WHAT is the hold up?

My husband has worked for TEXAS, as a Georgia Fire Fighter, twice since June, and once, when Hurricane Ike hit,
and it is now October 1, 2008 and we are YET to see the money from JUNE that has to come from FEMA! Well, the state says FEMA is the hold up, because your agency has not given them the money, to distribute….well, thanks FEMA…my husband and I get nothing while you HOLD the money….well, how about we hold our taxes next year….would that be acceptable/?…NO WAY! You’d have an IRS person on our heads in a minute’s notice….then, why don’t we have the same power….because THESE men are just the expendible, working poor, firefighters making a pitiful amount, and when THESE men are good enough to risk their lives, YET AGAIN….for federal emergencies, YOU can’t seem to come up with the money! Well, I hope you people are enjoying holdng OUR money….while we cancel things for our children that they need, and we eat pinto beans, and rice….Does that bring you pleasure? If not, then, get the ball rolling….and GET THESE MEN PAID…what if YOU had to wait 3-4 months on YOUR pay check? Would you still go to YOUR job? I think NOT!

Joan Brunson
Rome, GA
10-1-08

PS: Our part of this paycheck is minute, compared to the overall figure that is owed to the state of Georgia by FEMA! I believe the total is $1.2 million….so FEMA….where is OUR tax dollars? Did you spend them all like the Federal government spent all the medicare money that the elderly TRUSTED them with, so that when they got old, they could eat! Hurry up and get over your greed FEMA, and feed the poor, YOUR OWN WORKING TAXPAYERS!

Update:
“He finally got paid in April 2009″

- Joan Brunson

Alright this is my second letter. First of all I filled out my Fema application online on September 2nd 2005, four days after the storm. I told fema that I wanted my trailer as soon as possible so that I could get back to work. They said that I was denied because I had no damage. My house had about 6 feet of standing water so that was impossible. So I ended that call and called right back. The next representative told me that my house was inspected August 31st. I wondered how that was possible when the entire gentilly area was under water. I waited through 4 months of constant phone calls asking me if I still wanted the trailer. I answered every call the same…yes! I only saw my newborn son once since he was born November 1st and I was trying to get a trailer to move him and his mom back down here. The trailer would also save me the hour drive to/from work, when my job is actually 5 minutes from damaged property. I was awarded the 2 payments that fema was offering, but what was that supposed to do? I had to buy an entire new wardrobe including new work uniforms. I am using approximately $150 a week in gas, paying $250 a month to entergy. I have started on my house, but it is hard to handle my business from an hour away. All I want to do is have my family back together and try to get my house back to a livable status. The trailer would help me greatly and save me a great deal of money.

- Rashad D. Batiste

I filled out my FEMA application on September 2nd 2005. I know for a fact that was before anybody in my neighborhood, because they all told me so. Everybody in my neighborhood has trailers and I am still waiting. First it was the problem that FEMA had me in the category of waiting for a commercial site for three months. I finally found out that an inspection was done September 10 without me being at the house. I know you are wondering how was an now it is inspection done with the city still flooded, that is the same question i am wondering. After I finally got that rectified i waited another month for another inspection. Now it is the end of January and my land is being inspected. The inspector has the wrong coordinates for my clean-out drain and can’t find it. I asked if he could use the drain underneath my house by my bathroom he tells me no. Now it is March and I haven’t heard anything about my trailer. Everybody in the neighborhood are settled in their trailers and I am still waiting. I am driving 45 minutes to work, when I live 5 minutes from my job. I have my son and girlfriend living 400+ miles away and I have only seen my son once since he was born in November. All I am asking is for a trailer so I can get my family back together. If anyone can help me, I beg for the help.

- Rashad D. Batiste

“Insufficient Damage” for Frances, Jeanne, and Wilma. My roof is leaking, my floors are collapsing, I have mold in various places throughout the house, and have had my appeals turned down for Frances and Jeanne. No response yet to my appeal for Wilma damages after 6 months. What is going on here? People who could afford generators got reimbursed. If you couldn’t afford one in the first place…well, too bad. Who the heck is getting all the money and why???? We live on Social Security. We both suffer from health problems that prevent us from repairing damage ourselves, even if we could afford it, which we can’t. I HATE Fema! It is disrespectful, discriminatory, and hires so-called investigators that are completely ignorant about mobile homes and assessing damage. Not one investigator bother to use the ladder I offered to look at the roof damage. They simply measured the house, and, as long as we had one working bathroom and bedroom, we were out of luck. Guess we should have lied like the people in Miami who made a bundle in 2004. We just wanted assistance, not a windfall.

- Donald & Cathy Woodworth

Dear FEMA,

You poor thing, as agencies go I’m sure you’re about like any other, unfortunately the “elected” officials in this administration have placed unqualified people in critical positions, two examples being Condi Rice and Mike Brown. Our national security advisor claims not to be able to imagine airplanes being used as weapons despite the well known history of this being done (also she’s very busy shopping for shoes), and the director of FEMA at the time Katrina hit is better suited to his chosen field in horse track management, no doubt dreaming of unicorns and the like instead of responding to the Katrina emergency. Any one with half a brain knows how these Nazi loving-right-wing corporate scammers who have infiltrated the US government operate, so it’s no surprise that FEMA now has a bad reputation, the scammers don’t want the citizenry to have confidence in the government or it’s institutions, thereby instilling fear and uncertainty among the population, or for the people to be united in their opinions, which of course puts the same emotional rhetoric propaganda spouting Nazi loving-right-wing corporate scammers in the illusionary position of saviors in times of need, and also weakens their opponents ability to organize. Create a crisis and provide the solution, that’s the way these Nazi loving-right-wing corporate scammers who have infiltrated the US government operate, it makes them rich to do so, plain and simple, we all know how well Cheney’s Haliburton buddies have scammed FEMA by over charging and not delivering what’s been ordered, etc.
Better luck next time FEMA, and be sure to watch out for the military industrial complex trying to scam you again, just like President Eisenhower and Major Smedley Butler said they would.

Your friend,
Ivan