St. Bernard Parish Reopened!

On Monday, September 25th, St. Bernard Parish will be open for all residents and businesses owners EAST (Paris Road side) of Pakenham Avenue (the street by the Fire Station, Court House, and Bubba John's).

Here are some important points to keep in mind:

1) Rita has flooded all of Arabi and western Chalmette up to the Courthouse. If you live between Pakenham Avenue and Orleans Parish, please wait for the water to be pumped out of your area lest you get stranded or turned away.

2) There is no more "RED ZONE." All areas where the oil spill took place will be open.

3) Routes to St. Bernard: 3 ways, though the third (c) has not been confirmed:

(a) I-12 to Causeway, Causeway to I-10 east to I-610 east to I-510.

(b) I-12 to I-10 (slidell) west to Eden Isles exit to Hwy 11 to I-10 west or Hwy 90 (Chef) to I-510

(c) Westbank Expressway to Belle Chase Ferry (Unconfirmed if operational come Monday).

4) Use protection. Have surgical and work gloves; knee high boots; germ masks; hat, long sleaves, long slacks. Also bring bottle water for consumption and cleaning sludge from skin; towels; sandwiches (no businesses are open); a full tank of gasoline; towels; and a full change of clothes. Bringing plastic bins would be helpful for storing suspected contaminated items.

DO NOT wear shorts or fail to wear boots.

5) Have patience. Cool your heels and keep the road rage at a minimum. Be considerate when driving.

6) Be mentally prepared for the worst. Remember, we all lost everything...expect to be able to salvage little.

7) Keep your cell phones charged and use them at an absolute minimum. You don't want to run out of juice when you need it. Also the cell towers in the parish will be maxed out as is. Think for others with your actions.

Any questions, please shoot them my way: mikebayham@yahoo.com

Rita Nixes St. Bernard Return

Tropical Storm Rita's entry to the Gulf of Mexico has caused the return of residents to St. Bernard Parish to be temporarily suspended. St. Bernard Parish Government might also evacuate for the storm as the loss of levees from Katrina has left the parish more vulnerable to storm surges.

St. Bernard Return Information

1) To those returning home to gather what is left, please be aware of certain things and take appropriate precautions:

The ground, air, water, and sludge is HIGHLY toxic. I strongly suggest you receive the appropriate booster shots for tetnus, hep, etc. Supplies I would bring include: knee high boots, surgical gloves, work gloves, a second pair of pants, towels, 2 pairs of socks, bootled water, a germ mask, and a maul for breaking in your door.

Also bring sandwiches and a full tank of gasoline as the parish is dead in terms of commerce.

Doors are sealed shut by dried mud on your interior. Be prepared to break in your own home.

2) Be mentally prepared for the worst. Virtually EVERY house in the parish is a loss. The homes that fared best were those between Chalona and Paris Road between JP and St. Bernard Hwy. The mud and muck in your homes could be as high as 3 ft and it will suck the shoes from your feet.

3) If you have open wounds, esp if you are diabetic, please bound them with bandages thoroughly. Infections are deadly.

4) DO NOT WEAR SHORTS!

5) If mud or sludge gets on you, wipe it off immediately with a towel and bottled water.

6) Purchase plastic bins to place all retrieved items. Your possessions could be contaminated.

7) Keep cool. This is a frustrating time for everyone. A loss of patience on your part could boil over to major problems as those around you are also stressed.

Official St. Bernard Parish Return Schedule

The schedule will be as follows:

Saturday 9/17 & Sunday 9/18 Jackson Barracks to Paris Road,

St. Bernard Highway to the River

Monday 9/19 & Tuesday 9/20 Jackson Barracks to Paris Road,

Judge Perez Drive to St. Bernard Highway

Wednesday 9/21 & Thursday 9/22 Paris Road to the Violet Canal,

Judge Perez Drive to the River

Friday 9/23 & Saturday 9/24 Jackson Barracks to Paris Road,

All areas north of Judge Perez Drive

Sunday 9/25 & Monday 9/26 Paris Road to Palmisano Boulevard,

All areas north of Judge Perez Drive

Tuesday 9/27 & Wednesday 9/28 Palmisano Boulevard to the Violet Canal,

All areas north of Judge Perez Drive

Thursday 9/29 & Friday 9/30 All areas below the Violet Canal.

Unless significant progress is made by the Water Division, Entergy, and Atmos regarding repairing the utilities in St. Bernard, on Saturday, October 1, 2005, all residents must again leave St. Bernard Parish to allow these entities to complete repairs. This decision will be made and announced later depending on the progress of the restoration.

To be eligible to return to St. Bernard, residents must present proof of residency. To protect homes and businesses from unwanted intrusion, we will strictly enforce this rule. PLEASE BE SURE TO HAVE PROOF OF RESIDENCY.

When planning your return, please keep in mind that electrical power, telephone, water, and sanitation have not been restored in St. Bernard. Moreover, presently there is no gasoline, food, water or building material available. Thus, please plan accordingly. You should be totally self-sufficient with generators, tools, etc. to enable you to accomplish your planned tasks, and you must have sufficient gasoline to exit St. Bernard when you are finished.

St. Bernard Parish Update 9-14

With relatively normal communications now established, information has been released through more official channels. Here is some news that could be of interest:
1) I-10 between the Twin-Span and I-510 is still under water and is impassable without driving on the median with a large vehicle.

2) The fatality count from St. Bernard is now in the eighties with recovery still going on.

3) The St. Rita's tragedy was the lead story in the USAToday, though the article did not contain any unique information regarding the charges against the nursing facility owners than has already been promulgated through other media.

4) A little note on your elected officials. I've personally seen them work to the point of exhaustion to help our people that remained. All of them have worked far beyond their $500 per month council salary.

5) The oil muck at Paris Road on its eastern bank is still considerable. A car parked off on the side had muck up to its tire rim (a depth of several inches). Almost all residences between Paris Road and the Murphy refinery north of Judge Perez are inaccessbile because of this hazzard.

6) Business report: Rainbow, Taco Bell, the Republican Party HQ, Aarons Doughnuts near Jean Lafitte) and many nearby Village Square businesses, Blockbuster Video appeared decimated. The salon on Pakenham (old Video World), Gallodoro Insurance, SuperWalmart, and New Orleans Original Daiquiris seemed to have weathered the storm better by comparison. The brick wall facing JP at Prudential Realty was ripped off and the Hibernia Bank near the SuperWalmart was severely damaged (did a single Hibernia in the parish make it through the storm?). The Council on Aging Building is nearly demolished.

7) Parts of Judge Perez are almost impossible to drive across and are covered with debris. Telephone poles are leaning at an angle across the parish.

8) The entire area in front of the Winn Dixie on Paris Road is covered with dried mud.

9) Residents in Meraux near the 40 arpent canal in the vicinity of Legend are virtually gone. Numerous houses in Arabi by the 40 arpent are off their foundations and there is a house sitting in the middle of Rose Street.

10) Powerlines are down on the west bound side of JP between Paris road and Delille obstructing any traffic from crossing into the residential areas of west Versailles subdivision from Judge Perez.

For more information, please e-mailMikeBayham@yahoo.com. I don't have information on specific addresses of homes.

Charges Filed Against St. Rita's Owners

From the Times Picayune...

Owners of St. Bernard nursing home charged with negligent homicide

The owners of a St. Bernard Parish nursing home where 34 people died during Hurricane Katrina were charged with 34 counts of negligent homicide, state Attorney General Charles Foti announced Tuesday.

Salvador and Mabel Magano, owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home near Poydras, turned themselves to state authorities today at 3 p.m., Foti said.

Officials had been looking for the Manganos since a FEMA recovery team began pulling the 34 bodies from the home last week. The Manganos are being held in Baton Rouge pending bail.

Parish officials last week said the owners had refused evacuation buses offered the day before the storm. Foci on Tuesday said the owners also failed to call an ambulance service they had under contract to provide for an evacuation of the home’s patients.

“They had adequate notice that the worse nightmare for the state of Louisiana was about to occur, and they did nothing,” Foci said. “Their inaction resulted in the deaths of these people.”

If convicted, each defendant faces up to five years in prison for each count.

St. Bernard Parish Meeting at the State Capitol

I attended the first part of the meeting held at the State Capitol. While many major questions were not answered definitively, for many residents this was their first chance to see and hear their elected officials.
Part of the reason why matters such as the oil spill, the return to St. Bernard, and the matter of claiming bodies were not addressed is because they themselves do not yet have the answers.

When I say that St. Bernard looks like an atom bomb hit it, I am in no way exagerating. Unfortunately it was necessary for President Rodriguez to drop the hammer on expectations. I've heard quite a few people chirp that they heard from someone who talked to a friend who lived near them that the water didn't go no further than their driveway. I'd like to know what part of Neverland they think their house is in.

On top of the destructive forces of the water and wind, our parish has also endured our very own version of the Exxon Valdes (Murphy Oil will have to compensate owners for damage done to property and as Junior mentioned, might have to buy them if the contamination is as bad as it could be.)

Junior did not sugarcoat the reality that there is virtually nothing left standing outside the levee protection system in eastern St. Bernard. I've seen the proposed district plan to allow people back into the parish, though the timing of it is contingent on the oil clean-up as a 40 block area would have to be totally secured while also having the resources to guard our parish borders with Orleans.

Senator Boasso reiterated his welcome opposition to Army Corps funding to dredge the MRGO, the surest way of closing it without any more time consuming studies. The MRGO has been the source of erosion that destroyed acres of once lush swampland that would have broke part of the storm surge that inundated St. Bernard.

When more information is determined, it will be passed along via the parish website, press releases, and possibly this forum. With communications largely restored, it should be easier to get info out, especially compared to the agonizing first few days after Katrina hit.

When more details and specifics come my way, I will pass them on.

President Bush in St. Bernard 9-12

For the first time in parish history, a sitting President of the United States paid a visit to St. Bernard Parish when President Bush met with the parish's political leadership in Chalmette today.

St. Bernard Parish Update 9-9, Pt. 2

Conditions of the parish
There is no subtle way to put it: St. Bernard has suffered a catastrophe equivalent to a chemical version of Chernobyl.

First I should mention that access to the parish is RESTRICTED. One must pass multiple checkpoints guarded by machine gun weidling soldiers. Until further notice, civilians are not allowed in the parish and won't make it any further than mid-St. Tammany.

Second, I spoke with Jr. and he informed me that a plan is being devised where residents will be able to return BRIEFLY in about two-three weeks. We are many months away from people being able to come back on a permenant basis. It will be done in sections as the oil contaminated areas are inaccessible.

Though I am sure the news has been spread via this forum, I assume it is known by now that the oil spilled had benzyene in it which is a major health problem. The area affected is roughly between JP and Golden through Lexington Place. As of this moment, Jr. does not intend to bulldoze any homes before residents are allowed to go back.

The winds and water that hit are parish had an impact to say the least. I saw a billboard supported by I-beams bent, not snapped, but bent in half. I saw a cadillac tossed into a tree. The trees in Meraux have been seriously thinned and the water line is noticeable by the line of garbage symetrically caught in its branches.

Old Arabi between St. Bernard Hwy and the River is dry as a bone. However, the interior of homes were likely damaged by water. Water is gone from most of the Chalmette Vista closest to the St B hwy, but is noticeable near Chalmette Middle. Carolyn Park is under 3 feet of water.

Rocky and Carlos is still standing but the sicilian room was battered badly.

The LeBeau House and Beauregard Platantation are also standing.

A 6 inch sludge is prevalent around all areas hit by the oil spill. This could end up being a superfund site...Murphy Oil will be cutting a lot of checks before this is all said and done.

Meraux looked like an atom bomb hit it. The old Delchamps was wiped out; campers from JP were thrown all the way to the back of Jumonville Estates. Shorty's Cafe and the Bar were totaled.

Homes in Chalmette between Murphy and Paris Rd south of JP seemed to be in good shape.

The Parish Librar had some damage but books were still visible on the shelves. Parts of the glass panels were smashed. The Gulf Coast Bank building seemed to be in good shape above the first floor.

St. Mary's Episcopal Church lost its roof and OLPs suffered damage to its steeple and three large punctures are easily visible in the roof near its steeple.

St. Bernard body count could be under 250.

Though i know I am asking for trouble on this count, if you have any questions, (please no questions about particular addresses or neighborhoods not covered...i tried to be as comprehensive as possible with this report), e-mail me atmikebayham@yahoo.com.

St. Bernard Parish Update 9-9, Pt. 1

Part 1, Parish Leadership

I have completed my supply delivery to St. Bernard Parish. During my trip there, I had the opportunity to visit parts of Arabi, Chalmette, and Meraux and meet with various officials.

Here is part of my report that will be posted in full on savingstbernard.blogspot.com.

1) As of right now the official death count is around 65, including several from St. Rita's.

2) Junior Rodriguez was in high spirits and was in command of the parish government at the Mobil refinery. For a man near death only months ago, he displayed youthful vigor handling multiple tasks at the same time. Junior is quite a celebrity as many visiting doctors and military men were lining up to take pictures with him when he was taking a break.

3) Our other parish officials were also working at the scene. Councilmen Madary and Taffaro were present at Mobil and a bearded District Attorney Jack Rowley was manning the Court House post. Sheriff Stephens was operating his office from a barge near the sugar refinery. Voice Publisher E.M. Roy was there writing stories for the next edition of the historic parish weekly (started in 1890) though he admitted that his office in Arabi was severely damaged by water.

St Bernard Parish Update 9-6

Escambia County (FL) Search and Rescue will be in St. Bernard Parish to assist with efforts. They are bringing with them several flatboats and certified search dogs.
Water in St. Bernard Parish is down four feet and in other places nearly dry.

More supplies are streaming in as are personnel thanks to the efforts of concerned citizens outside of St. Bernard who are working during their evacuation.

And finally an amazing story. A dog that was lost in the area of Oak Ridge was swept into the Mississippi River. Fortunately for this pooch, the river was moving upstream due to the storm and made it all the way to Chalmette Slip where it was rescued by St. Bernard firemen. I don't know the dog's name but I'd say it's "lucky".

Regarding The Oil Spill

According to a member of the St. Bernard Parish Fire Department, there are no plans to bulldoze homes contaminated from the oil spill at Murphy Refinery.

www.connectedcommunitynetworks.com/stbernard

A site has been constructed to assit with tracking St. Bernard evacuees. There are two options: one for people looking for their friends, families, and neighbors, and another for people to share info where they are. It will be alphabetized to make searching easy. Please take advantage of this site.

St. Bernard Update, 9-5, 11:30 PM CST

Escambia County (FL) Search and Rescue will be in St. Bernard Parish to assist with efforts. They are bringing with them several flatboats and certified search dogs.
Water in St. Bernard Parish is down four feet and in other places nearly dry.

More supplies are streaming in as are personnel thanks to the efforts of concerned citizens outside of St. Bernard who are working during their evacuation.

And finally an amazing story. A dog that was lost in the area of Oak Ridge was swept into the Mississippi River. Fortunately for this pooch, the river was moving upstream due to the storm and made it all the way to Chalmette Slip where it was rescued by St. Bernard firemen. I don't know the dog's name but I'd say it's "lucky".

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

I know hundreds of you are anxious to return home to help rebuild our parish. If you would like to take part in our area's biggest reconstruction project in history, please e-mail savingstbernard@yahoo.com. Give your name, parish address, "exile" address, contact phone, e-mail, and skills (electrician, carpentry, plumber, accounting, etc). These lists will be sent to the central authority vested with the rebuilding.

Please post addresses of people that tried to ride out the storm and have not been heard from since Monday

It is impportant that all posts be addressed to people you know who stayed behind and not people who evacuated since and have not been heard from. There is NO direct medium to find out where evacuees were taken. This is for addresses to be checked on for survivors so please only post here if they are in the aforementioned group. Time is of the essence!

From Saturday's Front Page article in the Baltimore Sun

No precise hurricane casualty count has been made, but with corpses floating in fetid New Orleans flood waters, Louisiana state officials estimated the death toll in their state would be in the thousands. In Mississippi, the death toll was put unofficially at more than 180.

The disaster in New Orleans has overshadowed devastation in areas to the south and east in Louisiana.

Mike Bayham, a former councilman in St. Bernard Parish outside New Orleans, said the death toll in that area - largely cut off from media coverage - could exceed 1,000.


'Bodies everywhere'
"It's a catastrophe. We still have bodies floating everywhere," said Bayham, who evacuated to Phoenix, Ariz.

According to Bayham, much of the parish of 72,000 people is covered by water, and entire towns - Delacroix, Shell Beach, Hopedale and Yscloski - are gone. "They've ceased to exist," he said.

As floodwater grew increasingly toxic inside the city, the storm's impact on the environment outside New Orleans was becoming more evident.

The Coast Guard reported that two huge oil tanks, each holding up to 80,000 gallons, had ruptured during the storm and were leaking into the Mississippi River.

In all, state and federal officials reported 153 incidents linked to the storm that were potentially harmful to the environment: toppled oil drilling platforms, diesel fuel leaking from wrecked ships, overturned rail cars full of toxic chemicals.

Environmental technicians could not reach the affected areas to assess the damage or start cleaning things up, said Jean Kelly, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of the Environment.

A Message from Sheriff Jack A. Stephens

September 3, 2005; 11:00 AM CST



BY ORDERS OF THE SHERIFF:



Because of the total breakdown of law and order and the civil insurrection in the City of New Orleans:



No one, including residents, will be permitted to return to St. Bernard Parish until further notice. Please watch this web site for further orders.



The City of New Orleans appears to be in a state of civil insurrection which WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO MIGRATE IN TO ST. BERNARD PARISH.



It is NOT SAFE for residents to travel through Orleans Parish to get home



REPEATING – IT IS NOT SAFE TO TRAVEL THROUGH ORLEANS PARISH TO GET HOME



You will not be allowed into St. Bernard Parish so do not risk your life by traveling through Orleans Parish to get home.



If you attempt to enter St. Bernard at a barricade – turn around and leave immediately. Anyone attempting to evade any barricades will be dealt with severely, including being shot on site.



Please be assured that St. Bernard Parish is safe and secure and we will make every effort to maintain same during this emergency.

Parish Update, 9-3, 10:47 AM, CST

A contingent of health inspectors made their way this morning to the flooded parish of St. Bernard and declared that Rocky and Carlos was the cleanest they've ever seen it...
OK...we all needed a laugh or a smirk. On to the real news.

1) The Mobil Center will have communications restored to it by Sunday, Monday at the latest.

2) More medical drops are being planned for the various points of concentration, including EBI, the Court House, the New Jail, and the Chalmette Slip.

3) The evacuation is running more smoothly now and there have been no reports like that of the Chalmette Slip tragedy of the other day.

4) 160 ARMED National Guards will be deployed to St. BErnard today. This contingent will be augmented by 57 deputies from around the state. Order has been restored to the parish and lootings have dropped significantly.

5) Search and Rescue Efforts have stepped up with the addition of the south Alabama crew, who are heavly involved in the coordination of the effort.

6) And finally,the rumors concerning the collapse of the courthouse and the snipers at BellSouth are false.

Will try to update again before 2 PM. MikeBayham@yahoo.com

The New Jersey Saints?

Well it appears the domeless New Orleans Saints will play their first "home" game in New Jersey when they play the Giants of New York (you'll have to have seen Coming to America to get that joke) at the Meadowlands. It beats getting them too comfortable in San Antonio.

Latest Update 9-2, 11:36 AM CST

Here's the news:
1) Congressman Melancon has reported that the "court house collapse" story is a rumor and not to be believed.

2) Hovvercraft from FL and IL are en route to St. Bernard within 24 hours

3) A military camp will be established at Algiers Point to protect relief workers and evacuated citizens

4) Problems with Chalmette Ferry landing ramp is hampering rescue operations as relief teams are confined to the west bank and are unable to make it over. DOTD has been alerted and are working on it.

5) Encouraging all to keep raising hell with the governor about the death toll from St. Bernard and calling attention to the media about the forgotten and forsaken parish.

6) Walt Leger's buses will be sent to the west bank to pick up St. BErnard evacuees and sent up river. Please encourage family members waiting to leave to board the buses.

State Trooper Missing Person Numbers

Call State Police Hot Line, give address and name of missing persons for all parishs. They say help is on the way even for St.Bernard. They are aware we need help. They need the exact address. call 225-922-0325, 225-922-0332, 225-922-0333, 225-922-0334, 225-922-0335. This information can be added to Nola.Com - click the Missing Person link.

Really Sums It Up

From NOLA.com St. Bernard Forum...

Sittin' at home watching T.V.,Wondering what's going to happen to me.Looking at that big swirl in the sky,Wondering if we're going to die.Never to drink at Kats again,Can't order tamales or pizza from Ben's.Can't run to Rocky's to order Veal P.,Water , Water as far as we could see.Wondering what we're livin' for,Whatever it was, it ain't there no more.
The man said we had to leave town,We had to run for higher ground.Evacuation, is what they said,Wondering where we'd lay our head.Seperation is what we knew,Wondering what our friends would do.Goin' home, we're yearning for,But why do that, it ain't there no more.

Phoned and roamed to our fingers bleed,But 504, the lines were dead.Worrying and worrying, we had no choice,All we got was that recording voice.It said our lines couldn't get through,It reminded us of what water could do.Red beans, poorboys, their what we live for,We watch T.V., and it ain't there no more.

We hope and pray that what we see,Won't make us live the life of a refugee.Possessions we lost, faded from our minds,Its the freinds and places we left behind.Those are the things that will not fade,Our memories and friendships we'll fight to save.We will come back stronger than before,Don't tell me it ain't there no more.

By Mike, Mike , Brent, and Framin

St. Bernard Update, 9-2, 1:05 AM CST

1;05 AM Chalmette Standard Time

1) 100 dead at Chalmette Slip from tardy rescues that came too late and a dearth of supplies.

2) Water level still dropping...3 ft on Paris Rd. north of JP.

3) Parish officials are in bad need of supplies...keep the heat on Blanco please...they need clothes and medicine.

4) Rescues continue. Localk efforts will be augmented with 6 search and rescue boat teams from Mobile, AL. Bless our neighbors.

5) Village Square Shopping Center is no more. The apartment buildings are also mostly rubble according to a deputy.

6) Please continue posting addresses and names at savingstbernard.blogspot.com for places that SHOULD be checked.

7) All CMC employees have been evacuated for a long time...they are no longer in the parish. Await word from them later personally.

8) All gov't personnel are present and accounted for. (cops, workers, firemen, etc).

9) Shootings have gone down. Orders have been given that looters will be fired up in St. Bernard.

10) Please be patient and continue to pray. More news tomorrow.

Chalmette Massacre: The Forsaken City

US Representative Charlie Melancon has announced that 100 people at the Chalmette Slip had died due to a lack of essentials sent to the embarkation site in St. Bernard Parish.

Coupled with the loss of thirty physically handicapped, elderly people at a St. Bernard nursing facility, this is by far the most troubling week of news ever for this Chalmette native.

People in the lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish are dead right now, murdered by politicians driven by self-interest in terms of protecting the financially generous shipping industry and a lack of utter concern for the well-being of a parish that apparently does not vote the right way.

St. Bernard Parish received no aid whatsoever from the state in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In fact, when boats were sent to the area to assist in the rescue, they were kept within New Orleans to work operations there. I can understand the logic of reserving the lion's share of rescue resources for New Orleans, but to totally cut off St. Bernard and Plaquemines, the latter being assisted by Iberia Parish more so than the state, is unconscienable.

St. Bernard was totally leveled by the storm; there is virtually no land visible from the air. Unlike parts of New Orleans, such as the French Quarter, downtown, and uptown areas that were spared, not a single acre of St. Bernard was above water, not counting the levees.

The fishing communities of Hopedale, Shell Beach, and Ysclosky are no more as the waters of Lake Borgne have overtaken everything outside the levee protection system.

Why was food and water not distributed in a safe area like the Chalmette Slip? All of those assembled at the St. Bernard Port were people removed from rooftops waiting to be transfered. These were not looters but scared, dehydrated, and hungry people.

You hear the media reporting the "killing fields" of a few homeless people outside of the Convention Center downtown, yet what of the mortuary we have on the side of the Mississippi River in St. Bernard?

St. Bernard Parish has yet to receive urgent medicines for diabetics and anbtibiotics. Why is the state dragging its feet? Why should there even be a rescue if the state is going to starve its people like a bunch of Nazis running a death camp.

And what of the cause of this? Hurricane Katrina cannot be totally blamed. The wind damage in St. Bernard was relatively light. The killer was the storm surge that came up the expressway for hurricanes known as the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a mostly obselete shipping channel that is used mostly by politically favored companies. Less than 2 ships per day use the canal and it costs the US Army Corps of Engineers over 10 million a year to maintain this deadly shipping pathway.

The MRGO has been the source of salt-water intrusion that has eradicated St. Bernard's once lush swampland and destroyed trapping in the parish, once an industry so valuable that rival trapper groups literally fought a war over it. Not long ago I was at Shell Beach in eastern St. Bernard and saw porpoises playing...a lovely sight, yet also terrifying in that the presence of marine mamals that close to land indicates the salinity of the water.

While shipping a handful of shipping executives have profited immensely off this tax-payer boondoggle and enviromental disaster, the parish of St. Bernard has suffered, hearing perpetual excuses such as the necessity of widening locks and the need for additional studies by Congress. When it comes time to do a study, I'll fax over to the committee the pages of obituaries from this hurricane.

St. Bernard would have had little water had the MRGO not been there as conduit for a killer storm surge that contributed to the breaking of the levee that was the primary source of the waters that wiped out a nursing home in seconds, taking with it 30 fragile lives. It is a sad irony that the same thing that allows certain shipping magnates to live in a nice mansion is the very source that I, and 72,000 plus people now have nowhere to live.

When the mass funerals are said, I hope the Port of New Orleans, the staunch advocate of the MRGO, sends flowers and that Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin send donuts for the mourners to make up for their failure to get food, water, and help to the forsaken parishes of St. Bernard and Plaquemines.

Thanks to greed and the politics of self-interest, I am sure many people I called friend during my life and who were constituents when I served as their councilman are now dead.

BASTARDS!!!

Help From Alabama

Just got off the phone with south Alabama search and rescue. They have offered to deploy 6 boats and teams to assist in the rescue operation in St. Bernard...if anyone reading this contacts the parish gov't please have them call me 504-258--67, 623-594-0873..trying to get through to them as we speak.

Parish Update, 9-1, 6:26 PM CST

6:26 CST

According to deputies, Paris Rd is dry between St. Bernard Hwy and JP. North of JP requires a boat.

Rescues to continue so long as there is light.

POST NAMES AND ADDRESSES FOR PEOPLE NEEDING TO EVACUTATE

Also contact the authorities, state police and other government agencies with this information. This is not a primary location for sending word but a supplementary. I will forward all information to the local government. Do not post if you are sure they got out...only post if you know they stayed down in St. Bernard. Keep the faith; keep praying.

God bless,

Mike Bayham

St. Bernard Update, 9-1 4:25 PM CST

All posts are CST...Chalmette Standard Time

Just got off the horn with my mother and Councilmen Melerine. The gov't complex is virtually empty...only Kim OWens, Kathy Bayham, Charlie Ponstein, and John Metzler are holding down the fort. HEre is the news:

1) St./ Bernard is in bad need of medical supplies...diabetes medicine, thyroid medicene and anti-biotic. This is urgent, please call the governor and others.

2) Water continues to recede but slowly...10 ft of water on JP by complex.

3) Looting is happening in the parish. Wlamrt, AK Food Store, Walgreens hit. Kill the SOBs! There have been shootings throughout the parish, reportedly by locals.

4) Charlie Reppel has left the parish and is the gov't rep in BR where he is needed

5) 400 rescues were made yesterday and they are continuing

6) An estimated 1,000-1,500 people may have been lost in the parish.

This information will be posted on savingstbernard.blogspot.com