Map of Murders and those "Cleared"
http://www.nola.com/news/pdf/062506_cleared.pdf
News from Central Gulf Focus: La./Miss (Ala contributors)
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Audrey2Katrina
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Audrey2Katrina
- Category 5
- Posts: 4252
- Age: 75
- Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:39 pm
- Location: Metaire, La.
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Audrey2Katrina
- Category 5
- Posts: 4252
- Age: 75
- Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:39 pm
- Location: Metaire, La.
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Audrey2Katrina
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- Posts: 4252
- Age: 75
- Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:39 pm
- Location: Metaire, La.
21-year-old drowns in Bayou Nezpique
6/25/2006, 12:32 p.m. CT
The Associated Press
JENNINGS, La. (AP) — The body of a drowning victim was found by search teams following an hour-long search of Bayou Nezpique at the Janke Bridge
Troy Anhorn, 21, of Hathaway was reported missing shortly after 5:30 p.m. Saturday after he failed to make it across the bayou while swimming with a group of family and friends.
Witnesses said Anhorn was attempting to swim across the 40-foot-deep bayou when he began to struggle.
Anhorn's body was found around 6:45 p.m. on the east side of the bridge near the point where witnesses — including his twin brother — reported last seeing him.
Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff Ricky Edwards said witnesses told him Anhorn had just learned how to swim last week.
The area where Anhorn was swimming is popular for boating and swimming, but is considered dangerous, Edwards said. It has been the scene of several drownings.
"It's not a safe place to swim because the old bridge was demolished and dropped in and there's tons of debris in the bend," he said.
6/25/2006, 12:32 p.m. CT
The Associated Press
JENNINGS, La. (AP) — The body of a drowning victim was found by search teams following an hour-long search of Bayou Nezpique at the Janke Bridge
Troy Anhorn, 21, of Hathaway was reported missing shortly after 5:30 p.m. Saturday after he failed to make it across the bayou while swimming with a group of family and friends.
Witnesses said Anhorn was attempting to swim across the 40-foot-deep bayou when he began to struggle.
Anhorn's body was found around 6:45 p.m. on the east side of the bridge near the point where witnesses — including his twin brother — reported last seeing him.
Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff Ricky Edwards said witnesses told him Anhorn had just learned how to swim last week.
The area where Anhorn was swimming is popular for boating and swimming, but is considered dangerous, Edwards said. It has been the scene of several drownings.
"It's not a safe place to swim because the old bridge was demolished and dropped in and there's tons of debris in the bend," he said.
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Audrey2Katrina
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Insurers might drop vacant homes
Mass cancellations could start in 2007
Sunday, June 25, 2006 Times Picayune/Nola.com
By Mary Judice
Phillip Collier has gutted his Lakeview home, which took on several feet of water when the levees failed after Hurricane Katrina.
But Collier, a graphic artist who published the post-Katrina book "Missing New Orleans," hasn't decided what to do next.
"We change our minds every other day," he says, adding that he is taking a
For Collier and as many as 124,000 other owners of local homes that are sitting vacant, the clock is ticking.
An emergency rule issued by the state Department of Insurance late last year essentially prohibits insurance companies from dropping policies or trimming coverage in Louisiana until the end of 2006. But once the rule expires on Dec. 31, insurers will be free to return to their pre-Katrina approach to writing coverage. And there is reason to expect wholesale cancellation of insurance on these homes as the policies expire over the coming year.
Metro New Orleans has a lot of vacant homes. Most are vacant because they were severely damaged by Katrina, forcing owners to move out until the houses are repaired or sold. Many homeowners, paralyzed by indecision, have yet to begin rebuilding or repairing.
The problem is, insurance companies usually avoid covering vacant homes -- defined by the industry as homes that are not inhabited and not actively under construction or repair -- because of the special risks they present.
Shunning vacant property
The state's major insurers say they do not write new homeowners policies on property they know to be vacant, but many have not decided on how to handle houses left vacant after the storm.
Louisiana Farm Bureau, which is exempt from the state emergency rule, is now allowed to cancel policies in areas of high risk, spokesman Blaine Briggs said. He said Farmers, as a rule, does not insure vacant houses and will not write new homeowners policies on vacant houses.
Likewise, Allstate does not write coverage on unoccupied property. "It has never been our policy to write new homeowners on property we know to be vacant," spokeswoman Kate Hollcraft said.
Both Allstate and State Farm said they had not made a final decision on what to do when the rule is lifted on vacant homes they now insure.
Terry Lisotta, secretary of the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., said the state plan would not continue to cover vacant structures.
"Those houses do not qualify for any insurance policy anywhere in the world," said Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon, who acknowledges that the rule, known as Emergency Rule 23, is the only thing keeping thousands of these vacant houses insured. "Nobody wants to write them."
Walter Leger, chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority's housing task force, recognizes the gravity of the problem.
"We have vacant buildings that are potentially uninsurable," Leger said. "I think insurance will be one of the fundamental hurdles we have to deal with as we rebuild, individually and collectively."
Greater risks
Vacant homes are subject to risks such as theft, vandalism, fire and other perils, said Jeff Albright, executive vice president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Louisiana.
Part of the problem is that gas leaks, fire and other incidents are not detected as quickly when there are no occupants, said Loretta Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group in New York. The risk is even greater in clusters of vacant houses because fire can move quickly from house to house, she said.
Wayne Forest, president of Forest Insurance Facilities in Metairie, said he regrets having to handle two claims resulting from a fire set by squatters who got into a vacant apartment complex.
Without Rule 23 forcing them to renew coverage through the end of the year, insurers would have been tempted to drop policies on such properties long since, Forest said. When the provision expires, policy-holders might be left in the lurch.
"There is no policy available to consumers for devastated, gutted property in neighborhoods in a predominantly similar environment," Donelon said. "It is a high-risk environment for insurers, and they are loath to write."
'A total mess'
The half-year before Rule 23 expires leaves homeowners little time to make their homes livable again.
George McCullum, a retired postal worker, has done nothing to restore his Lower 9th Ward home while waiting to see how his neighborhood redevelops and what programs will be available to him.
"It is a total mess," he said. "By December 2006, it will be a vacant house unless something drastic comes along, unless we have programs and can get started."
McCullum hasn't heard from his insurer, Hanover Insurance Co., about whether it will renew his policy. But he knows insurers do not write policies on vacant homes in the best of circumstances.
Owners of vacant homes won't necessarily lose their policies as soon as Emergency Rule 23 is lifted, because homeowners policies expire at various times throughout the year, said Mark Eagan of Eagan Insurance Agency.
The problem, Eagan said, will arise whenever the policy comes due next year, when the homeowner risks having his policy not renewed.
"If they do not do anything on the home, it will eventually catch up with them," Eagan said. Much will depend on whether or not the home meets the insurance industry's definition of "vacant."
Owners of homes that are still damaged fall into several categories, each of which has different insurance ramifications:
-- Homeowners who are living in their damaged homes while repairing them will not have to worry about their homes being classified as vacant. As long as the home is inhabited -- even partially -- it is eligible for a homeowners policy.
-- Homes that are under repair while the owner lives elsewhere also likely will avoid a vacant classification, although insurers might try to push these owners toward higher-priced "builder's risk" policies.
Builder's risk insurance policies cover uninhabited properties while they are under construction or repair. However, these policies don't provide the same level of coverage that a homeowners policy does. They exclude protection against vandalism, arson and additional storm damage.
High-risk carriers
Homeowners of vacant property who lose their coverage will have limited options.
Even insurance companies that offer pricey policies on property that others won't carry, known as high-risk or surplus lines, are not eager to insure vacant properties, said Ricky Jenkins, president of the Louisiana Surplus Lines Association. About 10 companies are writing surplus policies in the metro area, but they have little room for new business, he said.
High-risk carriers, like the traditional insurers, are already being forced to cover homes that have become vacant as a result of Katrina. But it's not something they are doing willingly, because of the costs, Jenkins said.
With Emergency Rule 23, "they are trying to make us extend the same deductibles, coverage and pricing as if it is not vacant," Jenkins said.
Until the rule is lifted, "there is no incentive for a lot of insured to finish renovating the structures," he said.
Meanwhile, owners of vacant homes covered under the state emergency rule are getting a deal on insurance.
The rate for a surplus line policy on an inhabited home would have been $0.75 per $100 of coverage before the storm, and $1.75 per $100 of coverage on a vacant home, Jenkins said. Today many vacant homes continue to carry the lower rate because the policies were written when the homes were livable.
"If they give us some freedom to write those properties as we were doing before the storm, companies would be willing to continue to write the business they always wrote," he said.
Insurance from state
Another option for owners of unrepaired houses will be the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-sponsored insurer of last resort.
Citizens does not offer coverage on vacant buildings, but the plan is preparing to roll out a builder's risk renovation policy for owners who are actively repairing their homes.
The policy will be helpful to homeowners like Minnie Wagner, whose partially gutted home in the Lower 9th ward is not yet habitable.
She continues paying her premiums to her insurer, Citizens, and she wants to rebuild, pending the release of federal grant money. As long as she's gotten a contractor's estimate on rebuilding, Wagner should be able to renew her Citizens policy when it expires in February by using the builder's risk provision, Lisotta said.
Lisotta said Citizens is trying to give consumers several ways to qualify for its builder's risk policy. Essentially, the insurer is looking for some sign from homeowners that they are trying to repair their homes.
He said a permit to do the work, work under way or a home that has been gutted and cleaned will be taken as a sign of intent to repair. That will be enough to satisfy the reinsurers, the companies who insure Citizens.
"Then the reinsurers will reinsure us," he said. "The person sitting on his hands and doing nothing, why should we cover them?"
Going through the lender
Homeowners who are still paying off their mortgages might have the option of obtaining insurance through their lender. Lenders can sometimes line up homeowner policies for mortgage holders, although these policies usually carry a higher premium.
Because of the moratorium on canceling policies, Standard Mortgage hasn't had to offer its borrowers this coverage yet, said Glenn Weller, the firm's vice president.
But the mortgage company does have a lender-placed carrier, a company that will write whatever business the lender brings to the insurer, sight unseen.
"It is for high-risk situations," he said, and is underwritten by one of the Lloyds of London companies.
In New Orleans, a fire-only policy through Standard's carrier can be written for $2.75 per $100 of coverage, which would mean the premium on a $100,000 policy would be $2,750 a year.
A homeowners policy, which covers contents as well as the structure, would cost $3.05 per $100, or $3,050 for $100,000 coverage, through Standard's carrier. These policies would have a $250 deductible.
For now, the best thing to do might be to renew policies while the industry is still bound by Emergency Rule 23.
"If you do not renew, you may not get coverage," Worters said.
Mass cancellations could start in 2007
Sunday, June 25, 2006 Times Picayune/Nola.com
By Mary Judice
Phillip Collier has gutted his Lakeview home, which took on several feet of water when the levees failed after Hurricane Katrina.
But Collier, a graphic artist who published the post-Katrina book "Missing New Orleans," hasn't decided what to do next.
"We change our minds every other day," he says, adding that he is taking a
For Collier and as many as 124,000 other owners of local homes that are sitting vacant, the clock is ticking.
An emergency rule issued by the state Department of Insurance late last year essentially prohibits insurance companies from dropping policies or trimming coverage in Louisiana until the end of 2006. But once the rule expires on Dec. 31, insurers will be free to return to their pre-Katrina approach to writing coverage. And there is reason to expect wholesale cancellation of insurance on these homes as the policies expire over the coming year.
Metro New Orleans has a lot of vacant homes. Most are vacant because they were severely damaged by Katrina, forcing owners to move out until the houses are repaired or sold. Many homeowners, paralyzed by indecision, have yet to begin rebuilding or repairing.
The problem is, insurance companies usually avoid covering vacant homes -- defined by the industry as homes that are not inhabited and not actively under construction or repair -- because of the special risks they present.
Shunning vacant property
The state's major insurers say they do not write new homeowners policies on property they know to be vacant, but many have not decided on how to handle houses left vacant after the storm.
Louisiana Farm Bureau, which is exempt from the state emergency rule, is now allowed to cancel policies in areas of high risk, spokesman Blaine Briggs said. He said Farmers, as a rule, does not insure vacant houses and will not write new homeowners policies on vacant houses.
Likewise, Allstate does not write coverage on unoccupied property. "It has never been our policy to write new homeowners on property we know to be vacant," spokeswoman Kate Hollcraft said.
Both Allstate and State Farm said they had not made a final decision on what to do when the rule is lifted on vacant homes they now insure.
Terry Lisotta, secretary of the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., said the state plan would not continue to cover vacant structures.
"Those houses do not qualify for any insurance policy anywhere in the world," said Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon, who acknowledges that the rule, known as Emergency Rule 23, is the only thing keeping thousands of these vacant houses insured. "Nobody wants to write them."
Walter Leger, chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority's housing task force, recognizes the gravity of the problem.
"We have vacant buildings that are potentially uninsurable," Leger said. "I think insurance will be one of the fundamental hurdles we have to deal with as we rebuild, individually and collectively."
Greater risks
Vacant homes are subject to risks such as theft, vandalism, fire and other perils, said Jeff Albright, executive vice president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Louisiana.
Part of the problem is that gas leaks, fire and other incidents are not detected as quickly when there are no occupants, said Loretta Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group in New York. The risk is even greater in clusters of vacant houses because fire can move quickly from house to house, she said.
Wayne Forest, president of Forest Insurance Facilities in Metairie, said he regrets having to handle two claims resulting from a fire set by squatters who got into a vacant apartment complex.
Without Rule 23 forcing them to renew coverage through the end of the year, insurers would have been tempted to drop policies on such properties long since, Forest said. When the provision expires, policy-holders might be left in the lurch.
"There is no policy available to consumers for devastated, gutted property in neighborhoods in a predominantly similar environment," Donelon said. "It is a high-risk environment for insurers, and they are loath to write."
'A total mess'
The half-year before Rule 23 expires leaves homeowners little time to make their homes livable again.
George McCullum, a retired postal worker, has done nothing to restore his Lower 9th Ward home while waiting to see how his neighborhood redevelops and what programs will be available to him.
"It is a total mess," he said. "By December 2006, it will be a vacant house unless something drastic comes along, unless we have programs and can get started."
McCullum hasn't heard from his insurer, Hanover Insurance Co., about whether it will renew his policy. But he knows insurers do not write policies on vacant homes in the best of circumstances.
Owners of vacant homes won't necessarily lose their policies as soon as Emergency Rule 23 is lifted, because homeowners policies expire at various times throughout the year, said Mark Eagan of Eagan Insurance Agency.
The problem, Eagan said, will arise whenever the policy comes due next year, when the homeowner risks having his policy not renewed.
"If they do not do anything on the home, it will eventually catch up with them," Eagan said. Much will depend on whether or not the home meets the insurance industry's definition of "vacant."
Owners of homes that are still damaged fall into several categories, each of which has different insurance ramifications:
-- Homeowners who are living in their damaged homes while repairing them will not have to worry about their homes being classified as vacant. As long as the home is inhabited -- even partially -- it is eligible for a homeowners policy.
-- Homes that are under repair while the owner lives elsewhere also likely will avoid a vacant classification, although insurers might try to push these owners toward higher-priced "builder's risk" policies.
Builder's risk insurance policies cover uninhabited properties while they are under construction or repair. However, these policies don't provide the same level of coverage that a homeowners policy does. They exclude protection against vandalism, arson and additional storm damage.
High-risk carriers
Homeowners of vacant property who lose their coverage will have limited options.
Even insurance companies that offer pricey policies on property that others won't carry, known as high-risk or surplus lines, are not eager to insure vacant properties, said Ricky Jenkins, president of the Louisiana Surplus Lines Association. About 10 companies are writing surplus policies in the metro area, but they have little room for new business, he said.
High-risk carriers, like the traditional insurers, are already being forced to cover homes that have become vacant as a result of Katrina. But it's not something they are doing willingly, because of the costs, Jenkins said.
With Emergency Rule 23, "they are trying to make us extend the same deductibles, coverage and pricing as if it is not vacant," Jenkins said.
Until the rule is lifted, "there is no incentive for a lot of insured to finish renovating the structures," he said.
Meanwhile, owners of vacant homes covered under the state emergency rule are getting a deal on insurance.
The rate for a surplus line policy on an inhabited home would have been $0.75 per $100 of coverage before the storm, and $1.75 per $100 of coverage on a vacant home, Jenkins said. Today many vacant homes continue to carry the lower rate because the policies were written when the homes were livable.
"If they give us some freedom to write those properties as we were doing before the storm, companies would be willing to continue to write the business they always wrote," he said.
Insurance from state
Another option for owners of unrepaired houses will be the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-sponsored insurer of last resort.
Citizens does not offer coverage on vacant buildings, but the plan is preparing to roll out a builder's risk renovation policy for owners who are actively repairing their homes.
The policy will be helpful to homeowners like Minnie Wagner, whose partially gutted home in the Lower 9th ward is not yet habitable.
She continues paying her premiums to her insurer, Citizens, and she wants to rebuild, pending the release of federal grant money. As long as she's gotten a contractor's estimate on rebuilding, Wagner should be able to renew her Citizens policy when it expires in February by using the builder's risk provision, Lisotta said.
Lisotta said Citizens is trying to give consumers several ways to qualify for its builder's risk policy. Essentially, the insurer is looking for some sign from homeowners that they are trying to repair their homes.
He said a permit to do the work, work under way or a home that has been gutted and cleaned will be taken as a sign of intent to repair. That will be enough to satisfy the reinsurers, the companies who insure Citizens.
"Then the reinsurers will reinsure us," he said. "The person sitting on his hands and doing nothing, why should we cover them?"
Going through the lender
Homeowners who are still paying off their mortgages might have the option of obtaining insurance through their lender. Lenders can sometimes line up homeowner policies for mortgage holders, although these policies usually carry a higher premium.
Because of the moratorium on canceling policies, Standard Mortgage hasn't had to offer its borrowers this coverage yet, said Glenn Weller, the firm's vice president.
But the mortgage company does have a lender-placed carrier, a company that will write whatever business the lender brings to the insurer, sight unseen.
"It is for high-risk situations," he said, and is underwritten by one of the Lloyds of London companies.
In New Orleans, a fire-only policy through Standard's carrier can be written for $2.75 per $100 of coverage, which would mean the premium on a $100,000 policy would be $2,750 a year.
A homeowners policy, which covers contents as well as the structure, would cost $3.05 per $100, or $3,050 for $100,000 coverage, through Standard's carrier. These policies would have a $250 deductible.
For now, the best thing to do might be to renew policies while the industry is still bound by Emergency Rule 23.
"If you do not renew, you may not get coverage," Worters said.
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Audrey2Katrina
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GCN Recovery News Report
Update:
This report will constantly be updated as information becomes available
Updated 6/25/06 9:41 AM--GulfCoastNews.com
Coastal residents are showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, agitation, nightmares and weight loss. Nurses in free clinics and mental-health workers who have been treating residents on the Mississippi Gulf Coast said those fears are common because people are living in cramped mobile units, and their children are free for the summer without the safety nets that school provided. Some parents are still reeling from guilt, having subjected their children to riding out the storm. Health officials throughout the Katrina Disaster Zone are noting an alarming rise of suicides. This includes residents and first responders such as police and firemen who live in the region. Katrina is also causing an increase in the divorce rate in communities even where the population has declined. Also, pharmacies are reporting more people taking anti depressants. The slow progress of recovery, rebuilding homes and lives are taking their toll on residents all through the Katrina Disaster Zone.
Update:
This report will constantly be updated as information becomes available
Updated 6/25/06 9:41 AM--GulfCoastNews.com
Coastal residents are showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, agitation, nightmares and weight loss. Nurses in free clinics and mental-health workers who have been treating residents on the Mississippi Gulf Coast said those fears are common because people are living in cramped mobile units, and their children are free for the summer without the safety nets that school provided. Some parents are still reeling from guilt, having subjected their children to riding out the storm. Health officials throughout the Katrina Disaster Zone are noting an alarming rise of suicides. This includes residents and first responders such as police and firemen who live in the region. Katrina is also causing an increase in the divorce rate in communities even where the population has declined. Also, pharmacies are reporting more people taking anti depressants. The slow progress of recovery, rebuilding homes and lives are taking their toll on residents all through the Katrina Disaster Zone.
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Audrey2Katrina
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Pulitzer for the people
Staffers celebrate award dedicated to our neighbors
By MICHAEL NEWSOM
Sunherald.com 6/25/06
GULFPORT - After roughly 300 days of hard work, the staff of the Sun Herald rested together to reflect on the highway of heartache, struggle and the many little triumphs that has led them to the mountaintop of journalism.
Employees and their families gathered Saturday for a luncheon commemorating their recent attainment of journalism's highest honor, The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, which was dedicated to the people of South Mississippi when it was announced in an elated newsroom in April.
A slide show Saturday featured headlines from the first week of Hurricane Katrina's horrible wake, "Our Tsunami," "Hope Amid Ruin" and "Help Trickles In" - emblazoned on the front pages of what Sun Herald President and Publisher Ricky R. Mathews said were some of the most important editions of a newspaper ever seen.
Mathews told the tales of Katrina victims getting out of water and food lines for copies of the newspaper that never missed an issue. He said scenes like that reminded him of the awesome power of the press.
But Mathews said he knows the story of South Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina is not fully told.
"I still think that the Pulitzer is great, but our best work is ahead of us," he said. "We are in a place no set of communities in American history has been."
Vice President and Executive Editor Stan Tiner said the challenges wrought by Hurricane Katrina brought out the best in Sun Herald employees.
"There is magic in a newspaper. There is power in a newspaper. There are infinite possibilities in a newspaper," Tiner said. "Katrina's surge was awful and it was destructive, but it unleashed the magic and the power and the infinite possibilities of the Sun Herald."
The award was earned through "blood, sweat and tears journalism," he said.
The Sun Herald joined a long list of American icons that have received the award in various fields of endeavor, including newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, Tiner said.
The staff members gathered in the cafeteria of the Jefferson Davis campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College with their families, which Tiner said are owed a debt of gratitude for both allowing and supporting the work journalists do. Each staffer was given a replica of the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal, encased in clear acrylic, to take home.
As he closed his remarks, he said pride should come with humility.
"Stand tall and always be proud and be humble," he said.
Coverage of Hurricane Katrina contributed to a number of awards the Sun Herald received Saturday at the
Staffers celebrate award dedicated to our neighbors
By MICHAEL NEWSOM
Sunherald.com 6/25/06
GULFPORT - After roughly 300 days of hard work, the staff of the Sun Herald rested together to reflect on the highway of heartache, struggle and the many little triumphs that has led them to the mountaintop of journalism.
Employees and their families gathered Saturday for a luncheon commemorating their recent attainment of journalism's highest honor, The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, which was dedicated to the people of South Mississippi when it was announced in an elated newsroom in April.
A slide show Saturday featured headlines from the first week of Hurricane Katrina's horrible wake, "Our Tsunami," "Hope Amid Ruin" and "Help Trickles In" - emblazoned on the front pages of what Sun Herald President and Publisher Ricky R. Mathews said were some of the most important editions of a newspaper ever seen.
Mathews told the tales of Katrina victims getting out of water and food lines for copies of the newspaper that never missed an issue. He said scenes like that reminded him of the awesome power of the press.
But Mathews said he knows the story of South Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina is not fully told.
"I still think that the Pulitzer is great, but our best work is ahead of us," he said. "We are in a place no set of communities in American history has been."
Vice President and Executive Editor Stan Tiner said the challenges wrought by Hurricane Katrina brought out the best in Sun Herald employees.
"There is magic in a newspaper. There is power in a newspaper. There are infinite possibilities in a newspaper," Tiner said. "Katrina's surge was awful and it was destructive, but it unleashed the magic and the power and the infinite possibilities of the Sun Herald."
The award was earned through "blood, sweat and tears journalism," he said.
The Sun Herald joined a long list of American icons that have received the award in various fields of endeavor, including newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, Tiner said.
The staff members gathered in the cafeteria of the Jefferson Davis campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College with their families, which Tiner said are owed a debt of gratitude for both allowing and supporting the work journalists do. Each staffer was given a replica of the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal, encased in clear acrylic, to take home.
As he closed his remarks, he said pride should come with humility.
"Stand tall and always be proud and be humble," he said.
Coverage of Hurricane Katrina contributed to a number of awards the Sun Herald received Saturday at the
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Audrey2Katrina
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City of Diamondhead?
By MARY PEREZ
SUN HERALD
DIAMONDHEAD - News that Donald Trump is coming to town has residents of Diamondhead eager to act on the non-binding referendum approved last week to incorporate into the city of Diamondhead.
The first committee meeting to work toward that goal is today.
Trump Entertainment Resorts and Diamondhead Casino Corp. announced their intention last week to build a casino on 40 acres in Diamondhead, just before the property owners voted 786-407 in favor of incorporation. The private community of 8,000 residents and 4,500 homes pre-Katrina is an unincorporated part of Hancock County.
New property-owners' association president Donald Kraemer explains the reasons the community is looking toward incorporation:
Q: Which had more influence on the residents' vote to incorporate, Katrina or Donald?
A: Oh, clearly the casino. Casino Magic provided back in 2004 and probably 2005 just about 50 percent of the Bay St. Louis budget. And any time you let people know that up to 50 percent of their tax could be paid by someone else, there's going to be some interest.
The only other reason for incorporation would be fear of annexation. That began a year ago in the lawsuit between Bay St. Louis and Waveland to annex the Mississippi 603 right-of-way area that is between U.S. 90 all the way up to I-10. Bay St. Louis won that lawsuit.
As part of that trial, they introduced a long-range plan to the court, which included an annexation of the business area and the entire south side of Diamondhead in a 3-to-5 year timespan.
Q: Have you had any contact with officials building the casino?
A: No, I intend to contact them and set up a meeting to get a little more information, particularly as to the viability of the project and any other information I can get in assisting us to determine what we're going to do.
Q: How will Diamondhead profit from the casino?
A: Quite simply the only way Diamondhead can get any money from the casino operation in Hancock County is to incorporate and include the area of the proposed casino in the incorporated area. That area is one mile east of the Diamondhead exit, immediately south of I-10.
Q: What are the other financial benefits?
A: It will provide us with a rebate from the state for every residence which is subject to a 65-and-older tax consideration. Secondly, Hancock County has a road tax as part of the county tax that is returnable to municipalities but not unincorporated communities.
So right now we are not getting any help from Hancock County toward our roads other than the one road that is a county road that runs through the community. Ninety miles are privately owned and we have a $5 a month assessment as part of our property owners' dues that is earmarked solely for roads and ditches.
That's close to $300,000 a year.
The state will refund to a municipality one penny of every seven cents in sales tax collected, so that's 14 percent of sales tax collected by any business in Diamondhead. That would be the grocery store, the gas stations, the hotels and all of the other businesses that charge tax.
Q: Casinos?
A: Yes.
Q: What are the expenses of incorporating?
A: The cost of a city government could be nominal, could be moderate, depending on whether or not the mayor and council are paid, how many secretaries and administrative people are needed.
One advantage is that we would have a city police force. We now have a private security. Our security cost right now is approximately $400,000 a year. We know that from looking at budgets from Bay St. Louis, Waveland and D'Iberville that the cost of a police department could by three times or more that figure.
There have not been many incorporations of property owners' associations in the state of Mississippi. We think there may be a handful at most. Most incorporations were done by communities that were towns that grew bigger. Incorporation requires a two-thirds vote of registered voters in the area to be incorporated. I think 75 to 80 percent of the people of Diamondhead are registered voters.
Q: How do you view incorporating?
A: Personally I think the majority of the people, including myself, would like to stay a quiet little residential community. We are now 8,000 strong. We may not be able to stay quiet and residential much longer. If we do have to be a city, we want to be the city of Diamondhead, not a part of another city.
By MARY PEREZ
SUN HERALD
DIAMONDHEAD - News that Donald Trump is coming to town has residents of Diamondhead eager to act on the non-binding referendum approved last week to incorporate into the city of Diamondhead.
The first committee meeting to work toward that goal is today.
Trump Entertainment Resorts and Diamondhead Casino Corp. announced their intention last week to build a casino on 40 acres in Diamondhead, just before the property owners voted 786-407 in favor of incorporation. The private community of 8,000 residents and 4,500 homes pre-Katrina is an unincorporated part of Hancock County.
New property-owners' association president Donald Kraemer explains the reasons the community is looking toward incorporation:
Q: Which had more influence on the residents' vote to incorporate, Katrina or Donald?
A: Oh, clearly the casino. Casino Magic provided back in 2004 and probably 2005 just about 50 percent of the Bay St. Louis budget. And any time you let people know that up to 50 percent of their tax could be paid by someone else, there's going to be some interest.
The only other reason for incorporation would be fear of annexation. That began a year ago in the lawsuit between Bay St. Louis and Waveland to annex the Mississippi 603 right-of-way area that is between U.S. 90 all the way up to I-10. Bay St. Louis won that lawsuit.
As part of that trial, they introduced a long-range plan to the court, which included an annexation of the business area and the entire south side of Diamondhead in a 3-to-5 year timespan.
Q: Have you had any contact with officials building the casino?
A: No, I intend to contact them and set up a meeting to get a little more information, particularly as to the viability of the project and any other information I can get in assisting us to determine what we're going to do.
Q: How will Diamondhead profit from the casino?
A: Quite simply the only way Diamondhead can get any money from the casino operation in Hancock County is to incorporate and include the area of the proposed casino in the incorporated area. That area is one mile east of the Diamondhead exit, immediately south of I-10.
Q: What are the other financial benefits?
A: It will provide us with a rebate from the state for every residence which is subject to a 65-and-older tax consideration. Secondly, Hancock County has a road tax as part of the county tax that is returnable to municipalities but not unincorporated communities.
So right now we are not getting any help from Hancock County toward our roads other than the one road that is a county road that runs through the community. Ninety miles are privately owned and we have a $5 a month assessment as part of our property owners' dues that is earmarked solely for roads and ditches.
That's close to $300,000 a year.
The state will refund to a municipality one penny of every seven cents in sales tax collected, so that's 14 percent of sales tax collected by any business in Diamondhead. That would be the grocery store, the gas stations, the hotels and all of the other businesses that charge tax.
Q: Casinos?
A: Yes.
Q: What are the expenses of incorporating?
A: The cost of a city government could be nominal, could be moderate, depending on whether or not the mayor and council are paid, how many secretaries and administrative people are needed.
One advantage is that we would have a city police force. We now have a private security. Our security cost right now is approximately $400,000 a year. We know that from looking at budgets from Bay St. Louis, Waveland and D'Iberville that the cost of a police department could by three times or more that figure.
There have not been many incorporations of property owners' associations in the state of Mississippi. We think there may be a handful at most. Most incorporations were done by communities that were towns that grew bigger. Incorporation requires a two-thirds vote of registered voters in the area to be incorporated. I think 75 to 80 percent of the people of Diamondhead are registered voters.
Q: How do you view incorporating?
A: Personally I think the majority of the people, including myself, would like to stay a quiet little residential community. We are now 8,000 strong. We may not be able to stay quiet and residential much longer. If we do have to be a city, we want to be the city of Diamondhead, not a part of another city.
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Audrey2Katrina
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St. Bernard News:
FROM COLORADO WITH LOVE
Truckloads of building supplies roll in from the Rockies, thanks to the efforts of many
Monday, June 26, 2006 - Times Picayune/Nola.com
By Bruce Nolan
Not all New Orleanians live in New Orleans. Some have always lived elsewhere but visit New Orleans when they can and, through some inexplicable bonding, come to feel something deeper and more personal than a tourist's connection while they're here.
So it is, apparently, with Kim Fancher, an interior designer of upscale vacation homes in the ski resort town of Frisco, Colo. Her visits to the city have made her a lover of New Orleans. She has ridden in the Orpheus and Zulu parades. A blue fleur-de-lis flag, the symbol of New Orleans' recovery, flies at her Colorado home.
Yet the condition of the city still breaks her heart. So Sunday she watched as volunteers unloaded two 18-wheelers stuffed with toilets, doors, windows, appliances and other building materials she arranged to have donated to the people of Chalmette by Colorado homebuilders.
And nearly 10 months after Hurricane Katrina, the scope of the continuing private relief effort can be gauged this way: Fancher's donated Colorado material was unloaded at a Chalmette storage facility by volunteers from a Tennessee church beginning a weekend of free labor gutting homes in St. Bernard Parish.
The 30 or so Tennesseans from Highland Heights Church of Christ in Smyrna, Tenn., are among hundreds of volunteers rotating through Chalmette each week to gut homes under the auspices of Hilltop Rescue and Relief, an evangelical ministry based in El Segundo, Calif.
The unfolding of another gesture of generosity toward New Orleans began months ago, when Fancher returned to the city for Mardi Gras -- her first visit since Katrina.
She drove into the city through the vast wreckage of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
She was stunned, she said -- then stunned anew by what she saw in a tour of New Orleans' flood zone. She displayed the common shock that New Orleanians have come to recognize in all their visitors.
On a tour of New Orleans' flood zone, "I spent an hour and a half in the car going, 'Oh, my God!' I went back to Colorado and I kept telling people, 'What you see on TV doesn't begin to register the devastation.' "
Through her work as a designer, Kancher knows most of the major homebuilders in hometown Summit County, Colo., where she's on the board of the local homebuilders association.
She told them the New Orleans area still badly needed help. She pointed out that they all had unused building materials in local warehouses.
"We're an upscale community. Lots of people there are building multimillion-dollar vacation homes, and it's not so unusual from them to say, 'I don't like that door, after all. Change it out.' Or, 'Let's pull out these windows and try some others.' "
"I asked, 'If I organize this, will you donate building materials?' "
They jumped aboard, she said. Their one stipulation: Their stuff goes straight into the hands of needy homeowners, not to contractors or others for resale.
As word spread about Frisco, ordinary citizens sought to donate goods. Others volunteered to drive.
"The support was amazing," she said.
Rummaging about for more help, Fancher found that Wal-Mart was willing to donate two 18-wheelers and two drivers to haul the goods from Frisco to . . . where?
After a small flurry of e-mail inquiries, news that Fancher's shipment was looking for a home crossed the desk of Polly Boudreaux, the clerk of the St. Bernard Parish Council.
Boudreaux wrote Fancher that St. Bernard homeowners badly needed building materials. Thousands of ruined houses are still open to the elements.
"We have an absolutely urgent need for windows and doors so homeowners can secure their homes," Boudreaux said.
So Boudreaux on Sunday took delivery on behalf of the Parish Council at a site that all parties asked not be disclosed because the materials are valuable.
The parish will develop a process for distributing the doors, windows, dishwashers, sinks, tile, lumber, molding and other supplies, Boudreaux said. She said residents should monitor the parish's Web site, http://www.sbpg.net, for information on obtaining building materials.
And soon Fancher will return to Summit County, though another relief mission may be in the future, she said. Builders in Denver, 70 miles to the east, have heard about the first trip and have asked whether they can help, Fancher said.
"People still want to help," she said.
FROM COLORADO WITH LOVE
Truckloads of building supplies roll in from the Rockies, thanks to the efforts of many
Monday, June 26, 2006 - Times Picayune/Nola.com
By Bruce Nolan
Not all New Orleanians live in New Orleans. Some have always lived elsewhere but visit New Orleans when they can and, through some inexplicable bonding, come to feel something deeper and more personal than a tourist's connection while they're here.
So it is, apparently, with Kim Fancher, an interior designer of upscale vacation homes in the ski resort town of Frisco, Colo. Her visits to the city have made her a lover of New Orleans. She has ridden in the Orpheus and Zulu parades. A blue fleur-de-lis flag, the symbol of New Orleans' recovery, flies at her Colorado home.
Yet the condition of the city still breaks her heart. So Sunday she watched as volunteers unloaded two 18-wheelers stuffed with toilets, doors, windows, appliances and other building materials she arranged to have donated to the people of Chalmette by Colorado homebuilders.
And nearly 10 months after Hurricane Katrina, the scope of the continuing private relief effort can be gauged this way: Fancher's donated Colorado material was unloaded at a Chalmette storage facility by volunteers from a Tennessee church beginning a weekend of free labor gutting homes in St. Bernard Parish.
The 30 or so Tennesseans from Highland Heights Church of Christ in Smyrna, Tenn., are among hundreds of volunteers rotating through Chalmette each week to gut homes under the auspices of Hilltop Rescue and Relief, an evangelical ministry based in El Segundo, Calif.
The unfolding of another gesture of generosity toward New Orleans began months ago, when Fancher returned to the city for Mardi Gras -- her first visit since Katrina.
She drove into the city through the vast wreckage of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
She was stunned, she said -- then stunned anew by what she saw in a tour of New Orleans' flood zone. She displayed the common shock that New Orleanians have come to recognize in all their visitors.
On a tour of New Orleans' flood zone, "I spent an hour and a half in the car going, 'Oh, my God!' I went back to Colorado and I kept telling people, 'What you see on TV doesn't begin to register the devastation.' "
Through her work as a designer, Kancher knows most of the major homebuilders in hometown Summit County, Colo., where she's on the board of the local homebuilders association.
She told them the New Orleans area still badly needed help. She pointed out that they all had unused building materials in local warehouses.
"We're an upscale community. Lots of people there are building multimillion-dollar vacation homes, and it's not so unusual from them to say, 'I don't like that door, after all. Change it out.' Or, 'Let's pull out these windows and try some others.' "
"I asked, 'If I organize this, will you donate building materials?' "
They jumped aboard, she said. Their one stipulation: Their stuff goes straight into the hands of needy homeowners, not to contractors or others for resale.
As word spread about Frisco, ordinary citizens sought to donate goods. Others volunteered to drive.
"The support was amazing," she said.
Rummaging about for more help, Fancher found that Wal-Mart was willing to donate two 18-wheelers and two drivers to haul the goods from Frisco to . . . where?
After a small flurry of e-mail inquiries, news that Fancher's shipment was looking for a home crossed the desk of Polly Boudreaux, the clerk of the St. Bernard Parish Council.
Boudreaux wrote Fancher that St. Bernard homeowners badly needed building materials. Thousands of ruined houses are still open to the elements.
"We have an absolutely urgent need for windows and doors so homeowners can secure their homes," Boudreaux said.
So Boudreaux on Sunday took delivery on behalf of the Parish Council at a site that all parties asked not be disclosed because the materials are valuable.
The parish will develop a process for distributing the doors, windows, dishwashers, sinks, tile, lumber, molding and other supplies, Boudreaux said. She said residents should monitor the parish's Web site, http://www.sbpg.net, for information on obtaining building materials.
And soon Fancher will return to Summit County, though another relief mission may be in the future, she said. Builders in Denver, 70 miles to the east, have heard about the first trip and have asked whether they can help, Fancher said.
"People still want to help," she said.
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Audrey2Katrina
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Storms blow out money for schools
Cash is calculated partly by enrollment
Monday, June 26, 2006 - Times Picayune/Nola.com
By Rob Nelson
Underscoring how thoroughly Hurricanes Katrina and Rita rattled Louisiana public education, New Orleans area school systems will lose more than $200 million in state funding under a revamped financing formula passed by the Legislature this month, cuts prompted largely by drastic swings in enrollment and a statewide loss of more than 70,000 students.
Predictably, New Orleans public schools, formerly the state's largest district, will take the biggest hit, dropping from $219 million in state funding in 2004-05 to about $39.4 million for the fiscal year that starts Saturday.
Other school systems also face cuts, but officials say the precarious state of the area's economy and uncertainty about the number of students returning for the upcoming school year make school districts' true fiscal health -- and the impact of state cuts -- hard to decipher.
State officials worked closely this year with the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in the annual ritual of tweaking Louisiana's complex financing formula, also known as the Minimum Foundation Program.
The formula, which determines how much money goes to each of the state's 68 districts, is largely based on student enrollment and the tax dollars each parish generates.
After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita decimated some parishes and scattered residents, state financing for the 2005-06 year, which had been approved before the storms, was revised monthly as districts slowly resumed operation with fluctuating enrollments. That move led to most local districts receiving less money than was originally approved for this fiscal year and laid the groundwork for a more thorough overhaul of the formula for 2006-07.
Continued instability
Under the latest plan, which cleared its final hurdle with Senate approval June 16, districts deemed by the state as the most affected by the storms -- Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Cameron and the city of Bogalusa -- are given special considerations in the tabulation of their state financing.
"Their situations are so unstable right now, (keeping the same formula) would not have been fair," said Beth Scioneaux, director of the state Education Department's division of education finance.
In those six districts, state funding for next fiscal year will be determined by using enrollment and tax data from October 2004 as a basis. Depending on the extent of the fluctuations in that data when compared with this year, districts will receive a certain percentage of prior funding.
For the hardest-hit of the six parishes, the district's financing will be determined using 35 percent of both its October 2004 enrollment and tax capacity. Better-off districts will be calculated at 75 percent or 90 percent. "This was to provide a more stable level of funding," Scioneaux said.
The most significant change in the state's other 62 districts will be using enrollment data from May 1 to determine financing, instead of the typical Oct. 1 head count.
In addition, the 2006-07 allotments include $1,500 raises for teachers and $500 raises for support workers, a key initiative of Gov. Kathleen Blanco.
Including the pay raises, New Orleans metro school systems will lose only about $70 million total, compared to the hurricane-altered 2005-06 allotments.
'It'll be tough'
But without the salary hikes and compared to the stable 2004-05 school year, which gives a more fair comparison, the shortfall soars to about $213 million for the upcoming school year.
Only St. John the Baptist Parish, which gained about 600 students, and St. Charles Parish, which ended the year with about 1,000 more students, will get more state money next year.
Overall, the Minimum Foundation Program will dole out $2.7 billion to Louisiana schools even as about 74,000 fewer students statewide were calculated in the formula this year compared with last.
St. Bernard Parish public schools Superintendent Doris Voitier said the revamped formula will be a hit to the system. "It'll be tough," she said. "We have lost a significant amount of money."
In 2004-05, the district received about $30 million in MFP dollars, a figure now reduced to about $13 million.
Voitier said she expects to start next school year with about 3,000 students and expects that figure to grow throughout the year. Wrecked by Katrina, the parish was able to reopen one school and ended the year with about 2,400 students, compared to its nearly 9,000 prestorm enrollment.
St. Tammany public schools Superintendent Gayle Sloan also predicted her system's enrollment would rebound and possibly offset the decrease in state funding. "In general, I am pleased," she said, specifically praising the salary raises.
St. Tammany ended the year with about 400 fewer students, but officials said children continued to enroll throughout the final months of the school year.
In Orleans Parish, where the School Board runs just four schools after a state takeover of most of the district, the anticipated MFP cuts coincide with officials' concerns about contending with the system's debt, estimated at about $50 million per year.
Difficult to estimate
Before Katrina, Orleans served about 56,000 students, a figure that has dropped to about 9,000.
Much of the financing the district is receiving is "pass-through" money that will go to the seven schools chartered by the School Board. Meanwhile, the state's recovery school district will be treated as the state's 69th school system, getting its share of sales and property taxes. More than 3,000 students attend state-run or state-chartered schools in New Orleans.
In Jefferson Parish, which lost more than 6,000 students after Katrina, Chief Financial Officer Raylyn Stevens said she is still in the process of crafting a budget and that the impact of a $12 million reduction in state dollars is hard to determine.
She points to several factors influencing the system's fiscal posture: an explosion of sales tax revenue, expected increases in employee health insurance costs and property insurance, and an unpredictable 2006-07 enrollment.
"Some of the increases in the sales tax might offset the MFP," Stevens said, adding that the district would "need a crystal ball" to project enrollment and staffing needs.
If there is a surge of students returning to local systems this year, there are mid-year adjustments to the formula that would help districts secure additional cash.
If returning students pose a real financial emergency, some districts said they might request monthly revisions of the formula, similar to those in the immediate aftermath of the storms.
. . . . . . .
Staff writers Sandra Barbier, Jenny Hurwitz, Steve Ritea and Manuel Torres contributed to this report.
Cash is calculated partly by enrollment
Monday, June 26, 2006 - Times Picayune/Nola.com
By Rob Nelson
Underscoring how thoroughly Hurricanes Katrina and Rita rattled Louisiana public education, New Orleans area school systems will lose more than $200 million in state funding under a revamped financing formula passed by the Legislature this month, cuts prompted largely by drastic swings in enrollment and a statewide loss of more than 70,000 students.
Predictably, New Orleans public schools, formerly the state's largest district, will take the biggest hit, dropping from $219 million in state funding in 2004-05 to about $39.4 million for the fiscal year that starts Saturday.
Other school systems also face cuts, but officials say the precarious state of the area's economy and uncertainty about the number of students returning for the upcoming school year make school districts' true fiscal health -- and the impact of state cuts -- hard to decipher.
State officials worked closely this year with the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in the annual ritual of tweaking Louisiana's complex financing formula, also known as the Minimum Foundation Program.
The formula, which determines how much money goes to each of the state's 68 districts, is largely based on student enrollment and the tax dollars each parish generates.
After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita decimated some parishes and scattered residents, state financing for the 2005-06 year, which had been approved before the storms, was revised monthly as districts slowly resumed operation with fluctuating enrollments. That move led to most local districts receiving less money than was originally approved for this fiscal year and laid the groundwork for a more thorough overhaul of the formula for 2006-07.
Continued instability
Under the latest plan, which cleared its final hurdle with Senate approval June 16, districts deemed by the state as the most affected by the storms -- Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Cameron and the city of Bogalusa -- are given special considerations in the tabulation of their state financing.
"Their situations are so unstable right now, (keeping the same formula) would not have been fair," said Beth Scioneaux, director of the state Education Department's division of education finance.
In those six districts, state funding for next fiscal year will be determined by using enrollment and tax data from October 2004 as a basis. Depending on the extent of the fluctuations in that data when compared with this year, districts will receive a certain percentage of prior funding.
For the hardest-hit of the six parishes, the district's financing will be determined using 35 percent of both its October 2004 enrollment and tax capacity. Better-off districts will be calculated at 75 percent or 90 percent. "This was to provide a more stable level of funding," Scioneaux said.
The most significant change in the state's other 62 districts will be using enrollment data from May 1 to determine financing, instead of the typical Oct. 1 head count.
In addition, the 2006-07 allotments include $1,500 raises for teachers and $500 raises for support workers, a key initiative of Gov. Kathleen Blanco.
Including the pay raises, New Orleans metro school systems will lose only about $70 million total, compared to the hurricane-altered 2005-06 allotments.
'It'll be tough'
But without the salary hikes and compared to the stable 2004-05 school year, which gives a more fair comparison, the shortfall soars to about $213 million for the upcoming school year.
Only St. John the Baptist Parish, which gained about 600 students, and St. Charles Parish, which ended the year with about 1,000 more students, will get more state money next year.
Overall, the Minimum Foundation Program will dole out $2.7 billion to Louisiana schools even as about 74,000 fewer students statewide were calculated in the formula this year compared with last.
St. Bernard Parish public schools Superintendent Doris Voitier said the revamped formula will be a hit to the system. "It'll be tough," she said. "We have lost a significant amount of money."
In 2004-05, the district received about $30 million in MFP dollars, a figure now reduced to about $13 million.
Voitier said she expects to start next school year with about 3,000 students and expects that figure to grow throughout the year. Wrecked by Katrina, the parish was able to reopen one school and ended the year with about 2,400 students, compared to its nearly 9,000 prestorm enrollment.
St. Tammany public schools Superintendent Gayle Sloan also predicted her system's enrollment would rebound and possibly offset the decrease in state funding. "In general, I am pleased," she said, specifically praising the salary raises.
St. Tammany ended the year with about 400 fewer students, but officials said children continued to enroll throughout the final months of the school year.
In Orleans Parish, where the School Board runs just four schools after a state takeover of most of the district, the anticipated MFP cuts coincide with officials' concerns about contending with the system's debt, estimated at about $50 million per year.
Difficult to estimate
Before Katrina, Orleans served about 56,000 students, a figure that has dropped to about 9,000.
Much of the financing the district is receiving is "pass-through" money that will go to the seven schools chartered by the School Board. Meanwhile, the state's recovery school district will be treated as the state's 69th school system, getting its share of sales and property taxes. More than 3,000 students attend state-run or state-chartered schools in New Orleans.
In Jefferson Parish, which lost more than 6,000 students after Katrina, Chief Financial Officer Raylyn Stevens said she is still in the process of crafting a budget and that the impact of a $12 million reduction in state dollars is hard to determine.
She points to several factors influencing the system's fiscal posture: an explosion of sales tax revenue, expected increases in employee health insurance costs and property insurance, and an unpredictable 2006-07 enrollment.
"Some of the increases in the sales tax might offset the MFP," Stevens said, adding that the district would "need a crystal ball" to project enrollment and staffing needs.
If there is a surge of students returning to local systems this year, there are mid-year adjustments to the formula that would help districts secure additional cash.
If returning students pose a real financial emergency, some districts said they might request monthly revisions of the formula, similar to those in the immediate aftermath of the storms.
. . . . . . .
Staff writers Sandra Barbier, Jenny Hurwitz, Steve Ritea and Manuel Torres contributed to this report.
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Audrey2Katrina
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- Posts: 4252
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- Location: Metaire, La.
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Audrey2Katrina
- Category 5
- Posts: 4252
- Age: 75
- Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:39 pm
- Location: Metaire, La.
Slidell bank robber being sought
St. Tammany bureau - times Picyune/NOLA.com
Monday, June 26, 2006
An unidentified man walked into a Slidell bank with a gun drawn Monday morning and escaped with a bag of cash, authorities said.
The robbery occurred at 10 a.m. at Statewide Bank, 300 W. Gause Blvd.
The gunman entered the front door carrying a pistol and hopped over the counter, shouting to the tellers, “Get back. Get away from the counter,” Capt. Rob Callahan said. The man emptied the cash drawers and put the money into a bag and left through the same door, he said.
Authorities said the suspect escaped in a gold car that resembled a Mazda 626. He was last seen heading north on Carnation Street, police said.
The man, who took an undisclosed amount of cash, wore over his face a blue handkerchief with eyeholes cut out, police said. He was described as dark complected, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 145 to 160 pounds. He was wearing blue jeans, a red-and-white horizontal striped button up shirt and a red baseball cap.
St. Tammany bureau - times Picyune/NOLA.com
Monday, June 26, 2006
An unidentified man walked into a Slidell bank with a gun drawn Monday morning and escaped with a bag of cash, authorities said.
The robbery occurred at 10 a.m. at Statewide Bank, 300 W. Gause Blvd.
The gunman entered the front door carrying a pistol and hopped over the counter, shouting to the tellers, “Get back. Get away from the counter,” Capt. Rob Callahan said. The man emptied the cash drawers and put the money into a bag and left through the same door, he said.
Authorities said the suspect escaped in a gold car that resembled a Mazda 626. He was last seen heading north on Carnation Street, police said.
The man, who took an undisclosed amount of cash, wore over his face a blue handkerchief with eyeholes cut out, police said. He was described as dark complected, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 145 to 160 pounds. He was wearing blue jeans, a red-and-white horizontal striped button up shirt and a red baseball cap.
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Audrey2Katrina
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St. John cops seek leads in Garyville murder
6/26/06: River Parishes
A 25-year-old Garyville man was killed in a shooting a few blocks from home Saturday and deputies are searching for leads in the case.
Kelvin Thomas died at River Parishes Hospital shortly before 11:30 p.m. from a gunshot wound to the abdomen he apparently suffered in the 200 block of Sherman Walker Street, said Maj. Mike Tregre of the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Tregre said deputies believe that several witnesses may have witnessed the incident, and are asking the public to come forward with information
6/26/06: River Parishes
A 25-year-old Garyville man was killed in a shooting a few blocks from home Saturday and deputies are searching for leads in the case.
Kelvin Thomas died at River Parishes Hospital shortly before 11:30 p.m. from a gunshot wound to the abdomen he apparently suffered in the 200 block of Sherman Walker Street, said Maj. Mike Tregre of the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Tregre said deputies believe that several witnesses may have witnessed the incident, and are asking the public to come forward with information
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Audrey2Katrina
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Boil order lifted for last few water systems in St. Bernard Parish
NOLA.com 6/26/06
State health officials have lifted boil orders for three remaining water systems in St. Bernard Parish that were seriously impacted by Hurricane Katrina, a state Department of Health and Hospitals news release said.
Boil orders were lifted later last week for the areas of Ycloskey, Delacroix, Shell Beach and Breton Sound.
The boil orders, which were issued after a loss of pressure occurred in those systems, have been lifted since testing showed the water does not contain unsafe levels of bacteria and is safe to drink and use.
Partial boil orders still remain in effect for some parts of the Lower Ninth Ward that are serviced by the Carrollton Water System and areas in the lower part of Plaquemines Parish. Customers of these water systems are reminded not to drink, make ice from, brush teeth, wash hands, prepare or rinse food with tap water unless it has been properly disinfected until these boil orders are lifted.
State health officials continue to work with the local water systems in these areas and are conducting sampling of the affected water systems. Workers with the state’s Safe Drinking Water Program anticipate lifting these boil advisories soon.
NOLA.com 6/26/06
State health officials have lifted boil orders for three remaining water systems in St. Bernard Parish that were seriously impacted by Hurricane Katrina, a state Department of Health and Hospitals news release said.
Boil orders were lifted later last week for the areas of Ycloskey, Delacroix, Shell Beach and Breton Sound.
The boil orders, which were issued after a loss of pressure occurred in those systems, have been lifted since testing showed the water does not contain unsafe levels of bacteria and is safe to drink and use.
Partial boil orders still remain in effect for some parts of the Lower Ninth Ward that are serviced by the Carrollton Water System and areas in the lower part of Plaquemines Parish. Customers of these water systems are reminded not to drink, make ice from, brush teeth, wash hands, prepare or rinse food with tap water unless it has been properly disinfected until these boil orders are lifted.
State health officials continue to work with the local water systems in these areas and are conducting sampling of the affected water systems. Workers with the state’s Safe Drinking Water Program anticipate lifting these boil advisories soon.
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Audrey2Katrina
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Landrieu defeat could rattle political dynasty
Siblings may struggle in campaigns
Monday, June 26, 2006 - Times Picayune/NOLA.com
By Michelle Krupa
Staff writer
Throughout his unsuccessful campaign to unseat Mayor Ray Nagin, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu made no secret of the political ambition he was nursing before Hurricane Katrina shattered New Orleans: a run not for the top job at City Hall but for the Governor's Mansion in 2007.
On the night of the May 20 runoff election, with his defeat in the mayoral contest sealed, a surprisingly upbeat Landrieu chatted with reporters, tossing out his favorite campaign-trail slogans and speculating that perhaps his purpose in entering the race was not to win but to "elevate the level of discourse."
It seemed that Landrieu hadn't quit campaigning, even as the final vote tallies rolled in. But asked point-blank whether his tone signaled a renewed interest in Louisiana's highest elective office, he responded with a howl.
"Lord Jesus!" Landrieu exclaimed. "I don't want to talk about that for 12 months. Twelve months!"
Among political analysts and observers, however, the talk already has begun, and at the center of the discussion is a question: Does Mitch Landrieu's defeat in the city at the very heart of his family's political base mean that the power of the state's pre-eminent political dynasty has begun to wane?
With U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., expected to run for a third term in 2008 and Mitch Landrieu's gubernatorial options still open, the mayoral contest also raises questions about the ability of any Democrat to win a statewide office, given the traditional importance of New Orleans' voter base in any strategy to undo Republican opponents.
While it's impossible to forecast an election without knowing who the candidates are -- and only more so in the uncertain post-Katrina political climate -- analysts of the recent mayor's race generally agree that Landrieu's defeat does not sound the political death knell for a family that has put four relatives in elective office since patriarch Moon Landrieu's tenure as New Orleans mayor in the 1970s.
'Politics of the past'
"Is this an indicator of outright rejection in the future? I would doubt that," Xavier University pollster and sociologist Silas Lee said. "But certainly . . . it makes them pause and consider the strategy, the messaging and the overall political environment that they have to run in the future."
That atmosphere, Lee and others said, now is infused, perhaps irreversibly, with a judgment Nagin pronounced upon Landrieu again and again during the mayor's race: that his family represents the "politics of the past."
The further insinuation was that enough Landrieus hold office and Louisiana doesn't need any more of them. Currently, another Landrieu sister, Madeleine Landrieu, serves as an Orleans Parish Civil District Court judge, and Phyllis Landrieu, the siblings' aunt, is a city School Board member.
Landrieu countered that not a single valid charge of impropriety had ever been lodged against him or his relatives -- and Nagin never came up with any in the course of the campaign.
Indeed, the scandal-free streak has gone unbroken for more than three decades, said Norma Jane Sabiston, a political adviser to Mitch Landrieu and the former chief of staff for Mary Landrieu's Senate office, who spoke on behalf of both politicians. Neither wanted to comment, their spokespeople said.
"It's all been about serving, and there hasn't been any hint of personal gain," Sabiston said. "And we'd better encourage people to want to be involved in public service because we need good, honest people to make government work in our best interest.
"Just because they happen to have the same last name," she said, "I don't think that's the point."
Still, Nagin's attempt to tie the Landrieus to the patronage games characteristic of old-school Louisiana politics may take a while to erase, observers said.
"The 'Landrieu legacy' issue that Nagin used is certainly going to continue to be around," said Cheron Brylski, a veteran political operative and public relations specialist. "I think it may force any of the next generation to think hard about going into politics.
"And if you are an officeholder and your last name is Landrieu, if you were thinking of switching jobs, maybe now is not the time to do that," she said.
Displaced supporters
Also dogging the family, which has been known for its ability to attract voters across the racial spectrum, may be Katrina's impact on their hometown's demographics, notably the absence of many voters from majority-black precincts.
It was those voters who turned out in huge numbers to send Mary Landrieu back to the U.S. Senate in 2002 and who appear to have been disproportionately displaced by Katrina, according to an analysis by Ed Chervenak, an assistant professor of political science at the University of New Orleans.
Chervenak's data show that 80 percent of the 133,000 New Orleans voters who went to the polls in the 2002 runoff voted for Landrieu over then-state Elections Commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell, a Republican who, like Landrieu, is white. Landrieu won New Orleans by 78,300 votes, roughly twice her statewide margin of victory. Very simply, without the overwhelming support she racked up in New Orleans, Mary Landrieu would have lost, and both of Louisiana's U.S. senators would be Republicans.
Landrieu drew her strongest support, as well her highest vote totals, in precincts with 25 percent or fewer white voters. She won 67,000 votes, or 94 percent of the total cast, in those mostly black-majority precincts, Chervenak's analysis shows.
Meanwhile, in the same precincts, Mitch Landrieu managed to garner only 25 percent support in this year's mayoral runoff.
Landrieu's opponent was a black incumbent; Mary Landrieu, by contrast, was the veteran officeholder running against a white Republican. But another factor needs to be taken into account: The size of the voting electorate in those heavily flood-damaged precincts was sharply reduced, from about 71,400 voters four years ago to 41,600 voters, Chervenak's data show.
Stronghold weakened
Though some population rebound is expected, any decline in the number of voters in the precincts that helped keep Mary Landrieu in office is a potential threat to her, her brother and other Democrats running statewide, said Susan Howell, a University of New Orleans political scientist.
"There are fewer blacks in Orleans Parish, and that was the stronghold of African-American voters," Howell said. "That takes away one of the bases for a Democrat to be elected statewide.
"This hurts (Gov. Kathleen) Blanco somewhat. It hurts Mary Landrieu. Whether it's enough to keep them out of office, it's way too early to say that," Howell said.
Chervenak said that Mary Landrieu would have a surer shot at re-election had Mitch Landrieu corralled her traditional New Orleans base to become the city's mayor.
"Orleans Parish is what put her in office and kept her in office, so I think that if her brother would have won, that would probably have made her base more secure," he said.
Sabiston said, however, that gauging future turnout by the 2006 mayoral election is like comparing apples with oranges.
"I think you're going to see this population grow," she said. "I don't think the verdict is in yet for what the numbers are going to be for the next election."
Mary Landrieu's prospects may be further complicated by her high profile as one of a diminishing number of Democrats in a region the Republicans have come to think of as their birthright. Five Senate seats in Southern states have flipped from Democrat to Republican since 1992, Chervenak noted.
"I think Mary probably has a target on her back," he said. "Southern Democrats have become this endangered species."
But despite factors stacking up against them, all hope is not lost for Democrats seeking statewide office, said Danny Ford, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic Party.
"It's not going to be as easy to rely on a huge Democratic voting bloc (in New Orleans). But 70 percent of (displaced) voters, maybe more, are still in state, and I think they're going to remain Democratic voters," he said. "I don't think it's the kiss of death at all."
Post-Katrina bounce
Ford noted that Democrats likely will get a bounce from the success of Mary Landrieu and Blanco in securing billions of relief dollars from Washington for homeowners whose property was destroyed when federal levees failed after Katrina. Mary Landrieu's political advisers cite May polls that showed her with a 58 percent approval rating among residents overall; among African-Americans, the figure was 76 percent.
Further, he said, the hurricane heightened public awareness of traditional Democratic issues such as poverty, health care, housing and financial stability.
As for Nagin's indignation with the "Landrieu dynasty," Ford predicted the sentiment will never take hold outside New Orleans.
"The majority of the state, they don't view the Landrieu family the way they're viewed in New Orleans, (where) they are legendary," he said. "But to a voter in Natchitoches or Monroe or Houma, Mitch is lieutenant governor and Mary is the senator.
"They judge them on their own merit," he said. "The argument may have worked in New Orleans . . . but I just don't think it sticks in the rest of the state."
GOP sees opportunity
Such political presumptions, however, are based in pre-Katrina reality and may not be as inviolate as they were before the Aug. 29 storm, Louisiana Republican Party Chairman Roger Villere said.
Indeed, Villere suggested that the diaspora of New Orleans' chronic Democratic voters across the state's Republican strongholds offers a chance for his party to market its brightest ideas to a fresh audience.
In light of Katrina, he said, the local GOP can recast such issues as the proliferation of charter schools and the capacity of faith-based groups to perform social services that traditionally have been handled by government agencies.
"We've all been turned upside down in this state with Katrina and the other storms," he said. "People have been forced to have so much change that maybe now is the time to look at different things, look at different options."
Katrina "opened people's eyes to the rut that many people had been stuck in, that there are other opportunities in the world," Villere said. "I think that will open opportunities for the Republican Party and the conservative movement."
Villere added that the shake-up also may introduce some former New Orleans residents to a culture outside publicly subsidized housing and welfare programs.
They may realize "that they can go out and get a job and better themselves," Villere said.
Statewide campaign
As for the Landrieus' political fate, Villere said he does not believe Mitch Landrieu's defeat in the mayor's race will affect his or his sister's chances of winning or retaining statewide office, though he hastened to add that a good Republican candidate could unseat either one.
Brylski said that the fact that Mitch Landrieu ran what amounted to a statewide campaign for mayor -- with a satellite office in Baton Rouge and campaign stops in Alexandria, Lafayette and Lake Charles -- could help him and his sister in upcoming races.
"In one way, Mitch's election may help (Mary) because Mitch did campaign statewide, so she does have a Democratic campaign (mechanism) that she can take advantage of for her own purposes," she said.
Sabiston noted that because of the respectful and classy nature of the mayor's race, Mitch Landrieu remains "in good standing" with voters across the city and state.
"Political insiders always want to see a dust-up, and they always see some drama in a campaign," she said. "But as they say, sometimes you don't win the battle but you win the war."
Trouble spots
Political strategy aside, however, Howell said Mitch Landrieu may face trouble on two fronts if he intends to rebound from the mayor's race and run again in a New Orleans election or for governor.
"One is (the perception that) he is too liberal for Louisiana, and the second is that he did not really articulate an alternate vision to Nagin's," she said.
The first point was highlighted by Nagin's ability to harness support from business leaders and to knock Landrieu's legislative voting record on taxes and industrial development. The second, Howell said, may suggest to voters in future elections that Landrieu is not a strong executive.
Further, she said, it generally does not sit well with far-flung voters when a candidate has a history of losing his base. But given the unusual nature of the mayor's race, along with its decidedly racial overtones, voters in a statewide election may be willing to forgive.
"It's always good to be able to win in your home," Howell said. "It never really looks good to lose in your home. But I think that the racial cause of maintaining a black mayor was really too much for any white candidate to overcome, particularly a liberal white candidate against a conservative black candidate."
Siblings may struggle in campaigns
Monday, June 26, 2006 - Times Picayune/NOLA.com
By Michelle Krupa
Staff writer
Throughout his unsuccessful campaign to unseat Mayor Ray Nagin, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu made no secret of the political ambition he was nursing before Hurricane Katrina shattered New Orleans: a run not for the top job at City Hall but for the Governor's Mansion in 2007.
On the night of the May 20 runoff election, with his defeat in the mayoral contest sealed, a surprisingly upbeat Landrieu chatted with reporters, tossing out his favorite campaign-trail slogans and speculating that perhaps his purpose in entering the race was not to win but to "elevate the level of discourse."
It seemed that Landrieu hadn't quit campaigning, even as the final vote tallies rolled in. But asked point-blank whether his tone signaled a renewed interest in Louisiana's highest elective office, he responded with a howl.
"Lord Jesus!" Landrieu exclaimed. "I don't want to talk about that for 12 months. Twelve months!"
Among political analysts and observers, however, the talk already has begun, and at the center of the discussion is a question: Does Mitch Landrieu's defeat in the city at the very heart of his family's political base mean that the power of the state's pre-eminent political dynasty has begun to wane?
With U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., expected to run for a third term in 2008 and Mitch Landrieu's gubernatorial options still open, the mayoral contest also raises questions about the ability of any Democrat to win a statewide office, given the traditional importance of New Orleans' voter base in any strategy to undo Republican opponents.
While it's impossible to forecast an election without knowing who the candidates are -- and only more so in the uncertain post-Katrina political climate -- analysts of the recent mayor's race generally agree that Landrieu's defeat does not sound the political death knell for a family that has put four relatives in elective office since patriarch Moon Landrieu's tenure as New Orleans mayor in the 1970s.
'Politics of the past'
"Is this an indicator of outright rejection in the future? I would doubt that," Xavier University pollster and sociologist Silas Lee said. "But certainly . . . it makes them pause and consider the strategy, the messaging and the overall political environment that they have to run in the future."
That atmosphere, Lee and others said, now is infused, perhaps irreversibly, with a judgment Nagin pronounced upon Landrieu again and again during the mayor's race: that his family represents the "politics of the past."
The further insinuation was that enough Landrieus hold office and Louisiana doesn't need any more of them. Currently, another Landrieu sister, Madeleine Landrieu, serves as an Orleans Parish Civil District Court judge, and Phyllis Landrieu, the siblings' aunt, is a city School Board member.
Landrieu countered that not a single valid charge of impropriety had ever been lodged against him or his relatives -- and Nagin never came up with any in the course of the campaign.
Indeed, the scandal-free streak has gone unbroken for more than three decades, said Norma Jane Sabiston, a political adviser to Mitch Landrieu and the former chief of staff for Mary Landrieu's Senate office, who spoke on behalf of both politicians. Neither wanted to comment, their spokespeople said.
"It's all been about serving, and there hasn't been any hint of personal gain," Sabiston said. "And we'd better encourage people to want to be involved in public service because we need good, honest people to make government work in our best interest.
"Just because they happen to have the same last name," she said, "I don't think that's the point."
Still, Nagin's attempt to tie the Landrieus to the patronage games characteristic of old-school Louisiana politics may take a while to erase, observers said.
"The 'Landrieu legacy' issue that Nagin used is certainly going to continue to be around," said Cheron Brylski, a veteran political operative and public relations specialist. "I think it may force any of the next generation to think hard about going into politics.
"And if you are an officeholder and your last name is Landrieu, if you were thinking of switching jobs, maybe now is not the time to do that," she said.
Displaced supporters
Also dogging the family, which has been known for its ability to attract voters across the racial spectrum, may be Katrina's impact on their hometown's demographics, notably the absence of many voters from majority-black precincts.
It was those voters who turned out in huge numbers to send Mary Landrieu back to the U.S. Senate in 2002 and who appear to have been disproportionately displaced by Katrina, according to an analysis by Ed Chervenak, an assistant professor of political science at the University of New Orleans.
Chervenak's data show that 80 percent of the 133,000 New Orleans voters who went to the polls in the 2002 runoff voted for Landrieu over then-state Elections Commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell, a Republican who, like Landrieu, is white. Landrieu won New Orleans by 78,300 votes, roughly twice her statewide margin of victory. Very simply, without the overwhelming support she racked up in New Orleans, Mary Landrieu would have lost, and both of Louisiana's U.S. senators would be Republicans.
Landrieu drew her strongest support, as well her highest vote totals, in precincts with 25 percent or fewer white voters. She won 67,000 votes, or 94 percent of the total cast, in those mostly black-majority precincts, Chervenak's analysis shows.
Meanwhile, in the same precincts, Mitch Landrieu managed to garner only 25 percent support in this year's mayoral runoff.
Landrieu's opponent was a black incumbent; Mary Landrieu, by contrast, was the veteran officeholder running against a white Republican. But another factor needs to be taken into account: The size of the voting electorate in those heavily flood-damaged precincts was sharply reduced, from about 71,400 voters four years ago to 41,600 voters, Chervenak's data show.
Stronghold weakened
Though some population rebound is expected, any decline in the number of voters in the precincts that helped keep Mary Landrieu in office is a potential threat to her, her brother and other Democrats running statewide, said Susan Howell, a University of New Orleans political scientist.
"There are fewer blacks in Orleans Parish, and that was the stronghold of African-American voters," Howell said. "That takes away one of the bases for a Democrat to be elected statewide.
"This hurts (Gov. Kathleen) Blanco somewhat. It hurts Mary Landrieu. Whether it's enough to keep them out of office, it's way too early to say that," Howell said.
Chervenak said that Mary Landrieu would have a surer shot at re-election had Mitch Landrieu corralled her traditional New Orleans base to become the city's mayor.
"Orleans Parish is what put her in office and kept her in office, so I think that if her brother would have won, that would probably have made her base more secure," he said.
Sabiston said, however, that gauging future turnout by the 2006 mayoral election is like comparing apples with oranges.
"I think you're going to see this population grow," she said. "I don't think the verdict is in yet for what the numbers are going to be for the next election."
Mary Landrieu's prospects may be further complicated by her high profile as one of a diminishing number of Democrats in a region the Republicans have come to think of as their birthright. Five Senate seats in Southern states have flipped from Democrat to Republican since 1992, Chervenak noted.
"I think Mary probably has a target on her back," he said. "Southern Democrats have become this endangered species."
But despite factors stacking up against them, all hope is not lost for Democrats seeking statewide office, said Danny Ford, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic Party.
"It's not going to be as easy to rely on a huge Democratic voting bloc (in New Orleans). But 70 percent of (displaced) voters, maybe more, are still in state, and I think they're going to remain Democratic voters," he said. "I don't think it's the kiss of death at all."
Post-Katrina bounce
Ford noted that Democrats likely will get a bounce from the success of Mary Landrieu and Blanco in securing billions of relief dollars from Washington for homeowners whose property was destroyed when federal levees failed after Katrina. Mary Landrieu's political advisers cite May polls that showed her with a 58 percent approval rating among residents overall; among African-Americans, the figure was 76 percent.
Further, he said, the hurricane heightened public awareness of traditional Democratic issues such as poverty, health care, housing and financial stability.
As for Nagin's indignation with the "Landrieu dynasty," Ford predicted the sentiment will never take hold outside New Orleans.
"The majority of the state, they don't view the Landrieu family the way they're viewed in New Orleans, (where) they are legendary," he said. "But to a voter in Natchitoches or Monroe or Houma, Mitch is lieutenant governor and Mary is the senator.
"They judge them on their own merit," he said. "The argument may have worked in New Orleans . . . but I just don't think it sticks in the rest of the state."
GOP sees opportunity
Such political presumptions, however, are based in pre-Katrina reality and may not be as inviolate as they were before the Aug. 29 storm, Louisiana Republican Party Chairman Roger Villere said.
Indeed, Villere suggested that the diaspora of New Orleans' chronic Democratic voters across the state's Republican strongholds offers a chance for his party to market its brightest ideas to a fresh audience.
In light of Katrina, he said, the local GOP can recast such issues as the proliferation of charter schools and the capacity of faith-based groups to perform social services that traditionally have been handled by government agencies.
"We've all been turned upside down in this state with Katrina and the other storms," he said. "People have been forced to have so much change that maybe now is the time to look at different things, look at different options."
Katrina "opened people's eyes to the rut that many people had been stuck in, that there are other opportunities in the world," Villere said. "I think that will open opportunities for the Republican Party and the conservative movement."
Villere added that the shake-up also may introduce some former New Orleans residents to a culture outside publicly subsidized housing and welfare programs.
They may realize "that they can go out and get a job and better themselves," Villere said.
Statewide campaign
As for the Landrieus' political fate, Villere said he does not believe Mitch Landrieu's defeat in the mayor's race will affect his or his sister's chances of winning or retaining statewide office, though he hastened to add that a good Republican candidate could unseat either one.
Brylski said that the fact that Mitch Landrieu ran what amounted to a statewide campaign for mayor -- with a satellite office in Baton Rouge and campaign stops in Alexandria, Lafayette and Lake Charles -- could help him and his sister in upcoming races.
"In one way, Mitch's election may help (Mary) because Mitch did campaign statewide, so she does have a Democratic campaign (mechanism) that she can take advantage of for her own purposes," she said.
Sabiston noted that because of the respectful and classy nature of the mayor's race, Mitch Landrieu remains "in good standing" with voters across the city and state.
"Political insiders always want to see a dust-up, and they always see some drama in a campaign," she said. "But as they say, sometimes you don't win the battle but you win the war."
Trouble spots
Political strategy aside, however, Howell said Mitch Landrieu may face trouble on two fronts if he intends to rebound from the mayor's race and run again in a New Orleans election or for governor.
"One is (the perception that) he is too liberal for Louisiana, and the second is that he did not really articulate an alternate vision to Nagin's," she said.
The first point was highlighted by Nagin's ability to harness support from business leaders and to knock Landrieu's legislative voting record on taxes and industrial development. The second, Howell said, may suggest to voters in future elections that Landrieu is not a strong executive.
Further, she said, it generally does not sit well with far-flung voters when a candidate has a history of losing his base. But given the unusual nature of the mayor's race, along with its decidedly racial overtones, voters in a statewide election may be willing to forgive.
"It's always good to be able to win in your home," Howell said. "It never really looks good to lose in your home. But I think that the racial cause of maintaining a black mayor was really too much for any white candidate to overcome, particularly a liberal white candidate against a conservative black candidate."
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Lengthy drought takes toll on local earthen levees
Officials monitoring cracks, loss of grass
Monday, June 26, 2006 - Times Picayune/NOLA.com
By Sheila Grissett
East Jefferson bureau
Darryl Ward routinely walks the levee along the edge of Lake Pontchartrain in Bucktown, using the solitude to pray.
But when Ward changed his routine one day this week by veering away from the water to stroll the levee's gravel crown, his sacred reverie was shattered by what he found: a series of holes and horizontal cracks scattered along the surface of the big dirt levee east of Cherokee Avenue.
"At first I thought someone was testing something, but as I kept walking, I saw more and more of them," Ward said. "Some of the cracks were 15 to 20 feet long, and they looked pretty deep. It got me worried, and I said to myself, 'I don't need Metairie to flood again. Someone needs to see this.' "
Officials with the East Jefferson Levee District said the cracks, which they said they're already monitoring, are the result of the drought conditions that are baking the region and everything in it.
Southeast Louisiana is officially suffering an extreme drought, with precipitation totals since the middle of last June more than 20 inches below normal, according to the National Climate Data Center.
"I know the idea concerns the public, but these kinds of cracks are a common occurrence when you have this kind of drought condition. A real good rain would take care of them -- they'll just close up. But they are being watched," said Jerry Colletti, an Army Corps of Engineers division chief in New Orleans.
As a general rule, engineers said such shrinkage cracks occur when extremely dry conditions cause the clay in levees to contract. With rainfall, or enough artificial watering, the clay expands and the cracks routinely disappear.
In the case of Darryl Ward's unsettling find this week, the cracks appeared in the roadbed atop the levee that provides access for official vehicles.
But cracks can also show up in the levee system's grassy slopes during excessively dry weather, and all are being closely monitored, according to corps' engineers and executives of levee districts throughout the region.
Colletti said cracks in the crown tend to be horizontal, while those on the slopes are more often vertical. But he called them "basically the same kind of crack." All cracks need watching to ensure they don't get too deep or too wide, he said.
If that happens, he said, the crevices could either be filled and watered or excavated and repacked.
At this point, however, he said levee districts haven't reported any cracks that are large enough to be a serious problem. At present, they pose more trouble for bikers and runners than to the structural integrity of the levees.
Already, the asphalt bike path along the Mississippi River is starting to crack in spots, as it did during a previous drought.
"Before long," Colletti said, "you're even liable to start seeing streets and highways cracking and buckling if we don't get some relief."
Colletti and Al Naomi, the corps' senior project manager for the Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity hurricane protection system, said individual levee districts provide the first line of defense to ensure that none of the cracks gets large enough to become a problem.
Naomi, who supervises the levee system in St. Charles Parish, East Jefferson and the Orleans Parish lakefront, encourages residents to report cracks or anything else that raises question or causes alarm.
"If anybody has any concerns, they shouldn't hesitate to call the levee district in their region," he said.
Hydro-mulch process
The dearth of rain is also creating a grass problem for levees throughout the region. Dirt levees are grassed to help prevent erosion, but there has not been enough rain to establish the grass on the levees rebuilt or raised since Hurricane Katrina.
East Jefferson Levee District President Alan Alario said district personnel will continue to monitor cracks in the levee roadbed, but called them "superficial and nothing to worry about. It's just a roadbed problem."
Alario said he's far more concerned about growing grass on a reach of levee recently raised between Causeway Boulevard and the Suburban Pump Station.
"We are watering that section. We're trying to get the grass growing. If it's bare, then we have a problem," Alario said.
Pontchartrain Levee District President Steve Wilson said his agency is taking proactive steps to get new grass established, keep existing grass alive, and to keep cracks from forming.
Five miles of lakefront levee just raised from 10 feet to 13 feet was recently hydro-mulched, a process in which grass seed, fertilizer and water is propelled onto the mud levee for quick growth.
In addition, Wilson said Friday that one water truck is already watering St. Charles Parish levees and two more, thanks to the corps, are on the way. And if those aren't enough, he said the levee district board has already authorized the leasing of more trucks.
"We're watering everything, and on our Mississippi River levee in St. Charles Parish, we've also raised (our) mower blades to cut the grass higher, which helps keep it from burning.
"The levees won't look as manicured for a while, but until we get rain, the aesthetics aren't what matter most," he said.
First line of defense
Engineer Steve Spencer, the Orleans Levee District flood and hurricane protection director, said his agency is monitoring the 100-plus miles of levees in its jurisdiction for drought-related cracks.
Although Orleans Levee District officials declined to specify any areas getting particular attention, Colletti said he's been told that some small cracks are being monitored along the lakefront between Hayne Boulevard and the railroad tracks.
In West Jefferson, levee district officials had engineers with the corps and state Department of Transportation and Development examine a crack that developed in a new levee built last year on the west side of the Harvey Canal.
It was "a small problem" that got a little larger after Hurricane Rita, said Jerry Sphorer, the executive director of the West Jefferson Levee District.
Engineers determined the crack was "superficial," he said, adding that it was capped with clay a month ago.
In some ways, West Jefferson Levee District President Chip Cahill said, the lack of rain is helpful, especially now when district employees have their hands full rushing to ready the system for this hurricane season.
"We don't have to spend as much time mowing the grass now, and with less grass, it's easier to spot problems if they crop up," Cahill said.
Back in Bucktown, Ward, who measured cracks in the crown of the East Jefferson levee that he said were as much as 3 feet deep, hopes the engineers and levee officials know what they're talking about.
But he's taking no chances. Ward said he'll keep strolling the crown of the levee as long as there are cracks.
"It worries me," he said Friday. "Let 'em know I'm going to keep an eye on it for them."
. . . . . . .
Cracks or other concerns should be reported to: the East Jefferson Levee District, (504) 733-0087; the Pontchartrain Levee District, (225) 869-9721 or (800) 523-3148; the Orleans Levee District, (504) 286-3100; the West Jefferson Levee District, (504) 340-0318; or the Army Corps of Engineers, (504) 862-2201.
Officials monitoring cracks, loss of grass
Monday, June 26, 2006 - Times Picayune/NOLA.com
By Sheila Grissett
East Jefferson bureau
Darryl Ward routinely walks the levee along the edge of Lake Pontchartrain in Bucktown, using the solitude to pray.
But when Ward changed his routine one day this week by veering away from the water to stroll the levee's gravel crown, his sacred reverie was shattered by what he found: a series of holes and horizontal cracks scattered along the surface of the big dirt levee east of Cherokee Avenue.
"At first I thought someone was testing something, but as I kept walking, I saw more and more of them," Ward said. "Some of the cracks were 15 to 20 feet long, and they looked pretty deep. It got me worried, and I said to myself, 'I don't need Metairie to flood again. Someone needs to see this.' "
Officials with the East Jefferson Levee District said the cracks, which they said they're already monitoring, are the result of the drought conditions that are baking the region and everything in it.
Southeast Louisiana is officially suffering an extreme drought, with precipitation totals since the middle of last June more than 20 inches below normal, according to the National Climate Data Center.
"I know the idea concerns the public, but these kinds of cracks are a common occurrence when you have this kind of drought condition. A real good rain would take care of them -- they'll just close up. But they are being watched," said Jerry Colletti, an Army Corps of Engineers division chief in New Orleans.
As a general rule, engineers said such shrinkage cracks occur when extremely dry conditions cause the clay in levees to contract. With rainfall, or enough artificial watering, the clay expands and the cracks routinely disappear.
In the case of Darryl Ward's unsettling find this week, the cracks appeared in the roadbed atop the levee that provides access for official vehicles.
But cracks can also show up in the levee system's grassy slopes during excessively dry weather, and all are being closely monitored, according to corps' engineers and executives of levee districts throughout the region.
Colletti said cracks in the crown tend to be horizontal, while those on the slopes are more often vertical. But he called them "basically the same kind of crack." All cracks need watching to ensure they don't get too deep or too wide, he said.
If that happens, he said, the crevices could either be filled and watered or excavated and repacked.
At this point, however, he said levee districts haven't reported any cracks that are large enough to be a serious problem. At present, they pose more trouble for bikers and runners than to the structural integrity of the levees.
Already, the asphalt bike path along the Mississippi River is starting to crack in spots, as it did during a previous drought.
"Before long," Colletti said, "you're even liable to start seeing streets and highways cracking and buckling if we don't get some relief."
Colletti and Al Naomi, the corps' senior project manager for the Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity hurricane protection system, said individual levee districts provide the first line of defense to ensure that none of the cracks gets large enough to become a problem.
Naomi, who supervises the levee system in St. Charles Parish, East Jefferson and the Orleans Parish lakefront, encourages residents to report cracks or anything else that raises question or causes alarm.
"If anybody has any concerns, they shouldn't hesitate to call the levee district in their region," he said.
Hydro-mulch process
The dearth of rain is also creating a grass problem for levees throughout the region. Dirt levees are grassed to help prevent erosion, but there has not been enough rain to establish the grass on the levees rebuilt or raised since Hurricane Katrina.
East Jefferson Levee District President Alan Alario said district personnel will continue to monitor cracks in the levee roadbed, but called them "superficial and nothing to worry about. It's just a roadbed problem."
Alario said he's far more concerned about growing grass on a reach of levee recently raised between Causeway Boulevard and the Suburban Pump Station.
"We are watering that section. We're trying to get the grass growing. If it's bare, then we have a problem," Alario said.
Pontchartrain Levee District President Steve Wilson said his agency is taking proactive steps to get new grass established, keep existing grass alive, and to keep cracks from forming.
Five miles of lakefront levee just raised from 10 feet to 13 feet was recently hydro-mulched, a process in which grass seed, fertilizer and water is propelled onto the mud levee for quick growth.
In addition, Wilson said Friday that one water truck is already watering St. Charles Parish levees and two more, thanks to the corps, are on the way. And if those aren't enough, he said the levee district board has already authorized the leasing of more trucks.
"We're watering everything, and on our Mississippi River levee in St. Charles Parish, we've also raised (our) mower blades to cut the grass higher, which helps keep it from burning.
"The levees won't look as manicured for a while, but until we get rain, the aesthetics aren't what matter most," he said.
First line of defense
Engineer Steve Spencer, the Orleans Levee District flood and hurricane protection director, said his agency is monitoring the 100-plus miles of levees in its jurisdiction for drought-related cracks.
Although Orleans Levee District officials declined to specify any areas getting particular attention, Colletti said he's been told that some small cracks are being monitored along the lakefront between Hayne Boulevard and the railroad tracks.
In West Jefferson, levee district officials had engineers with the corps and state Department of Transportation and Development examine a crack that developed in a new levee built last year on the west side of the Harvey Canal.
It was "a small problem" that got a little larger after Hurricane Rita, said Jerry Sphorer, the executive director of the West Jefferson Levee District.
Engineers determined the crack was "superficial," he said, adding that it was capped with clay a month ago.
In some ways, West Jefferson Levee District President Chip Cahill said, the lack of rain is helpful, especially now when district employees have their hands full rushing to ready the system for this hurricane season.
"We don't have to spend as much time mowing the grass now, and with less grass, it's easier to spot problems if they crop up," Cahill said.
Back in Bucktown, Ward, who measured cracks in the crown of the East Jefferson levee that he said were as much as 3 feet deep, hopes the engineers and levee officials know what they're talking about.
But he's taking no chances. Ward said he'll keep strolling the crown of the levee as long as there are cracks.
"It worries me," he said Friday. "Let 'em know I'm going to keep an eye on it for them."
. . . . . . .
Cracks or other concerns should be reported to: the East Jefferson Levee District, (504) 733-0087; the Pontchartrain Levee District, (225) 869-9721 or (800) 523-3148; the Orleans Levee District, (504) 286-3100; the West Jefferson Levee District, (504) 340-0318; or the Army Corps of Engineers, (504) 862-2201.
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Audrey2Katrina
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Riverfront growth vision nearing OK
Taller-buildings plan has fueled opposition
Monday, June 26, 2006 - Times Picayune/NOLA.com
By Bruce Eggler
Staff writer
The greatest natural disaster in New Orleans history doesn't seem to have changed many minds about riverfront development issues.
After a delay of nearly a year because of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans City Planning Commission this week is expected to approve a riverfront redevelopment plan that has stirred up opposition on several fronts, most notably from residents angered by a proposal to allow taller buildings on parts of the Faubourg Marigny and Bywater riverfront.
That proposal drew sharp criticism at a public hearing this month, as it did at several hearings before Katrina, but the Planning Commission staff, which proposed the change in height limits, has stuck to its guns.
If the commission approves the document, titled "Riverfront Vision 2005," it will be sent on to the City Council. Council action is not required to make it official commission policy, but the council would have to approve any proposed zoning changes, such as higher height limits.
In most cases the document does not propose specific projects or suggest that the city intends to get into the development business itself. Instead, it is designed to "articulate the community's vision for a 25-mile-long corridor, stretching along the river's edge from parish line to parish line on both sides of the river, and encompassing the adjacent industrial areas and neighborhoods."
It divides the riverfront into large geographic segments, highlighting issues and opportunities for development in particular neighborhoods in terms of land use and zoning, transportation, and access to the river. It then examines whether zoning rules should be changed to support the plan's goals.
Although the document considers the city's entire 25-mile frontage along both banks of the Mississippi River, it says the "wealth of redevelopment opportunities" on the east bank between Jackson Avenue and the Industrial Canal makes that stretch "the principal focus of the planning effort for the immediate future."
That same stretch also is the focus of a recently concluded cooperative endeavor agreement between the city and the Port of New Orleans designed to clarify the ownership and future uses of riverfront property.
The deal agreed to by the Dock Board and the New Orleans Building Corp. board would allow parts of that stretch to be redeveloped for nonmaritime uses. Among other things, the agreement envisions "an uninterrupted and continuous linear green space or riverfront park" along the entire stretch, an amphitheater at the Louisa Street Wharf or another riverfront site, a hotel and expanded cruise ship terminal at the Julia Street Wharf, and a garage and cruise ship terminal at the Erato Street Wharf.
The Planning Commission document calls for completing such an agreement between the city and the port. The delay caused by Katrina meant the agreement was wrapped up before "Riverfront Vision" could be adopted.
The suggested change that has stirred up the most intense opposition at public hearings on the commission's riverfront plan, including the one this month, is a proposal to offer 25-foot "bonuses" above the normal 50-foot height limit on new riverfront buildings along major streets in Marigny and Bywater as a way to "encourage exceptional and creative design, new residential uses, public open space, improved access and pedestrian amenities. This will also allow for increased density away from the neighborhood core."
Many Marigny and Bywater residents have said the 50-foot height limit is important to maintaining their neighborhoods' character.
Developers should get the bonus for buildings at the foot of Elysian Fields, Press Street and Poland Avenue if their projects "provide exceptional design, a combination of additional public space and amenities, contribute to public infrastructure improvements, and enhance . . . the pedestrian environment," the plan says.
It says any developers seeking to exceed the 50-foot limit "should vary the massing of the building, combining low-rise portions on the residential side of the site to offset higher elements on the river side."
But this month's hearing showed that opposition to the proposal among Marigny residents remains strong.
Chris Costello, president of the Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association, said compromises that his group agreed to last year in talks with the planning staff were never incorporated into the plan, which he said is designed to aid developers and "puts the interests of the few above those of the many."
"We are opposed to 75-foot-tall buildings, no matter how they are dressed up," Costello said.
"Don't put vertical buildings in horizontal neighborhoods," said Eugene Cizek, a prominent local architect and planner who lives in Marigny,
Different criticism came from Frances Sewell, president of the English Turn Civic Improvement Association, who attacked plans for a Woodlands Trail and Park providing hiking, biking and recreational trails on the West Bank. The "Riverfront Vision" plan does not specifically endorse the Woodlands Trail project, though it does suggest planning for it should continue, with "participation from residents and property owners."
Other critical comments came from Carrollton and Lower Garden District residents and developers, although it appeared their objections could be incorporated into the document.
The final draft of the riverfront plan places less emphasis than the original version on two ideas that drew criticism from the Bureau of Governmental Research: using a tax-increment financing district, or TIF, as a mechanism for financing riverfront redevelopment, and using the New Orleans Building Corp. to coordinate and manage such redevelopment.
The document now simply lists a TIF as one among several possible ways redevelopment could be financed. It says the Building Corp., a public benefit corporation created to find ways to enhance the revenue that the city gets from underused property, could take on a riverfront management role if it is restructured and given more staff and money. Or a new agency could be created to handle such functions, the plan says.
Taller-buildings plan has fueled opposition
Monday, June 26, 2006 - Times Picayune/NOLA.com
By Bruce Eggler
Staff writer
The greatest natural disaster in New Orleans history doesn't seem to have changed many minds about riverfront development issues.
After a delay of nearly a year because of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans City Planning Commission this week is expected to approve a riverfront redevelopment plan that has stirred up opposition on several fronts, most notably from residents angered by a proposal to allow taller buildings on parts of the Faubourg Marigny and Bywater riverfront.
That proposal drew sharp criticism at a public hearing this month, as it did at several hearings before Katrina, but the Planning Commission staff, which proposed the change in height limits, has stuck to its guns.
If the commission approves the document, titled "Riverfront Vision 2005," it will be sent on to the City Council. Council action is not required to make it official commission policy, but the council would have to approve any proposed zoning changes, such as higher height limits.
In most cases the document does not propose specific projects or suggest that the city intends to get into the development business itself. Instead, it is designed to "articulate the community's vision for a 25-mile-long corridor, stretching along the river's edge from parish line to parish line on both sides of the river, and encompassing the adjacent industrial areas and neighborhoods."
It divides the riverfront into large geographic segments, highlighting issues and opportunities for development in particular neighborhoods in terms of land use and zoning, transportation, and access to the river. It then examines whether zoning rules should be changed to support the plan's goals.
Although the document considers the city's entire 25-mile frontage along both banks of the Mississippi River, it says the "wealth of redevelopment opportunities" on the east bank between Jackson Avenue and the Industrial Canal makes that stretch "the principal focus of the planning effort for the immediate future."
That same stretch also is the focus of a recently concluded cooperative endeavor agreement between the city and the Port of New Orleans designed to clarify the ownership and future uses of riverfront property.
The deal agreed to by the Dock Board and the New Orleans Building Corp. board would allow parts of that stretch to be redeveloped for nonmaritime uses. Among other things, the agreement envisions "an uninterrupted and continuous linear green space or riverfront park" along the entire stretch, an amphitheater at the Louisa Street Wharf or another riverfront site, a hotel and expanded cruise ship terminal at the Julia Street Wharf, and a garage and cruise ship terminal at the Erato Street Wharf.
The Planning Commission document calls for completing such an agreement between the city and the port. The delay caused by Katrina meant the agreement was wrapped up before "Riverfront Vision" could be adopted.
The suggested change that has stirred up the most intense opposition at public hearings on the commission's riverfront plan, including the one this month, is a proposal to offer 25-foot "bonuses" above the normal 50-foot height limit on new riverfront buildings along major streets in Marigny and Bywater as a way to "encourage exceptional and creative design, new residential uses, public open space, improved access and pedestrian amenities. This will also allow for increased density away from the neighborhood core."
Many Marigny and Bywater residents have said the 50-foot height limit is important to maintaining their neighborhoods' character.
Developers should get the bonus for buildings at the foot of Elysian Fields, Press Street and Poland Avenue if their projects "provide exceptional design, a combination of additional public space and amenities, contribute to public infrastructure improvements, and enhance . . . the pedestrian environment," the plan says.
It says any developers seeking to exceed the 50-foot limit "should vary the massing of the building, combining low-rise portions on the residential side of the site to offset higher elements on the river side."
But this month's hearing showed that opposition to the proposal among Marigny residents remains strong.
Chris Costello, president of the Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association, said compromises that his group agreed to last year in talks with the planning staff were never incorporated into the plan, which he said is designed to aid developers and "puts the interests of the few above those of the many."
"We are opposed to 75-foot-tall buildings, no matter how they are dressed up," Costello said.
"Don't put vertical buildings in horizontal neighborhoods," said Eugene Cizek, a prominent local architect and planner who lives in Marigny,
Different criticism came from Frances Sewell, president of the English Turn Civic Improvement Association, who attacked plans for a Woodlands Trail and Park providing hiking, biking and recreational trails on the West Bank. The "Riverfront Vision" plan does not specifically endorse the Woodlands Trail project, though it does suggest planning for it should continue, with "participation from residents and property owners."
Other critical comments came from Carrollton and Lower Garden District residents and developers, although it appeared their objections could be incorporated into the document.
The final draft of the riverfront plan places less emphasis than the original version on two ideas that drew criticism from the Bureau of Governmental Research: using a tax-increment financing district, or TIF, as a mechanism for financing riverfront redevelopment, and using the New Orleans Building Corp. to coordinate and manage such redevelopment.
The document now simply lists a TIF as one among several possible ways redevelopment could be financed. It says the Building Corp., a public benefit corporation created to find ways to enhance the revenue that the city gets from underused property, could take on a riverfront management role if it is restructured and given more staff and money. Or a new agency could be created to handle such functions, the plan says.
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Audrey2Katrina
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- Posts: 4252
- Age: 75
- Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:39 pm
- Location: Metaire, La.
Honore motivates St. Augustine grads
Katrina official says students 'have overcome'
Monday, June 26, 2006- Times Picayune/NOLA.com
By Leslie Williams
The charismatic Army lieutenant general who helped guide Louisianians out of the chaos of Hurricane Katrina returned Sunday to New Orleans to point the way for St. Augustine High School's graduates.
"It doesn't matter where you start," Lt. Gen. Russel Honore said to more than 170 young men in purple caps and gowns gathered in St. Louis Cathedral for the 52nd commencement of the all-boys school. "It's where you end the race."
Observing that many of the graduates who survived Hurricanes Katrina and Rita looked "sad," Honore -- a graduate of a small segregated high school in New Roads and one of 12 children reared on a 40-acre subsistence farm -- urged the boys not to dwell on the past and to look toward a future of opportunities.
"Your parents in the '50s and '60s were singing songs, 'We Shall Overcome,' " Honore said. "You have overcome."
St. Augustine's students were scattered in August when flooding after Katrina heavily damaged the campus, closing the school for the first time since its founding in 1951.
St. Aug students who were able to return to New Orleans attended classes at the combined MAX school, housed on the campus of Xavier Preparatory in New Orleans. Sunday's ceremony reunited and honored the St. Augustine senior class, whether the students attended the MAX school or high schools elsewhere.
Honore, who was picked by President Bush to lead Joint Task Force Katrina, held a command that included more than 20,000 active-duty troops from all military branches devoted to the storm-recovery operation in a three-state region. He endeared himself to frustrated storm victims with his take-charge attitude and no-nonsense style.
Honore encouraged the boys to consider careers in public service: law enforcement, firefighting, the armed forces, the priesthood or elected office.
"Community life is something greater than you. You have that choice, " he said. He took a moment to recognize others in public service: the students' teachers, who were asked to stand.
The graduates -- including valedictorian David Gray; salutatorian David Reed; class speaker Darin James; and Ernest Ancar, recognized for four years of perfect attendance -- will have another choice, Honore cautioned.
Soon, there will be a fork in the road, he said.
On one road, "it'll look very smooth. It has a lot more bright lights and the right music you want to hear. It's nothing but fun."
On the other road, "it's kinda dull. It's kinda bumpy and it's uphill."
"That's the road," he said, "that'll get you to your next degree."
Katrina official says students 'have overcome'
Monday, June 26, 2006- Times Picayune/NOLA.com
By Leslie Williams
The charismatic Army lieutenant general who helped guide Louisianians out of the chaos of Hurricane Katrina returned Sunday to New Orleans to point the way for St. Augustine High School's graduates.
"It doesn't matter where you start," Lt. Gen. Russel Honore said to more than 170 young men in purple caps and gowns gathered in St. Louis Cathedral for the 52nd commencement of the all-boys school. "It's where you end the race."
Observing that many of the graduates who survived Hurricanes Katrina and Rita looked "sad," Honore -- a graduate of a small segregated high school in New Roads and one of 12 children reared on a 40-acre subsistence farm -- urged the boys not to dwell on the past and to look toward a future of opportunities.
"Your parents in the '50s and '60s were singing songs, 'We Shall Overcome,' " Honore said. "You have overcome."
St. Augustine's students were scattered in August when flooding after Katrina heavily damaged the campus, closing the school for the first time since its founding in 1951.
St. Aug students who were able to return to New Orleans attended classes at the combined MAX school, housed on the campus of Xavier Preparatory in New Orleans. Sunday's ceremony reunited and honored the St. Augustine senior class, whether the students attended the MAX school or high schools elsewhere.
Honore, who was picked by President Bush to lead Joint Task Force Katrina, held a command that included more than 20,000 active-duty troops from all military branches devoted to the storm-recovery operation in a three-state region. He endeared himself to frustrated storm victims with his take-charge attitude and no-nonsense style.
Honore encouraged the boys to consider careers in public service: law enforcement, firefighting, the armed forces, the priesthood or elected office.
"Community life is something greater than you. You have that choice, " he said. He took a moment to recognize others in public service: the students' teachers, who were asked to stand.
The graduates -- including valedictorian David Gray; salutatorian David Reed; class speaker Darin James; and Ernest Ancar, recognized for four years of perfect attendance -- will have another choice, Honore cautioned.
Soon, there will be a fork in the road, he said.
On one road, "it'll look very smooth. It has a lot more bright lights and the right music you want to hear. It's nothing but fun."
On the other road, "it's kinda dull. It's kinda bumpy and it's uphill."
"That's the road," he said, "that'll get you to your next degree."
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Audrey2Katrina
- Category 5
- Posts: 4252
- Age: 75
- Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:39 pm
- Location: Metaire, La.
Pascagoula library still months away from re-opening
By JAMIE GOAD -6/26/06
SUN HERALD
PASCAGOULA - Don't let the steady traffic in and out of the Pascagoula library fool you. The building Katrina crushed 10 months ago is still nowhere near being ready for the eager bookworms who await its re-opening.
So what's taking so long?
The director of the Jackson-George Regional Library System, Mike Hamlett, said they've been waiting on one thing - the air-conditioning unit.
"Until we got the AC unit in, we couldn't dry the place out and the ongoing problems with mold couldn't be dealt with," he said.
But Hamlett said that problem was resolved earlier this month. Now the rest of the estimated $1.2 million in repairs on the floors and the walls has started.
Hamlett hopes the library will be checking out books by January.
"We're coming back," Hamlett said.
Moss Point library branch manager Carol Hewlett doesn't mind if the repairs take time to finish. She's excited about the record number of people browsing the bookshelves in Moss Point.
"We're getting the overflow from Pascagoula," Hewlett said. "The use for the public computers is now the highest in the system."
He said Moss Point is the only library in the system with an increase in circulation from last year to this year.
Since the Jackson-George Regional Library System cards can be used at any of the eight libraries in the area, Hewlett said those coming from Pascagoula have made the switch easily.
Tyler Daniels, 13, is one Pascagoula resident who has chosen to make Moss Point her summertime hangout. "It's smaller," she said. "The Pascagoula library was a lot bigger."
But Tyler still makes the trip up Telephone Road every day because the library has what she can't find elsewhere. "I like to read and I like to get on the computers. I don't have one at home."
Hamlett said most of the money being used to repair the Pascagoula building is coming from the federal government. Hamlett hopes the rest of the bill will be paid through grants and money raised through the Friends of the Library fund.
By JAMIE GOAD -6/26/06
SUN HERALD
PASCAGOULA - Don't let the steady traffic in and out of the Pascagoula library fool you. The building Katrina crushed 10 months ago is still nowhere near being ready for the eager bookworms who await its re-opening.
So what's taking so long?
The director of the Jackson-George Regional Library System, Mike Hamlett, said they've been waiting on one thing - the air-conditioning unit.
"Until we got the AC unit in, we couldn't dry the place out and the ongoing problems with mold couldn't be dealt with," he said.
But Hamlett said that problem was resolved earlier this month. Now the rest of the estimated $1.2 million in repairs on the floors and the walls has started.
Hamlett hopes the library will be checking out books by January.
"We're coming back," Hamlett said.
Moss Point library branch manager Carol Hewlett doesn't mind if the repairs take time to finish. She's excited about the record number of people browsing the bookshelves in Moss Point.
"We're getting the overflow from Pascagoula," Hewlett said. "The use for the public computers is now the highest in the system."
He said Moss Point is the only library in the system with an increase in circulation from last year to this year.
Since the Jackson-George Regional Library System cards can be used at any of the eight libraries in the area, Hewlett said those coming from Pascagoula have made the switch easily.
Tyler Daniels, 13, is one Pascagoula resident who has chosen to make Moss Point her summertime hangout. "It's smaller," she said. "The Pascagoula library was a lot bigger."
But Tyler still makes the trip up Telephone Road every day because the library has what she can't find elsewhere. "I like to read and I like to get on the computers. I don't have one at home."
Hamlett said most of the money being used to repair the Pascagoula building is coming from the federal government. Hamlett hopes the rest of the bill will be paid through grants and money raised through the Friends of the Library fund.
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Audrey2Katrina
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Pascagoula plans to go out with a bang on the 4th of July
By MARGARET BAKER-
Sunherald.com 6/26/06
PASCAGOULA - City officials are gearing up for this year's Fourth of July celebration at Beach Park, with a fireworks display starting at 9 p.m.
Darcie Crew, the city's parks and recreation director, said this year's display was possible because of donations from area residents and businesses.
Donating to the festivities are: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Chevron, the Jackson County Board of Supervisors, Macland Disposal, Richard and Maura Whitlock, Dogan & Wilkinson, PLLC, Wayne Lee's Grocery, Monica's restaurant, Kennie O. Smith, Eastabrook Motors, GulfSales and Supply and King's Inn Motel.
Entertainment slated for this year's celebration includes Jerry Ball singing some jazz and inspirational tunes with Christian rock performances by Orphan Soul. The event also includes gospel and dance tunes, among other things.
Guests are encouraged to get to the park in time for the musical performances that will go on before the fireworks display.
Guests include Mark Lee, Otis Carter Jazz Ensemble, Tracy Smith, Steven Marshall, Church of the Rock, with Robby Myrick hosting.
Because parking is limited, the city is barricading many of the side streets leading to Beach Park. The best seating will be along the seawall and on either side of the beachfront pier.
Beach Boulevard will be closed to traffic from 7 to 9 p.m. on Independence Day.
By MARGARET BAKER-
Sunherald.com 6/26/06
PASCAGOULA - City officials are gearing up for this year's Fourth of July celebration at Beach Park, with a fireworks display starting at 9 p.m.
Darcie Crew, the city's parks and recreation director, said this year's display was possible because of donations from area residents and businesses.
Donating to the festivities are: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Chevron, the Jackson County Board of Supervisors, Macland Disposal, Richard and Maura Whitlock, Dogan & Wilkinson, PLLC, Wayne Lee's Grocery, Monica's restaurant, Kennie O. Smith, Eastabrook Motors, GulfSales and Supply and King's Inn Motel.
Entertainment slated for this year's celebration includes Jerry Ball singing some jazz and inspirational tunes with Christian rock performances by Orphan Soul. The event also includes gospel and dance tunes, among other things.
Guests are encouraged to get to the park in time for the musical performances that will go on before the fireworks display.
Guests include Mark Lee, Otis Carter Jazz Ensemble, Tracy Smith, Steven Marshall, Church of the Rock, with Robby Myrick hosting.
Because parking is limited, the city is barricading many of the side streets leading to Beach Park. The best seating will be along the seawall and on either side of the beachfront pier.
Beach Boulevard will be closed to traffic from 7 to 9 p.m. on Independence Day.
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