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From : Lila Hayes
Sent : September 21, 2005
Subject : OFRG weekly update
Meeting
Reminder
We have a host for our September get
together! Cindy Le Clair who recently moved back into 3515 El
Camino would like to have us over. The date is September 25 at 2:00
PM.
If your property is within walking distance of
Cindy, please let me know if we can do a short tour of your house as well.
Sylvia Henry who lives on Verde has already volunteered to let us tour her house
which is under construction! We look forward to visiting with these and
other people in the area!
If you'd like to print out a flyer to give to a
friend or neighbor, you can go to our website. On the front page there is
a schedule of upcoming events. A link is next to the Sep 25 event which
has a flyer in PDF format.
---
Index
1. Leigh Adams Discount Sales "fire
survivor discount" update
2. CalMax lists free and cheap
items
3. Did you use the CDI Mediation
program?
---
In The News
1. Feds aim for flood warning system, Sep 21, 2005,
SB Sun Staff Writer
2. FEMA flood maps flawed, SB Sun
3. Disaster
needs pinch Inland forest efforts, Sep 16, 2005, Riverside
Press-Enterprise
4. Natural disasters shape political landscape, Sep 14,
2005, Riverside Press Enterprise
5. State files suit against insurers, Sep
16, 2005, Riverside Press Enterprise
6. Piling up debt, Sep 17, 2005,
Riverside Press Enterprise
7. FEMA Battered by Waste, Fraud, Sep 18, 2005, LA
Times
8. Fear of Disasters Is Real, but Not Always Rational, Sep 20, 2005, LA
Times
9. Preparing for the next disaster, Sep 16, 2005, LA Times
10. Man
gets 180-day sentence for looting during [2003] wildfire, July 19, 2005, SD
Union Tribune
11. It's not good news for disaster tax write-offs, Sep 11,
2005, San Diego Union Tribune
12. Former FEMA director hired by Louisiana
lobbies for insurance company, Sep 15, 2005, San Diego Union
Tribune
---
1. Leigh Adams Discount Sales "fire survivor
discount" update
---
I received the following from a San Bernardino
Survivor and thought I'd pass it along.
Just wanted you to know that Leigh Adams Discount Sales
(Audio, Video and Big Screen TV's) in Ontario, California is giving a wonderful
discount to all fire survivors. Melissa Adams, the owners daughter, gave
us personal attention and also gave us a fantastic "deal" on a big screen TV and
audio system! They were warm and gracious and somewhat disappointed that
more of us hadn't visited their store and taken advantage of the discount.
It's worth the trip to Ontario to take advantage of it!
We saw the Leigh Adams store on the Old Fire Recovery
Group website and called the number given there. Melissa Adams was warm
and caring right from the beginning of the telephone conversation. We went
to the store, with no plans of buying since we were on a "fact finding" mission
as we had been with so many other TV stores, and were treated like we were the
only people in the place and it was crowded! We were given such a good
deal that we decided to get our TV and sound system right then and there. Our
new TV was delivered the next day! We even received a nice Thank You note from
them in the mail. When was the last time you got any kind of thanks
like that from a store?
Just wanted you to know that there are still companies out
there that stand behind what they say. Leigh Adams Discount Sales, Melissa
Adams, and Gary Podwell, Assistant Manager, really stand by what they say!
Rick, Sharon, Josh and Yukon Cords
San Bernardino, CA
---
2. CalMax lists free and cheap items
---
"Tell them you found it in SBCountyMAX!"
A
partnership between San Bernardino County and the California Integrated Waste
Management Board.
These are the "available" listings for San
Bernardino.
There aren't many, but maybe you're willing to
travel more for something free. Check out the entire site:
---
3. Did you use the CDI Mediation
program?
---
United Policyholders is working with the American
Bar Association to set up a mediation program for Katrina survivors. Amy
Bach of United Policyholders is interested in getting in touch with anyone who
used the California Department of Insurance mediation program so you can discuss
how it went. If you need confidentiality, I believe Amy is a lawyer so ask
her if it can be "confidential".
---
In The News (some
links might require free registration)
---
1. Feds aim for flood warning
system
Guy McCarthy, SB Sun Staff Writer
Protecting people below burned watersheds in San
Bernardino County from water-borne avalanches of boulders, rocks and trees is
the aim of a new post-fire debris-flow warning system announced Monday by
federal weather and geology experts in the nation's capital.
-
2. FEMA flood maps
flawed
Experts: Data on dangers too obsolete to be
useful
Guy McCarthy, SB Sun Staff Writer
The former dream home on Greenwood Avenue is still
buried to its eaves in mud and boulders that came down on Christmas 2003.
The
San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors voted last week to have the Devore
home demolished because the owners have abandoned it.
-
3. Disaster needs pinch Inland forest
efforts
FIRE PREVENTION: Federal funds for tree removal shrink
in the face of Hurricane Katrina bills.
Friday, September 16, 2005
By RICHARD
BROOKS / The Press-Enterprise
Because of Hurricane Katrina, no federal disaster
funding has been earmarked for the San Bernardino National Forest next year so
dead-tree-removal spending is expected to plunge 83 percent just two years after
a catastrophic fire ravaged the forest.
-
4. Natural disasters shape political
landscape
10:07 PM PDT on Wednesday, September 14, 2005
By JOSÉ-ANTONIO OROSCO
Riverside Press Enterprise
Natural disasters have a way of not only
transforming physical spaces but political landscapes as well. Twenty years ago
this month, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck Mexico City, killing nearly
10,000 people and leaving thousands homeless. In three minutes, $4 billion worth
of damage was done.
The parallels to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
are striking. Many Mexicans accused the federal government of not responding
quickly enough to the earthquake. City officials said they were not to blame and
pointed fingers at national politicians for years of neglect. When politicians
did come to the destroyed neighborhoods, they brought along the media, hoping to
score points on the front pages for the next elections.
But the residents of Mexico City would not stand
for this posturing. They began to organize their own neighborhood organizations
from within the rubble in order to deliver food, medicine and shelter to
survivors. These organizations formed themselves into political forces that
marched on government offices, demanding that officials pay attention to their
needs and not try to cover up the extent of the disaster.
-
5. State files suit against
insurers
MISSISSIPPI: The attorney general wants the firms to
pay for billions in flood damage.
09:58 AM PDT on Friday, September 16,
2005
By DUNCAN MANSFIELD / The Associated
Press - as printed in the Riverside Press Enterprise
JACKSON, MISS. - Mississippi on Thursday sued insurers to force them to pay
billions of dollars in flood damage from Hurricane Katrina, saying standard
insurance polices have led homeowners to believe they are covered for all
hurricane damage, whether from high winds or storm surges.
-
6. Piling up debt
KATRINA: Many who were forced to
evacuate the Gulf Coast are living off their credit cards.
11:14 PM PDT
on Saturday, September 17, 2005
By DAVID KOENIG / The Associated Press - as
printed in the Riverside Press Enterprise
Jerry and Deborah Alciatore fled New Orleans with nothing but a couple of
overnight bags, an ice chest and their credit cards. The bags emptied quickly,
but two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit, the balance on the credit cards is
mounting fast.
-
7. FEMA Battered by Waste, Fraud
September 18,
2005
After some recent disasters, money poured into areas that suffered
little or no damage.
By Sally Kestin, South Florida Sun-Sentinel - as published in the LA
Times
The national disaster response agency that mishandled the Hurricane
Katrina catastrophe has for years been fraught with waste and fraud.
In five years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency poured at least $330
million into communities that were spared the devastating effects of fires,
hurricanes, floods and tornadoes, an investigation by the South Florida
Sun-Sentinel has found.
Taxpayers' money meant to help victims recover from catastrophes has
instead gone to people in communities that suffered little or no damage,
including:
• $5.2 million to Los Angeles-area residents more than 25 miles from
the 2003 wildfires for which help was designated.
[editorial comment by Lila - You know, over a year ago I read
the following report (link below) put out by FEMA about the
wildfires. I couldn't believe that FEMA actually claimed to give out more
than $30 mil in assistance money (see page 30 of the report) since I've yet to
meet more than one or two fire survivors who actually got a grant from
FEMA.
Well, now that the above article has been published in the LA Times, now I
guess now I know!
I would even venture a guess that of the above mentioned $5.2 mil
which went to these LA area residents, most if it came from the $7.9 mil in HA
Grants which goes "to meet emergency home repair expenses that are not covered
by insurance" and not from the ONA program which is used for "disaster-related
medical, dental or funeral expenses." Don't you think it would be easier
to fake that your TV was broken due to the fire than that your grandma died
because of the fire? Why do I think this? Read this quote which
comes from the above LA Times article:
"'All you've got to do is say something was damaged,' said Tasha Williams,
a 26-year-old mother of three and tenant of Imperial Courts, a public housing
development in Watts. 'It's free money.'"
Or how about this quote from the same article:
"In Long Beach, many residents of a low-rent apartment building got money
after one discovered the government would pay for furniture soiled by soot when
windows were left open."
8. Fear of Disasters Is Real, but Not Always
Rational
September 20, 2005
By Catherine Saillant, LA Times Staff Writer
Yes, California, the Big One is coming.
But there's no telling when a major earthquake will occur, and there's very
little you can do about it anyway.
So stop worrying so much.
That, in a nutshell, is the advice of Dr. Gary Small, a UCLA psychiatrist
and expert in mass hysteria.
-
9. Preparing for the next disaster
Ilyce Glink, Tribune Media Services
September 16, 2005
LA Times
Losing stuff is a distant second to losing your life. But for those trying
to start over after a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina, gaining access to
financial records, relocating for your job, finding a new job, or applying for
unemployment benefits can be a challenge without identification, credit cards,
ATM cards, account numbers, passwords and online access – not to mention the
complete absence of communication, clean water, electricity and the other
necessities of first-world life.
-
10. Man gets 180-day sentence for looting during [2003] wildfire
SIGNONSANDIEGO NEWS SERVICES
3:17 p.m. July 19, 2005
SAN DIEGO – A man who stole a San Diego police officer's motorcycle helmet
as the lawman helped fight a raging wildfire in Scripps Ranch in October 2003
was sentenced Tuesday to 180 days in custody.
Jack Robert Minitch, 23,
pleaded guilty last month to looting during a state of emergency.
11. It's not good news for disaster tax
write-offs
NATION'S HOUSING KENNETH HARNEY
September 11, 2005 - as printed in the San Diego Union Tribune
WASHINGTON – The cataclysmic losses Hurricane Katrina inflicted on Gulf
Coast property owners shine fresh light on a murky corner of the federal tax
code: Tax write-offs for storm damage to houses.
It's a subject worth the attention of any homeowner, anywhere in the
country, since it applies not just to monster hurricanes, but to floods,
tornadoes, fires and earthquakes. The Internal Revenue Code allows owners of
houses damaged by natural disasters to seek and obtain tax relief for losses not
covered by insurance. That's the good news.
The bad news: the hoops and snares you've got to get past to figure your
write-off relief. Not only can the rules be tricky, but you may end up with a
far lower write-off than you think you deserve.
-
12. Former FEMA director hired by Louisiana lobbies for insurance
company
By Sharon Theimer
ASSOCIATED PRESS - as published in the
San Diego Union Tribune
2:10 p.m. September 15, 2005
WASHINGTON – As ex-federal disaster chief James Lee Witt advises
Louisiana's governor on hurricane recovery, he is also working for an insurance
company lobbying Congress to create a fund to ease insurers' burdens from
disaster claims, records show.
The former Federal Emergency Management Agency director and his firm,
James Lee Witt Associates, registered this week to lobby for Allstate Insurance
Co. Their mission: "to draft and introduce model legislation creating a natural
disaster catastrophe fund," says the registration, posted Thursday by the
Political Money Line lobbying tracking service.
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