Sentencing is set for Mar. 6. He is being detained pending sentencing. When booked, Livingston gave police a West Monroe address. Prosecutors said on Sept. 16, Livingston allegedly telephoned the Red...

I live in south Lake Charles, Louisiana and Rita hit our town very hard. The electricity is still off and probably will be for a couple of weeks while Entergy rebuilds. Almost 100% of the houses in South Lake Charles are damaged. The hurricane blew the shingles and the felt off of the roof, so now when it rains, water pours into the attic getting the insulation and sheetrock wet, and then it falls to the floor. The city is in a lock down and they don't want us in because it is not safe. I went in anyway today...

A Louisiana teen displaced by Hurricane Katrina was attacked by some students at his new school in Detroit, Local 4 reported.

A 36-year-old woman is being held at the Cobb County (GA) Jail, facing felony theft charges after authorities say she lied about being an evacuee from New Orleans. Officer Wayne Delk said the woman, identified as Beretta Jo Hogg of Lithonia, went to an American Red Cross shelter for evacuees of Hurricane Karina last week in Marietta and told officials she and her 8-year-old son had lost everything in the hurricane. She filled out paperwork and left the shelter with $1,300. Later a woman who felt sorry for Hogg and the boy took them into her home. Police say while...

I think every grocery store in America should start selling MRE's for $10-15 a piece - with proceeds going to the Red Cross for food, etc. Trade A Meal -- Eat like an evacuee for a day so they can eat like you do.