They’re making a big Hollywood movie in town these days, and disrupting our disrupted lives. They close lanes on the bridge over the river some days and other days, take over the ferry which runs from the foot of Canal Street to Algiers. Lots of big explosives and plenty of extras hired. The word is that this is a sci-fi movie starring Denzel Washington in which he has this “second sight,” hence the name Deja vu, which alerts him to the work of terrorists before it occurs so he can stop it. Oh, that it worked that way.
Every day we relive our Katrina story all over again, even while trying to move into the future.
A typical day’s headline stories will describe efforts to save our eroding wetlands, the deal-making over the towing of the thousands of flood-ruined cars in New Orleans, and Katrina-affected politics. Lots of politics. In Kenner, Saturday, voters put Mayor Phil Capitano in a run-off against former councilmember Ed Muniz, the mayor with 30% and Muniz with 33%. Retiring Police Chief Nick Congemi was an also-ran at 27%.
In New Orleans, each of the 23 candidates for April 22’s mayoral election is still trying to break out of the pack.
Columnist Stephanie Grace writes Sunday that originally Mayor Nagin was a shoo-in for reelection. Then Katrina gave him more challenges than he knew what to do about and scattered the electorate across America and suddenly he looked vulnerable. Campaign funders went looking for alternatives and honed in on Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu and Audubon Nature Institute’s CEO Ron Forman. What they did not count on was both men running. Meanwhile, she says, no one paid any attention to two lesser knowns, Rob Couhig and Virginia Boulet.
So, in the mayoral debates, while the front-runners were boring us with their platitudes, so afraid to slip up that they refrained from saying anything, Couhig and Boulet did something unusual: they told us what they thought. “They’ve done it by talking about policy, sharply questioning their opponents and, most of all, airing their personal frustrations.” Good for them. And in the long run, good for all of us. Maybe they will start a trend.
Saturday saw a big march across the Crescent City Connection, the double bridge over the river into Algiers and Gretna, led by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, a couple of Reverends always in search of a cause. They called this a reminder of the September 1 incident when Gretna police turned away New Orleanians fleeing the flooding of their city. Since they were walking, they decided to protest the April 22 election which, they say, strips evacuated citizens of their voting rights. The courts and respected leaders have pointed out that while this election may not be perfect, it’s fair and legal and the right thing to do. Those scattered throughout Louisiana will have branch election sites, and those outside have received invitations to vote absentee. Secretary of State Al Ater says Jackson and others want him to set up voting sites in Houston, Memphis, and Atlanta, but he accurately points out that the laws governing Louisiana do not necessary apply in those other states. If someone votes fraudulently, will the Tennessee cops arrest him for violating Louisiana law?
Citizen Bill Davis writes in a Sunday letter, “My constitutional rights will be violated if people who have lived elsewhere for eight months are allowed to vote in the upcoming elections.” He says, “The vast majority of the remaining evacuees will not be coming back anytime soon…. It is unfair for us to be governed by people elected by those who are no longer residents of our city.”
On another subject, Jarvis DeBerry writes in his op-ed column, “Skyrocketing cost of insurance could cripple recovery.” That’s been my thought all along, that regardless what our politicians say, if a homeowner cannot get insurance or can’t afford it, his rebuilding ends right there on the spot.
In Saturday’s paper, someone pointed out a new thought for me. With, say, 100,000 homes in New Orleans lying unoccupied and spoiled, who’s going to cut the grass in the yards? The growing season is well upon us, which in New Orleans means lawns will require mowing almost weekly. With tall grass comes all kinds of vermin. One more headache which we do not need.
I wrote here Saturday evening that the Final Four basketball playoffs were a welcome respite for our citizens. Well, hardly. We watched as Florida demolished upstart George Mason University in the late afternoon, and then had the privilege of watching UCLA hand LSU its head in the evening contest. Neither game was even close. Sunday morning in a 30 minute local news broadcast, not one word was uttered about the LSU loss. I suppose it hurts too bad. The LSU women are in their own Final Four, with their game Sunday night. Go, Lady Tigers.
Sunday morning at Oak Park Baptist Church in Algiers, a large team of volunteers from the First Baptist Church of Spartanburg, SC, was on hand. With special guest speaker (and member of Oak Park) Col. Patricia Prechter of the National Guard to speak of her experiences in the Superdome during the Katrina event, a large group of her friends and people from the community came, making it the largest crowd in that sanctuary since the hurricane scattered the congregation.
If one likes titles, Pat Prechter is to be envied. She is Colonel, Dean, Doctor, and a lot of other things. According to Lt. Col. Marie McGregor, she is the first and only “full bird colonel” in the Medical Detachment of the La. National Guard. Academic Dean Judith Miranti of Holy Cross College, where Prechter is Dean of the Nursing School, said, “I make no claims about Pat being a steel magnolia. But it is her faith that has made her service so special.”
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