BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. — Even with scores of state and federal agencies and volunteer organizations in Hancock County, all sorts of things can still fall through the cracks.
Now, some of the county's heavy hitters have organized to fill the breach.
Hancock County Citizens in Action is the brainchild of Rory MacDowell, 55, who grew up in Bay St. Louis and is on sabbatical from his career as a senior executive with big companies like Fisher Scientific and Flowserve. MacDowell and Wendy McDonald, 53, who now lives in Houston but who's returned here through January, lead the group.
MacDowell, who has been here since Hurricane Katrina struck, is careful not to criticize the government response; instead, he says, "We need to help the city councils [and] the boards of supervisors because this thing's bigger than all of us."
Citizens in Action has a broad mission statement, but in essence its job is to try to coordinate the disparate activities of all of the entities working to rescue and rebuild Hancock County. It speaks governmentese to the government, it speaks one-on-one to residents, and it translates when the two confront each other.
"We identify problems we can see ... and ask, 'How can we assist?'" says Pat Murphy, 56, who has known MacDowell since they were in the Boy Scouts and who announced the group's existence at a public meeting last month.
The group presents itself as a grassroots movement by local volunteers. But its members include some of the most prominent names in Hancock County: Besides MacDowell, there's Chuck Benvenutti, the Hancock Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year last year and the county's representative on Gov. Haley Barbour's reconstruction planning commission; Debbie McNeil, a successful real estate agent and wife of Bay St. Louis Police Chief Frank McNeil; and Murphy, whose Pat Murphy Band is a fixture at festivals and music events across the coast.
Folks like that got Citizens in Action a seat at the table in a hurry.
The committee's on the regular agenda at FEMA's daily closed strategy meeting, and already, it's gotten FEMA and sundry elected officials to agree to show up for five town hall meetings the first week of December, persuaded Ball State University in Indiana to study setting up a countywide wireless broadband system and partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency to put together a countywide database of individual needs.
"This might sound arrogant," MacDowell says, but when Murphy announced the group, "We weren't asking permission. We were announcing we are here."
It's getting better
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Too bad more people do not get involved in such a way. It is great to see that instead of "finger pointing" and whining about what is not being done, these people are out there doing it. Hopefully they will be effective and things will move along to get things back together for everyone.
The Harlow's, San Diego, California (Sent Nov 14, 2005 1:25:51 AM)
Mr. MacDowell -
How can others join in and help? Please let me know at cbevcoleman@cs.com.
Thanks,
Beverley Coleman
Beverley Coleman, Waveland, MS (Sent Nov 14, 2005 9:23:24 AM)
Beverly, we are housed in the Hancock County Chamber of Commerce office behind the Shell station at Main St. and Hwy 90 in the Coast Electric Annex building. Please call us at 228-467-6140.
Thanks!
Wendy McDonald
Wendy McDonald (Sent Nov 14, 2005 5:59:07 PM)
Dear Sir:
My son's house is located a little north of the RR tracks and he had 6ft of water in it. Everthing he, his wife and daughter were lost. As you know this area was in the class "C" zone and did not require flood insurance. He had harricane and wind insurance, but none of the Insurance companies will pay, because the damage was from "RISING WATER". I see that the Gov. ( House & Senate ) have bills to help the people who did not have flood insurance, do you know where this is or do you think this is nothing but a way to make them look good!
Any information would be very much appricated!
Leonard
Leonard Scardino. 225 Trout Street, Waveland, MS (Sent Nov 15, 2005 4:23:10 PM)
I want this area of the country to succeed and come back to life. I realize it will take a significant period of time but with this type of effort we should never forget our southern neighbors. Please hang tough and keep the faith. I continue with my finanical support as well as others. I want to visit and see all of the great work you do...
Glenn F. Macher Jr Inwood WV (Sent Nov 15, 2005 8:45:00 PM)
I'm in the same situation as Mr. Scardino's son. I don't live in a flood zone, was told I didn't need flood insurance, and my home owner's and wind and storm insurance will not pay for any of my losses. Although I am blessed that I didn't lose everything, i have paid over $11,ooo and have not replaced all my furniture, clothes, appliances, carpets and rugs, and other things destroyed by the water and mud in my home. Is someone going to help us? What FEMA has given me to repair my home is less than half of what I've already paid. Is the state of Mississippi going to do anyhthing? The insurance companies are saying it was a flood; the flood insurance companies are tellling their insured that it was a storm surge! No one is accpting responsibility to help us; but they accepted our monthly, yearly payments for insurance!!!
I've attended a couple of the town meetings and it was all bull s--t. We need money, not words and blessings, to replace our losses. We paid for insurance and we're getting nothing for it!
Elaine (Sent Nov 16, 2005 8:39:11 PM)
I have been very concerned about MS coast residents who are still living in tents. They have just gone through the second cold snap of the season. Since your group has the ear of both FEMA and MEMA, have you looked at ways to keep the tent dwellers warm? Many of us living out of state have shipped or delivered comfortors, but is that enough? Coleman has a line of catalytic heaters for tents. The retail price range is $26.99-$81.00. I wonder if FEMA would be willing to work with the Coleman company to get a lower price and provide heat for those in need? Obviously, with a large percentage of debris still piled up everywhere, there is no place to set up trailers in a timely response. Maybe your group could cut through the red tape and make this happen quickly before we start losing citizens to exposure or pneumonia.
Mardi Kelly, Pasadena, TX (Sent Nov 20, 2005 3:05:40 PM)
I am the Director of the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in St. Augustine, FL.
I work with Buddy Haynes who has been there with the Southern Baptists. We donated the use of the 32' trailer to Billy and Shannon Davis of Waveland.
I would like to volunteer after Christmas, Dec. 27-31.
Will there be cleanup and rebuilding efforts going on at that time?
Diane Quick (Sent Nov 23, 2005 8:59:04 PM)
As Mardi Kelly mentioned in her email, I, too, have been concerned about those who have been living in tents since Katrina hit. The Habitat for Humanity affiliate that I work for donated a 32' travel trailer for one family in Waveland to use.
We placed an article in our local paper asking people who own travel trailers to donate them for this cause. Unfortunately, no others were donated.
I still feel that people who own them and are not using them would donate them to a non-profit for a tax deduction and to help a family in need in this way. How else can we get the word out?
Diane Quick, St. Augustine, FL (Sent Nov 23, 2005 9:12:42 PM)
Could we help a family personally by buying household goods & christmas gifts and mail them?
Donna Wren, Madison AL (Sent Dec 2, 2005 11:31:38 AM)
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