Biloxi Cemetery Restoration

City of Biloxi:

"The City of Biloxi is aiming to kick off the New Year with a project that will
restore the oldest and most storm-ravaged section of one the oldest landmarks in
the city, the Biloxi City Cemetery. The $300,000 project will see repairs made to more than 200 headstones and 10 tombs in the beachfront cemetery. Dozens of gravesites, some dating back to the early 1800s, were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29. The city, which is awaiting final FEMA approval on the project, has been coordinated with FEMA, MEMA and with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. "

Video of MS volunteers

Not a BonaResponds video, but very good!

The Seattle Times: Local News: Hope fades on the Gulf Coast

All is ot bright however and there is much work to be done! Why not go back and volunteer again. They definitely still need the help!

The Seattle Times: Local News: Hope fades on the Gulf Coast:

"The first anniversary a few weeks later brought a surge of interest. But now?

'I'm here choking back the tears,' Wright said.

There is plenty to cry about.

Tens of millions of dollars in Katrina disaster aid was squandered, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported Thursday. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has recouped less than 1 percent of the $1 billion lost to fraud.

Meanwhile, the victims we met last summer still struggle.

I called Ernest Ratliff at his service station in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward. He said so little I thought the phone had gone dead.

But no. Just his hope."

and later:

"Last year, the area was "inundated" with toys. This year, when Ringdahl called Toys for Tots, looking for something for 150 kids the camp serves, the news was hard: There was only one toy.

"We have a long road ahead of us," Ringdahl said."

The Sun Herald | 12/17/2006 | AIR FORCE SOARS TO RESCUE

More good news! Way to go Air Force!

The Sun Herald | 12/17/2006 | AIR FORCE SOARS TO RESCUE:

"BILOXI - Alice Schuler, 72, took a step out of a limousine Saturday and gazed at her new home, the outside of it completely refinished, the landscaping done to perfection.

'Is this my house?' she asked, a wide smile on her face.

The Air Force widow's one-story baby-blue home on South Drive was, essentially, brand-new. Members of the 332nd Training Squadron from Keesler Air Force Base had gutted the home and rebuilt it in about four months."

Good story, read the entire thing...

(It should also be noted that the Air Force has been working (volunteering) since day one even though Keesler was badly damaged itself.

The Sun Herald | 12/17/2006 | Work still needs to be done in Moss Point

The Sun Herald | 12/17/2006 | Work still needs to be done in Moss Point:

"MOSS POINT - This city has clawed its way back from Katrina, thanks to volunteers, but there is much work left, and the city still needs many helping hands, officials said.

They gathered Saturday to recognize volunteers, community leaders and public officials who had helped, and all said that even though the city had 15 months of aid, good things are on the horizon and they need more volunteers."

Hurricane on the Bayou | Outside Online

Hurricane on the Bayou | Outside Online:

"After the Flood An Imax filmmaker flies into New Orleans, post-Katrina, and comes out with a film on culture, conservation, and rebuilding Louisiana's wetlands"

and later:

"The large format captures the scope of the devastation in a way TV news coverage can't. On a big screen, you see 25 boats lifted onto a freeway—or mile upon mile of flooded homes—and you're blown away. The power this storm had sinks in. It's earth-shattering.

What do you hope people take away from the film?
I hope they'll begin to care about the wetlands enough that they'll want to get involved in saving them. They'll go to a Web site or read a book to become more informed about the region. And they'll realize that this is a problem we can all help solve."

The Sun Herald | 12/10/2006 | Bay St. Louis-Waveland merger study shelved

The Sun Herald | 12/10/2006 | Bay St. Louis-Waveland merger study shelved:

"Researchers have stopped work on a study of the potential benefits of merging Bay St. Louis and Waveland into one city, according to the government think tank overseeing the survey.

The two cities began discussing a merger sometime last year, after Katrina annihilated most of their taxable incomes and infrastructure.

Although the merger review has been shelved, a report released last week shows just how dismal the financial outlooks really were, and still are, for Bay St. Louis and Waveland."

Katrina & Biloxi - A Story of Resolve & Resilience

Katrina & Biloxi - A Story of Resolve & Resilience

This collection of pictures and video from Biloxi really helps to remind us how bad things were! There are also some new pictures up that give you an idea of what it is like now (at least from the sky!)

A few sparks hope to ignite rebuilding of New Orleans homes - MarketWatch

A few sparks hope to ignite rebuilding of New Orleans homes - MarketWatch:

"In some New Orleans neighborhoods there's a surreal image of a stray chicken or two roaming free, displaced animals among the wreckage. Gutted homes and the occasional toppled-over structure are commonplace; some thoroughfares are lined with shells of businesses crippled by the water and wind.
From the look of the badly flooded areas, it seems the devastation might have occurred only days ago when in fact it has been more than 15 months since Hurricane Katrina combined with levee failures to deluge parts of this city and devastate some of its neighborhoods. Unlucky areas were inundated with more than 10 feet of water; others escaped with minor flooding."

The Sun Herald | 12/04/2006 | Gulfport church returns to Katrina damaged sanctuary

More good news!

The Sun Herald | 12/04/2006 | Gulfport church returns to Katrina damaged sanctuary

" More than a year after being hit hard by Katrina, the sanctuary at Bayou View Baptist Church in Gulfport was a place of worship again Sunday with more than 300 in attendance."

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Two Elementary Schools Celebrate Reopening In East Biloxi

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Two Elementary Schools Celebrate Reopening In East Biloxi:

"Gorenflo students and teachers found it hard to hold back their excitement, as they returned to their newly-restored elementary school for the first time since Katrina flooded it."

and

"Over at Nichols Elementary, 146-students also celebrated their school's re-opening Monday....Nichols took in about eight-feet of water during Katrina. For the last 15 months, the students and staff had to share space at Jeff Davis Elementary while their school was being repaired. Their homecoming was an emotional one for just about everyone at Nichols."

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Two Elementary Schools Celebrate Reopening In East Biloxi

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Two Elementary Schools Celebrate Reopening In East Biloxi:

"Gorenflo students and teachers found it hard to hold back their excitement, as they returned to their newly-restored elementary school for the first time since Katrina flooded it."

and

"Over at Nichols Elementary, 146-students also celebrated their school's re-opening Monday....Nichols took in about eight-feet of water during Katrina. For the last 15 months, the students and staff had to share space at Jeff Davis Elementary while their school was being repaired. Their homecoming was an emotional one for just about everyone at Nichols."

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Two Elementary Schools Celebrate Reopening In East Biloxi

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Two Elementary Schools Celebrate Reopening In East Biloxi:

"Gorenflo students and teachers found it hard to hold back their excitement, as they returned to their newly-restored elementary school for the first time since Katrina flooded it."

and

"Over at Nichols Elementary, 146-students also celebrated their school's re-opening Monday....Nichols took in about eight-feet of water during Katrina. For the last 15 months, the students and staff had to share space at Jeff Davis Elementary while their school was being repaired. Their homecoming was an emotional one for just about everyone at Nichols."

Hands On Gulf Coast: A few hours in East Biloxi

Hands On Gulf Coast: A few hours in East Biloxi:

"The Biloxi Little Theater is right next to Mr. George's house on Lee St., I stopped in to see how the dry wall hanging was going. Luc was leading a crew of folks installing some dry wall on the ceiling, in the bathroom, and the utility room. Yeah, more drywall. It's great to see Mr. George's house moving along. He finally passed all his rough-in inspections ...

Moving from the serene symphony of measure, cut, sand down, try to place, bang on, remove, sand down, look discouraged, try to place again, and apply more banging until you have a good fit that is the process of hanging drywall, "

The Sun Herald | 12/02/2006 | Insurer backs out of New Orleans

The Sun Herald | 12/02/2006 | Insurer backs out of New Orleans:

"St. Paul Travelers said Friday that it will stop renewing many commercial insurance policies in the New Orleans area next year, stoking fears that other insurers are prepared to pull out of the market after Hurricane Katrina.

The state's largest commercial insurer will stop renewing property business policies for an undisclosed number of small- and mid-sized businesses, mostly in Orleans Parish, starting in March, a spokeswoman for the St. Paul, Minn., company said."

The Sun Herald | 12/01/2006 | 3DD benefit concert sold out

The Sun Herald | 12/01/2006 | 3DD benefit concert sold out:

"The Better Life Foundation, the charitable arm of South Mississippi rock group 3 Doors Down, is hosting a sold-out concert at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile (Ala.) Convention Center to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina."

and later:

" "There are still a lot of people in FEMA trailers, living under blue tarps, who want their life back to normal.""