Heartland Citizens Rescue When Washington Wouldn't

Excerpts from an article in the Door County Compass

STURGEON BAY, WI - Early on Friday morning Christie Weber watched the Mayor of New Orleans screaming on CNN, "We need buses to get these people out of here. Get off your ass and get down here."

She picked up the phone and started calling local charter bus companies. By 6 AM she discovered that there was an abundance of vehicles ready and waiting to be deployed - if and when they were called upon. But, until now no one had called. All of the charter bus companies that Weber rang up had already signed on with FEMA several days earlier, and they were just waiting for a call back regarding financial reimbursement, a destination and an approved route. Each bus costs $8,000 to make the round trip and requires 6 drivers to run non-stop.

Next she decided to call the Governor's office in Louisiana instead of FEMA. They responded immediately with, "Please, God Bless You, YES!" and provided her with a route and a letter to Wisconsin Emergency Management requesting their assistance in staffing the buses with law enforcement officers. The State of Wisconsin responded requiring that each bus have bathroom facilities, 2 law officers and one medical assistant on board before they would approve of the mission.

Weber put a call out to local Door County law enforcement with no luck due to the demands of a busy Labor Day weekend. She started contacting other nearby communities and the results were amazing. Within an hour she had enough volunteers to staff 4 buses from the Fox Valley - each with two law officers and a medic on the finest coaches Kobussen had. All of this was accomplished in less than 24 hours, from the first phone call to the buses loading and leaving on Saturday morning, carrying a flat of drinking water donated by the local Wal-Mart and a collection of medical supplies and other contributions.

"People in New Orleans are confused, scared to leave, not knowing what will happen to friends, other family members and their ruined homes," says Weber. "There is no one organizing people there. The letter that we asked the Louisiana Governor's office to write for Wisconsin was used as a draft and they immediately sent it to all of the other states. Many of them responded, and hundreds of empty buses started to arrive at the same time in New Orleans."

The Wisconsin buses are now leaving New Orleans and will go to Houston, Texas to pick up evacuees.

The state of Michigan has officially opened its doors to accept 10,000 NOLA refugees. It is expected that Wisconsin will soon follow suit, declaring a state of emergency to free up Federal Emergency Management resources that provide for long and short term housing, schooling and medical needs.