2 Years Post Hurricanes Katrina/Rita: Call to Action

[CrimsonTide4]

Churchgoing Louisiana Grandma Jailed over Sausage w/ $50, 000 Bail:

Beretta gets an air mattress and Grandma Gets Jailed for 2 weeks

KENNER, Louisiana (Sept. 16) - Merlene Maten undoubtedly stood out in the prison where she has been held since Hurricane Katrina. The 73-year-old church deaconess, never before in trouble with the law, spent two weeks among hardened criminals. Her bail was a stiff $50,000.

Her offense?

Police say the grandmother from New Orleans took $63.50 in goods from a looted deli the day after Katrina struck.

Family and eyewitnesses insisted Maten was an innocent woman who had gone to her car to get some sausage to eat only to be mistakenly arrested by tired, frustrated white officers who couldn't catch younger looters at a nearby store.

Despite intervention from the nation's largest senior lobby, volunteer lawyers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and even a private attorney, the family fought a futile battle for 16 days to get her freed.



Read the rest HERE

[Tickled Pink 2]

Originally posted by CrimsonTide4
Churchgoing Louisiana Grandma Jailed over Sausage w/ $50, 000 Bail:

Beretta gets an air mattress and Grandma Gets Jailed for 2 weeks

KENNER, Louisiana (Sept. 16) - Merlene Maten undoubtedly stood out in the prison where she has been held since Hurricane Katrina. The 73-year-old church deaconess, never before in trouble with the law, spent two weeks among hardened criminals. Her bail was a stiff $50,000.

Her offense?

Police say the grandmother from New Orleans took $63.50 in goods from a looted deli the day after Katrina struck.

Family and eyewitnesses insisted Maten was an innocent woman who had gone to her car to get some sausage to eat only to be mistakenly arrested by tired, frustrated white officers who couldn't catch younger looters at a nearby store.

Despite intervention from the nation's largest senior lobby, volunteer lawyers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and even a private attorney, the family fought a futile battle for 16 days to get her freed.



Read the rest HERE

I'm going to have to take a break from the news for a minute. I don't know how much more stupidity I can take!

[BabyBlue91]

Originally posted by Steeltrap
^^

Oh. My. Jaysis.

Beretta Jo Hogg?

What was one's mamma smoking?

I'm not surprised. NJ Insurance Fraud office is still prosecuting people who committed simlar acts after 9/11.

[AKA2D '91]

Originally posted by CrimsonTide4
Churchgoing Louisiana Grandma Jailed over Sausage w/ $50, 000 Bail:

Beretta gets an air mattress and Grandma Gets Jailed for 2 weeks

KENNER, Louisiana (Sept. 16) - Merlene Maten undoubtedly stood out in the prison where she has been held since Hurricane Katrina. The 73-year-old church deaconess, never before in trouble with the law, spent two weeks among hardened criminals. Her bail was a stiff $50,000.

Her offense?

Police say the grandmother from New Orleans took $63.50 in goods from a looted deli the day after Katrina struck.

Family and eyewitnesses insisted Maten was an innocent woman who had gone to her car to get some sausage to eat only to be mistakenly arrested by tired, frustrated white officers who couldn't catch younger looters at a nearby store.

Despite intervention from the nation's largest senior lobby, volunteer lawyers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and even a private attorney, the family fought a futile battle for 16 days to get her freed.



Read the rest HERE

Grandma was released, per the local news last night.

[Tickled Pink 2]

On the news this morning - a con artist from NJ said he was an evacuee and used most of his $2000.00 to buy a car.

Another conartist got a card for $360.00 and a week at a hotel. They showed the police taking him away to jail. He said he made a bad decision. I'm thinking -"um, yeah - you're going to jail for $360.00!"

[TonyB06]

Originally posted by Tickled Pink 2
On the news this morning - a con artist from NJ said he was an evacuee and used most of his $2000.00 to buy a car.

Another conartist got a card for $360.00 and a week at a hotel. They showed the police taking him away to jail. He said he made a bad decision. I'm thinking -"um, yeah - you're going to jail for $360.00!"

ok, which agency is passing out these cards and are they checking anything before they do so?

[MeezDiscreet]

Originally posted by TonyB06
ok, which agency is passing out these cards and are they checking anything before they do so?

well, the thing about it is that it's hard to check a lot of stuff considering the fact that most people have lost their records about themselves. i guess they're going on the honor system, although i've heard that there is a large amount of money set aside to prosecute those trying to fraud the system.

[AKA2D '91]

FEMA, the American Red Cross, and the Dept. of Labor

ETA: I'm not surprised. It's just like folks taking student loan funds to pay for things other than books and tuition (cars, homes, clothes, purses, etc).

[southernelle25]

Originally posted by AKA2D '91
FEMA, the American Red Cross, and the Dept. of Labor

ETA: I'm not surprised. It's just like folks taking student loan funds to pay for things other than books and tuition (cars, homes, clothes, purses, etc).

At least with student loans it is their own debt that they will have to repay. This is charity that they are squandering, while there are still many in need who have not received much help at all.

I would think that, at a minimum, social security numbers would be used to verify addresses.

[AKA2D '91]

True, but fraud is fraud.

Many still don't have addresses. SSNs were not asked for. Many left those in their homes as well. My cousin left his, but he was able to get to the Social Security office to make an order for another one.

I think most of the cases are probably out of Louisiana. Here, they checked ID before you were issued anything. That's probably why those not in shelters aren't receiving too much.

[Tickled Pink 2]

^^^^
At the concert for Katrina victims that I went to, Pastor Kee was saying to get the cards people had to sign forms. The signature place is on the front of the form. The stipulations are on the back & people aren't reading them. They can't apply for government aid for the next 8-10 yrs for as little as $360.00. To me, $2000 really isn't that much when you have to start over from scratch. That's a horrid stipulation to put on something - of course people probably still would sign it because they're desperate right now. 8-10 yrs. *SM DARN H*

[AKA2D '91]

Yes, those forms had to be signed (just like anything). I'm not sure about the 8-10 years stipulation (didn't read the fine print), which I doubt.

As long as there are natural or man-caused disasters, the victims will get some compensation. The $2000.00 given isn't as my mother said, "da da". The food stamp of $149 isn't much (amount for one person) and $258 in unemployment (max amount in LA) isn't much either.

But, it's better than nothing.
What do you do? What do you say?

Oh, speaking of fraud, IMO the Red Cross is on the top of the list. They are in the rationing business. At one shelter 1 diaper is given at a time. Two or three feminine products were given at a time. What is a mother going to do with ONE diaper? What is a female going to do with ONLY 3 products? BILLIONS of dollars have been and are donated. Hey, I guess that's what you call charity. Give DIRECTLY to those affected or a group you know is directly assisting those affected. That's what I've done.


ETA: 'n' in feminine

[Tickled Pink 2]

^^I can't lie --- I would've signed the form and kept going - trying to get thru today much less 8-10yrs from now. But the crudeness of our gov't is just amazing. As for the Red Cross, I've also heard that from someone that was there that some of them were rifling thru the items and taking some of the "good" stuff for themselves.

But you know what - I'll continue to give what I can & pray that it gets to those that need it.

[southernelle25]

Originally posted by Tickled Pink 2


But you know what - I'll continue to give what I can & pray that it gets to those that need it.

I hear that.

[Kamryn]

Did anyone volunteer? Were your perceptions the same as this writer? To those who volunteered, do you agree or disagree? What's really going on?


__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ____

HOUSTON'S NEW RESIDENTS

Here is the real truth. I went to volunteer on Saturday, September

10, to help Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Houston for two reasons.


1. I wanted to help people.

2. I was curious.



I have been watching the news lately, like everyone else, and I have

seen some scenes that have made me physically ill. No, it was not the death and the destruction that made me ill. It was PEOPLE'S BEHAVIOR that bothered me the most.

So many of the displaced people were DEMANDING help. They were not asking nicely, but were demanding it - as if society owed them something. Well, the honest truth is society does NOT owe them anything! Help should be asked for in a kind manner and then appreciated after received, but this is definitely not what the different news organizations were witnessing and reporting.

What most of us have seen, on television and in the print media, have been individuals/groups who are yelling, demanding, looting, killing, raping, and even SHOOTING back at those who have arrived to help. MSNBC even showed one news report of several New Orleans policewomen looting a Wal-Mart! I am thinking to myself, This cannot possibly be true - or can it?!?!
Truthfully, I did not want to believe this could be true of the people who so desperately need help during this crisis. I now tell my story, and you can decide.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I arrived at the Astrodome only to find out there were too many
volunteers at that location. Volunteers were needed elsewhere especially at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
As I walked up to the Convention Center, I noticed a line of vehicles that wrapped around for blocks. These were "ordinary" Houstonians coming with water, diapers, clothes, blankets, food, every type of needed item; lots of it was NEW. As I helped to unload these vehicles, I felt such great pride that the wonderful residents of Houston would be so generous.

I then went inside the building and noticed approximately 100,000 square feet of clothing, toys, all types of needed items, that were organized and ready for the people in need. I signed in as a volunteer, received a name badge, and was on my way, eager to be useful.

I toured the place to become familiar with my surroundings. The entire Center is probably about 2 million square feet. I noticed rows, as far as the eye could see, of mattresses - not cots - but blown-up mattresses, that had nice pillows and plenty of blankets. There were also two or three bottles of water resting on each bed. These full-size to queen-size mattresses, by the way, were comfortable. I briefly rested on one of them, just to see for myself!

Next I went to look at the medical area, and I could not believe what
I was seeing. A makeshift hospital had been created in 24 hours! They even had a pharmacy.

As my tour continued, I also noticed that other volunteers had worked hard to create showers...with hot water! Then upstairs, on the third floor, I found a huge cafeteria that had also been established in 24 hours. There were rows and rows of tables and chairs and food everywhere! There was enough food to feed an army, and I am not talking about crappy food either! They had Jason's Deli food, fresh fruit, snack foods, sandwiches and lots of beverages. By the way, the beverages were put on ice and chilled!! All of this "mini-city" - including a library and a theater room - had been created in about 24 hours by volunteers, so the evacuees would have a comfortable shelter.

Here is what further happened during my time there. I started by handing bottles of COLD water to evacuees, as they exited their bus.
Many took the water, but only 20% or less even said, "Thank you."
Lots of the evacuees would shake their heads and ask for sodas! This went on for about 20-30 minutes, until I was weary of being an unappreciated servant. I then decided that certainly these folks would appreciate some food! So, I went upstairs to serve these evacuees with some GOOD food. (Food that I wished I could have had at the moment!)

Evacuees came slowly to receive this mountain of food, worthy of a king, that was being served. I explained to them that we had two types of great deli sandwiches to choose from: ham and turkey. Many looked at the food in disgust and DEMANDED burgers, pizza, and even McDonalds! (Let me tell all of you folks who may read this, that Jason's Deli is better than McDonalds any day!!) Even many of the children were demanding and rude! Only one out of ten people who took something would say, "Thank you." The remainder took items, as if it were their God-given right to be served, without a shred of appreciation. Some even asked for beer and liquor! Many complained
that we did not have "good-enough" food. Some went so far as to refuse the offers of food and laughed at and/or cursed at the
volunteers. This was not true of all of them, but at least 70% of the evacuees treated us volunteers with total disrespect. Maybe 20% were appreciative, 10% took the food without any comment, and the remainder had some disgusting comment to say.

We volunteers then began to observe that many of the people would eat their food and leave their mess on the table. Oh sure, a few would clear their tables, but the majority left their tables for the volunteers to clear and clean. Needless to say, I was in utter shock at their behavior.

From the food area, I went down to help set up some additional
mattresses. That is when I observed something else! I saw many young ladies carrying mattresses, but WHERE were the hundreds of able-bodied young men evacuees who could help?! When I asked a group of young evacuees in their teens and early twenties to help, they cursed at me!! One said, "We just lost our ****ing homes and you want us to work?!?!" The next one said, "Cracker, you got a home...we don't."

I looked at them in total disbelief. Here were women carrying THEIR beds and these young men would not lift a finger to help themselves!! I started to wonder, WHY SHOULD I HELP PEOPLE WHO DO NOT WANT TO HELP THEMSELVES?!?!?! As I turned away, they laughed at me and made obscene and distasteful comments. This is when I began realize that I did not need to waste my time on a bunch of pitiful losers in this area of the shelter.
Next, I went to a nearby rest room where I noticed a man shaving. I used the rest room, washed my hands, and then saw this same man throw his razor towards the trash can. He missed. He also walked out, leaving his dirty razor on the floor for someone else to pick up!

I could call these people ignorant ("lacking knowledge"), but they
were not ignorant. They were arrogant ("proud and overbearing through an exaggerated feeling of one's superiority")! To put it bluntly, the majority of them are thugs...and lazy!
We are inviting the lowest-of-the-low to Houston and, like idiots, we are serving the people who will most likely soon steal, rape, murder, and attempt to destroy our beloved city. We are funding our own destruction!

Please note, I am absolutely NOT referring to a specific race of people!! People who WANT to help themselves should be helped in every possible way. Those who do not want to help themselves should be left to destroy themselves, but they should not be allowed to destroy Houston at the same time.
I do not believe in being poor for life. My family immigrated here. We came here very poor and now, thank God and due to HARD WORK, we are doing well. If immigrants who come here - and do not even initially know the language - can work and become successful, why can't the majority of the other poor "homegrown" citizens do the same thing?!

I have personally just witnessed selfish, arrogant, unappreciative behavior by the very people who needed the help the most. These same people cursed me and other volunteers. They refused my city's generosity. They refused to help themselves. They pranced around as if they deserved to be waited on. When they did receive something, they said it was not good enough. As far as I am concerned, from now on, these people can fend for themselves!

Writer's Name Withheld