News from Central Gulf Focus: La./Miss (Ala contributors)

[Audrey2Katrina]

Active storm season predicted

By Leslie Williams
Staff writer Times Picayune
May 22, 2006

Hurricane experts predict a “very active” season in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico this year — 13 to 16 tropical storms and four to six could become major hurricanes.

“There’s no reason why New Orleans can’t get hit by another major hurricane in 2006,” said Stanley Goldenberg, a meteorologist in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s hurricane research division.

“Although no one can say with a high level of certainty, it is certainly possible that the basic steering pattern that shifted in 2004 to start to favor increased numbers of U.S. hurricane landfalls — especially for Florida and the Gulf of Mexico region — could continue for several more years,” Goldenberg said.

Of the 13 to 16 storms, eight to 10 may become hurricanes during the season that officially begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30, according to the report. And four to six could become major hurricanes of category 3 strength or higher, said Conrad C. Lautenbacher, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and a NOAA administrator.
“We’re still in an active era,” said Goldenberg, a member of the team that developed the forecast for the north Atlantic region. . “But the fact is you don’t need an active hurricane season to harm New Orleans.”

During a slow year in 1992, Hurricane Andrew “came awfully close to the city,” he said. The small and ferocious Cape Verde hurricane devastated areas along a path through the northwestern Bahamas, southern Florida and south-central Louisiana.

Katrina, too, was a Cape Verde hurricane, originally formed off the coast of Africa as a tropical depression, said Phil Grisby, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Slidell. Katrina made its way across the Atlantic as a depression before gaining strength in the Bahamas, he said.

Cape Verde hurricanes tend to have a long life while those formed in the Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico usually don’t last quite as long, Grisby said.

The federal government’s forecast follows a similar one released in April by a Colorado State University team. The team predicts 17 named storms in 2006, nine of which could become hurricanes.

Predictions, of course, are just that.

The April forecast of the Colorado team and the May prediction by NOAA last year were off quite a bit.

In April 2005, the university team predicted 13 named storms, seven becoming hurricanes. NOAA in May 2005 predicted 12-15 tropical storms, seven to nine becoming hurricanes.

The 2005 hurricane season ended with a record 28 tropical storms and 15 hurricanes. The previous record had been 21 tropical storms in a season, Grisby said.

Will Gray, then the leader of the university team, updated his 2005 forecast in June to 15 tropical storms and eight hurricanes, Grisby said. And NOAA revised its 2005 forecast in August to 18 to 21 tropical storms and 9 to 11 hurricanes.

Many factors affect the development and direction of hurricanes, including steering currents.

Although NOAA is not forecasting a repeat of last year’s season, the potential for hurricanes striking the U.S. is high, Lautenbacher said at a press conference in Miami.

Warmer ocean water combined with lower wind shear, weaker easterly trade winds and a more favorable wind pattern in the mid-levels of the atmosphere are the factors that collectively will favor the development of storms in greater numbers and to greater intensity, according to NOAA.

Warm water is the energy source for storms while favorable wind patterns limit the wind shear that can tear apart a storm’s building cloud structure.

[Audrey2Katrina]

New Orleans to host 2008 NBA All-Star Game

By Benjamin Hochman
Staff writer

The 2008 NBA All-Star game will be played in New Orleans at the New Orleans Arena, an important symbol for a city reviving after Hurricane Katrina.

On Jan 31, in an effort to show its commitment to post-Katrina New Orleans, the NBA announced the city would have exclusive bidding rights for All-Star weekend.

Though the decision is not linked to the future of the Hornets in the city, it is a sign that the NBA remains steadfast about returning the team to New Orleans.

The Hornets relocated to Oklahoma City last season, where fans embraced the team. This coming season, the Hornets will play 35 games at Ford Center and six at New Orleans Arena. The plan, according to Hornets owner George Shinn and the league, is to return the team to New Orleans in 2007-08.

The All-Star planning process hit potholes in February with hotel and contractual conflicts. The league has requirements for its office space in the weeks before the game, and its desired number of hotel rooms were unavailable. By mid-April, it was reported that most of the issues were resolved.

[Audrey2Katrina]

FBI details Jefferson's dealings

It videotaped meetings, cash transactions

Monday, May 22, 2006
By Bill Walsh
and Bruce Alpert%%par%%Washington bureau

WASHINGTON -- The tony Ritz-Carlton in northern Virginia was the spot for the latest meeting between Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, and Lori Mody, a wealthy businesswoman he was secretly working with to launch telecommunications deals in West Africa.

It was July 30, 2005, and, after the morning meeting, the two walked to the hotel parking lot. Jefferson reached into her car trunk and pulled out a leather briefcase containing $100,000 cash meant to grease the palms of Nigerian officials.

He slipped the case into a reddish-brown cloth bag, placed it on the seat of his Lincoln Town Car and drove off.

Unknown to Jefferson, Mody also had been working with the FBI, which videotaped the transaction from several vantage points. Four days later, agents would raid Jefferson's home on Capitol Hill and recover $90,000 in a freezer, where stacks of $100 bills were wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in frozen-food containers.

That colorful -- and potentially damning -- tableau came to light Sunday in an affidavit released by the FBI. Agents had used the affidavit to persuade a federal judge to let them search Jefferson's congressional office a day earlier.

Jefferson has not been charged, and last week he declared his innocence, saying he has never sought anything for himself or his family in return for performing the duties of a congressman. On Sunday, his attorney Robert Trout blasted the government, saying the disclosure was "part of a public relations agenda and an obvious attempt to embarrass Congressman Jefferson."

The 95-page document is certain to raise the pressure on the congressman, who said last week that he wouldn't resign despite an ongoing House ethics investigation. The affidavit quotes him on a wiretap telling Mody, "I make a deal for my children," and at another point, "I'm in the shadows, behind the curtain." It even captures him laughing at their cloak-and-dagger methods "as if the FBI is watching."


Detailed affidavit

Agent Timothy Thibault's affidavit provides the most detailed accounting yet of the federal bribery probe of the eight-term congressman, which has already resulted in guilty pleas by two of Jefferson's associates. A northern Virginia grand jury has been hearing evidence in the case.

At the center of the yearlong probe is a small Kentucky telecommunications company called iGate, which had developed novel technology to transmit high-speed Internet service across copper wires such as those used in developing countries in West Africa.

As part of his guilty plea earlier this month, iGate CEO Vernon Jackson said he paid more than $450,000 and millions of shares of iGate stock to a company, identified Sunday as ANJ Group LLC and operated by Jefferson's wife, Andrea, in exchange for the congressman's help.

The FBI affidavit released Sunday suggests a far broader and lucrative scheme was afoot, alleging that Jefferson also sought and received bribes directly from a "cooperating witness," who sources say is Mody and who was to provide financing for the iGate ventures in Africa.

Among other things, the documents say:

-- The FBI videotaped Jefferson receiving a stock certificate from Mody for a company set up in Nigeria to promote iGate's technology. Jefferson predicted the deal would generate $200 million annually after five years.

-- Jefferson told Mody that he wanted a similar financial stake in the business in Ghana.

-- Jefferson sought $10 million in financing from Mody to take over iGate and install "confidants" on the new board. In two payments, Mody wired $89,225 to the ANJ Group LLC, a company controlled by Jefferson's family.

-- Jefferson lent $4,800 of the money Mody gave him to an unnamed congressional aide. Another $4,900 was given back to the FBI by one of Jefferson's attorneys.

-- The FBI claims it has uncovered "at least seven other schemes in which Jefferson sought things of value in return for his official acts."

According to the affidavit, Mody triggered the FBI investigation in March 2005. She had paid $3.5 million to acquire the rights to iGate's technology but grew wary when Jackson, the company CEO, refused to comply. Believing she had been defrauded, Mody went to the FBI and soon began wearing a wire.


Dinner conversation

Through Brett Pfeffer, a former aide to Jefferson who pleaded guilty in January, a dinner meeting was set up between Mody and the congressman. They decided to go ahead with the iGate deal in Nigeria. But first, Jefferson told Mody, a key palm needed to be greased.

In a recorded conversation, Jefferson said that a top Nigerian official was scheduled to arrive in Washington shortly. Jefferson described him as a businessman "who has more deals than the man in the moon" and "He's a very, well, the word might be . . . corrupt."

The official, Jefferson later said, could be bribed by funneling money through a charitable foundation run by the official's wife, which Jefferson called a "front."

The official's name is redacted from the search warrant affidavit, but it is believed to be Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar, whose Maryland home was also raided in August by the FBI. His wife, Jennifer, operates an AIDS foundation in Washington, D.C. Neither could be reached for comment on Sunday.

Jefferson later told Mody that the unnamed official demanded 50 percent of profits from a joint venture launched in Nigeria and would probably need $500,000 up front, $100,000 of which was in the briefcase she handed to Jefferson three months later.

Jefferson was also seeking a share for his family, the affidavit says. In December 2004, Jefferson had demanded a 5 percent to 7 percent share of the Nigerian business for his five daughters, "to be split equally among them." At a dinner meeting in May with Mody, the number went up.

On scraps of paper, the two passed messages back and forth across the table, cryptically negotiating in writing with symbols and figures that Mody later turned over the FBI. In one Jefferson wrote the letter "c" and then "18-20."

"The 'c' is like for children," he said. "I wouldn't show up in there . . . I make a deal for my children. It wouldn't be me."

As they continued to scribble notes, Jefferson laughed.

"All these damn notes we're writing to each other as if we're talking, as if the FBI is watching," he said.


Stock transfer

In June, the FBI listened and watched when Mody delivered a stock certificate to Jefferson over dinner. It transferred 30 percent of Mody's new Nigerian company to another firm called Global Energy & Environmental Services. Jefferson told her it was a Nigerian company "in the name of (his) children which has been in existence for the past two to three years," according to the FBI affidavit.

Jefferson told Mody that a son-in-law ran Global and that another son-in-law should be employed in the joint venture "to run things in Nigeria."

In July, Mody and Jefferson met again to discuss the possibility of replicating the Nigerian deal in Ghana. He was to travel to Ghana that month and meet with top government officials to promote iGate.

"As far as Ghana goes," Mody asked him over dinner, "are you happy with the 30 percent in Ghana?"

According to the affidavit, Jefferson pointed to a scrap of paper on which was written, "WJ 30%." He scratched out "WJ" and wrote instead, "Global."

Even as they discussed the future, Jefferson was worried about the financial stability of iGate, according to the FBI document. He confided to Mody he had grown frustrated with the CEO, Jackson, and the company's deepening debt.

"I'm not going to let him let me use my good offices, whatever they are, and then to make arrangements and then blow it out. I'm not gonna to do that," Jefferson said.

Jefferson proposed buying a controlling interest in iGate by way of ANJ, "a Louisiana company controlled by Jefferson and kept ostensibly in the name of his wife and children," the affidavit says. Jefferson proposed that Mody finance the takeover with $10 million, allowing him to install "several confidants" on the board and demote Jackson.

According to the FBI, two installments totaling $89,222 were deposited in a New Orleans bank account belonging to the ANJ Group.


Company pulls out

Details of numerous other Jefferson business deals still under investigation were blacked out of the affidavit, as was the name of another target of the investigation. It seems that because of Hurricane Katrina, some New Orleans banks have been slow to produce documents requested by authorities. But the FBI detailed one deal involving a Nigerian company called NetLink, known as NDTV, which had agreed to finance iGate's business before Mody entered the scene.

The deal is significant because it introduces another cooperating witness besides Mody "with first hand knowledge of the transaction," the affidavit says. The witness told the FBI that Jefferson demanded $5 per subscriber for the broadband service in Nigeria.

But in early 2004, NDTV pulled out of the deal and sought its $6.5 million investment back. The company hired attorneys in the United States and they wrote to Jefferson suggesting that he had violated criminal and civil laws in the Nigeria.

The letter, recovered in the search of his home in August, said Jefferson had received money for his help in the deal.

"I have also attached a list of your bank accounts through which you insisted money be paid (which it was) to you in relation to the iGate/NDTV transaction," the lawyer wrote.

The attorney included a list of bank accounts belonging to ANJ Group and Jefferson Interests Inc., which the FBI said was controlled by the congressman.

Evidently concerned that the Republican Bush administration would be attacked for investigating a Democratic congressman, the FBI took steps to insulate itself.

The affidavit says the agency set up "special search procedures" such as having agents not working on the case search Jefferson's office and having all documents screened by a multiagency "filter team" also unconnected to the case. Jefferson would be alerted about anything deemed "privileged," and documents would be kept from prosecutors unless approved by a federal judge.

The FBI document suggests that the 59-year-old Jefferson saw himself at the end of his political career, which has spanned 16 years in Congress and several terms in the Louisiana legislature.

At one point, Mody asked him how long he planned to continue.

"I'm going to get your deal out of the way," he said. "I probably won't last long after that."

[Audrey2Katrina]

Researchers say Katrina gave insight into survivor timber species

Last Update: 5/22/2006 6:10:35 PM

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) - Forestry experts say studies of the damage by Hurricane Katrina on Mississippi timber has given some clues to what species are tough enough to survive a giant storm.

Glenn Hughes, a forestry professor based at the Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi, said landowners have evaluated what they learned from Katrina to apply it to future timber management.

"We've been able to look at the three commercial species - slash, loblolly and longleaf pines - and see how much they each were damaged and the type of damage they sustained," Hughes said. "We evaluated adjacent stands that were planted and thinned at the same time."

Hughes said thinned pines sustained some of the greatest wind damage from Katrina.

Of the tracts observed, 16 percent of the loblolly trees were undamaged, compared to 52 percent of the slash and 64 percent of the longleaf pines, the latter two tracts remaining manageable.

"We also could see a difference in the type of damage. With loblolly and slash, the trees were snapped and when trees are snapped, they lose a lot of their value immediately," Hughes said. "The longleaf pines mostly were leaning or uprooted. That gives landowners more opportunities to salvage these trees."

Hughes said unthinned stands of loblolly pines fared well in most cases.

"But the minute you open them up (thin them), they became more susceptible to wind damage than longleaf pines," he said. "Older, more open longleaf pines suffered significant damage."

Hughes said landowners may cut down trees sooner and thin less.

"It's something of a Catch-22. Older trees are worth more, but each year you carry a tree over, you run the risk of damage from another major hurricane," he said.

Hughes said although many people will be attracted to longleaf pines because of their endurance in Katrina's wind, they are not for everyone.

"Most of the longleaf seedlings produced now are containerized. They need good site preparation and more management involvement from the landowner.

"Katrina illustrated that no species is immune from hurricane damage. Landowners can reduce the risks by diversifying the ages of their trees. People south of Hattiesburg should consider alter natives to loblolly pines," he said.

Hughes said a complicating factor in selling damaged trees has been the amount of wood placed on the market in south Mississippi by trees taken from the DeSoto National Forest.

"These trees flooded an already saturated market," Hughes said. "Loggers are hurting because of restrictions on the amount they can deliver to the mill, and landowners are hurting from the low prices."

For now, Hughes recommended owners hold onto undamaged timber in anticipation of the huge restoration effort that will come to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

"It could be 12 months before demand kicks in full, but once companies and landowners settle their insurance issues and New Orleans dries out, there will be a tremendous demand for wood," he said. manageable.

A recent report by the Mississippi Institute for Forest Inventory said industry and corporate landowners may salvage between 80 percent and 90 percent of their damaged timber.

Federally owned lands are expected to salvage about 75 percent of their Katrina trees, said Bob Daniels, a forestry professor at the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

He said non-industrial private landowners may not save more than 20 percent or 25 percent.

The MIFI said 26 new wet storage facilities have been established since Katrina to handle long-term wet storage. Each is at maximum capacity, with about five months of solid wood production in storage.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Our Summer of Discontent


As the President's Polls Plummet. Democrats Smell Blood. Conservatives Fear Revolt and Katrina Survivors Worry About the Future

By Perry Hicks and Keith Burton Gulf-Coast News: Filed 5/22/06

The concern most of us feel these days is quite difficult to get our arms around; this sense that our nation is heading down the wrong road; that we, as a nation, are in jeopardy. There is simply so much that has gone awry in so many sectors for so long a time that finding the right words to describe, much less make sense of it, is very, very difficult. Those of us who live in the Katrina Disaster Zone feel the sharp edge of the nation's problems perhaps more than elsewhere. We see what has gone wrong at the ground level and our vision is perhaps clearer. In an area with so much loss, words like "strong economy" and "increased business profits" do not inspire confidence.

We can readily see the problems though, manifest in a war whose Vietnam-like prosecution will insure fighting extends far out into the distant future.

We can see it not just in our national government’s refusal to secure our borders, but how illegal aliens can take to our streets demanding- and probably getting- special favors from Washington.

We feel the pain of it at the gas pumps and in our heating bills- even as others protest the creation of energy terminals because of a supposed threat to zooplankton.

And those of us who live on the Coast, ground zero for Hurricane Katrina, we wonder if the nation can remain focused in the aftermath of true catastrophe when facing a future that is so uncertain.

It is all too evident in how the Supreme Court has upheld the use of Eminent Domain so that government may take one citizen’s private property, not for public use, but to give it to anyone else they choose and for any reason. This is no small concern for those that survived the hurricane in the few remaining beachfront neighborhoods along the Coast. As the New York Times recently said, Biloxi was one of the last working class beachfront communities.

At the same time, there is this unfathomable Federal indifference toward even the most fundamental relief- not just toward individual citizens who have lost everything- but even the municipalities utterly destroyed by Katrina.

And, it is apparent in the high divorce rates suffered in this country that is brought about as much by Federal avarice as it is by some individual’s devotion to matrimony.

Summing it all together; it is what more and more Americans are coming to believe- is that we as people no longer matter; that the situation is growing hopeless. Our wants, needs, and even lives must be subordinated to that of the state, the corporation, and foreign powers if they so demand it.

And this is what some in the Republican Party are coming to fear: the middle class coming to perceive that they are losing their freedom and are increasingly under the government’s foot. It is a recipe for social upheaval.

No Common Cause

Hoover Institute fellow Shelby Steele has recently explained his view why America has been reluctant to win any war since 1945.

Look at the record here: Because there has been no official treaty ending it, the “police action” on the Korean peninsula is technically still on-going. Vietnam was lost not by the failure of combat arms, but the undermining of national support by a virulent ant-war movement. Iranian mullahs were allowed to seize our Tehran embassy. Thus, their brothers were emboldened not just to attack our embassies, fighting ships, and armed forces overseas- which they did for two decades- but even mount an attack on American soil itself.

Shelby, a specialist in civil rights and related topics, connects America’s temerity to a legacy of racism; America chooses to lose because it somehow sees winning as damaging to our moral authority.

It is the same mechanism by which securing our borders from unlawful entry is branded racist. It doesn’t matter if Mexico truly abuses its illegals making the crossing from Central America to the United States. Guilt is the legacy of white supremacy.

The man does make a point.

However, Steele’s model places the effect just a couple of decades ahead of the cause. What emerged from Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not an unintended consequence of the civil rights movement. It was the rise of multinational corporations.

Contrary to what you have been told, warfare is not good for business- at least not unlimited war. Thus, what had been called the Department of War had to change its name to the Department of Defense. Consequently, the mission changed, too.

The same for illegal immigration: Cheap labor is needed for business here to compete with communist China. Thus, if illegals can no longer be allowed to flood over our borders, Washington will just double, triple, or even quadruple legal entry with the Republican Hagel-Martinez immigration bill.

In order to make the government look tough, Bush will send thousands of National Guardsmen to the Mexican border.

Resisting this nexus of government and global business could put button-down conservatives at the same barricades with the anarchist left- an unholy alliance that Republican politicians fear and Democrats anticipate with glee; a wedge that could finally split Lincoln’s log into smaller and so more easily managed pieces.

However, if a Republican president does not a conservative make, expect nothing less from a Democrat. That party has become the exclusive domain of liberals.

Reality Check Waiting

It is said that time is a healer of all wounds, and certainly that is true for the Mississippi Coast. But it would be better said that time well spent is a healer of all wounds if the Coast is to move affectively toward its new future. There seems to be a lack of real leadership in that those that are so called now, all have clearly evident self interests. If leadership is defined by vision and inclusiveness; those are qualities still absent in our post-Katrina days.

On the local front, a good many people may be fooled by the apparent good news rolling out over the next few months. Waveland has just won a grant from the Clinton-Bush Katrina Fund money machine so Mayor Tommy Longo will have enough funding to cover the 10% FEMA match. And Faith Hill and Tim McGraw will raise perhaps 4 million more badly needed dollars to help small charity efforts with Katrina relief.

Yet, the billions in Federal aid and private insurance said to be raining down on Mississippi has actually very few dollars reaching the ground for those most affected, and what does is wholly inadequate. Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis didn't receive a grant like Waveland just did, and those cities need it just as badly. Then there are those residents struggling to rebuild their homes. Few of them will have the combined insurance and Federal grants pay enough for their coastal homes to be rebuilt to the new FEMA standard.

None the less, as autumn approaches, politicians will stand alongside newspaper publishers (who should otherwise be independently reporting on the former) and jointly announce how wonderful the Coast’s future will be.

Insurance spokesman Bill Bailey suggested some foreknowledge of this future when he told GCN that the rich would be coming and that this would be a good thing for Mississippi.

Could he mean flattened middle class subdivisions will be turned over to condominium developers or collected to form large new estates for the mega-wealthy?

What won’t be said is that this brilliant “coming back” will be at the cost of thousands of foreclosures, if not forced sales; how tens of thousands of native Mississippians will have had to take up new lives in far away states- not by freedom of choice- but because when all was said and done, there was nothing for them to return to.

The loss of homes and businesses on the Coast has still yet to be measured. Taxes on homes and businesses have yet to reflect the loss. The counties have not even begun reassessing property values and taxes, but it is certain that people will balk on paying property taxes on slabs at the same rate as last year. This unknown loss of tax income frightens public officials and it should. What is certain is that it will take several years to sort out. Then watch as property becomes valued at the new, much higher, post-Katrina rate, which could force those that survived the hurricane to move.

Certainly there is new development on the way. Numerous condominiums are in the works for certain areas of the Coast, mostly in Biloxi. But until these new condominiums, private estates and new condos and casinos can be realized, there will simply not be enough tax revenue to keep some governments running - unless they raise taxes, surely a redevelopment hurdle no one wants to cross. Even then, who will pay higher taxes on empty lots? Then the really bad news will hit: So many businesses will not have not returned, so many homes will not have been rebuilt, that some city and county coffers will start going empty.

And if Katrina is but one natural disaster away from being a memory, what do you think will happen if say, a major storm slams into the Carolinas, or New England? Or, God forbid makes landfall again on the Coast? Where will the money come from to rebuild what has yet to be rebuilt?

Be forewarned. This is going to be one long, hot summer.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Woman is killed in Metairie park

Mom was abducted from walking path as son jogged

Wednesday, May 24, 2006
By Michelle Hunter
East Jefferson bureau Times Picayune

Looking for a bit of exercise on a balmy spring evening, Alessandra Adams ventured to the place that thousands of Metairie residents treasure for its wide lawns, gentle lagoon and the laughter of children chasing soccer balls: Lafreniere Park.

She set off pacing the 155-acre park's walking path Monday night, planning to meet up later with her son and his friend, who were jogging in the park, to ride home together.

But they didn't see her again until Tuesday at 6:30 a.m., after Adams' battered body was found naked and face-down in a gravel lot about a half-mile away, the ground around her head saturated with blood.

Preliminary autopsy work suggests Adams, 51, was beaten to death, but authorities said they don't know the motive for the killing, Jefferson Parish's 29th homicide of the year.

But they have a lead. Sheriff's deputies are searching for a late-model white Ford Expedition, possibly with a damaged wheel rim and mismatched tire, that was seen in the lot where Adams' body was found.

"I want them to find the person that did this," said Adams' daughter, Alessa Massey, fuming through her tears at her mother's Metairie home.

Adams' relatives, including her mother, Mariam Boyce, watched for more than three hours as detectives examined the spot where her body was found.

"I never wanted to outlive any of my children," Boyce said.


Calls go unanswered


Adams went to the park Monday about 9 p.m. with her son, Ryan Lassabe, 21, and one his friends, relatives said. They parked near the exercise equipment on the south side of the park, close to the West Napoleon Avenue entrance, Massey said.

Lassabe, a student at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, intended to jog around the park with his buddy while Adams walked. Afterward, he would call her on her cell phone, the only property she was carrying, then pick her up to go home.

When Adams didn't answer repeated calls about 9:45, Lassabe alerted park rangers. The Sheriff's Office joined the search about 11 p.m. and set up a command center, combing the park with Lassabe and one of Adams' sisters all night, according to relatives and Chief Deputy Newell Normand.

Boyce and one of her daughter's co-workers drove the nearby streets for three hours with the windows of their vehicle down, calling her name. But they wouldn't know what became of Adams until dawn.

At 6:11 a.m., the Sheriff's Office received a report of a woman's body just beyond the tall grass in a gravel lot behind a row of houses on the west side of David Drive, just north of Lynnette Drive, Normand said.

A resident of one of the houses spotted the body in an area usually traveled by workers building the West Napoleon bridge over the Soniat Canal, as well as by residents who used the ingress to access the back of their homes, said Zelma Taffaro, who owns several of the houses. Relatives identified the victim as Adams just before 9:30 a.m.


Suspicious SUV reported


An autopsy indicates Adams suffered "multiple blunt-force trauma," said Mark Bone, a coroner's office investigator.

Authorities said someone had removed all of Adams' clothing. Some of it was found back at the park, at a shelter near the south entrance.

The park, which closes nightly at 10 p.m., remained locked all day Tuesday as investigators looked for clues to help them identify Adams' attacker.

While no witnesses to the abduction and killing have come forward, some noticed something suspicious around David and Lynnette drives Monday night.

A 16-year-old boy who lives nearby said he heard a vehicle about 10 p.m. When he stepped outside, he said, he saw a white Ford Expedition parked where the body would be found eight hours later.

Another resident said he heard the sound of metal grinding about 10 p.m. and saw a white sport utility vehicle with a flat, flapping tire on the driver's side turn south from Lynnette onto David Drive. He said he called authorities, fearing a reckless driver.

Adams' relatives hope the description of the vehicle will help find her killer.


Businesswoman


They described Adams, known as Sandra, as a woman who was cordial to everyone, never met a stranger and hesitated even to squash an insect.

She grew up in the Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans, the second oldest of six children, and graduated from St. Dominic's Catholic School. She was divorced and had two children, Massey, 27, an employee at The Times-Picayune, and Lassabe. Adams also had one grandson and two stepgrandchildren.

Relatives said she was a co-founder and former vice president of the French Quarter Business Association. She had owned and run Bourbon French Parfum Co., a Jackson Square shop that was in her family for more than 100 years, said sister-in-law Peggy Crain. Adams sold custom-blended scents to New Orleanians and celebrities such as William Shatner, Joan Crawford, Pat Nixon and all the members of the rock band Aerosmith before selling the business in the late 1990s.

"She always said she had the best-smelling garbage in town," niece Melanie Ferguson said.

Later, Adams sold houses for RE/MAX Real Estate Partners Inc. in Metairie for five years, then moved to Monarch Real Estate Group in Harahan. That company has set up a fund at Whitney National Bank to collect money for a reward to find Adams' killer, relatives said.

Family members said they think she was a victim of a violent crime of opportunity. But they have faith that Adams will have justice.

"He's going to be found, and he's going to pay for what he did," Crain said.

. . . . . . .

The Sheriff's Office is seeking a late-model white Ford Expedition or similar vehicle possibly with damage to one wheel rim and one tire that does not match the others. Anyone who saw the vehicle or a man with it at Lafreniere Park on Monday between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. or near the intersection of David and Lynnette drives is asked to call the investigations bureau at (504) 364-5300 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 or (877) 903-7867. Callers do not have to give their names or testify to earn up to $2,500 for tips that lead to an indictment.

[Audrey2Katrina]

House leaders demand FBI return papers

5/24/2006, 5:52 p.m. CT
By LAURIE KELLMAN
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — In rare, election-year harmony, House Republican and Democratic leaders jointly demanded on Wednesday that the FBI return documents taken in a Capitol Hill raid that has quickly grown into a constitutional turf fight beyond party politics.

The Justice Department must immediately return the papers it unconstitutionally seized," House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement.

After that, they said, Democratic Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana must cooperate with the Justice Department's bribery investigation against him.

The leaders also said the Justice Department should not look at the documents or give them to investigators in the Jefferson case.

The developments capped a day of escalating charges, demands and behind-the-scene talks between House leaders and the Justice Department that ended with no resolution, according to officials of both parties.

House officials were drafting a joint resolution frowning on the raid. And Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., announced a hearing next week titled, "Reckless Justice: Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress Trample the Constitution?"

Constitutional confrontation aside, Pelosi said Jefferson should resign from the powerful Ways and Means committee. He refused.

At the same time, Jefferson filed a motion asking the federal judge in the case to order the FBI to return the material it seized from his office.

The Justice Department dug in, repeating that the raid was carried out only after Jefferson refused to comply with a subpoena and only then with a search warrant signed by a judge.

"The actions were lawful and necessary under these unique circumstances," said Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty.

The constitutional fight was set in motion last Saturday night, when the FBI raided Jefferson's legislative office in pursuit of evidence against him in an investigation of whether he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in a bribery deal.

Historians say the search was the first of its kind in Congress' 219-year history. Reaction has crossed party lines and brought in all three branches of government.

Hastert, Pelosi and several other leaders of both parties in the Senate say the weekend raid violated the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine.

"These constitutional principles were not designed by the founding fathers to place anyone above the law," Hastert and Pelosi said. "Rather, they were designed to protect the Congress and the American people from abuses of power, and those principles deserve to be vigorously defended."

Not all lawmakers agreed.

"These self-serving separation of power arguments" have no basis in law, said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., in a letter to GOP leaders. He noted that search warrants had previously been served on members' homes, including Jefferson's.

"A distinction that would treat searches in their offices completely differently is superficial and baseless," Vitter wrote. "The American people will come to one conclusion — that congressional leaders are trying to protect their own from valid investigations."

No one was defending the Louisiana congressman other than Jefferson himself.

"In the interest of upholding the high ethical standard of the House Democratic Caucus, I am writing to request your immediate resignation from the Ways and Means Committee," Democratic leader Pelosi wrote him.

"With respect, I decline to do so," he wrote back, leaving it to the House to try to pressure him out of the seat or strip him of the post by majority vote.

"I will not give up a committee assignment that is so vital to New Orleans at this crucial time for any uncertain, long-term political strategy," he added.

Away from the Capitol, Jefferson filed a motion that mirrored parts of Pelosi and Hastert's statement. In it, he asked U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas Hogan to order the FBI to return all of the documents taken from his office during the 15-hour search. Hogan, appointed by the President Reagan, was the judge who last Thursday issued the warrant authorizing the search.

Ethics investigations involving lawmakers and executive powers claimed by President Bush are expected to be issues for many candidates in the upcoming midterm elections.

House Democrats have been building a campaign around what they call a Republican "culture of corruption" focused on influence peddling and convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Many Republicans, meanwhile, are trying to distance themselves from Bush, whose public approval ratings have fallen with the continuing war in Iraq and disclosures of secret domestic wiretaps without warrants.

Hastert on Tuesday complained directly to Bush that the raid violated the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine.

Justice Department officials said there was no similar outcry when FBI agents searched a federal judge's chambers in a bribery investigation in the early 1990s. In that case, U.S. District Judge Robert Collins of Louisiana was convicted of bribery, after agents found marked bills in his office.

The Collins case is the only one in which a federal judge's office has been searched, the department said.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Nagin, Blanco meet to bury hatchet

Both promise unity to rebuild the city

Wednesday, May 24, 2006 Times Picayune
By Laura Maggi
and Frank Donze%%par%%Staff writers

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco met Tuesday with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for the first time since he was re-elected Saturday, and both agreed that they need to repair their dysfunctional relationship and work together to rebuild the city.

In separate interviews after the private meeting, Blanco and Nagin said cooperation among the various levels of government is critical as they confront difficult issues, such as restoring the city's ruined housing stock and handling potential evacuations this hurricane season.

But although they say the hatchet has been buried, their comments suggested negative feelings linger. The two Democrats have had a strained relationship since Nagin endorsed Republican Bobby Jindal over Blanco in the 2003 governor's race. Tensions grew worse immediately after Hurricane Katrina and more recently over the speed in distributing storm recovery money.

Nagin said he and the governor "expressed frustrations" with one another, partly because of the critical "rhetoric" they had used about each another. "We both agreed it was time for that to go away," he said.

However, Blanco made a point of disputing Nagin's past complaints that she has been holding up Community Development Block Grant money.

"He admitted that it was a political campaign statement that I was responsible for delay of the housing money," she said.


Pledging cooperation

Nagin was still jabbing at Blanco during his victory speech Saturday night.

After praising President Bush for post-hurricane support, including thanking him for some money that has not yet been approved by Congress, Nagin turned to Blanco.

"To Governor Blanco," Nagin began, silencing catcalls from the audience with a wave and the words, "It's all good."

"I want to thank the governor also," he said. "I want to thank her for what she's getting ready to do!" Nagin said to cheers. "It's time for a real partnership. It's time for us to get together and rebuild this city. And when we rebuild this city, we rebuild the entire state."

Blanco said Tuesday that she embraces the notion of city and state officials working together, saying cooperation will be critical to get federal support. "I think it behooves us to all work together," she said.

However, Blanco also admitted to some frustration at Nagin's habit of making inflammatory off-the-cuff comments.

"The mayor is always contrite when he speaks to me," Blanco said, but added that she found the conversation "a little difficult" after so many barbs had been exchanged.


Brainstorming on recovery

During their meeting at the Governor's Mansion, which Blanco said lasted more than an hour, the two discussed the Louisiana Recovery Authority's multibillion-dollar plan to help homeowners rebuild their houses as well as revitalize devastated rental stock.

Nagin said the authority had adopted many of the ideas that his Bring New Orleans Back Commission had pioneered. He called the state authority's control of the process appropriate, saying, "As long as it gets done, I'm OK."

Blanco said she wants Nagin and the City Council, which includes four new members, to come to Baton Rouge for a "deep briefing" on all the challenges the state and local governments now face.

In particular, Blanco predicted officials will have to unite on the question of Entergy New Orleans' future, saying nobody thinks the utility can continue to function as a "stand-alone company." But Blanco said it is unclear whether putting the utility under municipal control or folding it into Entergy Louisiana would solve its financial problems.


Mayor greets legislators

One particularly parochial issue also came up, Nagin said, referring to a support contract to provide police, fire and sanitation services to Harrah's New Orleans Casino.

Although city officials think they have not received enough money from the state for these services in the past, Nagin said Blanco indicated that receiving any compensation for previous years is unlikely. Blanco said she would help get more money into the state budget in the future, he said.

After speaking with the governor, Nagin went to the Legislature to briefly address the House and Senate. Talking to House members, Nagin said: "I stand before you a little battled and bruised, but ready to move forward." He asked for help putting city requests into the state budget.

With the Black Caucus and the New Orleans legislative delegation standing with him at the podium, Nagin jokingly also thanked the "White Caucus," which does not exist. "We won this race by putting together African-American and conservative white voters," Nagin said.

Nagin had lunch with New Orleans legislators and said he would "continue to reach out" to state lawmakers. He said he plans to visit the Capitol every Tuesday for the final month of the session.


Nagin surveys floodgates

Before his trip to the Capitol, Nagin visited the mouth of the 17th Street Canal, where the Army Corps of Engineers is building floodgates designed to block Lake Pontchartrain's tidal surges from sweeping though the weakened waterway.

Standing under the massive structures, Nagin expressed confidence that the project -- and a similar one on the London Avenue Canal -- would keep floodwalls from breaching and prevent a repeat of the flooding that ravaged most of New Orleans and part of East Jefferson during Katrina.

"I'm feeling very comfortable and confident with what's happening," said Nagin, who was joined by Col. Lewis Setliff III, chief of the corps' Task Force Guardian team overseeing repairs to all parts of the hurricane protection system damaged last year by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Asked about a recent announcement by the corps that the gates will not be ready as promised when hurricane season officially begins June 1, Nagin said he is not concerned.

"If there's any delays in any of these canal structures, it may be a delay of two to four weeks," he said. "We're hoping, we're keeping our fingers crossed, and we're knocking on wood, because it's very unlikely we would have a major storm this early in the hurricane season."

[Audrey2Katrina]

UPDATE: Suspect named, SUV seized in Lafreniere Park killing

By Michelle Hunter
East Jefferson bureau

An arrest warrant was obtained today for a suspect in the beating death of a woman who was abducted while exercising in Lafreniere Park.

Jefferson Parish sherff's deputies said they are seeking Edmundo Cerda-Anima, 25, on a first-degree murder charge in the killing of Sandra Adams, 51, of Metairie. They said they developed Cerda-Anima as a suspect with help from the Wichita, Kan., Police Department, although the connection was not immediate clear.

The announcement came after deputies impounded a white Ford Expedition similar to the getaway vehicle that they were seeking in Adams' killing.


Deputies seized the vehicle Tuesday evening at an apartment building in the 500 block of Eisenhower Avenue, about a mile south of the Metairie park, a resident of the building said today. The resident, Karen Brown, said the vehicle had been driven by four construction workers who moved into the building three to four months ago.

It could not be determined whether deputies detained the four men. The Sheriff's Office planned a news conference this afternoon.

The park itself, a 155-acre crime scene on Tuesday, reopened to the public today with plans for entry restrictions after dark and talk of installing surveillance cameras.

Officials said all but one vehicular and pedestrian entrance will be closed at 7:30 p.m., 2-1/2 hours earlier than normal. The exception is the Downs Boulevard entrance just south of Veterans Memorial Boulevard, which will remain open until 10 p.m. Jefferson Parish officials are considering installing surveillance cameras at that entrance to monitor nighttime traffic.

The park reopened about 24 hours after Adams was found dead a half-mile away. Adams had entered the park Monday night with her son and one of his friends. The men went jogging, planning to meet up with her later for a ride home.

But they didn’t see her again until Tuesday at 6:30 a.m., after Adams’ battered body was found naked and face down in a gravel lot at David and Lynette drives, the ground around her head saturated with blood.

Preliminary autopsy work suggests Adams, 51, was beaten to death.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Bay St. Louis Needs Update 3

The power of asking for help in many ways is not weakness, but our strength.

By Mark Proulx - Special to GCN Filed 5/22/06

“Dear Mark,

Our management staff met on Monday and the following item came up: that the city needed to perform at the highest peak we can reach if another storm hits our area this season. Many of these things are small, but essential to delivering safe service by our Police, Fire and Public Works Departments.

If we have to evacuate our employee families we need gas cards in any amount that would help to mitigate travel expenses. These cards would be issued with evacuation notices only. If they were not used during the season they would be applied to the city's fuel operating costs.

We need an evacuation kit for each family that would include: flashlight, with batteries, battery operated radio, small pieces of luggage that could carry two changes of clothes, a roll of quarters for using a laudromat, a container of laundry detergent, and a family personal care kit packed in a plastic shoe box with a lid that held 1 bottle of shampoo, 2 bars of deodorant soap with the plastic soap dishes, 1 large tube of toothpaste, 1 large size bottle of mouthwash, and in a separate plastic bag 1 bottle of tylenol or aspirin, small box of bandaids, small tube of antibiotic ointment and finally a four-pack of toilet paper and a box of tissues.

The mayor is making arrangements for our employee families to stay with public employees in other north Mississippi cities if the need arises. We will have to find housing for approximately 30 families; other employees will be staying with family members or friends out of the area. (I'm evacuating to Chattanooga, TN, to stay with a friend and my bag is already packed!)

To help our city departments directly we need the following in any amount, but I've put the maximum amount needed for each department. These were the things we learned the hard way that we needed after a storm, or things we lost during the storm and have not had the finances to replace because other things were deemed more necessary:

Tire Plug Kits (The kit includes tools and plugs and are available through any car parts store, or car repair department of any of the big box stores)

Fire Department - 20 heavy duty kits for medium size trucks

Public Works - 20 standard kits

Police Department - 30 standard kits

Administration - 5 standard kits

12 volt Air Compressors (This is the compressor that fits in your car's cigerette lighter)

Police Department - 30

Administration - 5

25,000# Tow Straps (These are used to move vehicles, trees and other debris)

Fire Department - 6

Public Works Department - 12

Police Department - 30

Jumper Cables

Police Department - 30

Fire Department - 6

Public Works - 6

Administration - 5

To establish safe quarters for those employees who must stay in the city as our emergency and first responders we would like to provide the following to give them some reasonable place of rest. I know that many of these items have already been sent to the citizens, but everything we have received has been distributed for immediate need and use and nothing kept back for city use:

12 adult-size sleeping bags

12 twin-size air mattresses with pumps

12 twin foldable cots (aluminum are easier to store)

24 pillows

12 sets of twin sheets

12 twin blankets

24 pillowcases

There will be more than 12 people to accommodate, there certainly were after Katrina, and they included not only city personnel, but other agencies that sent immediate relief workers. With these items we can accommodate 36 people if the need arises.

We will need to issue personal care kits if needed that will include the following:

Plastic box with lid containing travel sizes of toothpaste, deodorant soap, shampoo, shaving cream, 1 ea. toothbrush, razor, comb/brush, small bottles of Avon's Skin-So-Soft, insect repellent, and sun screen. One face cloth and one bath towel.

The reason I asked for things in the plastic boxes with lids is for storage. If things aren't used this season, you can believe that they will be used at another future date.

It may be the residual effects of the full moon, but my mood is somber, not fatal, but my gut is telling me that we are in for a rocky season. I hope tomorrow some of my normal optimism will return.

I have tried to list things that are "do-able" and certainly affordable for donors, not everything, but a way to pick and choose how donors might like to help. Any of the above items need to be shipped to my attention,

City of Bay Saint Louis

Attention: Mike Cuevas

1928 Depot Way

Bay Saint Louis, MS 39520

If donors would like to send money it is imperative, to assure that the money is allocated as you choose, to indicate on your check "Emergency Preparation for Employees and Families" so the monies will not be used for general fund purposes. Your check would be made out as you did previously and mailed to:

City of Bay Saint Louis

Attention: David Kolf

P.O. Box 2550

Bay Saint Louis, MS 39521-2550.

Of course, our citizen needs remain the same, building materials, building materials, building materials. With unemployment assistance ending mid-June we expect a run on our distribution center for food and other essentials. I'll have a better grip on that as the day passes and we see what happens. We are still helping approximately 300 to 400 families each week.

Thank you to each of you that helped with our office supply list. You saved our city an enormous amount of money that went to employee salaries and other necessary services like keeping the lights on in the Bay.

Keeping up with email is getting as hectic as keeping up with the cell phone messages were 6 months ago! Some days I don't know if I have answered all the questions or not.

We have applied for assistance through the Bush-Clinton Fund. Hopefully they will be generous. I understand that most of their money is going to faith-based organizations, but we will see.

Buz Olsen and Les Fillingame are the city employees that keep up with all of that information. I just get everyone's needs to go out and find. With your help I've been pretty successful. Buz and Les can be reached at 228-466-9000 or as follows:

Buz Olsen, stofbaystlouis@bellsouth.net

Les Fillingame, lesfillingame@yahoo.com

Hope they are responsive. Let me know if you don't get your answers.

To date we have had to borrow over $5 million for operating expenses and now owe FEMA more than $3 million for their assistance. The office supplies could not be applied, but many of our donations are applied to our FEMA match. These auto supplies can be applied and every dollar helps more than you know.

God bless all of you. We would have no future without you. You save a family everyday by your generosity and your rewards will be great.

Take care,

Ms Mike”

More Information:

Hope is Alive in Bay St. Louis - GCN

[Audrey2Katrina]

Governor Riley hears Open-Loop LNG concerns

Last Update: 5/24/2006 6:15:58 PM
NBC15- Mobile ALA.


(Mobile) May 24 - There was no shortage of words on Wednesday. David Yeager, Dir. of Mobile Bay Estuaries Program: "We advocate making decisions based on sound science." No shortage of thoughts. Barnett Lawley, Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources: "The closed loop is the safer system." And Governor Bob Riley heard it all.

The Gulf Fisheries Alliance held a public hearing today regarding Conoco Phillips proposed liquefied natural gas terminal south of Dauphin Island. Conoco wants to build an open loop system in the Gulf, which means seawater would be used to warm the super-chilled LNG, versus the more expensive closed loop system, where they would actually burn some of the natural gas itself to warm the product.

Conoco says the seawater would be used in such a way that it would do little harm to sea life. But, environmentalists say until more research is done, there's no proof of that. They worry an open loop could severely damage marine life and commercial fisheries. Dr. Bob Shipp, Chairman of Marine Science Dept., USA: "We have a very delicate fisheries. The red snapper is in trouble. I don't think we can take a risk with an open loop. If there were no alternatives, it might be different. But we do, we have the closed loop alternative."

Governor Bob Riley has the final say on whether or not to veto an open loop system. He did not give any indication on which side he was leaning towards, except to say -- Gov. Bob Riley: "We are not going to do anything that is going to materially affect the wildlife or environment of the ocean. That's our commitment going in, that's going to be our commitment all the way through."

Governor Riley says he plans on meeting with Conoco Phillips again next week and will make a decision on whether or not to veto the open loop system before the deadline, which is June 11th.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Coastal Cabanas are an alternative to FEMA trailers

Last Update: 5/25/2006 6:32:53 PM WPMI.com


(JACKSON COUNTY, Mississippi) May 25 - A local company now contructing post Katrina homes to use in place of FEMA trailers. A prototype of a post Hurricane Katrina cottage is unveiled in the storm devastated area of Jackson County.

Some Katrina victims from coastal Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana are wanting to buy one for temporary housing. Hurricane Homes Incorporated, the company who makes these Coastal Cabanas, claims these structures are hurricane resilient. "We know it will withstand Category 5 winds. There's a lot of concern about FEMA trailers, so we want to introduce the public an alternative to FEMA trailers," says Robert DeLiguori with Hurricane Homes.

Deliguori says the units are ten times better than FEMA trailers. The company can produce 3,500 cottages a year that cost around $45 thousand dollars each. "It's a self contained unit with an emergency generator, it has an all electric full-size kitchen, handicap accessible, it could be placed anywhere and within an hour be ready to go," says DeLiguori.

Company officials say the cottage and metal roof designs are built to withstand 150 miles per hour winds. There's also a small porch built onto the coastal cabana and hook ups for heating and air.

"This would be a great commercial application. We had someone saying 'I could make this a beauty salon afterwards.' We just don't know what the market's going to do, because the magnitude of the project is unbelievable," says DeLigouri.

Hurricane Homes is located on Industrial Road in Pascagoula.

[Audrey2Katrina]

AARP report emphasizes special needs of elderly during disasters

Last Update: 5/25/2006 6:33:01 PM MPMI.com

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The A-A-R-P has issued a report to help emergency agencies better prepare to meet the special needs of elderly populations during a disaster.

The report, "We Can Do Better: Lessons Learned for Protecting Older Persons in Disasters," focuses on planning and communications, identifying those in need of assistance and evacuating the elderly.

The report comes in response to Hurricane Katrina -- which struck the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi last summer and caused an estimated 13-hundred-30 deaths, many of whom were elderly.

The 2006 hurricane season begins June First.

Officials say the report will be sent to lawmakers and state and local governments. The public can access the report via the A-A-R-P Web site.

ON THE NET:
http://www.aarp.org/research/assistance ... etter.html

[Audrey2Katrina]

For now, Florida visitors still taking hurricanes in stride

Last Update: 5/25/2006 10:46:05 AM

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - For now, Florida visitors are still taking hurricanes in stride.

Despite the state being hit or affected by eight storms over the past two years, (m) millions are still coming back, with no plans to let further predictions of heavy Atlantic storm seasons slow them.

A record 86 (m) million people visited Florida last year, generating 57 (b) billion dollars in economic activity and three (b) billion for government coffers. That's six (m) million more visitors than in 2004. Visit Florida, a public-private organization that promotes tourism, is predicting a three percent increase this year.

Still, the spate of storms concerns tourism officials. Most of the anxiety involves the summer convention business, as some planners have concerns about scheduling conventions during hurricane season.

[Audrey2Katrina]

GCN Recovery News Report

This report will constantly be updated as information becomes available
Updated 5/25/06 8:41 PM Gulf Coast News:

Cell phone companies say they have hardened the Coast cell towers and transmitting equipment in preparation for this year's hurricane season. When Katrina hit last August 29th, cell towers and communication systems, including the land-line systems of Bell South, failed Coastwide. While the improvements should help in a future storm, problems with the Coast's communications could still fail as a result of call volumn.

The Biloxi City Council voted Tuesday to raise build elevations in the lower areas of the city, but not to the recommendations made by FEMA. The requirement raises current elevations by 4 feet within flood zones FEMA set for 1984 flood maps.

There has been a flurry of major media news coverage of the Coast and Katrina Disaster Zone. Much of the reporting reflects the slow progress of what people call recovery. There are some bright spots. Biloxi is seeing considerable interest by the casino and condo industry, but not so much in Gulfport. Privately, a growing number of businesses say it is too difficult to get new projects underway in that city. Major issues include housing for low and moderate income families, and transportation.

The loss of homes and businesses on the Coast from Hurricane Katrina has still yet to be measured. Taxes on homes and businesses have yet to reflect the loss. Coast counties have not even begun reassessing property values and taxes, but it is certain that people will balk on paying property taxes on slabs at the same rate as last year. This unknown loss of tax income frightens public officials and it should. What is certain is that it will take several years to sort out. Then watch as property becomes valued at the new, much higher, post-Katrina rate, which could force those that survived the hurricane to move.

Nine months after Hurricane Katrina residents in west Gulfport are still complaining that rotten meat is still stinking up their neighborhood. The meat is chicken washed from container cargo from the port in Gulfport. Repeated efforts to get rid of the stinking mass has been hit and miss. According to WLOX TV, the meat remains in areas hard to see and just covered by other debris. There is also some in abondoned swimming pools in the area.

Governor Haley Barbour is seeking federal approval to use $100 million of a $5 billion grant to help rebuild public housing on the Coast that was lost to the hurricane. The loss of low income housing on the Coast is a critical issue as housing is in short supply since Katrina.

Grand Casino’s 12-story Island View Hotel on the east Biloxi waterfront was reduced to a mound of rubble this morning after Mayor A.J. Holloway pressed two buttons to trigger the implosion of the Casino Row structure. Several hundred onlookers who had gathered on the beach just west of Casino Row hollered and applauded after the few seconds it took for the 150-foot tall building to tumble. Workers with Cherry Demolition and Dykon Explosive Demolition Corp. said the implosion occurred in their planned sequence, with the center section of the structure collapsing initially and the northern and southern sections falling inward a fraction of a second later. (Click Here for the full story)

The Los Angeles Times reports that about 3,000 in Mississippi are receiving eviction notices after FEMA has deemed them ineligible for a trailer. FEMA is weeding out those Katrina victims who do not meet the qualifications for its emergency housing program. About 450 households have received eviction letters from FEMA; the rest are scheduled to receive notices in the next few weeks. Mississippi has 38,000 FEMA trailers. Some are clustered on open fields and parking lots; others are parked next to water-spoiled homes. The reasons for the evictions are varied, and many are legitimate. There are trailer dwellers who could not prove they are legal U.S. residents; people who had owned a second, undamaged home all along; and people whose homes were damaged, but not by Katrina. But some people say they are being kicked out in error. (Click Here for the full story.)

State wildlife officials are seeing more alligators in areas they were not found before along the Coast. Most recently, a 6-foot female alligator appeared this week on Freddie Franke Road just north of Pass Christian. Over 11 alligators were found by crews cleaning out the storm drains along U.S. 90 by MDOT contractors since Katrina. While Mississippi has never had a death from an alligator, the number of deaths from alligators in Florida has increased recently in that state. Official here urge caution to residents.

Hancock County has approved three new mobile home parks after months of wrangling over locations and whether those still in need of housing were actually local residents. County supervisors voted authorized FEMA to build two mobile home parks along U.S. 90 and Lakeshore Road, and one at the county arena on Kiln-DeLisle Road. The two privately owned sites on U.S. 90 and Lakeshore Road already have sewer and water lines, and can hold up to 112 mobile homes. At least one of the sites will be visible from the highway.

The Sierra Club has asked for a congressional hearing after it claimed that 30 out of 32 Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers it tested had levels of formaldehyde that were unsafe. The environmental group says thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi and Louisiana may be living in unsafe conditions after tests it conducted showed dangerous levels of formaldehyde in some government trailers.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Tour shows much to be done, but work progressing on Superdome

5/25/2006, 4:49 p.m. CT
BY BRETT MARTEL
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Sun rays penetrating the Louisiana Superdome roof, illuminating spots on an otherwise dimly lit floor like concert spotlights, formed an image of Hurricane Katrina's destruction that still lingers in the nation's memory.

On Thursday, 120 days before the slated reopening of one of America's most famous sporting arenas, the shafts of light were there again, stark as before. Only now they suggested progress in a stadium that — like many structures here — is literally a shell of its former self.

More than half of the 9.7-acre roof has been replaced as workers cut out old decking one small section at a time — hence the sunlight — and install new sheets of galvanized steel.

Inside, the suite levels are a forest of metal studs with a canopy of exposed wiring and crisscrossing ceiling tile supports. Once-carpeted concourses and ramps now have floors of dusty concrete, awaiting sealant and an epoxy resin finish. What were once concession stands are empty spaces defined only by stacked cinder blocks where a counter might be.

The amount of work that must be done in the next four months, evident during a media tour and briefing Thursday, would appear overwhelming to the lay person. But it is not as staggering as the statistics detailing what already has been done since demolition and cleanup work began about six months ago.

The removal of 4,000 tons of trash and debris, 1.6 million square feet of carpeting, 650,000 square feet of wall board and 500,000 square feet of ceiling tiles are but a few examples.

About 70,000 seats have been cleaned and dried, and now each section is neatly covered with a white, translucent plastic while work continues on the roof and throughout the building.

As for the field where fans hope to see top draft pick Reggie Bush run wild? It has yet to be installed atop a concrete floor that is currently home to a pair of large cranes, stacks of roof decking and other construction materials.

"It's an unprecedented situation in American stadium history," said Doug Thornton, regional vice president of SMG, the company that manages the state-owned Superdome. "There's no other stadium that's been destroyed by a natural disaster like this that you can look to for guidance. We've had to kind of start from scratch."

The total cost of the project will run about $185.4 million. Of that, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is paying about $120 million, or 90 percent of whatever work is considered to be repairs, as opposed to improvements.

However, Thornton noted that, because repairs in many cases are so extensive, FEMA is essentially helping to pay for improvements, since updated designs, materials and fixtures are being used to refurbish the 30-year-old building.

The NFL also is pitching in with multimillion dollar grants to be used to dress up suites and premium seating areas.

Work is scheduled to continue through the coming football season and into the following summer, wrapping up around the start of the 2007 preseason in August.

But officials stressed the dome would be "football ready" when the Saints host the Falcons on Sept. 25, even if the suites have bare concrete floor and other finishing touches await.

On television, the finished product will look much like what the world saw during any of the six Super Bowls played there. The three-level seating plan will be the same, with the most noticeable difference being a thin video board, called a ribbon board, replacing the facade of the upper deck.

Scoreboard video screens behind each end zone also will be enlarged.

Spectators will see the major differences in concourses and at concession stands, which are being modernized with stainless steel features meant to provide a clean, freshly rebuilt feel, said Paul Griesemer, the project's architectural director from the Minneapolis, Ind.-based firm Ellerbe Becket.

It will stand in sharp contrast to the scene at the dome in the days after Katrina left about 30,000 flood-displaced residents trapped there with no air conditioning or working bathrooms, as garbage piled up amid the stench of perspiration and raw sewage.

Superdome officials said more than 80 percent of concession areas will be open by the first game. All bathrooms will be clean and working. All seating, including suites, will be available.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Several murder trials pending in St. John

By Paul Bartels
River Parishes bureau

The second-degree murder conviction last week of prominent LaPlace resident V.J. Theriot for the Sept. 1 shooting death of his son ended the first murder trial held in St. John the Baptist Parish in almost 15 months.

The last one came in February 2005 when a jury found Brandon King, then 19, guilty of manslaughter in the 2002 shooting death of Carol Hunt in a botched robbery attempt.in a LaPlace public housing complex.

Seven homicide cases are pending in St. John, and veteran District Attorney John Crum Jr. says such cases typically take more than a year, sometimes two years, to come to trial.
Theriot’s case, a near-slam dunk for the prosecution, was atypical. Theriot, 85, admitted shooting his son, Lawrence Theriot, and little evidence upon which to base a self-defense claim was offered publicly. The case went to trial less than nine months after his arrest.

King’s case was far more typical of most murder cases in which inconsistencies or contradictions in statements to police, unwilling, reluctant or no witnesses, evidentiary disputes, overworked crime labs and murky circumstances prolong the time between arrest and trial.

Within a month of their August 2002 arrest, King and co-defendant Corey Williams were indicted for first-degree murder. By the time the case went to trial two and a half years later, Williams had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for testimony against King and the initial charge against King had been reduced to second-degree murder. Both are now in state prison.

Fifteen to 18 months is the average in murder cases — and usually longer in first-degree murder cases — “although normally two years is a maximum,” Crum said Wednesday.

In the latter category, that two years sometimes is extended as defense lawyers understandably file numerous motions and challenges to win their clients every break possible under the law because no one wants to face life in prison or possible execution, Crum said.

“It’s not surprising,” he said. “It’s the system we have. That’s pretty much the standard across the country ... That’s the reality of it.”

At the same time, Crum added, “If we go to trial too fast, I don’t think that benefits anyone. You can’t just rush into it. You’ve got to make sure it’s done right ... I don’t remember the last time a (murder case) was thrown out because we took too long.”

As of this week, at least five other murder cases pending in 40th Judicial Court, including four capital cases, appear to be stretched across the same wide gap between arrest and trial. Three other more recent ones may pose similar problems. All but one of the defendants remain in jail.

[Audrey2Katrina]

The Jefferson Debacle:


Bush: Seal documents in FBI-Congress constitutional confrontation

5/25/2006, 5:18 p.m. CT
By LAURIE KELLMAN
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush stepped into a confrontation between the Justice Department and Congress on Thursday, ordering that documents seized in an FBI raid on a lawmaker's office be sealed for 45 days.

His spokesman also labeled as "false, false, false" charges that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' department had tried to intimidate Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

In an effort to defuse an intensifying, election-year dispute between the Republican-led Congress and his administration, Bush, facing growing complaints from lawmakers in both parties that he has abused presidential powers, called for a cooling-off period.

"Our government has not faced such a dilemma in more than two centuries," he said in a statement. "Yet after days of discussions, it is clear these differences will require more time to be worked out."

Bush granted one of Hastert's demands, directing the FBI to surrender documents and computerized records taken last weekend from the office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La. He ordered Solicitor General Paul Clement, who has a separate office in the Justice Department, to take custody of them.

The president said no one is above the law and that he continued to support the investigation of Jefferson. The eight-term congressman is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars to facilitate a telephone investment deal in Africa.

"Those who violate the law — including a member of Congress — should and will be held to account," the president said. "This investigation will go forward and justice will be served."

Within minutes, the heads of the battling institutions stood down and began talking about solutions.

Hastert said the order would "give us some time to step back and try to negotiate with the Department of Justice."

Gonzales said the move provides "time to reach a permanent solution that allows this investigation to continue while accommodating the concerns of certain members of Congress."

The FBI said it would comply with Bush's order.

Jefferson called the order "a good first step but ultimately, the answer would be to return the documents."

The time-out came five days after the FBI, acting on a search warrant signed a week ago by a federal judge, raided Jefferson's office as part of the bribery investigation.

In an affidavit supporting the search warrant, the FBI said it had videotaped Jefferson last summer taking $100,000 in bribe money and that agents had found $90,000 of that cash stuffed in a freezer in his home.

Two people have pleaded guilty to bribing Jefferson to promote the high-tech business venture in Africa. One of them, Brett Pfeffer, a former aide to the congressman, was scheduled to be sentenced Friday in Alexandria, Va. Jefferson has not been charged and has denied wrongdoing.

Historians said the raid was the first such search of a House or Senate member's office since the first Congress convened 219 years ago.

Its unprecedented nature and the lack of notice given Hastert set off loud complaints from both Republicans and Democrats that the administration was overstepping its authority.

More than a dozen agents who convened on Jefferson's office Saturday night conducted a search that stretched into Sunday morning. They took two boxes of paper records and made a copy of everything on Jefferson's personal computer, Robert Trout, Jefferson's lawyer, said in his legal filing Wednesday demanding the return of the materials.

The only items specifically identified by Trout as having been taken by the FBI are letters requesting donations to the legal defense fund Jefferson created to defray his legal bills.

The FBI and prosecutors refused to allow lawyers for Jefferson or the House of Representatives to be present for the search, Trout and House officials said.

The dispute escalated all week. Hastert complained personally to Bush at least twice. He was joined Wednesday in rare agreement by his Democratic counterpart, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, in a statement demanding the FBI give back the material it seized.

On Thursday, Hastert accused the Justice Department of trying to intimidate him after ABC News quoted unnamed top law enforcement officials as saying Wednesday the speaker was being investigated in a broad influence-peddling probe centered on convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The Justice Department issued two denials of the report. Hastert demanded a retraction from the network, which refused. Hastert's lawyers threatened Thursday to sue the network. ABC again stood by its story.

"This is one of the leaks that come out to try to, you know, intimidate people," Hastert said on Chicago's WGN radio.

White House spokesman Tony Snow called the accusation "false, false, false."

"They're not leaking information to try to undermine the House speaker," Snow said. "I got pretty categorical denials."

[Audrey2Katrina]

Hospitals prepare for hurricane season

By Ronette King
Business writer
Chain saws. Water wells. Ham radios.

These aren’t tools that are generally associated with the health care industry. But all have found a place in the disaster plans being developed by local hospitals and nursing homes.

Every hospital had an established plan for surviving a hurricane. But Katrina offered a crash course on how to better prepare.

To get ready for the start of storm season Thursday, hospital and nursing home administrators addressed glitches revealed last year and anticipated some new ones.
Communication remedies

The loss of telephone service was a major hurdle for health centers last year.

For example, Tenet Corp. lost contact with its two local hospitals when the city flooded after Katrina. As a result, hospital administrators didn’t realize that patients and staff at Lindy Boggs Medical Center and Memorial Medical Center had been evacuated until they received phone calls from staffers once they had been dropped off on higher ground by civil authorities.

Even St. Tammany Parish Hospital, which functioned on generator power for four days after Katrina, had trouble communicating.

“We were out of communication. We were shut off,” hospital administrator Patty Ellish said.

At Ochsner Medical Center, nurses and doctors watched helplessly as rescue helicopters flew overhead bringing patients to the airport for medical care. The rescue workers didn’t know Ochsner was open.

Some hospital employees took empty red trash bags, stood on the helipad and waved to get the pilots’ attention. “Soon after, they realized we were open,” said Grant Walker, Ochsner’s vice president of support services. “Then there were helicopters landing everywhere, on the parking garage, on the parking lots.”

As a result of last year’s communication challenges, many hospitals are devising new strategies to stay in touch.

Tulane Hospital administrators were equipped with portable satellite phones during Katrina but found the devices temperamental. This year they’re switching to satellite phones hard-wired into the building in hopes of getting better service.

At Slidell Memorial, some key employees are being assigned prepaid cellular phones with area codes outside the immediate area. The plan is to send those workers out of town to a place where they can keep the hospital’s Web site updated with important employee and patient information.

At East Jeff, employees will rely on ham radios built into the hospital when it was first built 35 years ago.

Stocking up on supplies

Hospitals and nursing homes generally build up a cache of food and medical supplies before a storm, but supplies still ran low last year. And many institutions are changing their agreements with vendors as a result.

St. Tammany Parish Hospital has a standing order with its major medical vendors for the supplies it needs after a storm, but the hospital has always needed to call in to activate the request.

“Now we have standing orders with our vendors,” Ellish said. “If they don’t hear from us in 72 hours or 96 hours, just ship these preplanned orders.”

Ochsner had always prepared to be self-sufficient for several days.

“What we found out during (Katrina) is we have to be prepared by being even more self-sufficient than we were,” Walker said.

Ochsner now has an agreement with its food supplier that allows hospital workers to enter the warehouse, take what they need, make a list of the items and settle the bill later.

Gary Muller, chief executive officer of West Jefferson Medical Center, concurs. He is extending the amount of time that the hospital can remain self-sufficient — without refueling or restocking — from three days to seven days. They’ve even added a water well.

Electricity and security

Hospitals also are making logistical adjustments that cover everything from lining up extra chain saws to securing generators.

Ochsner has been locating boats and digging water wells.

The hospital has created the “Ochsner Navy,” a handful of boats offered by employees and friends that they can call on in case of flooding. The hospital also has chain saws on hand to cleared downed trees from the street so delivery trucks or ambulances can get through, said Walker, a 10-year Army veteran.

And Ochsner, which already had its own water well, is digging a second well to serve the Brent House hotel, a building on the hospital’s campus where some staff members lived during the storm.

West Jefferson Medical Center had emergency power to run critical equipment during Katrina but not enough to operate the air conditioners.

“It was 106 degrees in the intensive care units because they have windows that do not open,” Muller said. “We had fans, but when it’s that hot, you’re really just blowing hot air.”

West Jeff is buying portable air conditioners and is adding hurricane-resistant shields for windows in patients’ rooms and in major departments.

Losses of electrical power and water service were the undoing of several hospitals. Touro Infirmary, like most hospitals in the area, had diesel-powered generators. But the hospital got a load of fuel with sediment in it that caused the generators to shut down, said President and CEO Les Hirsch.

Touro officials also grew concerned about security.

“We were lonesome and helpless,” Hirsch said. This year the Uptown hospital’s two dozen security guards are trained and armed.

Children’s Hospital closed for the first time in 50 years in the days after Katrina when it lost running water and officials had growing concerns about safety.

“We never had problems when we were here,” said Cindy Nuesslein, vice president of hospital operations. “But we didn’t know how long it would be before any civil authority would quell the unrest.”

As part of recently completed renovations at the Uptown complex, the five generators were moved from the first floor to the second floor along with air-conditioning equipment in case of flooding. And Nuesslein had a 750-foot-deep well dug on the hospital’s grounds.

Lambeth House, a continuing-care retirement center Uptown, has a fallback plan to get generator fuel from a nearby tugboat operator located just over the levee. If evacuation becomes necessary, some of the 235 residents will drive their own cars to Baton Rouge, as they did last year. Lambeth officials bought a second 15-passenger bus and made a deal with a nearby private school to take its bus in the event they have to evacuate. Lambeth CEO Scott Crabtree keeps a set of bus keys in his office.

After standing on the roof of his assisted living and retirement community and seeing gun-toting teenagers walking down the street, Woldenberg Village Director Don Morris decided it was time to go. The scene prompted a permanent change at the Algiers center.

“We have armed security 24 hours a day, and should we remain here, we will have between four and eight armed security guards on campus at all times,” Morris said.

Population management

Another lesson learned during Katrina was the importance of minimizing the number of people riding out storms in hospitals, health care executives said.

As Katrina approached in August, East Jefferson General Hospital moved the babies in its neonatal intensive care to hospitals in other areas, but employees still had about 280 patients to care for. This year the hospital hopes to ride out storms with fewer than half that number by transferring the most critical patients before a hurricane and discharging others, said Janice Kishner, chief operating officer. In doing so, the hospital hopes to get its patient population closer to 120 during storms, she said.

Last year, many hospitals also found themselves sheltering families of patients and staff during storms. This year, hospitals are discouraging staff from bringing families there for storms. But administrators recognize some workers have no choice but to bring along their children.

St. Tammany Parish Hospital has defined what it means when it says employees may bring their families when they have to work.

“We will allow immediate family, not extended family, to remain,” Ellish said. Patients are restricted to two visitors. “People tried to use us as a shelter and we could not be used as a shelter,” Ellish said.

HCA/Tulane Hospital is trying to eliminate family worries altogether. The hospital has arrangements with several hotels around the state and will bus workers’ families there, then reunite the workers with them after their shifts are completed. That also will reduce the number of people at the hospital in an evacuation.

“Our concern overall is just the stability of our work force in the event of a hurricane,” said Mel Lagarde, president of the HCA division that oversees Louisiana and Mississippi. The company is increasing pay to workers throughout the hurricane season and will pay a “hurricane stay bonus” to those who work during a storm.

At the same time, in case patients have to be moved, Tulane has arranged much broader transportation and logistical support than in the past. This year Tulane has contracted 47 helicopters to move potentially hundreds of patients during a 24- or 48-hour period.

“This will require a very short cycle to move them as short a distance as we can so we can use that helicopter over and over again rather than in one long run,” Lagarde said. “We don’t want to be doing this on the fly as we did before. We want all this figured out on the front end. Not that we think it’s going to happen, but it is silly not to be safe about this.”

[Audrey2Katrina]

Temporary pumps will be installed if canals are closed

By Sheila Grissett
East Jefferson bureau

It’s a far cry from the capacity that would likely be needed in heavy rain, but the Army Corps of Engineers has secured more pumps to help drain the 17th Street and London Avenue canals if sheet piles must be used to block a storm surge before new floodgates are operational this hurricane season, a spokesman said Friday.

When corps officials said earlier this month that the gates and their auxiliary pumping systems wouldn’t be ready by the June 1 start of the season, they avowed that braced-steel sheet pilings driven at canal bridges would provide just as much surge protection as the gates, which will reportedly be ready in July.

That was the good news.

Unfortunately, they said the fallback system wouldn’t provide much pumping capacity to move water north of the protective sheet pile walls, which raises the specter of collateral flooding from rainfall in the thousands of densely developed acres that empty into the big outfall canals.
As originally announced May 11, corps officials said there would be only 400 to 500 cubic feet per second of pumping capacity for the 17th Street Canal, which is designed to handle a maximum of 10,000 cfs, and only 300 to 400 cfs at the London Avenue Canal, which is designed to move about 8,000 cfs.

But late Friday afternoon, a corps spokesman confirmed that the agency now has a contractor able to provide enough additional pumps to provide 1,000 cfs at each canal in case the sheet pile closures must be put into place against an early summer storm.

That is the same amount of capacity that corps engineers had said they would provide at the floodgates on June 1, but they also pledged to add more pumps each month or so until at least six times that amount was available in September.

By the time the floodgates open sometime in July, corps engineers hope to have a pumping capacity of 2,800 cubic feet per second. Residents fear that such diminished drainage will leave them at risk of flooding if the canals are closed during a tropical event that produces significant rainfall.

Jefferson Parish officials have spent millions of dollars on a back-up drainage system that would divert and hold at least some storm water in the 2,500 acres of Old Metairie-Old Jefferson that drain into the 17th Street Canal.

There is no such plan in New Orleans, where officials coping with widespread devastation from Hurricane Katrina say it isn’t possible to design a diversion system for the 12,000-plus acres that drain into the two canals.

Federal engineers say they are pulling out all the stops to provide as much pumping capacity as possible while the gates are closed, but that the primary goal must be closing the weakened canals against high water to ensure that there are no more breaches.

Engineers estimate that three breaches of floodwalls on the two canals provided 85 percent of the water that flooded downtown New Orleans and a small section of East Jefferson.

Floodgates in the Orleans Canal should be ready on June 1.