Thanks to all for the good thoughts! Kenni, can I assume that you got my
note about the meeting cancellation for next week? Glad Faith is okay, but
very sorry about Bill. I'm going to try to raise Odom's again tomorrow.
BTW, we're only about 35 minutes from you from where we live in PSL.

Here are a few little vignettes from the storm. One of our members, a very
self-reliant and feisty 84 year old gal, lives in a mobile home (well, she
did, anyway). She evacuated, thank heaven, as warned. After it was over,
she returned to find a shambles; her home will be condemned, along with
most others in that park. Another member went over there and found her
sitting in the mess, refusing to leave until FEMA showed up! Needless to
say, members have been looking after her, and I think she has now been
removed, kicking and screaming, to her daughter's house. As a society, we
will do whatever we can to help her, of course.

And people are helping each other, and reconnecting, and in at least one
case healing wounds that have festered for too long. There are bright
spots.

As far as the city of Port St. Lucie is concerned, just let me at the ballot
box. I don't care about party affiliation or anything else these lunk heads
have to say. Off with their heads, with the exception of the police and
sherriff's departments, which did great jobs. We had radio throughout the
storm and afterward. We tuned to two stations, one AM and local, the other
FM from the local community college. Every community from Palm Beach to
Sebastian was reporting in, all except Port St. Lucie. It turns out that
their much vaunted multi-million $ communications system failed immediately
when the wind blew. Okay, they can be excused for not reporting in during
the storm. But nary a word was heard from them or about the city for days
afterward. Other mayors and spokespeople from the surrounding cities, and
from St. Lucie County, had regular briefings, every day, multiple times
daily. Our elected officials were MIA; couldn't be bothered to travel to
the stations in person. Even now, we get the occasional unscheduled pep
talk with no substance at all from them. The residents of this city got all
services after everyone else; even tiny burgs were represented.

Just wait until one of them calls looking for votes!

Diana

Diana