Shipping ice to Florida from MICHIGAN??? -CNN

[SoCalDem]

Do they not have the "recipe" for ice in ...say.. Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama??

With fuel costs being what they are, it seems very wasteful.. I am glad that Michigan is so generous, but sheeeeez... Why not have the perishable things shipped in from closer..??

[KharmaTrain]

1. Michigan Ice Is In Season Now...

And is produced by a subsidiary of Kellogg, Brown & Root. Didn't you get that memo? /sarcasm off/

[GiovanniC]

15. Ice Is Always In Season Here

And our recipe is the best.

Roll that beautiful ice footage.

[dbt]

2. Anybody else heard about the fresh water supplies?

I saw something/somewhere yesterday that indicated that fresh water was late in arriving in the disaster zones--when it should have been among the first items to be sent.

:freak:
dbt

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Isn't supply of potable water to a disaster area usually handled by...

...the National Guard? :shrug:

[mediaman007]

4. I read that all of the National Guard's water treatment equipment is in

Iraq. So the best that the NG can do is to run water in with tanker trucks.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

5. Michingan must be a swing state

according to the "How to get the most votes out of Hurrican Charley" playbook.

[noonwitch]

6. Michigan is a swing state, but this is more about the generosity of

the owner of the ice company. They were interviewing him on the news this morning. He felt bad for all those old people down there without power, and owns and ice company, so he sent a couple of truckloads down there to help.

[Ripley]

7. Just another story of regular Americans to pick up the tab...

I saw a story with picture the other day about a boy somewhere who had gone door to door raising money for the victims. Then he went to the area and handed out cans of Alpo.

I think it's great people want to help and always do...but COME ON, this is a major natural disaster...the kind we have GOVERNMENT agencies to use our tax dollars in getting things done fast. Everyone knows power lines will take a long time to get back up, but water, ice, food, doctors? No excuse for it taking a week.

[phylny]

9. Having been through a hurricane

last year (Isabel), I've learned that you have to be as prepared as you can be personally. Of course, our experience wasn't bad at all - the only thing we couldn't do was drink water from the tap - but we were prepared nonetheless. To be fair, I can't imagine what the hell we would have done if our house was destroyed, if we had no electricity for a week, etc. There were people in our area who lived through just that, and it was difficult.

It broke my heart watching the news yesterday. Residents of one community were forced to create a barricade of their homes' debris to try to keep looters out. Looters even came by boat to try to steal stuff. No food, no water, no electricity, no safety.

Where are the governmental agencies to help these folks? Maybe it's a great lesson to some Repubs, who always want "smaller" government until they need something - like food, water, security.

[Ripley]

10. Yes, you are right, folks need to be prepared.

Ever since I moved into a Tornado zone in the deep south, I have a huge preparation package and contingency plans for "worst case." And of course I believe the men and women who are working rescue and clean-up in Florida are working their butts off.

But "lots of debris" is no excuse. Almost a week after the storm hit and they still can't truck water and Guards in? Someone screwed this one up big time. Gee, I wonder if his name begins with a "B"?

And you are absolutely right. In my R state they always scream about BIG GOVERNMENT until the storms hit...then they write letter after letter to the Editor complaining they aren't getting their guvmint aid/money fast enough.

That's sick that looters "came by boat" to steal.

[SoCalDem]

11. What's really sick is that people even want to steal damaged stuff

How good is a tv that's been soaked gonna be anyway?? I can't blame people for wanting to stay near their stuff,but for others to go out of their way to prey on these peope is S I C K !!

[LuminousX]

16. Maybe if we had the National Guard at home...

instead of in Iraq - people would be more safe.

[Ghetto_Boy]

8. Michigans Motto: One GOOD month!

[soup]

12. Could it be for these people?

They may need the ice for cocktail hour.


A grand old time at 100 grand a day
The residents of an upscale Port Charlotte retirement community have taken up residence in two Tampa hotels.
By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN, Times Staff Writer
Published August 19, 2004


TAMPA - Inside the posh lobby of the Marriott Waterside, with its marble floors and stately furnishings, white-haired people with walkers lounge in plush chairs.
>snip<

These are no ordinary hotel guests. They are refugees from Port Charlotte, driven from their upscale retirement community by Hurricane Charley.

Now, at a cost of $100,000 a day, they are waiting out the recovery at a Tampa waterfront hotel.
>snip<

The residents plan to stay for months.

"We're basically going to run South Port Square from downtown Tampa until we can go back home," said Kelley Johnson, chairman of Johnson Ezell Corp., which owns the community. The company hopes to recoup the extra expense through insurance.
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/19/Hillsborough/A_grand_old_time_at_1.shtml

-----

Please don't jump on me. I'm not saying these people should suffer.

The difference between the haves and the have-nots is just so stark, thought I'd share it.

[Orangepeel]

13. because a TV station in Detroit wanted to do it

I guess no TV stations in Louisiana, Georgia, etc. volunteered. :shrug:

This is the doing of two TV stations, one in Orlando and one in Detroit. They claim to be "sister stations" whatever that means. I guess they are both CBS affiliates with general managers who know each other. The Detroit station got a company in Michigan to donate 80,000 lbs. of ice and the Orlando station got the Orlando Magic to pay for the trucks. They originally wanted to use the team plane but couldn't because it wasn't refrigerated.

[SoCalDem]

14. However admirable the gesture,

I still think the money spent would buy a lot of supplies locally..

I mean really.. people CAN survive without ice.. No one will die if they drink room temp bottled water.. There are probably no perishables left that have not been spoiled already..

canned tuna..bread..crackers..bottled fruit juice..canned baby formula in serving sizes..charcoal..camping lamps..sterno..blankets..tents..matches..shoes..

these are things that people really need.. the money that OrlandoMagic spent would have bought a lot of this stuff.