Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

[BigV]

Right on!!

I had many people express their disgust at some, not all, of the "official" responses. But without exception, every local I encountered with whom the subject came up said they owed the volunteer effort everything for their survival. The Red Cross, Samaritan's Purse, and Karl Malone. Open up the Yellow Pages to churches and they were all there. And the distinctions between one to the other disappeared. What uniform you wore on Sunday was a matter of monumental indifference when it came to getting the work done.

I was brought to tears more than once by the expressions of gratitude by the people we met. My team and I came from Seattle, and we were working and sleeping and eating and praying alongside teams from New Jersey, Team Vermont, a group of eight guys who piled in a Suburban and drove 1600 miles with a tiny U-Haul trailer full of chainsaws and food and supplies, alongside a doctor from Sonoma California, San Diego. Two ladies from Alabama showed up and said "We want to help". This was a very common expression.

There were people there who were working for pay, and there's nothing wrong with that. As long as both parties respect one another. I heard one story of a home owner who hired a crew of Mexicans to clean out his house. They worked for two weeks and at the end of it, they asked for their pay. The homeowner balked, saying "I fed and housed you these past weeks. Isn't that pay enough?" And then drove them to the outskirts of town and dropped them off. True or not, I did hear the story. Equally bad is gouging on the part of the worker. I didn't hear any stories, but having the distressed homeowner over a barrel and pressuring for more money is unconscionable.

At the intersections were many many signs stuck in the dirt at the edge of the road for house guttin', tree cuttin', "Hungry roofer" (my favorite), mold removal, debris removal, every possible labor offer... Commerce will return to the Gulf Coast.

On a slightly different note, I just heard a story on the radio about volunteers in New Orleans. There is a city park where many people are camping. The city has decreed that if you are camping in the park you own $300 per month if you're in a tent and $350 if you're in a trailer. For the people who are working to clean up the city. Does this sound backwards to you? The city representative is saying the park suffered $46 million dollars worth of damage and the funds are needed to start the rebuilding process. These details are from memory, and I have done little fact checking. I look forward to any corrections.

[xoxoxoBruce]

[MVM]

BigV, you sound like a man with a plan! That's great about your calculated debris piling!

Now that you mention it, I have noticed the piles being separated. I think the crews have to do it a lot of the time, and they group them together. The crews have been doing really great in Long Beach, too. It is amazing how fast they are clearing the debris in the hardest hit areas.

One of my mother's neighbors has about 15 refrigerators in their small front yard, but my mother's is still across the street in her yard. There aren't that many houses in that block, so I don't know where they all came from! These neighbors have been working on their house and they are planning on being moved back in by Thanksgiving. We are hoping the refrigerators will be gone by then!

[MVM]

That is so true what the locals in the Bay-Waveland area told you about the Gulf Coast needing all the volunteers! Not only has it helped us physically by clearing out our yards and homes, but just knowing that so many people truly care is a great lift to our spirits. Everyone is talking about how the church groups have been so helpful. The next time there is a disaster, I know where I will be donating my money!

The volunteer groups have made me realize that I never even thought about going and helping another community the way you and all the church groups have done. A lot of the locals have been talking about that. We have been amazed that people have been using their vacations from work to come and help us! Sometime in the future when there is a disaster, I want to be able to do what you did (as long as it isn't any time in the next year or so!). Thank you for teaching us the kind of compassion that is partnered with action.

[MVM]

I looked up about City Park charging rent and it is true. At first I was surprised, then I realized that New Orleans is grabbing at straws, trying to find a way to stay afloat. I think the intention was to charge workers, not volunteers, and to provide portable toilets and showers. I guess the officials figure if they had a place for people to stay, they would be paying to stay there. Here is the link to the full story: <http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/library-89/113152179542700.xml?nola>.

Also, New Orleans is New Orleans, and they just do things the way they do them. A favorite quote I saw recently is that "New Orleans is just trying to get back to abnormal!"

About the Mexican workers in the Bay St Louis area, I heard a similar story. The story I read said the company hadn't gotten their money yet to pay the workers. I don't know if that was true or not. I hope that is not happening a lot. The illegal aliens have no legal recourse and they can be deported, so they are taking chances working here. I have read horror stories about what some of them go through to get to this country.

[MVM]

I see the link didn't work. If you go to the Times-Picayune site, which is nola.com, then look for "City Park tent fee", you should find it.

[BigV]

I stayed at First Presbyterian Church, in Bay Saint Louis. This is a picture of the church. The high steep roof suffered a little damage, mostly missing shingles. The structure, just two buildings back from Beach Drive, had only two inches of water covering the floor, and, as you can see, wasn't crushed by water or trees or wind. Eyewitnesses said the water parted around the building. You may draw your own conclusions.

In the second picture, you can see the tool shed and a couple of tents erected to house the work teams.

Our team was fortunate enough to be able to bunk inside. In fact, in the second picture, you can see our bunks being made. Two by fours and a sheet of OSB, we got four two bed bunks in the room. Our team was six, three men and three women. But the team following us was eighteen. They were going to need the bunks. Probably the tents too.

[BigV]

This tree stood across the street at the end of the block. The whole area was filled with these trees. They are huge. Some of them are hundreds of years old. I took many pictures of them, and you're sure to see more in future posts. In the direction of this picture, you can see some of the homes wrecked by the hurricane.

The second picture is of an envelope I found lying on the sand.

[BigV]

I found it poignant that someone's letter was cast upon the shore, like a message in a bottle. I leaned closer to the letter and to my surprise, I found it was dated 07 Sep, only one week after the storm. Then I looked closer. 8 cents for an airmail stamp?! The postmark had a year too. 1967. Someone's love letter, or a card from a loved one, a message that brought back memories. Now just a piece of storm tossed debris. I can see a house in the background, but where was it's home?

[BigV]

Child's play, but no child.

Here's the dresser, but where's the bedroom?

[BigV]

Walk down the beach with me a stretch, will you?

In the corner of the first picture is B, from our team. This is along the area where Beach Drive *used to* be. You can see a line of flotsam and the ruined Hwy 90 bridge in the background. I took many pictures of the bridge, not so much because it is wrecked, but because it showed the awesome force of the water. The violent way the large and heavy and built into the ground components of this roadwork were cast about is stunning. More of these pictures later. This one shows the breadth of the destruction of the bridge.

The second picture is taken from what would have been a lane of traffic on Beach Drive. Look closely and you'll see large brown pipes--water mains. Yellow gas lines. Crumbled sections of roadway. These are usually buried well below the surface, and here and in other places, so much erosion has left them exposed. In other places, I'm looking *up* at fire hydrants. The roadway was chewed up and spat inland.

[BigV]

Here are a couple of houses still mostly standing on the beach.

[BigV]

In the first picture is a concrete cylinder, with a red line near the top. This is the opening to a manhole that led down to the sewers. It is a brick lined concrete well.

In the second picture, the roots of the oak tree in front of this house are two to three times my height. The house looks remarkably intact.

[BigV]

This house fared less well. In the second shot you can see how the storm surge pushed the seawater and sand well up into the main hallway of the house. Notice the fireplace hanging loosely on the left. See the colored window at the end of the hall.

[BigV]

The owners of this big old victorian house were veterans when it came to storm preparation. But this storm obviously overwhelmed them. Here are a couple of pictures showing evidence of their practiced defenses.