← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · confederate_commando
Thread ID: 20077 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2005-09-07
2005-09-07 23:34 | User Profile
[COLOR=DarkRed][WE DON'T NEED FEDGOV IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, FORM OR FASHION!!!][/COLOR]
Frustrated West Michigan truckers dealing with unorganized Katrina relief efforts (September 6, 2005, 6:55 p.m.) Relief efforts are increasingly being called disorganized, and that is now affecting everyone, including some in West Michigan. 24 Hour News 8 found one local trucking company that is fed up with what they are calling unnecessary bureaucracy. Federal Emergency Management Agency contacted Great Lakes Customs Brokerage, who in turn contracted Terveer Trucking of Fremont. Terveer immediately sent two drivers to Mississippi with 40,000 pounds of much-needed ice. They arrived three days ago, but the ice is still in the back of the trailer and not in the hands of those who need it. ... They went south from Jackson, were stopped in Riley, and are now in Wiggins, Mississippi. Four cities later and the ice still hasn't been unloaded, as well as too hungry, tired, and frustrated truck drivers from West Michigan.
[url]http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3813656&nav=0RceeChq[/url]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [COLOR=DarkRed][FEDS OUT OF DIXIE!!!][/COLOR]
The post below appeared on Dixie Rising Forum on Saturday, the 3rd, I believe. Please see follow-up report below it.
Mike Crane [email]mikecrane@tds.net[/email] wrote: Two semi loads of relief supplies will be arriving in Wiggins, Mississippi this evening and tomorrow morning. These have been collected in Florida and the farm of John Cripps will be the main distribution point. Help is needed in unloading and of course in getting the word out to members of Southern Heritage organizations that are in the area that may need supplies. The supplies include non perishable food, personal effects, roofing repair materials, tarps. The trucks are originating from areas of Florida hit last year so they have contributed the items that were needed based upon their common experience last year. Robert Lloyd is with the first truck and organized the collection of the supplies.
Directions to John Cripps:
He believes that Hwy. 49 south from Hattiesburg to Wiggins is open. Come to the main intersection in Wiggins. Turn onto Miss 26 and travel about 8 miles west to John's house. He said if one will watch the Odometer for 8.1 miles from the middle of the bridge on 26, it will take them right to John's front door.
Robert can be contacted until he gets into the areas where cell phones are dead at: 239-849-3576
This was a private effort on the part of Mr. Lloyd. Earlier, (Thursday, I believe) Mr. Dennis Wheeler of SC had gotten in to Cripps' place with a generator, gasoline and groceries. John told me that both the Wheeler and Lloyd deliveries came during the nighttime. Several men there in Stone County came to help unload and SECURE the goods. John's place is in the northwest corner of Stone County and the food was distributed in that general geographic local which (I think) covers approximately 1/4 of Stone County. Stone County is very rural, with 13,000 population hence people live great distances from neighbors often. As fuel is available, Mr. Lloyd is going out with a 4-wheeler seeking those with needs. John told me he had not personally spoken to anyone but that Mr. Lloyd was told that some citizens have not had a meal in 7 days.
This effort is being concentrated in the upper NW corner of Stone County. Mr. Cripps, another local older gentleman, a Mr. Altman, and Mr. Lloyd are "adopting" this geographic area as their area of service (ministry)
The bottom line is that that food is practically gone. Some who were given food have begun to give up some of it to those with none.
John has a water well and to conserve gasoline, he runs the generator/well 3 times per day at designated hours so that neighbors can come and take away drinking water and take showers at these designated times. He tells me that he is able to get adequate fuel locally by really conserving. These supplies brought in by Mr. Wheeler and Lloyd were so badly needed and so very appreciated.
NOW. Here is the REST OF THE STORY: FEMA apparently heard that John Cripps was distributing food to people at his place. They came and told him that he would have to turn over those two truckloads of food to them. For those of you who do not know John Cripps, just let me say, "FEMA didn't get the food." This food was not donated through FEMA anyway. It was a private effort by a private individual who requested that the Cripps place be a local distribution point.
FEMA TOLD Mr. Cripps, Mr. Altman and Mr. Lloyd twice to turn over the supplies to them. Then they sent some people from higher up in the FEMA bureaucracy and the answer was STILL NO. Then they called and told John that the Stone County sheriff's department was sending two members of the SWAT Team to take the food! John says that about this time, there were 35 men in the "Redneck Relief" all with sidearms steadily unloading the two trucks. I think John asked the sheriff if he wanted to take food away from citizens at the point of a gun and at the point of "theirs." The Redneck Relief workers were told that they would be arrested if they were caught armed. Long story short: the food was distributed from the Cripps farm to the people back in those Mississippi woods. John told FEMA and the sheriff's dept. to get a map of Stone County .."take a magic marker and X OUT the northwest corner. We will take care of our own." I guess FEMA doesn't know what to do with people who are self-sufficient unlike those in New Orleans cussing and hollering for "the federal government to DO SOMETHING." It is also my understanding that FEMA is confiscating private sheds, warehouses, etc for housing. (I wonder if WE will EVER have as much liberty as we had before Katrina? LA, MS, and AL are covered up with federal agencies. The question is WHEN WILL THEY LEAVE?)
John Cripps' mail service resumed today. He says the bank (s) are reopening in Wiggins. Mr. Altman has a son on the Stone Co. school board. He has put a school bus at the disposal of John and Mr. Altman. They have a person who has some kind of vital business and gets 200 gallons of gas per week for that business. He says he does not use all of that in his business and will let them have his left-over for gasoline for the school bus. The grocery stores are beginning to reopen in Hattiesburg. The plan is to take the school bus to Hattiesburg and load it with food and bring back to Stone County for distribution as funds allow.
I know some people said they wanted to help Mississippi's displaced persons, but wanted to be assured that their help would get to "our" people. It seems that the need has shifted away from gasoline to food. BUT it is risky for private citizens to try to get into Mississippi as FEMA seems to have taken over. I have been assured that any assistance we sent will be put into an account and used to buy groceries and other supplies for needy Mississippians. I have been assured that all money spent will be listed and what it was spent for and a total accounting available when this is all over.
The extent tof how many banking services will be available there in Wiggins in the near future is unknown at this time. Ex: John says he does not know if all the computers will be on-line or if banks will be opening new accounts, etc. If Southerners send money to their fellow Southerners, I am instructed to a ask that you make the check out to: Cripps Stone County Relief Fund; that way if the bank isn't opening new accounts, John can sign the check or if they can open the new account, the signatories of the Fund can sign.
[COLOR=DarkRed][I spoke with John Cripps today and what they need most right now is financial assitance. These are good People down there & John is the Man who saved the CBF on the State Flag of Mississippi!] [/COLOR]
Address:
John Cripps 138 Harlon Davis Road Lumberton, Mississippi 39455
For more information:
601-528-9561 - let the phone ring several times as the buildings are so hot that there may not be someone very near the phone nor a quick answer.
--Ellen Williams The South is a land that has known sorrows; it is a land that has broken the ashen crust and moistened it with tears; a land scarred and riven by the plowshare of war and billowed with the graves of her dead; but a land of legend, a land of song, a land of hallowed and heroic memories.
"To that land every drop of my blood, every fiber of my being, every pulsation of my heart, is consecrated forever. I was born of her womb; I was nurtured at her breast; and when my last hour shall come, I pray GOD that I may be pillowed upon her bosom and rocked to sleep within her tender and encircling arms."--Edward Carmack United states House of Representatives
2005-09-17 18:30 | User Profile
We Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends The Cripps Family Story of Hurricane Katrina and the Aftermath (so farââ¬Â¦)
YOU TOOK ME BY SURPRISE
Hurricane warnings are a common seasonal event in South Mississippi. Since I returned home to Mississippi in 1984, I have weathered numerous Tropical Storms and close hurricanes as well as direct hits by Hurricanes Elena and Georges.
In the last two hurricane seasons we had three hurricane warnings before Hurricane Katrina. All three storms took a North-Easterly turn before coming ashore and slammed into Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. We prepared for all three and only felt a slight "brush" from one of them.
As we celebrated my seven year old's birthday on Saturday, August 27, the prediction was for a Category 2 storm with a track bringing it in West of New Orleans. We once again made our preparations and went to bed only slightly concerned about the threat of a 115 mph storm. However, we awoke Sunday morning to a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 175 mph and gusts over 200 mph. This had become a totally different storm and we had no time to make further preparations, save a few minor things (as if one could actually prepare for a storm of that magnitude).
As everyone knows by now, the storm took a North-Easterly turn as it started to make landfall and slammed into South Mississippi rather than New Orleans. This storm literally took folks here by surprise.
RIDIN' THE STORM OUT WAITIN' FOR THE FALLOUT We started experiencing hurricane force winds early Monday morning and they continued for over 12 hours. Those familiar with my property know of the 30' x 40' metal building which serves as our local Presbyterian church. We felt fairly secure in making the building our shelter due to the stout 12" x 12" corner posts and strong framing.
As the storm intensified, we watched the destruction out of the side windows. The wind began felling trees and wreaking havoc everywhere. The first structure to go was my barn which suffered near-total destruction. When the winds began to tear the roof off of my office next door, I ran out with a roll of trash bags and began to cover my computers and office equipment. The whole building was creaking and moving and the roof was literally coming off. Rain began to make its way in as well. While my office probably suffered too much damage to repair, I am happy to report that most of my equipment made it through just fine.
The next structure to go was my 8' x 16' storage shed. Normally, I would not be so concerned about a shed, but this is where all of my camping/survival gear was stored. This was a fairly stout shed but the winds blew it to pieces. This proved to be a tough break for us as my propane cooking gear, Dutch oven gear, kerosene/propane lanterns, charcoalââ¬Â¦the list goes on - all of these important items were in the shed. We later managed to salvage most of the cooking gear.
As for my beautiful tree-filled property, fallen trees now littered the property everywhere. We lost in the neighbourhood of 40% of our mature trees. All but one of the beautiful pines that line our ponds went down. By the grace of God, NONE fell on any of my structures.
As for the "shelter," the wind began peeling back the roof and rain was entering in. During the height of the storm we had to barricade the front door with everything heavy we could find. It wasn't enough. To keep the door and wall from blowing in, for two hours, four of us had to literally brace ourselves and try to hold the structure back. The door/wall was giving 12" back and forth. We thought it would blow in any minute. Again, by the grace of God, we were spared from danger.
Before dark we were able to walk out and view the damage. It was like a war zone. We had watched the progress of the storm by radar on our battery-operated television. Being in the Western part of Stone County, we took a direct hit from the eye wall.
THE ANSWER MY FRIEND IS BLOWIN' IN THE WIND
My parents live in a mobile home next door to us. They sustained light damage compared to most mobile homes in the area. Both my father and I own generators and keep them maintained every year in preparation of storms. After Katrina began to move upstate we fired up the generators in an attempt to save the large amount of meat and vegetables in the freezers.
The day after the storm both generators quit running. I was able to jury-rig one generator but the repair only lasted a few hours. We were in need of spare parts that were now impossible to procure. We soon lost all of the frozen food. We had planned to cook a little bit of it each day until the power was restored. During Hurricane Georges a few years back, we fried shrimp, grilled hamburgers and wondered how the "rich folks" were fairin'. We were only out of electricity a week and a half during that "rather mild" blow. We were immediately told 6-8 weeks for this storm (we are in a rural area distant from substations and trunk lines).
Water was another concern. We had purchased a couple of cases of drinking water but that would only last about four days in the 110 degree heat index sun. Of course, we now had no generator to run the powered well. However, six years ago I had a shallow well drilled and installed a hand pump. If you don't use them frequently they dry rot, so I have spare leathers on hand in case of a storm. So I took the pump apart, made the repairs and the water flowed. Unfortunately the good news lasted only about ten minutes when the diaphragm came to pieces. We were now once again without water.
By Wednesday things looked pretty desperate. We were told electricity would be out for two months, there were no stores or gas stations open - and absolutely no communication with the "outside world." Since I did have a full tank of gas, my father and I made the decision to drive into Alabama and look for a generator and fuel. We had to drive 160 miles just to find fuel and were told there were no generators between us and Atlanta. Having a cell phone signal and fearing insufficient gas to get home, we decided to send out a call for help. Several of you all have asked why I didn't call you for help. The truth is I didn't have many numbers entered into my cell phone directory and most of y'all were at work anyway. I did have phone numbers for two great friends, Ellen Williams of Leroy. Alabama and Dewey Barber of Dixie Outfitters fame in Odum, Georgia.
I called both Ellen and Dewey and asked if an email could be sent to their mailing lists requesting one of my friends "out there" to bring a generator and some fuel. With four children, things continued to grow worse. We were not alone either; things were bad to critical all around us.
HELP, I NEED SOMEBODY I was awakened at 4:00 am Friday morning with the message that "the cavalry had arrived." Indeed! My good friend, Dennis Wheeler of Greenville, South Carolina had received the S.O.S., dropped what he was doing, rented a U-Haul trailer, diligently sought out the elusive commodity we so desperately needed (a 7000 Watt Honda generator - he couldn't have done better!), purchased two 55-gallon drums and filled them, and picked up some ice/water/food. He rode all night long from South Carolina nervously carrying goods that people were being shot at over. Dennis literally saved the day and things immediately began to turn around for us. His sacrifice also benefited folks all around us. We could now supply water and ice-cold well-water showers to others.
NOTE: A lot of groups and organizations have tried to take credit for this relief effort. The claims are all FALSE and make me nauseous to think about. What kind of person would do something like this - especially at such a critical time? Shame, Shame! You folks deserve to spend eternity with Abraham Lincoln! The truth from the horse's mouth is that Dennis purchased all of these items on his own with some financial assistance from Robert Lloyd and Dan Gonzales of Florida. My good friend Thomas Moore (who recently published the book, Hunt for Confederate Gold) also received the S.O.S. Being in Virginia he did not know how to practically get any goods to us. Since Michael Hill had set up a "Katrina Relief Fund," Tom sent a large donation asking that it be used to purchase a generator and fuel for us.
Michael in turn got David Gletty of the Orlando LOS involved. He and two compatriots, Fred and Joe, arrived on the scene with a 5250 Watt generator and about 20 gallons of fuel. They would have left more fuel but needed a large quantity to get them back home. There was literally no gas for thousands of square miles out from "Ground Zero." The fellas also left us some food and water and even took my 5000 Watt generator back with them to be repaired. They plan to return soon.
HOW DO YOU SPELL RELIEF?
The next help to arrive came from Ft. Myers, Florida and it came in like the Titanic. Robert Lloyd showed up late Saturday (Day 6) with an 18-wheeler. In the 50' trailer was 50,000 lbs. of water, food and supplies. At 2:00 am, Dan Gonzales of West Palm Beach, Florida arrived with another 50' trailer carrying an additional 40,000 lbs. of goods. This was enough to supply the entire Northwest corner of Stone County, what we call the Magnolia Community. Robert and Dan had collected all this in 36 hours and drove all day and night to get it here from South Florida. They also brought 110 gallons of diesel and 220 gallons of gasoline - both worth their weight in gold.
The only assistance our community had received beforehand was a few cases of water and 26 cases of MREs. When we began distributing the food on Sunday, there were people in our area that had eaten nothing for 7 days.
Some of you have heard of the difficulties we had with federal and State officials getting the food unloaded and distributed. This story must wait until our difficulties have past. I want this account to focus on the positive and the sacrifices of my friends. The bottomline is we stood up to the de facto powers and prevailed. Our community is grateful beyond words for the kindness of the Floridian donors and unbelievable legwork by Robert and Dan.
NOTE: Though Robert and Dan were formally members of various organizations, they now represent the newly-formed Republic of Florida - an activist group that plans to put the word "active" back into "activism." We need no further convincing here. After spending the morning unloading 90,000 lbs. of goods, the afternoon brought us a very pleasant surprise. A convoy arrived with several fellas that were key FreeMississippi.org members during the Mississippi flag fight - including Quentin Laymon (our North Mississippi Coordinator) and Scott Forsyth (our Lafayette County Coordinator). They pulled trailers with BBQ grills, water, ice and food to feed 150 people. I knew we could depend on these good folks to bring some relief to our area. Since we had food to eat, we sent them further South to help others.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
We have spent days distributing food/water and making a list of supplies. There is much that is still needed. There are two things in the works at present. First of all, there is another 120,000+ lbs. of food/supplies coming from West Palm Beach, Florida. They will load tomorrow and arrive Saturday (Day 13). This delivery is also being spearheaded by Robert Lloyd and Dan Gonzales. More shipments are expected to follow next week. By the time this is all distributed, the tireless work of two men will have fed half of this county, one of the six hardest hit in South Mississippi. Some men talk about great endeavours, only a few achieve them. Prayers are great, but feed nobody. Prayers AND action can turn the world upside down.
The other thing is we are setting up a fund to make purchases of essentials. There is a Wal-Mart and Sam's Club open in Hattiesburg 45 minutes from here. We have procured a bus that can take us to these stores for essential supplies not covered in the relief shipments. Some of the banks opened on Tuesday and mail began to run on Wednesday. Since none of the bank computers are operable, we may not be able to open a separate relief account. It is probably better to make the cheques payable to John Cripps, Stone County Relief. We can get those cashed one way or another. A full accounting of receipts and disbursements will be made.
Some have complained about donations to organizations with huge bureaucracies or groups that take too long to act. This is the answer to both dilemmas. ALL the funds will be used immediately to help good Southern people.
CONTACT INFO We are one of the fortunate ones. My office phone line is underground and once the phone company got generators to the facilities, I got phone service. My parents next door were not so fortunate and they were told they might have to wait as long as October 31st to get their service restored. We have now had phone service for two days with only occasional difficulties. My office phone number is 601.528.9561.
NOTE TO FRIENDS: I know you all want to chat and share your concerns for our family. That is mainly why I am writing this account. Please do not be offended, but we have to limit calls to matters of relief at present. We are just too busy and there will plenty of time later to catch up on things. When we are not helping others, we are cleaning up debris. At a week and a half, we have still barely put a dent in our own cleanup efforts.
FINAL NOTE
Some have asked about helping us with re-building costs. Between my parents and I we had a few dollars of insured loss and my "outbuildings" (church, office, barn sheds) suffered about $30,000 of uninsured loss. I appreciate everyone's concern as, in the tradition of our forefathers, we will re-build - but it will happen over the next few years. Rather than help with our future needs, I believe it best to help folks with immediate needs. We may open a fund for repairing the church building but even that will not happen immediately.
As for my job situation - I am certainly better off than the 20,000 jobless and 17,000 homeless just in Harrison county. I will be able to continue doing web work but it will be several weeks before things will be stabilized enough to continue. As for the contract accounting work I do - the firm I contract with were on the beach in Gulfport and all they have left is a slab. It will be tough on us for a while, but tougher for most other folks.
In closing this first post, I want to thank-you all for your prayers and support - you are true friends and it does the soul good to know you are all there. I am in good spirits despite the loss and miserable conditions (i.e. the Mississippi Summer heat). It is the concern of my friends and the joy and helping hundreds of others that has made this a most "rewarding disaster."
I will have more to write when I am able. I do NOT have an Internet connection so any email to me will probably just bounce from a full mailbox. Since my satellite equipment is fried, I won't even be able to get it replaced until I have power and can get their tech support people to authorize the replacement (anyone work for Direcway?).
We have a banner call here for decentralization. The guvmint has failed. Will we miss another opportunity???? To be continuedââ¬Â¦..
[IMG]http://www.johncripps.com/barn.jpg[/IMG]
[url]http://www.johncripps.com/[/url]
2005-09-17 18:32 | User Profile
This is an update on the work Chaplain/Pastor Cecil Fayard is doing. This is to keep you abreast of developments. Bro. Fayard related that he has had numerous opportunities to minister the gospel during this critical time. People are taking tracts and Bibles. As you know the water has destroyed Bibles along with other literature. Please keep this project in your prayers.
Ron Rumburg
Chaplain-in-Chief
Sons of Confederate Veterans International
ââ¬ÅWe poor sinners need to come back from our wanderings to seek pardon through the all-sufficient merits of our Redeemer. And we need to pray earnestly for the power of the Holy Spirit to give us a precious revival in our hearts and among the unconverted.ââ¬Â ââ¬âRobert E. Lee
Katrina Update
Tomorrow two trucks are headed to Ocean Springs, Mississippi with supplies. Brother Billy Holbrook pastor of the Salem Baptist Church, Willow Hill, IL and Brother Robert Lawson a member at Independence Baptist Church in Foristell, MO are on the coast and are a great help in relaying the ongoing needs to us. We are far enough north to get supplies readily and far enough south to truck the supplies down in one day. Four of our members will handle this trip, Charles and Brenda Vance and Daryl and Cynthia Franklin. They will be carrying metal rakes, pitch forks, chainsaws, 2 extension ladders, two step ladders, 2 large shop-vacs to handle sheet rock dust (we hope to take a large load of sheet rock down early next week, maybe Monday as they cannot get sheet rock there), a large load of brooms and mops, dust pans, 2 framing squares, 3 8 pt hand saws, 3 sets of saw horses, eye drops, caladryl, neosporin, shaving cream, a washer and a dryer to wash and dry the clothes the clothes of volunteers, bleach. These supplies are mainly for the workers who are helping people get back in their homes. As I was typing this report Brother Holbrook sent in another list of needed supplies and we will begin to fill it tomorrow. Some may be wondering about the sheet rock, let me give an explanation, many people who got saltwater into their houses did not have flood insurance so the water damage from the storm surge will not be covered. All of the sheet rock will have to be torn out of those homes and replaced. Many people just cannot afford this so we will help as much as we can through God's churches. We are specifically trying to find and help those of the household of faith.
On Friday my daughter Karis, Laurie Blakely and Phyllis Blakely are going down to Pascagoula , it is possible that a few others will go with them. They are taking cleaning supplies and have a couple of houses that they will be helping people clean. Following them will be two of our men Curry Little and Michael Jacks they will be taking two refrigerators (I still call them ice boxes) purchased for two needy families by a church in KY.
Our cooking crew leaves in the morning at 1:00 a.m. Pray for them as they drive through the night so they can set up and feed hot meals to folks thursday-Saturday. They will come in on Saturday night and go back on Monday.
There are many other avenues of ministry that are opening to us and I will share some of those in our next report.
Yours in Christ,
Brother Cecil Fayard
2005-10-02 03:51 | User Profile
PART TWO (WEEK TWO)
GENERAL NEWS Week Two of our great adventure was mainly spent in distributing food/water/supplies and coordinating additional shipments into the county. There are many people in the rural areas who still have not received any assistance, private or government. We are working hard to make sure these folks are taken care of.
The medical situation grew critical with some folks this week. There were diabetics in need of insulin and many others who could not get prescription medications filled.
Communications improved this week when a good many phone lines came back on. After Hurricane Georges the phone company decided to start laying all the phone lines underground. My office phone was one of the fortunate ones that came back on when generators were brought in to the telephone facilities. It is a fairly new line and was laid underground. My mother next door was told she would have to wait until October 31st. Some in our community have been told November 15th. Though we have "dial tones" it is almost as if we have no phone service. You have to dial 30 or more times to get a call out.
As for electricity, things are "lighting up" along the Coastal area but not the rural areas. There were 5000 electrical utility trucks on the job from all over the country. They had to rebuild the entire electrical grid on the Coast. Now that they are close to be finished, we hope the trucks will start rolling this way. We still have no power to the roughly 7500 customers of our rural electric power association.
A lot of folks are without generators and some have no form of light at all to use after dark. If folks didn't stock up on their batteries beforehand, they soon find they have no flashlights. Even those with generators soon find that the cheaper models really take some TLC to keep running day after day, week after week. With no spare parts from the local auto supply, it hasn't been easy.
CREEPY CRITTERS What's up with the bugs? This storm did some crazy things and one of them has to do with the bugs and pests. After the storm passed everyone around here had fire ants literally taking over our world. You could go into houses and see nothing but ants all over the floors and carpets. You could open cupboards and ants would just fall out over the counters. One of my friends who was using his semi-truck to sleep in said that ants had made it inside and were crawling all over his cab. He commented that he had never seen that before. At any rate, everyone is covered with ant bites and there is no ant spray to be purchased anywhere.
There was a great relief for several days as the storm blew mosquitoes to the North Pole. However, with all the standing water, once the new buggers hatched they came back with a vengeance. Since a lot of folks have to sleep outside (due to the heat) this has been a nasty problem. Also, as soon as the storm passed, clouds of "love bugs" moved in just to make the misery a little more miserable. Working outdoors these little buggers swarm all around you by the hundreds and seemingly try to hinder everything you do. My favourite is when 3 or 4 of them will fly into your gas tank when trying to fill the generators!
On the really creepy side, I was walking past my office building this week and happened to notice a large water moccasin slithering his way in. We have to keep all the doors and windows open to all the buildings due to the extreme heat. This fella thought we had the welcome mat out for him. All that was close by was a plastic rake so I grabbed it and tried to stop him from going further inside. He just went right through it so I sent my boys for my boots and I grabbed a small garden fork. It took me about half an hour to find him and several minutes to hook him with the fork so I could drag him outside. I couldn't shoot him in the office since I have a slab floor. For some reason everyone walks real slowly around my office building these days.
MORE RELIEF Robert Lloyd and Dan Gonzales, who brought the two semi-truck loads in last week, were ready to bring in two more this week. We had some concern because we had heard first-hand accounts of seizures by FEMA and MEMA of more and more shipments coming in to South Mississippi.
My cousin from Lafayette, Louisiana tried twice to bring a truck load of food and supplies to us. Each time he was stopped at I-12 and given a choice of turning around or giving up his load. He eventually turned it all over to a shelter of refugees in Lafayette. It was really a shame he couldn't through because, knowing how I love to grill outdoors, he had picked up a couple of steaks for me --- Rats!
If my cousin could have communicated with us at the time we could have brought him around the back way. I met with the Highway Patrol this week and, through someone I know, got assurance that our shipments would not get re-directed. We were told that as long as we took the "back roads" we would not have any problems.
Robert and Dan showed up on Friday (Day 12) and the two trucks came the following day. We unloaded the first load at the Perkinston Volunteer Fire Department in the Southern part of our county. This was really a great load of stuff: lots of canned goods, paper towels, toilet paper, soap, shampoo, baby diapersââ¬Â¦. you name it - it was there! These folks were very grateful to receive such a huge and diverse shipment of goods.
The second truck was unloaded at the Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department. As with the earlier load, there were a lot of goods that were in great demand. We did not have any problems getting these loads in and getting them unloaded. FEMA pretty much ignores us now.
Late Saturday, we got another shipment in - this one all the way from Michigan. One of our church members has folks "up yonder" and the church groups put together a large shipment of clothes, food and ANT SPRAY! There were a lot of things in this shipment that we specifically needed and it was very much appreciated.
We also received two cash donations this week and expect more next week. I will start another page to list the names of those who have donated cash/food/supplies. There are some very grateful folks here.
PART THREE (WEEK THREE) We don't have any grand news to tell this week of water moccasins or battles with FEMA. We spent yet another week distributing food and even managed to begin clearing debris on my property.
At the end of week three, the power has been restored to 3500 of the 7500 homes in our rural power association. This is bringing a lot of stability to the area.
There are still a lot of needs and we are far from being "out of the water" here. We greatly need tarps. We haven't had any rain for three weeks. While there are brush fires and forest fires all over, at least there hasn't been any rain to further damage homes lacking a roof. Tarps are no where to be found in this area, so a lot of folks still have exposed roofs. I am one of them.
Through a connection in the Gulfport Police Department, we were supposed to get 25 large tarps. FEMA found out about it and seized the tarps from the GPD. Bruce Cunningham of Decatur, Texas is working hard to get us some tarps in. He plans to try to fly a load in. Since our airport is still out of operation, the plan is to fly over my property and "drop" the tarps into the pasture. While waiting to pull this plan together, Bruce has shipped a load to Hattiesburg by Greyhound Bus.
We also need chain saws. I had two chain saws but they were damaged when my shed was blown to pieces. Just in my neighbourhood alone there are thousands of trees down. It will take months to cut them all up and years to get our scenery back.
I am starting to receive a lot of calls from friends that want to drive in for the weekend and help with clearing debris or cutting up trees. Hey y'all - I'm not going to turn away any strong backs! If you want to come, just call and we'll feed you and give you a place to sleep. My friend, Todd Lange, plans to drive 800 miles this coming weekend from the Chicago area to help cut up trees. He will bring two of his sons and all the chain saws he can borrow.
In the coming weeks, I will need to hire a master carpenter to help with some initial repairs. As some of you know I normally do my own carpentry/electrical/plumbing/sheetrock etc. and have built and remodeled several homes. However, I do not consider myself a master carpenter and working from scratch is so much easier than making structural repairs - especially when the work on some of the existing buildings here were not done correctly to begin with by the prior owners. If y'all know of anyone who may be able to help, please let me know. Besides his pay, we'll give him room and board.
That's all for now! As I have time I will start to post some photos. One of the local photographers has brought over some good shots of the Lloyd/Gonzales shipments and I plan to scan a few of them to post here. Stay in touch! I now have email but don't have a lot of time yet to answer them all in great detail.
PART FOUR
WHAT - ANOTHER HURRICANE? Our priorities really began to shift this week. We are spending less time with food distribution and more time trying to get our property cleaned up. Monday through Wednesday was spent cleaning up debris, cutting trees and started the demolition work on my office roof. The heat was unbelievable as all three days set record highs. Naturally I chose the hottest day to spend on the roof removing wood and shingles! Also, we had two really nice fellas from a Methodist Church in Michigan drop by to offer us a hand. They brought a trailer full of tools and supplies and plan to spend several weeks helping folks in our community. They helped me get one of the trees cut up that had fallen into one of my ponds. It is my understanding that these fellas are getting things done all over our community.
I got a call early in the week from our dear friends, Ralph and Judy Estes, in Northeast Mississippi. They had put together a crew of ten Mennonites to come down on Saturday and help repair the roof damage on all my buildings. We worked hard to put to put together a takeoff and locate the materials. We were all getting very excited about the prospect when along comes another Hurricane!
Yes, we knew Hurricane Rita was going to hit west of us but we were still going to feel the effects of it. My friend, Todd Lange, arrived Wednesday evening from Valparaiso, Indiana. He brought his two oldest sons and daughter plus several chain saws, oil, gloves, safety glasses and other goodies. We began early Thursday morning with the demolition of the remaining side of the roof and just managed to finish and get the tarps nailed down before the deluge came.
It was a bit odd to see rain after nearly a month of bone-dry weather. Thank God that Bruce Cunningham sent tarps to us and that Todd Lange arrived in time to help me get the office roof covered. The winds and rain really picked up and we ended up getting more water inside the church through the ceiling. The group from North Mississippi called to cancel the roof work so all of us ran out between showers, cut up branches, loaded them in my pickup and hauled them to the roadside. We really accomplished a lot despite the heavy rain.
My friend, Mike Broadwell, from Tennessee sent down two brand new Stihl chain saws. This really came in handy since Todd had to return the saws he borrowed. The response from my friends continues to amaze me. Folks will always say they "wonder who their friends really are." It is times like this that you find out. Yes, not everyone is able to drop what they are doing, jump in a car and head down to bring food and supplies or offer their backs. And yet, even those who may have been greatly inconvenienced somehow managed to do so. And yes, not everyone is able to pull out the checkbook and send relief funds to needy people. And yet, I have received funds from some folks that probably had to give up something to send them. In short, I have seen things over and above the call of duty. Some friends said they tried several times a day, day in and day out, to get me on the phone --- and when I finally was able to answer, they were all choked up. A couple of friends had even loaded up their cars and had them ready to make a trip down here and check on me but had no way of knowing if I had evacuated. And friends are still calling. Some had thought I was further inland and too far away from the storm surge and heavy winds to suffer severe damage.
Now, in case you haven't figured it out yet, this is what this article is all about. This is not really a chronicle of the adventures of the Cripps family, it is a chronicle of friends helping friends. In a society that has turned so cold and insensitive (despite all the touchy-feely crowd) it is a breath of fresh air to read of such friendships. And this doesn't just apply to my friends and I. People I don't even know have read this account and called to say what a blessing it has been to them.
It was greatly worth losing material things to gain stronger bonds of friendship. This "disaster" has been a rich blessings, at least to my household.
RELIEF UPDATE :: WEBSITE UPDATE Thanks to rain, I had a few extra minutes to tidy up this website. I added some links at the bottom even though all the pages are not yet complete. I did manage to get a "donors" page up and a page about the relief fund. The photo section has not yet been started. Photo work is more time-consuming and I'll get pictures up as I have time (when more rain blows through). On the "articles" page I plan to post some of the articles written about the storm or relief efforts. This too will require a little research time so I haven't started it yet.
As for relief efforts, things are really starting to stabilize as folks now seem to have enough to eat. Our efforts have turned to getting roofs covered with tarps, cutting up trees, finding building materials (which have become as extinct as a dodo bird), and meeting emergency needs that change from day to day. Many of you have called over the last few days asking how you can help. It is now getting tougher to call out specific needs. I think we have plenty of tarps and we are starting to get chain saws in. We need a lot of building materials to get roofs fixed but that is not something you all can just throw in your trunk and head down with. Also we desperately need skilled carpenters and roofers. I work exclusively with contractors on the non-webwork side of my business. NONE of the contractors I know of (and I know a lot of them) are available for hire here in South Mississippi. They ALL are involved in taking care of their homes and businesses as well as the homes of their kin. One contractor I know of has moved six trailers on to his property to house family members who lost everything. He has been hired to do a large construction project yet can't get to it out of the need to take care of family. This leads to two problems. One, folks cannot hire trusted locals and have to depend on outside help (and there are a lot of carpetbaggers and opportunists moving in). Two, in the rural areas like I'm in - you just can't find anyone period.
I know that there are a lot of good dependable contractors out there who struggle in their areas to find work. Y'all just load up and come down here. We can find a place for you to setup shop and get you introduced to the right people in the community to get you started. There are no building permits are any such thing in our county. We are not asking for donated work here. Folks are willing to pay a just price for skilled work and we are desperate to get skilled help. This week I suffered further roof damage from Hurricane Rita on two buildings because I haven't been able to get the repair work done.
Anyone wanting to head down and help with tree removal, please give a call. We are attempting to put together another crew for the coming weekend.
[url]http://johncripps.com/index.html[/url]