>Mark Flemmings works for Modern Communications in Cleveland, Ms, and is working down on the coast in the recovery. This is the story from his eyes.
( A little long but well worth the read ) Makes you appreciate what you have!
WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI
O.K. I'll make an attempt to tell what's going on down here right now. It's
hard to do for several reasons. First, because there is so much , it's hard
to talk about. Let's try to focus on the positive.
You're right to be sick about New Orleans. They've turned into a bunch of
animals over there. The idiots are shooting at the people who are trying to
help them???? I think for the most part it's due to the frustration caused
by the lack of response by their State Government....I mean, an SOS call?
Give me a break.
Everybody is so focused on what's going on in the Superdome, the Mississippi story is going un-reported. It's one of the bright things that are happening here now.
We are NOT leaving our people to wallow and starve in their own filth ,and
the cadavers of loved ones. We're finding the live ones and getting them
north as fast a possible. Most of the hundreds showing up here have at
least had a meal and a bath.
Haley Barbour the Governor and his administration will come out as true
heroes in this disaster once the total story is told. The differences
between the Louisiana and Mississippi responses are truly startling.
Haley and FEMA had already had Mississippi declared disaster areas TWO DAYS before Katrina hit......What does that mean? A lot........It means we had a two day head start on recovery. It means we had pre-positioned response teams...FULLY EQUIPPED ! It means we already had supplies being loaded on trucks to go to the coast while the hurricane was still going on. It means Federal representatives from FEMA were already IN State when it hit. Which means somebody on the Satellite Phone moving troops and aid our way while Louisiana was still trying to get ....... .
We have been dealing with looters a little differently on the coast. Once
you shoot a few and leave their bodies laying in front of the store with
their arms full of booty, the rest get the idea pretty quickly. Hasn't been
a big problem. In the case of breaking in to get survival supplies...food
and water. The police have shot the locks off the doors and helped take the
stuff to distribution points.
School buses to haul refugees to shelters north, an idea Louisiana JUST
figured out by the way, have been running shuttle since Wednesday
morning.They are pouring in here by the hundreds. Red Cross has been doing
a GREAT job on setting up relief shelters in our area.
The local Governments have opened all of the convention centers and school
auditoriums to them. I know it's hard to believe, but the local Friday
night Football games have ALL been canceled this week. Our efforts are
going elsewhere this weekend.
My daughter is the editor for the local University newspaper. She asked me
what she could do for these folks, and I told her "The main thing they need
right now is bottled water". So she made a few phone calls and set it up
with her newspaper and the local T.V. stations....in 24 hours they had
collected over 600 gallons. This story is typical and is happening all over
this part of the state.
Pulpwood haulers (lumberjacks to you Yankees) who showed up at Interstates and main feeder hi-ways heading south, started cutting up the downed trees
with their own chainsaws, and loading them up with their hydraulic boom
hauling trucks. Opening the way south for our relief effort...nobody called
them....they just showed up and started doing what had to be done.
Welcome to Mississippi
The local churches are jumping in too. Emmanuel Baptist has been cooking
and serving three meals a day for 1500 people at the shelter there since
Wednesday. Where is the food coming from? Strangers are just showing up at the convention center and dropping it off. Red Cross is providing some of
it, but the majority is just showing up....from people who aren't seeking
and never will be recognized. It's happening all over the state - again and
again.
Welcome to Mississippi
Our local hotels are full of people here from New Orleans.....most are
starting to run out of money, so we have begun collecting for their hotel
bills and providing them with meals at the shelters. Quite a few in town
have taken them in to their own homes...knowing they may be there for
months. I filled up one guy's tank at the gas station Tuesday because he
only had enough money for a few gallons.
Welcome to Mississippi
Just stopped and put an antenna on one of our E.O.C. trucks headed south to Ocean Springs. They're headed down to do a fuel supply run. While here, my
daughter came in with another 300 gallons of bottled water, asking where
she could store it. I said" How 'bout the back of this truck?"
)) This is
how it works, over and over and over ..........
Sorry if this E-mail seems a little jumpy, I've been adding to it all day as I get a minute and as thoughts occur to me. Things are happening all around me, and it's hard to sort it all out while "in the moment". I think that's the way this story will be told.....later. It's going to take a while.
While I'm thinking about it.....BIG thank you to Motorola. I'm almost as
proud of being a Motorolan as I am a Mississippian. You guys may not know
about it yet, but Motorola has put on a Herculean support effort. I was
involved on the fringes for a while, but the effort to send radios and infrastructure has been nothing short of phenomenal!
My guys on the coast called with a SEVERE need for repeaters and W.T's.
They had a few towers and antennas still standing, but the repeaters were
in about three feet of water. After a few phone calls around the campus
there in Schaumburg, I was given the Bridge call number for the emergency
request line. Made a call back to my guys and passed it on.
I'll be sheep dipped if Motorola didn't have equipment THERE the NEXT
DAY!!!!!!HOT DANG!!! That's the way you do it.
))
Mississippians have loooong memories. This one will NOT be forgotten.
Anybody see Jim Geary up there....kiss him for me. Lord knows Iwon't.
))
And anybody else that you know was involved in Motorola's support effort.
Tell them Mississippi gives a heartfelt "God Bless You."'
Most of us cry at least once a day. You can't deal with the hundreds we
have coming in here everyday and not be affected. I've seen big bears break
down and just fall apart. Mostly blaming themselves for not getting out in
time. That choice cost him a wife, child or in some cases both. They all
usually say the same things. "I didn't think it would get that bad." All you can do is listen and try to comfort. Sometimes you see guys just staring into the sunset....not saying anything....but you see those jaw muscles working hard to hold it in.
I had one tell me yesterday "We had to choose - stay in the attic and drown
or climb on the roof into a 150 mile an hour wind. She was screaming my
name as she flew away." How do you respond to that? You don't.....you just
cry with him and listen....
Loose children who don't know where Mamma or Daddy are, or even if they're
alive. Ten year olds, trying to be "mama" or "daddy" to a little sister or
brother......it will tear your heart out. Most also know there is NOTHING
to go home to. The house is gone, and in most cases the job too. They show
up here with the clothes on their back, and that's it. It's all they have
left. It's hard, just too hard for words.................you do what you
can, but..........
We've opened our Homes,Hearts and wallets to strangers in need. We don't
care if they're White, Black, Brown or Polka-dotted. We're going to be O.K.
It will take years, but we're dealing with it. We will deal with it the way
only a true southerner can...one day at a time. We're out of gasoline
today. All the local stations have run out.
My phones are still acting squirrelly on out of state calls and my cell
phone has been a paper weight since Tuesday. But I did sleep in my own bed
last night and took a hot shower this morning. There is food in my house,
and I know where all my family is. You take these things for granted, until they're gone.......
Forward as you see fit....
Mark Flemmons
Modern Communications
Cleveland, Mississippi.
I thought everone knew that we M'sippians have always had some meat on our bones. 
) 
