Myself and many others responded to Adkins, Arkansas yesterday... There was a great outpouring of volunteers, equipment, and supplies. Quite literally dump trucks, tractor trailers, and many more pickups w/ trailers hauling in various dozers, back hoes, materials, food / water etc. for clean up and disaster assistance.
The FEMA administrators had the place in TOTAL lock down. They would NOT allow assistance efforts to happen. A phrase was coined ... that "the government is more focused on protecting its rights to be government, than it is on assisting the coordination of REAL assistance and aid." Frankly, that statement sums up the debacle that is FEMA response. They completely HALTED a 100% volunteer relief effort! Then they requested that what was REALLY needed was CAMPING GEAR. I nearly lost it. For those who are not familiar, in Mena / Hope Arkansas there are literally HUNDREDS OF SQUARE ACRES of FEMA trailers and RVs parked and rotting to pieces thanks to FEMA's lame ass efforts to aid Katrina victims. Logically, if they needed housing, it would have been as easy as requesting the volunteers on hand to organize a convoy of trucks to drive to Mena / Hope and pickup the trailers and deliver them to Adkins / Clinton, etc. BUT ALAS, FEMA is not logical in their response. I came away from the experience feeling REALLY good about the American Spirit, it is clearly alive and well with in our people, but VERY clearly not alive in our gov't. The long term effects of such high handedness by FEMA will be disastrous, those who would typically respond will become complacent and apathetic and will no longer respond, because after all the Govt will handle it right? Sad times America, sad times. Something needs to be done about this... God Bless those whom are in dire need and I pray that things change rapidly. Unfortunately the media crews that were on location had no interest in pointing out the FEMA blockade AGAINST relief efforts. -Mark Williams On Thu, 2008-02-07 at 09:30 -0600, Scottie Arnett wrote: > Sorry to reply to my own post, but we service the Macon County Tennessee area > that was hardest hit. We have a POP there for dial-up, but have not entered > that market with our wireless yet. > > Lots of destruction. The tornado set down and traveled 25 miles or more > without ever lifting. Base ranged from 100 to 400 yards. Rated at an F2 this > morning by whoever rates them. Most power and telephones had been restored as > of late last night. > > Of little importance, none of our equipment was damaged. My heart and prayers > to the folks that lost homes and loved ones. I know this type of tornadoes > hit the mid west all the time, but we were not prepared to see it hit as hard > as it did in Tennessee. Never been that bad here before. > > ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- > From: "Scottie Arnett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], WISPA General List <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 09:22:08 -0600 > > >Memphis Tennessee, Tuesday: > >http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/feb/06/tornado-destroyed-two-radio-towers-used-several-st/ > > > >Main tower hub for communications knocked down. > > > > > >---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Reply-To: WISPA General List <[email protected]> > >Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 08:53:25 EST > > > >>I have a question for someone in the 'T' zones. > >> > >>You see the destructive force of them and how devastating they can be but I > >> > >>have never seen/heard of them wiping out a broadcasting tower or a multi > >>story > >> building. Does this happen? > >> > >>Walter > >> > >> > >>Walter W. Stumpf Jr. > >>Xanadu Group Inc. > >>179 Statesville Quarry Road > >>Lafayette NJ 07848-3128 USA > >>973-702-3899 > >>fax 775-667-1995 > >> > >> > >> > >> > >>**************Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on AOL Music. > >>(http://music.aol.com/grammys/pictures/never-won-a-grammy?NCID=aolcmp003000000025 > >>48) > >> > >> > >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>WISPA Wants You! Join today! > >>http://signup.wispa.org/ > >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> > >>WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > >> > >>Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > >>http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > >> > >>Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > >>--- > >>[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus] > >> > >> > > > >Dial-Up Internet service from Info-Ed, Inc. as low as $9.99/mth. > >Check out www.info-ed.com for information. > > > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >WISPA Wants You! Join today! > >http://signup.wispa.org/ > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > >WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > > >Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > >http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > > >Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > >--- > >[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus] > > > > > > Dial-Up Internet service from Info-Ed, Inc. as low as $9.99/mth. > Check out www.info-ed.com for information. > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! 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