Shocking pix of the Gulf Coast

[funflower]

This is from a law firm website. One of the firm's lawyers went down to the Mississippi to volunteer doing legal aid type work. She took these pix in early November. Scroll down a bit to see the pictures.

http://www.harrang.com/attorney_bios/atty_pages/information_links/katrina.htm

[merh]

1. Thank you for this link.

I live in Biloxi and though these images tell alot, they do not tell it all. You just can't imagine what it is really like, no image can depict it properly, you have to see it to believe it. And even then, it is so hard to believe.

I drove to the Point today and cried like a baby again, so much destruction, so much is gone. :cry: Don't let our government forget us, we need all the help we can get.

This Thanksgiving many of us are so grateful to be alive and so grateful for what we have. :grouphug:

[fooj]

5. Oh Merh

(((((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))))

:hug:

[merh]

11. thanks fooj.

(((((((((hugs)))))))))))

It's just gonna take a very long time to rebuild and we do need congress' help. I understand the rest of the nation is suffering from tragedy overload, but please don't let that be the excuse used to ignore the needs down here.

I hope you & yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I thank you for being there for me. :hug: :loveya:

[fooj]

16. Good luck getting rid of me girlfriend!

LOL!!! Anything...Anytime!

Happy Turkey Day!:pals:

Peace.

[Horse with no Name]

6. Hugsss Merh!!!

I miss you!:hug:
Have a nice Thanksgiving tomorrow.
I think about you often.

[merh]

10. Thank Horsey, thanks for all of your help and support.

I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving too. :hug:

I hope to get to a place where I can post worthwhile posts after the 1st of the year. After all, we have elections we must win. :-)

:loveya:

[merh]

9. dupe

self - delete

Posted to the wrong post.

[MuseRider]

13. Merh

One of my best friends is the conductor of the Gulfport Symphony. He just got back a few days ago and was able to see all the damage riding around with a board member in an construction truck. He was shocked and stunned by what he saw. He is going back tomorrow to conduct a concert this weekend. We are trying to raise the money from our symphony concert ticket holders to sponsor a concert for them.

I am so sorry for your loss. He was devastated by what he saw.

[merh]

23. No image can capture the extent of it.

I know it's out there, I stay in my confined world and only today went to see some of the devasation. I had driven the area before, but was too shell shocked for it to hit home. Today it hit home.

Let me know if your friend is able to arrange for a concert here. I would love to go. We need to have beauty introduced into the area. Give him a hug from me and tell him that I know exactly how he feels.

Thank you for your compassion. :hug:

[MuseRider]

25. This weekend.

They did one concert and they are doing one this weekend I believe. The entire schedule is off of course. Here is the website, I misspoke, it is the Gulfcoast Symphony not Gulfport. You could call the office for information.

http://www.gulfcoastsymphony.net/

If you go be certain to go backstage after and tell him hello from his favorite clarinet player in Topeka (that should crack him up a bit). He is an amazing, wonderful person.

Please take care. It has to be just a stunning shock to your system. Do go out to a concert. It should help for a little while anyway.

:hug:

[merh]

30. Thanks for the link, I will check it out and if I go, I will relay

your message. Again, thanks for your concern, I promise to take care. :hug:

[HeeBGBz]

20. Have they opened up Highway 90 yet, merh?

Is there anything there at all?

[merh]

24. They have not opened it yet.

And no, there isn't much there. Grasslawn is gone, the Gulfport VA destroyed as if it was hit by a bomb, it's pretty sad.

They have reopened Edgewater Mall. I haven't been there, the only way to get there is pass road and the traffic sucks.

It's good to see you HeeBGBz :hug:

How are you doing? I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving! :loveya:

[HeeBGBz]

26. Thanks, merh, Happy Thanksgiving to you

I'm doing okay. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish I was still down there. My kids are still there and I worry that they are doing alright. I keep seeing pictures that break my heart. I just saw a photo of an old barber shop that I took pictures of back in 87 when I was in a photography class. It was nice to know that it survived. Little things like that move me.

There are days when the sadness of what was lost is so deep. Even though I did not suffer material losses.

I hope you are doing okay, merh. I hope you have a special day tomorrow. Be well.

(((hugs)))

[understandinglife]

29. Dear Merh, You are never out of my thoughts. I only wish I could do ...

... more to help you and all those who have suffered in ways that never should have happened in our country - or, indeed, anywhere.

Peace, my friend,
Bob

[merh]

32. Thanks UL, just keep us in your prayers

and don't let the government fuck us over. We need lots of help down here.

have a Happy Thanksgiving. :hug:

[BamaBecky]

33. Thinking of you today Merh

have as happy a Thanksgiving as is possible

Bama

[merh]

34. thank you BamaBecky

It will be a good Thanksgiving, I have so much to be thankful for and I am doing so much better than others.

I hope you & yours have a great day.

[troubleinwinter]

36. merh..

one of the pictures (the house on Bayview) is right in your neighborhood? Just heartbreaking.

Yes, we MUST keep on the government to rebuild the area. Not only homes, but businesses, so that people can get their jobs back!!

It has to be devastating to deal with your own losses and challenges, as well as seeing your entire community struggle. :cry:

~ yer sister in trailerhood.

[merh]

38. Hello trouble!

It is so good to see you! :hug:

Yes, that image is just down the street from me. Bayview intersects with my street. Some days are harder than others, but we are doing the best we can. Keep those positive energies coming this way.

I thank you for all of your love & support and I hope you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

:toast: to my sister in trailerhood! :hug: :loveya:

[mogster]

37. Merh!

Hello! :-)

I hope you will have a terrific Thanksgiving (((( :hug: ))))

But I was shocked by those pictures. Can I do anything?

Big hug! :bounce:

[merh]

39. Sweet mogster!

Yes, those images give you an idea of what it is like here, but they don't really do it justice. It will take us years to rebuild.

You wouldn't happen to have a house you can loan me ;-)

Just kiddin', I'm okay, just taken it one day at a time.

I hope you had a great day too. Thanks so much for your love. ((( :hug: )))

[mogster]

42. Hi, merh

I hope you'll get things back in order soon, and that you find some hope in the efforts to rebuild. If there was any justice in life, you'd be living in a castle :-)

Big hug, my friend :-) ((( :hug: )))

[ultraist]

2. Damn...

http://www.harrang.com/attorney_bios/atty_pages/information_links/katrina.htm

A few of the many ways you can help:

Contact your U.S. senators and representatives and let them know you want them to give priority to the relief and reconstruction effort.
Go to www.mscenterforjustice.org to learn about, and support, the Mississippi Center for Justice.
Go to www.msbar.org to learn about how to help through the Mississippi Bar, including the Young Lawyers Division's Disaster Legal Assistance Program and the Volunteer Lawyers Program.
Go to www.mississippirecovery.com for information about how to give money, goods or services of various kinds to the Mississippi relief and reconstruction effort.

Clearly, this will be a very long process. It will require many different kinds of assistance - both in the affected region and throughout the United States, where those who have been relocated are trying to build new lives. Contact your professional, civic, or religious organizations to learn what they are doing and how you can help.

[Karenina]

8. Kick!

:kick:

[fooj]

3. OMG!!!

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[funflower]

4. I don't think those of living elsewhere realize quite how bad it still is

down there. At least I didn't. It's basically unlivable.

[rzemanfl]

7. This loads really slowly with a dial up connection but what I have

seen so far pretty shocking. Not comforting when you live as close to the Gulf as we do.

[TomInTib]

12. I ran into a couple from Gulfport today. Their home was

relatively unscathed but they had come out here (Marin County) to escape the emotional trauma of Gulfport's destruction. They could barely talk about it even though I could tell they wanted to.
They held on to our Golden Retriever like they wanted to never let go.
Having been through my share of Nature's wrath my heart went out to these people. At least they were fortunate enough to be able to get out and have something to go back to.

[funflower]

14. Californians can probably relate better than most people.

Are you from Tiburon? That is such an awesome little town (and across the Bay from such an awesome big town)!

[fooj]

17. I was in the '89 quake...my home was red tagged but it was nothing

like this...

:cry:

Peace.

[funflower]

41. I'll never forget when I first heard about the '89 quake. I was grocery

shopping, and the store manager came on the PA and announced there had been a big quake in SF and the Bay Bridge had collapsed!!! I dropped my groceries and ran home to turn on the tube and was relieved to see that it was just a small section of the bridge (awful though that was, too).

[TomInTib]

28. Yep

Our house is on the hill in Old Town above the Ferry Landing and waterfront.
My hurricane experiences were all on the Texas Gulf Coast - my original home.
All in all I will take Tiburon anytime. 15 minute ferry ride from one of the coolest cities on the planet.

[DinahMoeHum]

15. I've been reading the online version of the Sun-Herald. . .

main newspaper on the Mississippi coast.

www.sunherald.com

Tons of Katrina-related stuff there.

The most touching is the "We Remember" column, portraying many of the storm's victims in much the same vein as the New York Times did with their "Portraits of Grief" stories of the victims of 9/11.

:cry:

[funflower]

18. This is the worst page of your newspaper link.

http://missingpeopleofkatrina.buzznet.com/cat/

[HeeBGBz]

22. This one breaks my heart

http://missingpeopleofkatrina.buzznet.com/cat/?id=35656

The guy is in Iraq and his kid and the kids mother is missing. Can you believe they are making him stay there? Geez, how can this man function?

[funflower]

40. Wow. I can't imagine. I wonder whether he ever found his child.

[FreedomAngel82]

19. So horrible

:cry: Nobody is helping them.

[ktowntennesseedem]

21. I spent a week in Slidell, LA, last month,

helping to build a house with Habitat for Humanity. I'm still at a loss for words to describe the destruction. Piles of garbage lined up in front of every house and school and church and business, all of the drywall and furniture and carpeting ruined by the storm surge. We had to drive by the middle school everyday to get to the work-site, and seeing the huge pile of books, computers, band uniforms and instruments... it still makes me want to cry.

I was amazed by the enormity of the work that will be needed to rebuild, not just structures, but lives and livelihoods and community. But I was equally amazed by the determination of the people I met. They definitely have the will to pick up the pieces and go on with life; whether or not they have the means depends on the rest of us, however.

[CottonBear]

27. Slidell is where Mr. CB ( a NOLA native) gew up & went to high school.

His family is in Lacombe which is close by Slidell. They seem to be in shock. They are still waiting on final roof repair. His cousin's house in Grand Isle was flooded. :( :cry:
Viva NOLA & LA & MS & AL! We love you!

[NNadir]

31. How is the reconstruction of Trent Lott's porch going?

[chalky]

35. To argue the lie that LAs troubles were the fault of state and local

government the media censored the news that the same crises that were bringing Louisiana to it's knees were happening in Mississippi.

This has made me so DAMNED angry and so DAMNED sad from the beginning. I've been screaming, "What about Mississippi?!!??" for MONTHS to everyone who's whipped out that idiotic "corrupt Louisiana" argument.

Mississippi has been SACRIFICED; doomed to being virtually ignored by the American public in an effort to bolster Louisiana's reputation as the lone spot of trouble in FEMAs disastrous wake.

The federal government AND the media have betrayed BOTH states to save Shrubya's sorry ass.