Storm Stories. Part II

KATRINA NOTEBOOK: Before shifting to rather placid Vernon and area, I took the opportunity to scour the newswires and websites for stories of the Great Hurricane, which one observer claimed was of Biblical proportions.
As a former columnist with the U.S.-based World Net Daily website (1997-2000), the Ol' Columnist "collected" a number of WND stories, which were noteworthy:
FAMILY FROM OVER 'OME: One involved the Scott family -- Ged, 36, his wife, Sandra, 37, and 7-year-old son, Ronan -- of Liverpool, England, who were in the Ramada Hotel in New Orleans when Katrina slashed into the U.S. Gulf Coast. Ged related it this way: "I could not describe how bad the authorities were, taking photographs of us as we were standing on the roof waving for help, for their own personal photo albums, little snapshot photographs." Scott then told the BBC News interviewer there were girls on the roof, calling out to be rescued and "(The authorities) said to them, 'Well, show us what you've got' -- doing signs for them to lift their T-shirts up. The girls said no, and (the rescuers) said 'well fine' and motored off down the road in their motorboat. That's the sort of help we had from the authorities." New Orleans is noted for women flashing their breasts in public during Mardi Gras. Scott also said that the relief operation was "horrendous" and noted policemen had taken "souvenir" photographs of stranded people begging for help.
NO PRAYER PLEA: Another WND story which caught my attention involved a woman named Ellen Johnson, president of the American Atheists. In no uncertain terms, Johnson said U.S. President George Bush and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco should stop praying for the hurricane victims -- now get this --"because it violates the Constitution." While people were in great need of divine intervention and comfort, Johnson was blathering on about religion activities behind some relief efforts. She was quoted as saying, "We're getting reports of how some religion-based 'aid' groups are trying to fly evangelists into the stricken areas and how U.S. Army chaplains are carrying Bibles -- not food or water -- to 'comfort' people (at the New Orleans Superdome). People need material aid, medical care and economic support -- not prayers and preaching. And listen to this: Dave Silverman, communications director for American Atheists, claimed "'God' was once again asleep at the wheel."
RABBI'S POINT OF VIEW: There was also a WND story out of Jerusalem, in which Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Lewin, executive director of the Rabbinic Congress for Peace, said: "Katrina is a consequence of the destruction of (Gaza's) Gush Katif (slate of Jewish communities) with America's urging and encouragement. The U.S. should have discouraged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from implementing the Gaza evacuation rather than pushing for it and pressuring Israel into concessions." The WND report noted that one week before Katrina made landfall, Israel carried out the evacuation of 9,500 residents from Gush Katif and four Samaria communities, kicking and screaming. The former Katif residents are still homeless.
EMOTIONAL TIME: Geraldo Rivera, a Fox News mainstay, certainly showed his emotional side as New Orleans residents were stranded inside and outside the wretched Convention Center. I watched with tears in my eyes as well as Geraldo sobbed: "Let them walk out of here, let them walk the hell out of here. Walk to some other town. Walk some place where you can help 'em. ... These people in the same clothes, where do you think they go to the bathroom? They don't wash their hands, they don't wash their face, these babies. What the hell?"
WADING TO THE RESCUE: Veteran newsman Ted Koppel also became part of the Big Story in the Big Hurt. It seems Koppel jumped into filthy water to help rescue a stranded woman -- Rosa Lee Branch, according to a NewsMax.com report. Rescuers loaded Rosa and her wheelchair onto a boat and Koppel got on board to interview here. "... When the boat reached the entrance to the Fairground Race Course, which is being used as a rescue staging area, the water was too shallow for its propeller to operate. So several officers and Koppel -- who had no wading boots -- jumped into the nearly waist-deep water to pull the boat the last 50 yards to dry land."
IT'S CERTAINLY NOT OVER YET: While Katrina died an agonizing death after destroying New Orleans and the U.S. Gulf Coast, another potential deadly storm -- Ophelia -- is threatening Florida's Atlantic coast. Tropical storm warnings were posted along a 100-mile stretch from Sebastian Inlet to Flagler Beach on Wednesday. Where it hits land appears to be anyone's guess, but Lixion Avila of the National Hurricane Centre in Miami has been quoted as saying: "Anything is possible."
SHAKING IN INDONESIA: There was a report out on Banda Aceh, Indonesia Wednesday of an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale with the epicenter located in the Nicobar island area. In late December, a giant earthquake rocked Banda Aceh, with a resulting tsunami killing hundreds of thousands.
FINALLY: There may be another volcano in the making in the Cascade Range. According to an AP story out of Bend, Oregon, a recent survey shows a bulge covering about 100 square miles south of one of state's active volcanoes, South Sister. There are three other active volcanoes in that area -- Mount Hood, Crater Lake and Newberry.