FEMA doing it again...

[2pac Shakur]

BEAUMONT - Frustrated Jefferson County leaders met Monday morning to discuss problems they are having getting much-needed help from the federal government.

Many complained that resources were not making it into their communities to get much-needed services such as water and sewer operating again.

Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith told those gathered if supplies arrived in their towns to keep them there.

"If you get stuff down there and you have enough police there, take it," he said.

Griffith called the bureaucracy "ridiculous" and said the federal government has failed the people of East Texas.

"Unless George Bush is a different man than I knew as governor of Texas, he's going to make some changes. And I'm a Democrat," Griffith said, to emphasize his faith in the president's ability to ease the suffering in Southeast Texas.

http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15281184&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6

Griffith's got some misplaced faith there.
The damage from this hurricane was a lot worse than first thought. Kind of like Rita.

[PK]

2pac,

You post an article where a judge advocates that local officials steal relief supplies, and somehow you think the most important point is that "Bush is dumb"?

Clearly too much smoke got in your eyes.

[Moe Szyslak]

Clearly all of Texas is messed up.

[2pac Shakur]

2pac,

You post an article where a judge advocates that local officials steal relief supplies, and somehow you think the most important point is that "Bush is dumb"?

Clearly too much smoke got in your eyes.

BEAUMONT - Frustrated disaster response coordinators said today that they were seeing the same foot-dragging federal response to Hurricane Rita as their counterparts down the Gulf Coast did during Hurricane Katrina.

Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith and other local leaders, haggard after days of almost non-stop work with little sleep, pleaded with the federal government to get itself in a higher gear.

He said he wanted to return services to the residents who remain but that "it seems like they can't figure out how to get it done."

Officials said there has been a problem getting the generators that were brought in for the relief effort.

"There's a drastic shortage of generators in Beaumont to provide emergency power," Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said. "There are generators at Ford Park, and FEMA is withholding their release. They want to finish their damage assessment."

Griffith said a man came by Saturday night with 20 small generators and two large ones, and Griffith bought them from him. He said the county would figure out how to pay for them later.

Jefferson County officials had a plan to distribute Meals-Ready-to-Eat from local fire stations. However, Griffith said the MREs, like the generators, were being withheld by FEMA.

"They won't let us have them," Griffith said. "They said we had to go through the state - which we already did - to get them. I'm going over there (to Ford Park) now to figure this out."

http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15276109&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6

Apparently Judge Griffith has smoke in his eyes, too.
Maybe the hurricane blew it there.