Hancock County Update 21

News From Mark Proulx - Special to GCN 10/08/05

Editors Note: GCN's vision has always been to be the Coast's community information website. After Katrina, I started seeing numerous reports from Hancock County on the GCN Message board from Mark Proulx and felt his stories needed more exposure. After visiting the Coast and his relatives for a this past week, Mark flew home to Deerfield Beach Florida Monday. This is his most recent report. Mark will be updating his information soon - Keith Burton - GCN...10/11/05

GEORGE BUSH, SR VISITS HANCOCK COUNTY

By Mark Proulx

George Bush, Sr. visited Hancock County Saturday to tour the ravaged cities of Bay St Louis and Waveland. Meeting up with Mr. Bush at Buccaneer State Park in Waveland, I had a chance to shake hands and talk to Mr. Bush about what he had seen.

"The damage is so big. I can't even start to describe it," the senior Bush said. "We were in Indonesia for the Tsunami and this is so much like what we saw there."

I asked if he could make sure that the word got out about Hancock County, seeing how this was "Ground Zero," he responded, "We're going to do everything we can to get the word out. This is enormous. I don't like to brag since I have a son in Florida, but Florida has a very good response to things like this. I don't think even Florida would have been ready for this. This is enormous. I don't have the political influence that I once had as President, but I'm going to make sure that people understand what happened here."

As a last question, I asked if he knew of any First Response Teams that are either private, faith-based or government for these kind of disasters. He responded, "No, I really don't know of anyone, but we're going to see what we can do."

Ex-president Bush toured the rest of Waveland and Bay St. Louis with mayors Eddie Favre and Tommy Longo driving along the beach, taking in the devastation.

I got a chance to talk with one of Mr. Bush's aides, who mentioned that he had gone with Mr. Bush when they were in Indonesia and about the only difference between there and here was that here in Mississippi there are actual slabs where houses once stood. Over there, no slabs exist. Houses are just gone. "It's almost exactly the same there as it is here," he said. "It's awful."

INTERNET - The sole reason why I am able to post information today is a direct result of Clearwire. After the interview with Mr. Bush, some gentlemen came walking up to by sister's trailer at Buccaneer and were giving away free internet wireless access. Apparently, Clearwire has set up six towers along the gulf coast to be able to handle the traffic and is giving away wireless routers to residents in Hancock County. Many thanks to Clearwire for getting in communications to the area as it is still desperately needed and much appreciated. Anyone interested in getting a wireless router in Hancock County for free, contact Clearwire at:

info@clearwire.com or telephone 800-417-9679 or Jimmy at 206-890-3066.

SPECIAL MENTION: I received a great deal of scrubs that went to the Rainbow group and others at the New Waveland Cafe medical tent from Doctor's Hospital - Renaissance in Edinburgh, TX. Thank you so much!! Many people are wearing these scrubs with pride.

I also received a great deal of Emer-gen-C from Alacer Corp out of California which has been used immediately. Keep it coming!!!

An extra special mention goes out to the Mayor of Inverness, FL who personally came down to Kiln, MS to spend his time helping out cleaning toilets, removing rubble, helping people, etc. Florida has showed up in force and we, in Hancock County, greatly appreciate it immensely. Chris Howard, from Citrus County, Florida, has secured an RV to help take care of the children. Paige Ellison and Beth Capper are working with her to put together a program to bring in relief to the disaster area and take care of kids. Paige is with Project Kids, Beth is with the Rainbow Gathering, and Chris is my "renegade mom" who took it upon herself to get her community together and pitch in to help. With these three working together, I have no doubt that sooner or later there is going to be a powerhouse first response group who can care for kids during disasters...and I wish them all the luck I can. This would be a great help, if it comes to fruition.

MY TRUCK - I was told that the part I need has not come in yet...gotta wait till Monday. Wonder who else might come to visit Hancock County while I wait? There's gotta be a reason why I've been holding here so long...(Ed. Note: Mark's Isuzu Rodeo suffered a transmission failure on his arrival to Hancock County.)

Mark Proulx
Gulf Coast News
786-543-4559
mxpowerdive@hotmail.com
Yahoo Messenger as "mxsushi"