Eight Feet Deep

Despite the inability to chew gum and walk at the same time, Roy Oswalt proved that he is perhaps the best major league pitcher these days when the Astros beat Atlanta 7-3 in the NL Division playoffs.

Oswalt had a weird balk call earlier in the game followed by his apparent tripping over seemingly nothing and falling on the pitcher’s mound. But hey, shit happens! The Astros won. I don’t care if Oswalt did it with a tactical nuke tied around the neck of a monkey in his back pocket (although I would pay to see the video.) And how the hell did we know that a monkey with a nuke around his neck wasn’t in Roy’s back pocket, eh?

I just checked the local National Weather Service Web site for the temperature. It is 60 degrees here in Beaumont, Texas, at 6:35 a.m. Yeah, I don’t know what I am doing up at this time on Saturday morning either. But my days have all been screwy since the hurricane.

Yesterday was simply a beautiful day, weatherwise. Today may prove to be equally dazzling, according to this local forecast:

“Saturday…Partly cloudy. Highs in the mid 70s. North winds around 10 mph.

“Saturday Night…Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 50s. North winds around 10 mph in the evening becoming light and variable.”

After sweltering heat during the last couple of months — including a few nights without air conditioning thanks to a bitch named Rita — the temps are a welcome relief. It’s like a wise old man once said: “You can’t beat it with a stick.”

Here is a little more on the American Red Cross response or lack thereof to Hurricane Rita victims in eastern Texas.

Local TV news reports in the Beaumont area yesterday indicated a fiasco for the ARC’s first day of opening assistance centers. A number of residence in counties to the north of the coast which also were hard hit by Rita have said the Red Cross told them their lists do not show those areas were damaged despite having a presidential disaster declaration (and that people are living in the wake of the storm like their 19th century ancestors).

Individuals have also been told they cannot receive the $360 per person per household in ARC assistance unless their residence sustained damage. This is despite the enormous expense many incurred evacuating as well as returning to homes with no electricity or water.

In Beaumont, Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith said this area — which was among the first to take in victims of Hurricane Katrina — was not receiving the same aid given to Katrina victims by the Red Cross. Griffith said yesterday that he thinks the reason is that the national media is no longer covering the recovery from Hurricane Rita and thus the ARC no longer has its feet to the fire over the job being done here.

I think the national media has been very short-sighted throughout the hurricane season. It seems a disproportionate amount of time was spent on covering New Orleans as opposed to other areas such as the Mississippi Gulf Coast. That isn’t to say New Orleans wasn’t and isn’t a big story. It is. I just think the ongoing recovery efforts in Mississippi, other areas of Louisiana, Texas, and even Florida from last year’s hurricanes, deserve more attention than they are getting.

If you work for or volunteer for the American Red Cross you might want to lay low if you are in Southeast Texas. I was just listening to local talk radio station KLVI-AM here in Beaumont and listeners are very hostile toward the ARC.

Some local officials here — where Hurricane Rita took a big bite out of our collective arses — feel the Red Cross has been too slow in responding. The ARC finally responded today by setting up various centers where people can go to apply for financial assistance. But in some cases the Red Cross has reportedly not shown up or responded in a bizarre fashion such as coming with about 40 debit cards where a crowd of 1,000 folks or more was on hand.

Overworked, overextended, overtaxed by first Katrina and now Rita, you might give as a defense? Perhaps, it is a volunteer organization but one that raises tons of money. So much money, in fact, that other charities have complained the Red Cross is undercutting their efforts to raise funds for hurricane victims.

Clearly, the ARC’s response is a little like a Cub Scout troop showing up for battle against the 82nd Airborne Division. Okay, I didn’t mean to slight the Cubs, of which I was one eons ago. But you get my drift.

The ARC is generally held in high esteem, but not by all. If you talk to a lot of the old World War II veterans who are left out there, they will practically spit at the mention of the Red Cross. I have heard tale after tale from people who were in a war zone in which the Red Cross showed up with a canteen full of donuts and coffee for the GI’s. Of course, the GI’s had to pay for the coffee and donuts. I don’t know if that is true but have no reason to doubt since I have heard it from so many old-timers.

I wouldn’t be able to qualify for Red Cross assistance under my circumstances. And I wouldn’t apply. But it sounds like a lot of people who really need the ARC’s help in my area are not receiving it. It also sounds like the Red Cross needs some assistance of its own. Physician, heal thy self!

Sorry sir. You’ll have to turn around. This is the Green Zone.
It’s 6:10 a.m. on a Thursday. I’ve got a deadline of noon Friday on a freelance piece on which I’m working. I need to get out and take my morning walk and perhaps even interview a few folks along the way for my story. But I can’t because 50 minutes remain until the curfew is over for the night.

Perhaps nothing stirs emotions of middle class (what’s left of it at least) America like seeing people (especially black people) on television reports from disaster areas or those of civil unrest emerging from closed businesses with TV sets and stereos. Those images of looting in New Orleans post-Katrina certainly whipped up an emotional frenzy here with Rita coming and Rita going. I have photos, though not yet processed, of some warnings painted on local homes, things to the effect of “U Loot, We’ll Shoot.”

So our local and state leaders responded by saturating the area here around Beaumont, Texas, with police and instigating a curfew from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. Nothing has been looted from my home, but I can’t say that is a direct result of the curfew or the added police. In fact, I’ve seen only two police cars — both Texas Highway Patrol — drive down my street since I returned home on Saturday.

Authorities say the curfew is both to prevent looting and to keep people from walking on downed power lines they can’t see in the dark. But you have to figure it’s mainly to keep people (especially black people) from looting. Personally I don’t know how effective it really is. Perhaps it is a deterrent. And maybe I even feel a little safer. Then again, I also feel a little safer because of my Remington 870 pump shotgun and the box of buckshot I have for it. Hey, if you find that offensive, sorry, I’m just being a Texan.

More than anything the curfew is a gigantic pain in the ass for me. I have things to do and I am burning (almost)daylight. I don’t plan to loot anyone. I would suggest the next time they have a curfew the police hand out to those with legitimate activities during curfew some big paper targets that can be worn on both the chest and back. If we are caught breaking into a store and stealing TVs, then it will be easier for the cops to shoot us. Like the song says: “You’ve got to give a little, take a little … “

Only 30 more minutes before curfew is over.