============================================================ DIGITAL DIGEST � http://www.marconews.com � August 22, 2004 ============================================================ Subscribe to the Naples Daily News: http://web.naplesnews.com/circulation/
ONE WEEK LATER, REGION CONTINUES TO RECOVER FROM CHARLEY While clean-up crews crowded the U.S. Post Office in downtown Punta Gorda on Saturday, Richard Barber was doing what he could to make sure residents were getting their mail. The Bonita Springs postmaster has been temporarily assigned to Punta Gorda, where he and a slew of other postal workers from all over the state have come together to help. Staff has set up a curbside system. Folks can drive up to the post office parking lot where employees hand out mail. SMALL STORM SURGE SPARED SOUTHWEST FLORIDA It could have been worse. Much worse. Hurricane specialists say the rapid intensification that saw Charley grow from a Category 2 hurricane to a Category 4 in the hours before its collision with Florida's Gulf Coast might have prevented the storm from causing much more widespread damage to the entire region. The intense Category 4 storm caused damage measured in the billions of dollars after mauling barrier islands in Lee County and striking the mainland at Punta Gorda. HURRICANE CHARLEY'S TURN CONFOUNDED FORECASTERS While much of Florida slumbered, an unremarkable tropical wave blew off the west coast of Africa on Aug. 4. It didn't merit a name, and five days passed before National Hurricane Center meteorologists decided it had grown strong enough to be classified as a number: Tropical Depression 3. That anonymous cluster of wind and storm went on to achieve infamy in less than a week as it mushroomed into Hurricane Charley. POST-STORM, THE INEVITABLE QUESTIONS OF 'WHAT IF?' The bodies of Harmony Shores mobile home park residents who didn't heed the call to evacuate float in Haldeman Creek after the storm surge from Hurricane Charley washes out the community. Downtown Naples is under several feet of water. Windows and roofs on high-rises along the coast are blown out, after Charley's winds far above land howled past the upper stories at Category 5 wind levels � more than 155 mph. Fiction? Not according to emergency management officials. Get details on all these stories and more at http://www.naplesnews.com IN PERSPECTIVE: JEFF LYTLE: CHARLEY WHIRLED UP POWERFUL REFLECTIONS "Did you lose power?" "When did you get it back on?" The phrases are a part of everyday conver sation. It's an interesting study in power as more than electricity. Those who had electricity restored first had the power that comes with knowing what's going on around you, by virtue of having television. It's amazing how many of the lucky ones spent last Saturday watching the Olympics rather than hurricane aftermath, and how many northerners knew more about Punta Gorda and Arcadia than we did. Read more commentary and get local editorials and today�s Letters to the Editor at http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/perspective/ IN FLORIDA EVERYDAY FOLKS GIVE EFFORT, HEART TO HURRICANE VICTIMS With a freezer full of food about to spoil, there was only one thing for Nestor Tsimpedes to do after Hurricane Charley left his restaurant in shambles: feed people for free. When the ham, roast beef and turkey that was in his freezer was gone, he sent his employees to buy hot dogs. Tsimpedes put aside his own heartbreak after Charley ravaged his business Aug. 13 to start cooking for his neighbors. Get details on all these stories and more at http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/florida/ IN NEAPOLITAN: KIDS WORK TO MASTER GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING IN HOPES OF SOMEDAY WINNING GOLD Olympic fever is sweeping across Southwest Florida as area youngsters watch their televisions to see the games in Athens, Greece, with a gleam in their eyes that they may one day compete in the Olympics themselves. "It is definitely a dream of mine to make it to the Olympics one day," said Aubrey Carr, 12, of Naples. "Watching the Olympics is so exciting because I love to see the elite gymnasts pushing their bodies and working hard to win." Get details on all these stories and more at http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/neapolitan/ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Click on the link below to be removed from the marconews.com mailing list. http://web.marconews.com/cgi-bin/[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/BCfwlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kumpulan/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
