Katrina Update #54Katrina Update #54The week started out with Steve Edwards returning to hold rehearsals and performance of Handel's Messiah at Holy Name Church. The performance is tomorrow afternoon, and it appears it will be the first time they have sold out in 15 years of performances. Janis put on her woolies and headed up to New Hampshire on Tuesday to do some work for MacSpeech. Coop, Jason, and I headed out to Shell Beach on Wednesday to look for Coop's boat (more about that later), and Laura Roe had her annual Christmas party, at which Jason and I cooked the best Turkey yet (I guess I am just getting better at it the more I do it).
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Laura's Christmas Tree
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Megan offers some Holiday Cheer
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Adam plays the piano
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Laura's Backyard
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The Two Joey's: Joe Fontana and Joey Screws
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Coop and Kim
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It was a chilly evening, but Jaclyn bought a fire pit, and that kept things cozy. It was a grand event, and a great start to our Christmas season.
Of Boats and Men – Part One
Coop got a call from a person that lives in Ysclosky (which is near Shell Beach, where he kept his boat) who said that they had found his boat. So Jason and I joined him on Wednesday to search for it. We didn't have specific information, just a general idea, but we did run into the caretaker for the Shell Beach Literary Society, who had talked to this person originally. He gave very specific information: it was a Reno Skiff; it had a Suzuki four-stroke motor on it; it was still attached to the trailer, but it was upside down.
We searched for two hours and couldn't find it. We ran into someone who worked at Campo's Marina, who knew the person who had found it and had his phone number. He said it was "in the woods, next to the levee, behind Snake's house." This is Snake's house:
Turn's out, there were two levee's behind Snake's house: both are next to small bayous, one of which runs into another. We spent about an hour behind Snake's house looking along the wrong levee. We ran into lots of interesting stuff that had been deposited deep in the thick of the woods. Doors, table tops, a stairway, windows, clothing, etc.
It was truly remarkable how much of the area has shown no improvement since we were there in November (see Update #49). You can see more pictures of the area from this trip in the Galleries section, but there are some I thought were worth sharing here:
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This boat and a second trailer have a sign on
them that says "Don't Take." In the background, on the right is what remains of the club Coop and Doc Schaeffer belonged to. |
This is a path of debris that was cut through the
marshland. It looks as though it was done by a tornado, judging from the debris path. |
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This is what the soil looks like after the
salt water retreats. |
What used to be a pasture is know a dried-up
field of mud. |
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This Coconut Clown Head was found just sitting on top of some debris.
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After consulting with the person who found the boat again, we determined we were searching along the wrong levee. The other one, was even more overgrown than the first, and to make matters worse, it had a debris path in front of it that looked as though a tornado had come through.
We never did find Coop's boat, but as we were standing about where the picture of the debris path was taken, we looked to our left, and Coop noticed a boat that looked like it could be the one that belongs to Doc Schaeffer. Lo and behold, it was, sitting upside down in the marsh, about two football fields or so from a road.
Coop standing on Doc's boat.
Doc is thrilled, of course, and we are going back out next week with him to see what it will take to get it out. We will also try to hook up with the person who called Coop and see if he can lead us to his boat (after 4 hours of trudging around in the swamp, we never did find it – but at least the day was not a total loss).
My Name Is Chuck
"Do good things and good things will happen to ya. ...I'm talkin' about Karma."
If you haven't watched "My Name Is Earl" you need to. It's hilarious. The show is about a reformed not-so-good guy who decided that Karma had interceded in his life and he needs to make up for all the bad things he had done. Well, this web site must be bringing me some good Karma. Every so often, I think about just stopping. I mean personal therapy is one thing, but who reads all this crap anyway? Whenever I start thinking that, I get an email from someone – sometimes (in fact most of the time) it is from someone I don't even know, like this one:
I just wanted to let you know that I have been following your family thru this web site since the day you started. My family vacation in New Orleans this last summer at the end of June. My daughter always wanted to go there and we just decided to do it. When the hurricane hit I registered with the Red Cross to come down and help as a nurse and took the classes but in the end was not sent. I just want to let you know that I think about you and your family and hope that things go ok. We had a wonderful experience visiting the French quarters everyday when we were there and met some nice people in the shops. We will keep for family and friends in our prayers and I will continue to look for updates. I check almost every day even through I know you usually only write once a week. I feel that I almost know you guys and just wanted to let you know that there are more people out there that care that you may not know about. I do not remember how I got connected with your website but I cam glad that I did. I know that when Katrina hit you were in Racine Wisconsin and that is where I live so my guess is that it might have been in the paper. I just wanted to let you know that people care. I will be looking forward to read your next update.
- Phyllis
Or this one…
Mr. Chuck Just finished up a great Gumbo, which lead me to check Coop's Place website. Thank you so much for keeping the updates on Coop's site going. I've been reading regularly since Sept. I know my friend Cathy has also emailed to thank you. We have eaten and enjoyed a few drinks at Coop's many times and have always thought of it as a place "where everybody knows your name" Your work on keeping up the site has made it more so. Can't wait to get back again.
Saturday I spoke to my sister-in-law (from Centerville LA ). She was at Coop's for lunch a couple weeks ago. Also filled me in on her observations coming into the city. These first hand accounts are so much more meaningful/awful than the news. But I want to know what is happening in the city I have come to love. I hope to get there for Mardi Gras or perhaps later in the spring as work allows. Please toast the locals for us Yankees who wish we were locals too. Until then, I'll tip a Leinie for you.
- Brenda
Or this one…
Hi, Chuck
My husband and I have in the past 3 years have been coming to New Orleans on spring break. Twice with friends and once with family. We always stay at LeRicheleau and Jim, one of the concierges, recommended Coop's to us when we asked where we could get a good oyster po'boy. He did not mislead us! We have eaten at Coop's numerous times since our first visit- probably have eaten almost everything on the old menu. I think it might have been Joe that told us about the webcams and that is how I found the website and have been "spying" on people for three years especially during the cold winters in Iowa wishing I was where it was warmer. When Katrina was approaching and after it hit I was glued to the TV news channels watching and listening in horror. I was also hearing conflicting reports on the different channels about what was happening. That is why I appreciate your updates.We had our hotel room booked before Katrina hit and I e-mailed LeRicheleau and told them we will definitely be there in March as planned. I saw on their website that they are reopening on Jan. 15. When I tell co-workers that I am still planning on going to New Orleans they think that I am crazy. A lot of them have the opinion that New Orleans should not be rebuilt and how could it ever be? I just say outside of it being a major port city and the country needs it, that unless you have been there, you can not understand about the history, culture and perseverance of the people who call New Orleans home. It's not a matter of "if", it's a matter of when.
We are looking forward to our trip down in March and eating at Coop's.
Thanks again for the updates.
- Cathy
Of Boats and Men – Part Two
In Update #23 I published an aerial view of the area where my boat was kept. I talked more about the area in Update #49, after our first post-Katrina visit to the area. If you've been keeping up with this site, you know I had pretty much written off ever finding the boat again. A fact made all the more depressing because I hadn't been out in it that much since acquiring it from Coop's bartender Barry Franklin, who bought it from Coop. In fact, it had already been in the shop once to have the motor built, and was supposed to go back in for more service right about the time Katrina hit.
I had so written off the boat, in fact, that I put the following note in our annual Christmas CD to my friend Dave in Minnesota, who I have been trying to get down here to go fishing for several years:
Need to fish.
Bring boat.
Mine gone.
Well, Karma has stepped up big time, folks.
I got a call yesterday from Don Colletti, owner of A-1 Outboard Motors, which is near where I kept the boat. Don and his family are safe, but they lost their home to Katrina and are living in Poplarville, Mississippi where he owned some land. He called to tell me that he had removed my boat from Breton Sound Marina the week before Katrina hit, and although it got tossed around a little bit, the boat wasn't damaged and he doesn't think the motor took on water. He called because he needs to get paperwork on it so he can remove it from St. Bernard Parish to finish the work on it.
Ain't that somethin'? No way am I stopping these updates any time soon!
Christmas Present
This Christmas, please don't let New Orleans out of your thoughts. I have been watching the daily viewing numbers on my web site drop from week to week. This seems to correspond with the general trend in the United States: out of site, out of mind.
Do not allow my generally optimistic nature to lull you into complacency regarding all that needs to be done here. Tell your friends and co-workers about this site. Urge them to explore it and the links I have to other sites. Make sure they try the Go Anywhere map on the PBS site.
To drive the point home on the extent of the catastrophe, I made a movie, called "Devastation." It is my Christmas present to you, and it is a sucky one. It is supposed to make you tear up, to make you cry. If it does, I won't say I'm sorry — that's what it is supposed to do. I wasn't going to put it up, because I am not sure I am finished with it. But those who have seen it said I have to.
It is big. Download it and show it to your friends. Tell them to tell their representatives not to forget New Orleans, and to put away the pork in the bills next year. You can view the movie here. (You need QuickTime to view it.)
Cancel Mardi Gras?
Maybe you have heard about those who remain displaced who are offended that New Orleans is holding Mardi Gras next year. They held a protest at Monday night's Saints/Falcons game in Atlanta. A woman at Mayor Nagin's latest town hall meeting (held last night) said "I could care less about Mardi Gras. That's a slap in the face to us when we have no place to live."
I have no way of knowing where that person lived or what their attitude was regarding Mardi Gras before Katrina, but I can tell you this: locals that were not directly involved in Mardi Gras typically left town, rather than be "inconvenienced" by the traffic jams and crowds in the city. So for those people to say the could care less about Mardi Gras is a bit disingenuous — they didn't care about it in the first place. But they are missing the bigger picture.
No one is suggesting the city should in any way dishonor those who are displaced. Think of it this way: if a catastrophe of this magnitude were to happen elsewhere — say, Detroit, for instance — the most important thing to do for the local economy (and the welfare of the city's citizens) would be to get the #1 industry up and running as soon as possible. In Detroit's case, that would mean getting the car manufacturer's (and all the satellite industries spawned by it) operational as soon as possible. This means jobs for people, which means they'll have money to spend, and the city will have taxes to collect.
In New Orleans, the #1 industry is tourism. Mardi Gras (and Jazz Fest that comes a couple of months later) is not at all a slap in the face to those who cannot return yet. It is the #1 imperative of the city. Bringing in tourists means jobs for the service industry in New Orleans, and money in the city's coffers (which it desperately needs).
I'd like to stress that no city resources or dollars are being spent for Mardi Gras that could be better spent on recovery. Mardi Gras has always paid for itself, and this year – for the first time ever – the city will allow one company to step up and become the official sponsor of Mardi Gras. A move that will guarantee police officers get their overtime pay and further insures no recovery money will be spent on the festivities. It also gives us a hard target for getting the city back up and running. In New Orleans, it is all too easy to just take things as they come. People get lazy about all sorts of things. Having Mardi Gras not only restores yet another normal thing, but makes it that much easier for the city to get cleaned up faster.
So I'll say it again: whether or not you have ever been to Mardi Gras – or ever even thought of coming – this is the one you don't want to miss. It will be the most historic Mardi Gras ever, and the city needs your tourist dollars.
- The kitchen at Coop's Place is finally open. All nice new equipment in back. Coop has decided to also replace the sinks and redo the plumbing, so it will probably be closed one more day before the end of the year. Tonight will be the first "Saturday Night Special" at Coop's Place since before Katrina. You have no idea how much we are looking forward to it.
- Also tonight is a Christmas party at Jaclyn's house. She wants me to do another Turkey, but it is raining out - so we will see how that works out (hot oil and water don't mix).
- I spoke with Tom Taylor this week. He says he will be back in New Orleans to stay by Christmas.
- The Bush administration pledged another 1.5 billion dollars in aid to rebuild the levees. It will be taken from the larger $62 billion that was approved for the region. That brings the total for the levees to 3.1 billion dollars. Here's the soundbyte that will come back to haunt them:
The federal government is committed to building the best levee system known in the world," said Donald Powell, the top federal official for reconstruction.
Yeah, right. We'll see. There's probably a definition of "is" in there somewhere that needs to be clarified.
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