Subject: Fwd: Welcome to Mississippi
This e-mail was sent to me by my neighbor
Marty , who is a Mississippian. His friend
from Mississippi sent it to him.
Subject: FW: Welcome to Mississippi
Mark Flemmings works for Modern
Communications in Cleveland, Ms and is
working down on the coast in the recovery.
This is the story from his
eyes. (a little long but well worth the
read)
Makes you appreciate what you have!
WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI
O.K. I'll make an attempt to tell what's
going on down here right now.
It's hard to do for several reasons. First,
because there is so
much, it's hard to talk about. Let's try to
focus on the positive.
You're right to be sick about New Orleans.
They've turned into a bunch
of animals over there. The idiots are
shooting at the people who
are trying to help them???? I think for the
most part it's due to the
frustration caused by the lack of response by
their State Government....I
mean, an SOS call? Give me a break.
Everybody is so focused on what's going on in
the Superdome, the Mississippi story is going
un-reported.
It's one of the bright things that are
happening here now.
We are NOT leaving our people to wallow and
starve in their own filth, and the cadavers
of loved ones. Were finding the live ones and
getting them north as fast a possible. Most
of the hundreds showing up here have at least
had a meal, and a bath.
Haley Barbour the Governor and his
administration will come out as true
heroes in this disaster once the total story
is told. The differences between the
Louisiana and Mississippi responses are truly
startling. Haley and MEMA had already had
Mississippi declared disaster areas TWO DAYS
before Katrina hit......What does that mean?
A lot........ It means we had a two day head
start on recovery. It means we had
pre-positioned response teams...FULLY
EQUIPPED! It means we already had supplies
being loaded on trucks to go to the coast
while the hurricane was still going on. It
means Federal representatives from FEMA were
already IN State when it hit. Which means
somebody on the satellite Phone moving troops
and aid our way while Louisiana was still
trying to get it.
We have been dealing with looters a little
differently on the coast. Once you shoot a
few and leave their bodies laying in front of
the store with their arms full of booty, the
rest get the idea pretty quickly. Hasn't
been a big problem. In the case of breaking
in to get survival supplies...food and water.
The police have shot the locks off the doors
and helped take the stuff to distribution
points.
School buses to haul refuges to shelters
north, an idea Louisiana JUST
figured out by the way, have been running
shuttle since Wednesday
morning.
They are pouring in here by the hundreds. Red
Cross has been doing a GREAT
job on setting up relief shelters in our
area.
The local Governments have opened all of the
convention centers and
school auditoriums to them. I know it's hard
to believe, but the
local Friday night Football games have ALL
been canceled this week. Our
efforts are going elsewhere this weekend.
My daughter is the editor for the local
University newspaper. She asked
me what she could do for these folks, and I
told her, "The main thing they
need right now is bottled water". So she made
a few phone
calls and set it up with her newspaper and
the local T.V. stations....in 24
hours they had collected over 600 gallons.
This story is typical and is
happening all over this part of the state.
Pulpwood haulers (lumberjacks to you
Yankees) who showed up at
Interstates and main feeder hi-ways heading
south; started cutting up the downed trees
with their own chainsaws, and loading them up
with their hydraulic boom hauling trucks.
Opening the way south for our relief
effort...nobody called them....they just
showed up and
started doing what had to be done. Welcome to
Mississippi
The local churches are jumping in too.
Emmanuel Baptist has been
cooking and serving three meals a day for
1500 people at the shelter there
since Wednesday. Where is the food coming
from? Strangers are just showing
up at the convention center and dropping it
off. Red
Cross is providing some of it, but the
majority is just showing up....from
people who aren't seeking and never will be
recognized. It's happening all
over the state. again and again. Welcome to
Mississippi.
Our local hotels are full of people here from
New Orleans.....most are
starting to run out of money, so we have
begun collecting for their hotel
bills and providing them with meals at the
shelters. Quite a few in town
have taken them in to their own
homes...knowing they may
be there for months. I filled up one guy's
tank at the gas station Tuesday
because he only had enough money for a few
gallons. Welcome to Mississippi.
Just stopped and put an antenna on one of our
E.O.C. Trucks
headed south to Ocean Springs. Their headed
down to do a fuel supply run.
While here, my daughter came in with another
300 gallons of bottled
water, asking where she could store it. I
said" How 'bout the back of this
truck?"
))
This is how it works, over and over and over
..........
Sorry if this E-mail seems a little jumpy,
I've been adding to it all
day. As I get a minute and as thoughts occur
to me. Things are happening
all around me, and it's hard to sort it all
out while "in the moment". I
think that's the way this story will be
told.....later
It's going to take a while.
While I'm thinking about it.....BIG thank you
to Motorola. I'm almost as
proud of being a Motorolan as I am a
Mississippian.
You guys may not know about it yet, but
Motorola has put on a Herculean
support effort. I was involved on the fringes
for a while, but the effort
to send radios and infrastructure has been
nothing short of phenomenal!
My guys on the coast called with a SEVERE
need for repeaters and W.T's.
They had a few towers and antennas still
standing, but the
repeaters were in about three feet of water.
After a few phone
calls around the campus there in Schaumburg,
I was given the Bridge call
number for the emergency request line. Made a
call back to my guys and
passed it on.
I'll be sheep dipped if Motorola didn't have
equipment THERE the NEXT
DAY!!!!!! HOT DANG!!! That's the way you do
it.
))
Mississippians have loooong memories. This
one will NOT be forgotten.
Anybody see Jim Geary up there....kiss him
for me. Lord knows I
won't.
)) And anybody else that you know was
involved in Motorola's
support effort. Tell them Mississippi gives a
heartfelt "God Bless You"'
Most of us cry at least once a day. You can't
deal with the hundreds
we have coming in here everyday and not be
affected. I've seen big bears break
down and just fall apart. Mostly blaming
themselves for not getting out in
time. That choice cost him a wife, child or
in some cases both. They all
usually say the same things. "I didn't think
it would get that bad." All
you can do is listen and try to comfort.
Sometimes
you see guys just staring into the
sunset....not saying anything....but you
see those jaw muscles working hard to hold it
in.
I had one tell me yesterday "We had to
choose, Stay in the attic and
drown, or climb on the roof into a 150 mile
an hour wind. She was screaming
my name as she flew away." How do you respond
to that?
You don't.....you just cry with him and
listen....
Lost children who don't know where Mamma or
Daddy are, or even
if their alive. Ten year olds, trying to be
"mama" or "daddy" to a little
sister or brother......it will tear your
heart out.
Most also know there is NOTHING to go home
to. The house is
gone, and in most cases the job too. They
show up here with the clothes on
their back, and that's it. It's all they have
left.
It's hard, just too hard for
words.................you do what you
can,but..........
FORGET about Mississippi burning. That was
our dark, distant past.
Watch us NOW. This is Mississippi today.
We've opened our Homes, Hearts and wallets to
strangers in need.
We don't care if their White, Black, Brown or
Polka -dot.
Were going to be O.K., It will take years,
but we're dealing with it. We
will deal with it the way only a true
southerner can...one day at a time.
Were out of gasoline today. All the local
stations have run
out.
My phones are still acting squirrelly on out
of state calls and my
cell phone has been a paper weight since
Tuesday. But I did sleep in
my own bed last night, and took a hot shower
this morning. There is food in
my house, and I know where all my family is.
You take these things
for granted, until their gone.......
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