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Bonsai People in New Orleans
I know this is slightly off topic, but has anyone been in contact with Guy
Guidry (Covington, LA.), Vaugh Banting, Alan Walker, or any of our other bonsai friends and colleagues who are or were in the devastated New Orleans area? Roger Case |
#2
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Roger: Yesterday I posted this on the IBC Gallery at:
http://internetbonsaiclub.org/compon...smf/Itemid,132 /topic,16578.0/topicseen/ It will probably be a quite a long, long time before we hear from any of our bonsai friends from the New Orleans area on this forum. Right now those who survived are evacuated and frustrated in their inability to return or are trapped there without electricity, working batteries, fuel, potable water, internet or telephonic communication, functioning toilets, and dwindling supplies of food and hope. There is no way right now for us to find out who has survived and who has not. I know that Donna Banting evacuated with her daughter and grandchildren to Houston. Her home, next to a canal and less than a mile from Lake Pontchartrain, is undoubtedly under water. I spoke to Guy Guidry's wife, Cris, on Sunday night and offered them a place to come for evacuation, but Guy had already taken their children to a friend's home in Florida. They are cut off from return by the fact that I-10 has several bridges and portions of the roadway washed out. The good news for him is that Covington, which is north of Lake Pontchartrain seemed to sustain less damage, especially flood damage than New Orleans. The fates of the rest of my friends there is a mystery for now. I lived in New Orleans from 1975-83 while my wife was in medical school and residency at LSUMC, so I had and have many, many close friends there. My heart grieves for them. Virtually every home sustained major damage, if not destruction. Those who still have a home will be in a long, long line for insurance payments (if they have it), FEMA aid, materials, and skilled labor to rebuild. Lives are forever changed. Like most of us, I have been desensitized to these sorts of events by all the inevitable hyperbole we hear in news accounts, etc. This disaster is just impossible to exaggerate. It is only different from the devastation of the 26 December 2004 tsunami in that there was warning and time to evacuate from this event. Katrina, the big bad wolf, blew lots of houses down and killed a lot of people and left everyone shocked and amazed at the power. I thought I was affected by Hurricane Andrew, which after all had visited Louisiana after wreaking havoc on Homestead and south Florida. But this is much more up close and personal. I am grateful that my home and immediate community were spared any direct effects from Katrina. I am heartbroken for my friends. I hope that all of you will be generous in your support to the Red Cross who always is there to lead the rescue and recovery effort in all these disastrous events. http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html So, I'm OK. My home in Lake Charles is 200 miles to the west of New Orleans and was not directly affected by the hurricane. Looks like I'll be going to Norco, LA about 30 miles north of New Orleans from Sunday through next Friday for critical incident response work, so I'll probably be unavailable to the internet for a while. I do not know if Vaughn and Gayle Banting were able to evacuate or where they are, but I am hopeful. Vaughn is blessed with good common sense, and I'm quite certain that he made arrangements to evacuate. There is just no way to communicate with the 504 area code right now. I did hear from Donna Banting today. She is safe in east Texas with friends. She'll be allowed to return on Monday briefly to check her property and gather essentials, then they have to leave and not return for at least one month. The entire area is under martial law to minimize looting, vandalism, etc. Of course, there is some of that, but mostly people are just feeling desperate. I remember how upsetting it was when our homes were without power for five days after an ice storm in January 1997. That was nothing at all compared to what our New Orleans and AL and MS Gulf Coast friends are having to cope with. Thanks for your interest, and we all appreciate any support we can get these days. I hope that anyone who has word on any of our bonsai friends will understand how important contact and information is and will not feel bad about sharing any of this with us on any part of the IBC. I consider this only marginally off topic and fully acceptable. Alan Walker http://bonsai-bci.com http://LCBSBonsai.org -----Original Message----- From: Roger Case I know this is slightly off topic, but has anyone been in contact with Guy Guidry (Covington, LA.), Vaugh Banting, Alan Walker, or any of our other bonsai friends and colleagues who are or were in the devastated New Orleans area? Roger Case ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Bob Pastorio++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
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