The South Will Rise?

In the past six months I have taken pictures of all kinds of destruction in Pascagoula but on my drive yesterday I realized that there isn't anything else I care to take pics of. There has been no substantial progress in all this time. To me, debris removal and demolition do not fall under the category of progress. Most of the small businesses have not reopened, they are just empty facades. The priests in two of our local parishes live in Fema trailers as their rectories are uninhabitable. Many of the homes surrounding downtown Pascagoula are not occupied anymore. It's a virtual ghost town. Everybody is waiting on all the help that we are suppose to be getting from the government to rebuild our lives but it isn't happening. You, no doubt, have read all the news articles on the enormous amount of money that is being poured into our areas and I am sure you have read about our brave spirits and what resilient people we are, but those traits alone will not help us recover.

The focus has been taken off our dire situation with the warnings of the approaching hurricane season. That's yet another problem facing us if we are ordered to evacuate. Our state is small and consists of more wooded areas than communities with hotel rooms to accommodate the masses of people leaving the area. Those of us who still have a roof over our head are fearful of abandoning our homes as we may not be let back in. It happened to the people who evacuated for Katrina, they were not permitted to come back to try to salvage anything from their homes. Weren't their rights violated?

Anita, Dave, their children and I are planning on having a Katrina Memorial Day by having a picnic at what's left of Beach Park in Pascagoula. There are no park benches and tables there so we will be "roughing" it but we are determined to put a little fun back into our lives. I have put a link to an article from Gulf Coast News that, in my opinion, speaks for the majority.

OUR SUMMER OF DISCONTENT