Arkansas governor 'frustrated' with tornado response.

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2007-03-05-arkansas-tornado-disaster_N.htm

Beebe told reporters he did not understand why a federal declaration had not been made for Dumas, where a tornado wiped out dozens of homes and businesses last month.

Beebe last week asked Bush for $1.5 million in emergency federal funding to help victims of the storm in Desha County. The funds would provide temporary housing, small business disaster loans and direct assistance to those affected by tornadoes. No fatalities were reported. Dozens of people were injured, and homes and businesses were destroyed in the Feb. 24 storms.

Also, Beebe and Ross have asked the White House to send Desha County some of the 8,000 trailers being stored at the Hope Municipal Airport by FEMA. The trailers were originally bought to shelter survivors of Hurricane Katrina.



Guess if you have a Democratic Governor, 2 Dem. Senators, and 3 out of 4 Democratic Congressmen, you don't get any federal help.

I just got the run-around from Rep. John Boozman's office. First they told me that Dumas wasn't in the congressman's district, like I didn't know that. I asked if the Congressman was unconcerned about the state and if he is in such good standing with Bush (votes 99% with the 'party line') why he couldn't take some action to wake up the numb-nuts and help his fellow Arkansans.

[Kagemusha]

1. Ouch. I read a rant by a resident of that place here on DU recently..

Now I know why the help's not arriving. That's just sad.

[Bucky]

2. New Orleans had a Republican mayor & they still got shafted.

The reality is that Bush keeps on appointing his do-nothing, silver platter buddies and they procede to pad their resumes and make bidness contacts for future personal gain while governing with their thumbs up their asses. The reddest red state could have a drought tomorrow and the Bushies would be too busy denying it's proof of climate change to bother actually helping anyone they don't personally know.

[SoCalDem]

3. And yet.. at Free republic, they are swooning about how "the people are helping each other"

and how they "don't NEED any government help".. and how that's the way it's supposed to be..

:puke:

To: Wolfstar

Thank you for the wonderful DOSE tonight!!!

I loved all of the pictures...

BTW..I was watching Fox News today...and they were showing the tornado sites in Alabama and Georgia...and I actually saw bulldozers and people WORKING to clean up the area.

TODAY....before waiting for the Fed Govt. to hand them a check!!!

Just like Mississippi under Barbour, Alabama under Riley, and Georgia under Perdue CAN start getting work done before going to the feds.

Those people are just great down there...they all lost something, but they weren't complaining, and they were worried for their neighbors and the kids.

97 posted on 03/04/2007 5:31:56 PM PST by Txsleuth (I don't know who I am voting for yet...just window shopping.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 94 | View Replies >

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Guess he didn't read the news. By Sunday, FEMA had opened 3 storm

relief centers there!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-04-fema_N.htm

[Lisa]

13. I saw Bush on CNN, acting as if he were a casual bystander ...

He was gushing about how Habitat for Humanity was going to go in there and fix everything ... and I was wondering how the person who's supposedly in charge of the US government had the nerve to boss around a non-profit organization (whose mandate, the last time I checked, wasn't large-scale disaster relief operations). And Presidents shouldn't be guilt-tripping folks who are already stretched to the limit (it's the lower-income people who tend to dig deep and go without groceries just to help others, in times of disaster).

Even the strongest, most resilient community cannot be expected to handle this kind of catastrophe on their own. It's unfair for the right-wingers to insinuate that those who need help are only grubbing after a "federal check".

[dkofos]

5. What exactly is BB doing to help out

Is he down there picking up the debris or is he sitting in the
governors mansion bitching.

It is a small scale natural disaster. The feds don't need to get involved.
The state should be able to handle the small stuff. If not, maybe you need a new governor.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Guess being from Texas, you didn't follow the link, showing a picture of the governor on the ground

in Dumas. I've not been aware of Texas declining FEMA assistance. This town was more damaged than Enterprise, however there were no deaths. 80% of the town is gone. Beebee requested that FEMA move some of the stored FEMA trailers into the town over a week ago.

Why don't you get some kind hearted Texans to help out? If you're not aware, Arkansas is an extremely low-income state, kind of like Louisana and Alabama. Our government officials are there. And since when do the feds get to lavish funds on the fools living on the coast in places like Houston and Florida and ignore the rest of the country.

Sorry, but you're comments were totally annoying.

[dkofos]

9. Hope you get over it before it hurts you

[AbbyR]

10. Beebe has been to Dumas

He has been on the ground here and he has declared it a state disaster area. This is by no means a "small scale" natural disaster. The three major employers in the city were destroyed. The business district is almost completely gone. We have many, many homeless. The state is giving the town all that's available.

There are 9,000 FEMA trailers three hours from Dumas and they are sitting there, empty. There is no reason they couldn't be released to our homeless.

We don't need a new governor. We need a new president.

[malaise]

7. Looks that way

Bushco is criminal.

[madrchsod]

8. maybe the same reason that stoughton wisconsin

did`t get any aide last year after a tornado dropped out of the sky and ripped up hundred thousands of dollar homes-the state has the money to cover the losses. oh yes, wisconsin has two dems in the senate and a demo governor. funny is`t it?

[gatorboy]

11. Bush had no trouble declaring Alabama's city a disaster area.

And Georgia....

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070303/afp/070303201701top.htmlENTERPRISE, United States (AFP) - President George W. Bush Saturday toured the rubble of an Alabama high school in which eight students were killed by deadly tornadoes as he made an emotional visit to the ravaged region.

"Out of this rubble will emerge a better tomorrow," Bush vowed with his arm around a tearful 17-year-old Megan Parks, one of the students of the school, who lost two friends in Thursday's storms.

He arrived earlier in Enterprise, saying he had declared Coffee County, where the small town is located, a disaster area after the storm system barreled through the region killing 22 people in the US and Canada.

<snip>

Bush was later to visit Georgia where 10 people were also killed, two of them when a tornado hit the Murray Sumter Regional Hospital in the town of Americus.

[crappyjazz]

12. I've been to Dumas

My partner grew up there and her family lives about 10 miles from the town. It's absolutely devastated. I was disappointed to learn it didn't get the same attention that Alabama and Georgia did, but not surprised. I'm not sure how the town will survive but would we expect anything after what the nation witnessed after Katrina? A town of 5,000 isn't going to mean anything to the pResident.

[AbbyR]

14. An update

Dumas has STILL not been declared a disaster area. We are expecting CNN in today, and I have calls in to our senators and our rep, as well as the White House press secretary. We'll see what kind of reaction I get.