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September 14, 2005
Louisiana Death Toll Passes 400
Slow recovery
of bodies
upsets governor
(AP) - Hurricane K atrina’s
death toll in Louisiana climbed to
423 Tuesday, up from 279 a day
before, the state Health Depart
ment said.
The jum p came as recovery
workers turned more and more of
their attention to gathering up
and counting the corpses in a
city all but emptied out of the
living.
How high the death toll might
go is unclear.
Mayor Ray Nagin said earlier
this month that New Orleans could
have 10,000 dead. But a street-
by-street sweep of the city last
week yielded far fewer bodies
than feared.
Up until the past few days,
authorities were slow to release
numbers, saying they were con
centrating on rescuing the living
first.
As of Monday at least 236
people were reported dead else
where along the Gulf Coast, most
of them in Mississippi.
Neighborhoods are flooded with oil and water two weeks after
Hurricane Katrina went though New Orleans. (AP photo)
The updated Louisiana num
bers were released as the Gov.
Kathleen Blanco lashed out at
the federal government, accus
ing it of moving too slowly in
recovering the bodies. The dead
“deserve more respect than they
have received,” she said.
However, Federal Emergency
M anagem ent Agency spokes
man D avid P assey said the
state asked to take over body
recovery last week. Passey said
he d id not u n d e rs ta n d th e
governor’s rem arks.
“The collection o f bodies is
not norm ally a FEMA responsi-
b ility ,” he said.
B la n c o s a id FEM A h a s '
slowed down the process by
failing to sign a contract with
the com pany hired to handle
the rem o v al o f the b o d ie s ,'
Houston-based Kenyon Inter
national Em ergency Services.
“No one, even those at the
highest level, seems to be able to'
break through the bureaucracy
to get this important mission
done,” Blanco said. “The failure
to execute a contract for the re
covery of our citizens has hurt’
the speed of recovery efforts. 1
am angry and outraged.”
New Seasons Donates to Hurricane Relief
In an effort to help those af
fected by Hurricane Katrina, New
S easons M arket is donating
$10,000 to Portland-based relief
agency Mercy Corps.
In addition, customers are able
to help Mercy Corps’ relief effort
by making a donation at any New
Seasons Market location through
Oct. 7.
The store will match customer
and staff contributions up to
$10,000.
Cashiers will process the do
nations and no store purchase is
required. Register receipts will
show the donation and can be
used as tax receipts.
Benefit Cuts Move Ahead
(AP) - Republicans are going
ahead with long-standing plans
to trim Medicaid, food stamps
and other benefits, even though
party moderates are balking at
cutting programs that aid the
poor while hundreds of thou
sands are homeless from Hurri
cane Katrina.
The amount of savings - no
more than $35 billion spread
over five years - is modest at best,
but it is the first time in eight
years that Congress has shown
any seriousness about reining in
the automatic growth of such
benefit programs.
Republican leaders have de
cided to delay the budget-cut
ting effort for at least a few weeks
following widespread complaints
that the government reacted too
slowly in coming to the aid of
Katrina’s victims.
Cuts are planned for the Med
icaid program for the poor and
disabled, student loan subsidies
for banks, farm subsidies and food
stamps, among others.
Democratic leaders say it is
folly to cut the very programs
that help hurricane and flood
victims.
I
Soldiers o f the
Louisiana National
Guard arrive home
Friday from a tour
o f duty in Iraq.
(AP photo)
and sidewalks, repainting, up
graded lighting and ramp improve
ment.
A celebration will begin with a
street fair in downtown St. Johns
from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a rib
bon cutting at the Our Daily Bread
parking lot and a bridge stroll
from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The
bridge will be closed to vehicle
traffic from 1 to 4 p.m.
(AP) - The deployment of thou 155th Infantry B rigade and
sands of National Guard troops from Louisiana’s 256th Infantry Brigade,
Mississippi and Louisiana in Iraq each with thousands of troops in
when Hurricane Katrina struck hin Iraq.
Blum said that to replace those
dered those states’ initial storm
response, military and civilian offi units’ command and control equip
ment, he dispatched personnel from
cials said.
Lt.Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the Guard division headquarters from
National Guard Bureau, said that Kansas and Minnesota shortly af
“arguably” a day or so of response ter the storm struck.
The bridge, built in 1931, re time was lost due to the absence of
Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss.,
placed the last ferry linking the the Mississippi National Guard’s whose waterfront home here was
communities of Linnton and St.
Johns. Designed by internation
ally renowned engineer David B.
Steinman, the St. Johns Bridge is
the only major highway suspen
sion bridge in the Willamette
S u p rem e C o u rt
Valley and one of only three ma
Chief Justice Nominee
jor highway suspension Bridges
John Roberts has de
in Oregon.
nied an invitation to
m eet the C o n g res
sional Black Caucus.
M em bers o f the
c a u cu s had h o p ed
that by speaking with
Roberts, they could
see where he stands
on important issues of
the African American
community, including John Roberts
civil rights, justice, equality and from him firsthand about the
affirmative action.
stance he has taken on aftirma-
“We especially wanted to hear tive action and about his efforts
washed away in the storm, told
reporters that the absence of the
deployed Mississippi Guard units
made it harder for local officials
to coordinate their initial re
sponse.
Blum said that overall, the Iraq
mission for Guard units across the
nation is not limiting the military’s
ability to expand and continue the
rescue and recovery operations in
storm-battered states.
Black Caucus Meeting Rejected
b u t t h i s - p a r t y i s ouvc r v i g h t o rv L y I
Join Norman’s Birthday Celebration
Friday, September 16, 2005
10721 NE Sandy Blvd.
V > A
Deployment Hurt Hurricane Response
TOMORROW NEVER WES...
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j
J :
St. John’s Bridge Celebrates Renovations
Instead of cars, the historic St.
John’s Bridge will be filled with
people gracing its pavement on
Sunday, Sept. 18.
The Oregon Department of
Transportation and the community
ofSt. Johns will be commemorating
the completion of a 2 l/ i year, $42
million project to rehabilitate the
bridge, which included the replace
ment of the concrete bridge deck
i
to limit the effective-'
ness o f the V oting
Rights Act when the'
act was last renewed,
said U.S. Rep. Melvin
L. Watt, chairman of
theCBC.
W att n o ted th at
w h ile the cau cu s
wants to assess Rob--
erts’ nomination fairly,
“we will certainly have-
to consider his refusal
to meet with represen
tatives of our important constitu
ency a substantial mark against
him in our evaluation.”
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