Letters to the editor

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

September 24, 2005

To everyone,

I am on the telephone right now with my friend in Louisiana. Her mobile home was destroyed. Her vehicle was destroyed. No water, no food, no electricity, no money, no job, no home, no car, nothing! But SHE DOES HAVE CHILDREN!!!

I have been searching for my friend, Debbie, since the day Hurricane Katrina landed in Louisiana's southeastern region. I have been unable to contact her by telephone. Just yesterday I received emails from every place I posted her information only informing me that she had not been located yet. Then she called me out of the blue tonight. To say the least, I was happy to know she and her family are alive!!! (Barely!)

Her husband is with her and can not go back to work offshore (in the Louisiana oil fields). Apparently, the company he works for sent him home the day after the hurricane made landfall.

I am blown away because she is telling me that FEMA, Red Cross, etc. have not been to her area yet. It has almost been one month since the hurricane. She is begging for me for "HELP".

They are forced to live in their piece of a moblie home, and it is raining inside the home as I talk to her and write you. She can not leave because of the looters trying to steal what she has managed to salvage from her broken home. She is telling me they are under marshall law. Everyone in her area is carrying guns in holsters on their hip or carrying shot guns.

The electric company would not restore power to her mobile home because of the damage. She was able to get a generator, but has spent ALL of her money trying to run it.

I called FEMA and they hung up on me a number of times; other times I was forwarded from person to person and accomplished nothing. I call Red Cross and continued to get disconnected. I called the Orangeburg Red Cross Office and was told that the office in Orangeburg can do nothing for anyone in Louisiana. Can you believe that?? They can't call their national headquarters? Why not?

Instead, her neighbor's daughter from Tennessee brought $800 worth of supplies collected by a Tennessee church immediately after the hurricane (as soon as people could drive to that location) and dropped it off. That is ALL that has come to her area.

In one conversation with FEMA, I was directed to the Small Business Administration. WHY??? She and her family are in dire need of EMERGENCY assistance.

I know how tired everyone is of hearing "Please Donate" or "Please Help". However, my friend called me begging for help. Now I am turning to you to help me help her. If you can help, please contact me.

Michelle Pounds

CEO, Carolina Indian Heritage Association

Orangeburg, S.C.

okanowalbs@sc.rr.com

(803) 533-4331