Don't forget Mississippi

[SouthernMoss]

I saw a news video by Shepard Smith on the foxnews site yesterday. He was on the Mississippi coast talking about how, even 4 months after Katrina, there is still devastation everywhere. He pointed out the fact that bothers so many Mississippians: when most of the country thinks of Katrina, they think of New Orleans. But Katrina didn't hit New Orleans; they were only affected because they are below sea level and their levees broke. Mississippi was the one slammed by 125mph winds and a 32-foot storm surge that, in Shepard's words, "eliminated the southern tip of the state of Mississippi."

My favorite quote from his report was this:

You do not hear the people of Mississippi po' mouthing about "the government come save me," "government come do this for me." You don't hear it, because that's not how they act here.

Shepard is from Mississippi, so he should know.




So think about the Mississippi coast when you plan your charitable giving for this year. Our people down there are still hurting, and the recovery will take a long, long time.

[Pistolenschutze]

Shepard Smith is right, SoMo, we don't hear from Mississippi much. I might venture to guess that there are still a great many solid, self-sufficient Americans living down there. At the college where I teach I am faculty advisor for a student group we call SAC for Student Activities Committee. Its purpose is to organize various student activities at the school during the year, and also to promote and organize community activities like road cleanup and the like. Anyway, after Katrina,the group wanted to do something to assist with disaster relief. We decided, however, that since so much effort was being expended toward New Orleans, we would direct our efforts instead to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This we did in the form of gathering a very large quantity of school supplies (paper, pens, backpacks, and the like) and sending those items aong to Mississippi with one of the local church groups heading down that way to assist. We'll probably never know exactly how those supplies were used or to whom they were distributed. But that is perfectly OK, we were pleased to help in whatever small way we could and we feel that our efforts went to the right place.

[SouthernMoss]

PS, you are right; there are still a lot of self-sufficient folks down there. I have an aunt and two cousins (her children) who were affected by the devastation. My aunt is living in a FEMA trailer while her ground-floor condo in the town of Bay St. Louis is being cleaned, gutted, and redone. Ditto for one of my cousins, whose home was on the next street over from her. The other cousin lived on the northeast part of the St Louis Bay in a house on stilts. The water blasted through her house, taking walls, belongings, everything. The house is beyond repair. She and her husband were fortunate enough to find a rental house in Diamondhead while they rebuild.

Please tell your young people THANKS for thinking of Mississippi. We appreciate all efforts made on behalf of our folks on the coast. Shortly after the storm, the state designed banners that were hung from overpasses or staked in medians at all of the major highway entrances to the state. The banner says simply, "Thanks, Y'all."

[polishshooter]

I spent an "unexpected" vacation in Biloxi once with my family, and we fell in love with the place! I hope it's going to rebound, but I'm sure it will! And I STILL have my "Clawdaddy's" shirt! "Pinch da' tails, suck da' heads!" Are they still around?