I've been busier than normal the past few months and my time available to scrounge for truth on DU has diminished, but I can't beleive I missed this one! I know the Katrina ice fiasco surely must have made the rounds on DU, but I must have missed it.
At any rate, I thought it was worth posting it again in case I'm not the only one living under a bridge on the informaion superhighway!
From the NYT:
Ninety-one thousand tons of ice cubes, that is, intended to cool food, medicine and sweltering victims of the storm. It would cost taxpayers more than $100 million, and most of it would never be delivered.
SNIP
Finally, 10 days after he started, the driver was told to take the ice to storage in Bettendorf, Iowa, Mr. Hohnstein said. The truck had traveled 3,282 miles, but not a cube of ice had reached a hurricane victim.
"Well," Mr. Hohnstein said, "the driver got to see the country."
His company's bill to the government will exceed $15,000, he said, but the ice was worth less than $5,000. "It seemed like an incredible waste of money," he said.
The next time FEMA calls for help, it may find the response far less willing. After two Universe Truck Lines drivers spent more than two weeks on the road to no purpose, the company decided it had had enough. When a FEMA contractor called and asked if the company could take some ice stored in Fremont, Neb., to Fort Worth, Tex., Universe said no.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/national/nationalspecial/02ice.html?ei=5065&en=435fcce9a4707c7c&ex=1128830400&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print