I spent the day just lazing around doing absolutely nothing. I am usually high spirited but every now and then I have to stop and recharge. We have so much bickering going on with insurance, we have a severe housing shortage for the people without homes, we have people from the rest of the state not caring about our welfare on the Coast. Just let us flounder as long as they are okay. I have spent most of my life defending our state and equally share the shame of the civil rights murders that didn't happen on the coast but it did happen in our state. Unfortunately, Katrina happened on the coast but what assurance is there that some devastating disaster can't befall the rest of the state? I know without a doubt that the coast would be there for them. We offered our help to Florida in the recent tornado disaster. I became disheartened when I heard our state insurance commissioner, George Dale, speak. On several occasions he has made the remark that the people upstate are fearful of losing their insurance or have to pay higher premiums (like we aren't) because of those people who chose to live on the Coast. This is my home, this is where I was born, as were my parents and their parents. Somehow, even Mr. Dale seems to separate the coast from the rest of the state. Who wouldn't be disheartened?

For a short time after the hurricane devastated us, we were all thought of as victims of this storm. Then the class separation began and so many of us received no help. One of my daughters and two children arrived to stay with me after the storm had destroyed their apartment in Slidell, La. She arrived with a severe earache so we went to the Red Cross for help. We waited for 3 hrs. and when she walked up to say what was wrong with her, one of the male nurses angrily said to me, "Why didn't you take her to the emergency room?" I was taken aback and said because everything is still not operational. They wouldn't treat her. She was crying from the pain and so I desperately went in search of help. I begged the receptionist at a doctor's office to ask if he would please see her. One did and treated her. No thanks to the Red Cross. They are a fine organization but the people we encountered that worked for them were not.

I received no aide from volunteers. The first thing I had to take care of was having a tree removed from my yard that was half uprooted and leaning toward the house. I was charged $900.00 and they left it where it fell.. My backporch was damaged and it stayed that way until March 2006. I had no hot water for a month after the storm because no one knew how to light the pilot. But there was a bright spot, one day there was a knock at my door and there were two Navy nurses from West Virginia asking if "I" needed anything. They gave me a tetanus shot and benadryl for the obvious allergies I had. Most importantly, they talked to me and reassured me that everything was going to be okay. Even to this day, I remember their kindness and concern for ME.

Our crisis here is not over... we need all the support we can get. Be it just a kind word!