Beaumont Enterprise Ike 09-23

Inside: Local agencies seek federal grant to create temporary jobs Page 3A  WEATHER: Sunny, Highs: 80s, Lows: 60s/2A 

TUESDAY

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SEPTEMBER 23, 2008

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FEMA: Mobile homes coming Coordinator says agency could provide travel trailers if requested by state officials By RYAN MYERS

THE ENTERPRISE

With local leaders fearing population loss, mobile homes — not travel trailers — soon could be available for Hurricane Ike victims, a FEMA official said Monday. FEMA has turned away from travel trailers, which housed thousands following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, because of sickness and lawsuits resulting from high levels of formaldehyde. “I’m not going to give you a timeline for when we will have a mobile home down on the ground, but we do expect one very

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 THE ADVOCATE FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS SINCE 1880 

Charles Kerr/The Enterprise

A line of FEMA trailers left a Jasper storage yard Monday en route to Louisiana. shortly,” said Phil Parr, a FEMA coordi- during a conference call Monday. “We nating officer. are very practiced at this.” “This is one of our normal programs,” Parr said of the mobile homes FEMA, page 4A

Disaster bill on fast track in Congress State officials pledge to help get recovery money for disaster-stricken coastal towns By DAN WALLACH and CHRISTINE RAPPLEYE

VIDEO

THE ENTERPRISE

Beaumonters return from Tyler shelters

BRIDGE CITY — Texas should get a “majority” of $6 billion in federal disaster relief that Congress must address this week before it adjourns, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said Monday. Appearing with U.S. Reps. Kevin Brady and Ted Poe, Hutchison said Hurricane Ike recovery also must include temporary housing for people — like residents of Bridge City — whose homes were destroyed Sept. 13 in Ike’s storm surge. “I believe we’ll be able to get

◆ See U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s visit to the area at BeaumontEnterprise.com

the obstacles worked out,” Hutchison said, adding that there is no announcement yet on trailers for displaced people in this storm as there were for people after Hurricane Rita in 2005. “Clearly, it’s what you need here to rebuild and get back to work,” she said. “It’s an absolute priority.” BILL, page 4A

Dave Ryan/The Enterprise

Pete Churton/The Enterprise

Eartha Sneed, 66, was happy to return to Beaumont after being evacuated to Tyler. She was on the first bus

to arrive at the Beaumont Municipal Athletic Complex Monday.

Home at last Southeast Texas evacuees happy to return 11 days after fleeing from Hurricane Ike By DEE DIXON

THE ENTERPRISE

BEAUMONT — Children jumped off the buses with smiles on their faces while their parents were exhausted from a five-hour journey from a makeshift Tyler shelter back to Beaumont 11 days after evacuating from Hurricane Ike. Kiaungra Pittman, 4, jumped off the American Coach bus and ran toward her bag that a National Army Guard soldier placed in a row. She smiled and grabbed it with

2-year-old Raymond Chaisson bounces a basketball at the Beaumont Municipal Athletic Complex on Monday after returning from evacuating to Tyler with his family.

a huge hug. “I’m going home to play with my toys,” said Pittman, who evacuated to Tyler with her family and lived in an old Wal-Mart that had been converted into a shelter for Southeast Texas evacuees. She and her family were among 3,591 Beaumont residents who were evacuated by bus or ambulance before Hurricane Ike pummeled the region. Her mom, Annie Sneed, a 33year-old Beaumont home health worker, was glad to be home

Pete Churton/ The Enterprise

RETURN, page 4A

INSIDE Advice..............2B Classified ........5C

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, center, arrives at a press conference at the Bridge City High School Monday after touring the area with Orange County Judge Carl Thibodeaux, left, and Kevin Brady, right, along with other elected officials.

Comics ............4C Markets............1B Nation..............2A Obituaries ........6A

Puzzles ............2B Sports ............1C State ................2A Weather............2A

Dow Nasdaq -372.75 -94.92

SE Texas wildlife falls victim to Ike Hurricane destroyed food sources, homes, created salty environment for animals By SARAH MOORE

THE ENTERPRISE

The small alligator looked incongruous bobbing in the waves near the shore at McFaddin Beach. As it drifted west with the tide, the animal began exhibiting signs of distress, convulsing and making erratic movements. Soon, it simply gave up and lay on the sand with the waves breaking gently around it. It was likely another victim of Hurricane Ike, said Gary Calkins of Texas Parks and Wildlife. Animals are in much the same predicament as people Average price of a gallon of regular gas in Southeast Texas: As of Monday morning

when it comes to living in a hurricane zone. Storms destroy their homes and food sources and displace them into uncomfortable environments. The alligator struggling in the surf at McFaddin was likely disoriented and seeking freshwater when it wandered into the Gulf, Calkins said. Alligators can’t tolerate a saltwater environment for long. Because they absorb moisture through their skin, by osmosis, salt water actually draws moisture from their skin, WILDLIFE, page 4A

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