Author: Dick

A lot of folks in the areas pounded by Rita are asking where is the national news media such as Fox News’ Shepherd Smith now that the real work has begun?

Obviously the media isn’t going to cover every house with a tree on the roof like my brother’s DeRidder, La., home, in the above photo. But quite a number of folks have had their lives really upended by this storm. While the damage is more pronounced here in the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas, area just because of proximity to the coast and more people, the rural areas to the north also have real problems. Because so much of those areas are forests, the electric crews have to track down power lines like detectives just to find them. Trees blown down on rural roads also have to be cleared.

Most of the people up in East Texas also have very little media from which to glean real information. The local TV stations here in Beaumont, which evacuated during the storm, are just now getting back into those rural areas. But many in the “pineywoods” don’t have electricity to watch the TV news. The area’s local daily newspaper, The Beaumont Enterprise, has had to scale back on its print issue because of the storm and delivery poses a challenge.

The local Clear Channel radio stations in Beaumont, and there are a ton of them, have provided some information during the Rita aftermath and the ability for listeners to call in about the situation in their areas as well as calling with questions. Those stations have not provided what I call quality news reporting, however, because they seem to be instilled with an ad man’s mind set.

I can understand, in theory, why the national media has moved on from eastern Texas. Yet, here you have hundreds of thousands of lives in still in disarray and massive efforts continue in picking up the pieces by thousands of electrical workers, as well as government and social service emergency personnel. Still, the story has practically vanished from the radar screen in general except for the Texas media.

Something else quite noteworthy is that our esteemed Gov. Goodhair or Pres. GW have not made any recent trips to the area. East and Southeast Texas — Hey, out of sight, out of mind.

Perhaps more exists under the sun that can either piss me off or potentially piss me off than I care to acknowledge. That is why I always try — not always successfully — not to use this forum as a rant-o-rama. But what I saw at Kroger this afternoon …

The one big grocery store in town that is open. More folks are beginning to come back into Beaumont from their hurricane exile, I suppose, because K-Roger was packed. Three U-Scan machines were operable. One was being used by this couple who had a veritable shopping cart full of groceries in what is supposed to be 1-to-15 Item Land. The woman was just taking her sweet time, gingerly running each item over the scanner. I wanted to shake her like she was a can of paint. I ended up having my groceries scanned by the U-Scan attendant, whom I told, pointing at the infuriating couple:

“I don’t know whether to laugh or go postal.”

Obviously, I did neither.

Here it is Tuesday and I feel so much luckier than many. My power came on Sunday night. Cable came in on and off last night, and is now running. Internet appeared today. And after standing in line at the post office for three days running I had home mail delivery just a few minutes ago. It’s just like living a normal life here in post-Rita Beaumont, Texas, except for the fact that every day kind of feels like Sunday. Few restaurants are open. Only two grocery stores, not much for a town of 110,000. But then again, a lot of folks haven’t come back from evacuation.

The photo is one FEMA (who are back in my good graces when they showed me the money)took Sunday of the Elks Club in Beaumont burning after power was restored.

I got back to town Saturday afternoon. I really had expected more damage. Oh, there is plenty of damage. Trees are down just about everywhere. It’s kind of like in East Texas where I rode out the storm, probably worse because there are more structures. Some homes are roofless and some are smashed. Something else that is strange, a couple of the flood-prone overpasses and the heart of downtown Beaumont by the Neches River all smell like the sea. Most assuredly it is from storm surge.

Among the big bummers is the dusk to dawn curfew, not that there is anywhere in particular to go at night. I’m just glad Lucky’s liquor was open.

Those are a few thoughts for now. I pitched a story successfully to the metro paper I work with occasionally, so I have got to go check out a news conference. So far, all’s well in Beaumont.

I am leaving Collin County early in the morning for Beaumont and the Rita zone as soon as I can get loaded up in the morning. I hope I have all I need for the time being. Surely I will have forgotten something. That’s the way it is. But I got hold of a case of MREs when I was in Newton for the hurricane. Maybe I can barter for what I need. Too bad I don’t smoke anymore (Not really).

Because of the precarious power situation due to the hurricane, I can’t say when EFD will be up and running again on a more regular schedule. This may be it for a week or more, but when I get another chance I’ll be back.

Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.

The proprietor

It’s really nice to see our government dollars at work in Beaumont, Texas. The power crews are out fixing up the decimated utility lines so I may once again, someday, have air conditioning. And FEMA took these neat pictures that can be found on their Web site.

I suppose I shouldn’t complain. After all, at least FEMA is doing something. And I can tell you first-hand they are not doing anything to provide the relief assistance they promise, to me at least. Oh, that agency and other government officials are good at patting each other on the back and saying what a good job they are doing. But for the life of me I can’t figure out what it is that they are doing. Except, of course, taking pictures. You can’t have too many of them.

Here is a little snapshot — pardon the pun — of how FEMA’s efforts work. I filed for emergency assistance because I have spent a ton of money that I just don’t have to evacuate to homes of friends and relatives. So, I filed for assistance on FEMA’s much self-ballyhooed online avenue. I finished making my application and tried to create an account in order to check the status of my request. But I couldn’t create the account because I failed to answer the trick questions. An example:

Which of the following addresses did you live at one time?
1. 940 Kilmer
2. 5530 W. 41st
3. 1800 Ashton
4. RR 1 POB 153

Well, I knew I could rule out the first three. But No. 4 looked vaguely familiar because I lived at two seperate rural route addresses at the 17 different places in eight cities in which I have resided over the past 27 years. Supposedly that was a wrong answer so I got a shot at four other similar questions. I know I answered all of them correctly, but I was told online that I still failed.

Next I tried to call the toll-free assistance number for FEMA. I have tried about 25 times now since then during all times of the night and day including during the early morning hours. My call always gets dropped at the same point in the recorded message. I have contacted the office of my congressman, U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, and have talked with the nice young lady who handles FEMA issues for that office. But I don’t have any faith that she will be able to help me. You want to know why? Because she works for the federal government, and right now, I have zero faith in our federal government. I realize that is harsh but until I am shown that the federal agencies are doing something other than sitting on their asses or taking photos, I reserve the right to remain skeptic.

Okay, that’s my rant for today. It’s funny but I still don’t feel any better.