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From : Lila Hayes
Sent : October 19, 2005
Subject : OFRG weekly update
Meeting
Reminder
Don't forget, this Sunday, October 23 is our very
last official OFRG group event. It is to commemorate the two year
anniversary of the Old Fire. It is a potluck event in which we will be
touring at least 4 houses on Modesto and Sonora including two total losses which
have been rebuilt, my mother's house which is under construction and a partial
loss in which they had to gut the entire house and refinish the entire
interior... and much of the exterior.
George Kehrer from CARe, Inc (www.carehelp.org) has said he will be
there as well as a representative from Senator Soto's www.sen.ca.gov/soto office. I
have some recognition awards from the city for the OFRG volunteers which I will
be handing out.
We have all made so many new friends through this experience which we might
not see much after that so I hope to see everyone there!
---
Index
1. Changes to the insurance "Clue"
database
2. Does your credit score effect the price of
your insurance?
---
In The News
1. Fire marshal earns community praise,
10/13/2005, San Bernardino County Sun
2. FEMA's handling of
flood insurance program criticized, 10/19/2005, San Bernardino County Sun
3. Many 9/11 loans in default, October 17, 2005, Press
Enterprise
4. [Riverside] County not ready for big disaster, October
18, 2005, The Press-Enterprise
5. Katrina evacuees getting new start in
Inland area, October 14, 2005, The Press-Enterprise
6. Rain Departs,
Leaving Behind Muddy Mess, October 19, 2005, LA Times
7.Still Waiting
for Someone to Size Up Damage, October 18, 2005, LA Times
8. Bush Is in
No Hurry on Katrina Recovery, October 17, 2005, LA Times Staff
Writer
9. Retailers Bulk Up to Rebuild the Gulf Coast, October 18,
2005, LA Times
10. There's Little Future Here, October 13, 2005, LA
Times Staff Writer
---
1.
Changes to the insurance "CLUE"
database
---
Did you know that the insurance industry keeps
track of information which it has been known to use against you when purchasing
or renewing your policy?
AB 1640 was recently signed into law. Here is
the introductory statement.
AB 1640, Saldana Insurance claims
information.
Existing law generally regulates how insurers
maintain information
related to adverse underwriting
decisions.
This bill, as of July 1, 2006, would require any
insurer who
issues a policy of insurance covering residential property, if
it
reports claims history or loss experience to an
insurance-support
organization, to provide the insured, within a certain
period, with a
specified disclosure regarding contacting the claims
information
database, and to include the disclosure in the California
Residential
Property Insurance Bill of Rights.
More information on this bill can be found HERE
or at:
More information on the CLUE database can be found
HERE
or at:
---
2.
Does your credit score effect the price of your
insurance?
---
You can read a book review of this book, along with
many other insurance related books at United Policyholder's website
at:
This book also goes into some details which we only
learned through experience. There is an entire chapter called "Insurance
and Your Credit Score". One of the headings in this chapter is "Start
Thinking Differently About Insurance". It goes on to explain how you
shouldn't use your insurance unless you have a catastrophic event which you
could not recover from financially without insurance. On page 139 she
says:
"Does this seem unfair? If you think it
does, you would expect to get some support from J. Robert Hunter, a consumer
advocate and insurance expert for the Consumer Federation of
America....
"But Hunter, an insurance actuary and former Texas
insurance commissioner, also knows how insurance is supposed to work. He
maintains high deductibles on all his personal insurance policies, and he
urges others to do so as well. He sets aside the money he saves on
premiums to pay for out-of-pocket expenses."
It might be a different way to think of insurance,
but it could save you a lot of money in the long run.
---
In The News (some
links might require free registration)
---
1. Fire marshal earns community praise
10/13/2005 10:44 PM
Andrew Silva, Staff Writer
San
Bernardino County Sun
Countless 15-hour days, innumerable
community meetings, persistent lobbying and the inspiring hard work of
colleagues and ordinary citizens have defined the life of San Bernardino County
Fire Marshal Peter Brierty for the past four years.
As a persistent drought
and savage bark beetle infestation turned much of the San Bernardino Mountains
into a waiting tinderbox, Brierty was often at the forefront of convincing
politicians, residents and other agencies of the impending danger.
People listened. They prepared. They were
ready.
--
2. FEMA's handling of flood insurance
program criticized
10/19/2005 02:49 AM
The
Associated Press
San Bernardino County Sun
WASHINGTON -
FEMA needs to improve management of its flood insurance program, including
updating and modernizing its flood maps, two government agencies said
Tuesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has
been criticized for its slow response to the disaster in the Gulf Coast caused
by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, is also in charge of the federal flood insurance
program. Commercial insurance policies do not normally cover floods. Instead,
policies are offered under a federally subsidized program.
--
3. Many 9/11 loans in
default
UNPAID: Insolvency has contributed to a 20 percent
default rate in the SBA's program, records show.
11:45 PM PDT on Monday, October 17, 2005
By FRANK BASS / The Associated Press
Roughly $1 of every $5 in loans the Small Business
Administration directly made to companies hurt by the Sept. 11 attacks has
fallen into default, leaving the government with an uphill effort to recover
millions of dollars in taxpayer money.
The agency just now is learning about the magnitude
of businesses that went under or stopped making payments. Its Sept. 11 direct
disaster loan program often gave recipients two years before their first
payments were due, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
--
4. [Riverside] County not ready for big
disaster
07:24 AM PDT on Tuesday, October 18, 2005
By GAIL WESSON / The Press-Enterprise
Riverside County officials expressed some
confidence Monday that they are ready to respond to disasters in the county
where the death toll is 100, the injured number around 1,000, and the displaced
who need shelter number 20,000 or so.
But they told Riverside County supervisors at a
workshop Monday that the epic Gulf Coast hurricane disaster response gave them
more issues to address in the coming months and a need to educate citizens about
what plans already are in place.
--
5. Katrina evacuees getting new start in
Inland area
HELP: Casinos such as Pechanga and Fantasy Springs,
offer jobs and living incentives.
12:31 AM PDT on Friday, October 14,
2005
By TIM O'LEARY / The
Press-Enterprise
PECHANGA INDIAN RESERVATION - Possessing little
more than the clothes on their backs, many Hurricane Katrina evacuees are taking
new jobs and building new lives in southwest Riverside County.
About 20 evacuees have found jobs at the Pechanga
Resort and Casino south of Temecula. In turn, casino officials are pleased to
tap a new supply of workers, many of whom bring work experience from casinos,
restaurants or hotels that were badly damaged or destroyed in the hurricane that
packed a 175 mph punch, claimed more than 1,200 lives and caused an estimated
$200 billion damage.
--
6. Rain Departs, Leaving Behind Muddy
Mess
Streets are covered in one Burbank canyon, and in Riverside
County, water swamps homes.
October 19, 2005
By Wendy Thermos and Eric Malnic, Times Staff
Writers
A powerful Pacific storm finally abandoned
Southern California on Tuesday afternoon, leaving behind a Burbank canyon awash
with mud and water that cascaded down hillsides denuded during one of last
month's wildfires.
"We got evacuated in the fire. Then we had the rain and mud. The locusts
come next," said Jack Gagne, 48, a "Tonight Show" cameraman who moved to Deer
Creek canyon a year ago. But, he added as he shoveled the muck from his
driveway, "to live in this beautiful canyon is totally worth
it."
[more
HERE]
--
7.Still Waiting for Someone to Size Up Damage
In
St. Bernard, La., where almost all of the homes were wiped out, a couple cling
to the hope that the insurance adjuster will show up.
October 18, 2005
By Sam Howe Verhovek, LA Times Staff Writer
ST. BERNARD, La. — Wayne Savoy has heard that the insurance adjusters
are on the way here in the marshlands of St. Bernard Parish, south and east of
New Orleans. But, he said, it's hard to keep up hope.
"The more you look around, the more depressed you get, basically, is what
it is," said Savoy, 40, a contractor and a lifelong resident of St.
Bernard.
[more
HERE]
--
8. Bush Is in No Hurry on Katrina Recovery
The
president's go-slow approach is called a recipe for chaos, even by fellow
Republicans.
October 17, 2005
By Peter G. Gosselin, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — Almost two months after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the
Gulf Coast and a month after promising in a nationally televised speech to help
rebuild the region "quickly," President Bush has settled on a cautious,
piecemeal approach that even many members of his own party fear will stall
reconstruction and sow economic disarray.
Bush has made highly publicized trips to Louisiana and Mississippi on
average of once a week since the storm, but the administration has yet to
introduce legislation for two of the three proposals the president highlighted
during his September speech from New Orleans.
--
9. Retailers Bulk Up to Rebuild the Gulf
Coast
Katrina's damage has created a huge business opportunity
for Lowe's and Home Depot. Both are boosting inventory and staff in the
region.
October 18, 2005
As Printed in the LA Times, From Associated Press
Ronald Hill was moving quickly on a recent morning at a Home Depot in
Biloxi, Miss., loading a trailer with slabs of sheet rock. He had a house to
rebuild after Hurricane Katrina ripped through his neighborhood.
Hill, who has already spent $13,000, will spend an additional $47,000,
buying "basically, everything but the studs and bricks."
[more
HERE]
--
10. There's Little Future Here
Residents of New
Orleans' Lower 9th Ward get their first glimpse of the damage. For one woman, it
was 'look and leave' -- and mourn.
October 13, 2005
By Sam Howe Verhovek, Times Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS — Six weeks after the flood, on the first day they could
come back to look at their homes, some residents of the Lower 9th Ward managed
small moments of victory Wednesday, recovering bits of their pre-hurricane
lives.
A favorite piece of china. A photo album stored on a high closet shelf. In
one home, a battery-operated clock, still ticking, still telling correct
time.
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