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16 Sep 05 - 09:53 AM (#1564865) Subject: BS: Katrina Kamps From: wysiwyg I heard some of the displaced have been housed in trailers and Nat'l Guard barracks. I think I have a brighter idea. Maybe we can flesh it out. A partnership with gummint, biz community, Red Cross, and the Boy Scouts. Send the displaced to state park campgrounds. The parks have sanitation, playgrounds gathering spaces, and staff in position equipped to handle full campgrounds-- and at this time of year the camps are nearly empty but it IS warm enough in many states for camping. Local camping supply folks supply gear. Scouts supply know-how, one scout per campsite as daytime liaison. Horseback riders (or ATV clubs) trailer over for the day for the durationm, for mobile patrol to see if folks need help. Scouts cook group-style the first week till people have a clue how to camp. Red Cross sends volunteers to cover health, mental health, logistics, etc., and does admin-- it's just a creative shelter and they know how to run shelters. Food and essentials supplied by local churches, individuals, and businesses. Displaced people have a great time. Git 'her done! ~Susan |
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16 Sep 05 - 10:31 AM (#1564898) Subject: RE: BS: Katrina Kamps From: Wesley S I like the idea Susan but I suspect that the powers that be wants these folks to have a chance to get mainstreamed by getting them jobs as soon as possible. And what jobs are available in the parks ? Few I suspect. I could be wrong. |
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16 Sep 05 - 10:43 AM (#1564910) Subject: RE: BS: Katrina Kamps From: Stilly River Sage They don't have people in place this time of year to deal with full campgrounds. It's after Labor Day. Most of their seasonal rangers, who do the lion's share of the work, went back to school in late August or early September. SRS |
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16 Sep 05 - 10:47 AM (#1564918) Subject: RE: BS: Katrina Kamps From: GUEST,Dale I don't have the facts right at hand, and my information has not been updated lately but many parks in Arkansas were filled with Gulf people after the hurricane. ADPT sent cancellations to people who had reservations, so that the visitors could be taken care of. No one complained, at least not loud enough to make the papers. I'll try to check on it. |
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16 Sep 05 - 11:19 AM (#1564942) Subject: RE: BS: Katrina Kamps From: Donuel Texas is the first state to have its additional storm victim medicare costs paid for by an act of Congress. State parks don't sound like an ideal location for victims but anything is better than nothing. |
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16 Sep 05 - 01:41 PM (#1564996) Subject: RE: BS: Katrina Kamps From: GUEST This is one of the busiest times of the year for camping in the midwest. Call a campground and see what is available on a weekly basis for the next 6 weeks. Favorite time of the year for tent campers besides spring which has more chance for rain. |
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16 Sep 05 - 01:57 PM (#1565000) Subject: RE: BS: Katrina Kamps From: Charlie Baum The USDA has, in fact, suspended all camping fees at campgrounds in National Forests in the US Southern Region to encourage just this sort of camping. The only problem is that many forests and parks are in areas unsuited for other commerce, which make getting a job near them difficult. --Charlie Baum |
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16 Sep 05 - 02:57 PM (#1565025) Subject: RE: BS: Katrina Kamps From: GUEST,mg Good idea and I could not figure out why many people were not moved to campgrounds rather than to another superdome..which by the way, couldn't they have screened off some of the cots from prying eyes, TV cameras etc...surveillance could be done by cameras higher up I would imagine. Your plan is good but does not include security, which is supremely critical. It can't be left to Boy Scouts. Girl scouts, perhaps. |
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16 Sep 05 - 05:26 PM (#1565122) Subject: RE: BS: Katrina Kamps From: pdq I don't like the mass closing of military bases that is taking place. Nothing we can do to stop it now. More proof that George W. Bush is not "conservative". Four of the bases are in Georgia, a state which can take refugees from Florida hurricanes, as well as from Mississippi and Louisiana. Transfer them to another government agency, keep a skeleton crew at all times, use as needed for all types of emergencies. Makes too much sense, doesn't it? Here are the story... Bush Endorses Plan To Close 22 Bases Decision Final Unless Congress Acts By Deb Riechmann Associated Press Friday, September 16, 2005; Page A04 President Bush yesterday endorsed a plan for closing 22 major military bases and reconfiguring 33 others, leaving their fate to Congress. Bush had until next Friday to either accept the entire report from an independent commission and send it to Congress or return it to the commission for further work. The report will become final in 45 days unless Congress acts to reject it in full. Communities probably have little hope of a reprieve for their bases, as lawmakers have never rejected such reports. Bush had said that for the process to be "nonpolitical" the commission's decision would have to stand. He got the report last Friday from the nine-member Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. Bush's submission of the report comes as his administration and Congress are preoccupied with aiding the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast and other priorities. A GOP-led effort in the Senate to derail the base-closing process, which Republican leaders feared could embarrass them, has fizzled. The commission said its recommendations would mean annual savings of $4.2 billion, compared with $5.4 billion under the plan it received in May from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld had recommended closing 33 major bases and reducing personnel at 29 others. The commission largely endorsed Rumsfeld's vision to restructure the domestic network of military bases to save billions of dollars over the next two decades and streamline the Army, Navy and Air Force. But commissioners did recommend keeping open several major bases against the Pentagon's wishes, including a shipyard in Kittery, Maine; a submarine base in Groton, Conn.; and Air Force bases in South Dakota and New Mexico. The commission denied politics played a role in any decisions, even as it voted to keep open bases in the home states of Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and other senators leading the opposition. That all but eliminated the possibility of congressional intervention. In the House, a majority of members overwhelmingly support this round of closures and consolidations, the first in a decade. |
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16 Sep 05 - 05:51 PM (#1565133) Subject: RE: BS: Katrina Kamps From: wysiwyg mg-- Girl Scouts-- I agree, and you made my day! ~S~ |
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17 Sep 05 - 01:21 PM (#1565606) Subject: RE: BS: Katrina Kamps From: Stilly River Sage Camping is a learned skill, it doesn't come naturally. There is equipment involved that requires training and needs maintenance. You'd have to set it up so people could get a crash course in camping, and try situating experienced campers among the novices to share experience and help out. And come the first cold wet long rainy day, you'd have to deal with a whole bunch of uncomfortable, bored, unhappy people. You'd have people using pit toilets and common pumps for water, you'd have the usual campground critters interacting with inexperienced campers. Bears, skunks, snakes, spiders, biting insects. With the introduction of user fees that were kept in the parks where they were generated, a lot of U.S. Forest Service campgrounds have been able to build nice bathrooms that include showers. Those would be a better arrangement, but people would still be camping with all of the rest of the conditions described above. Still common spigots near campsites, and a few electrical plugs if you're in a site with the ammenities. People who have travel trailers they could park in these places would be set up best. It might do in a pinch, but it wouldn't be pretty. SRS |