Sept. 16, 2005 Vol. 35 Issue 1
tiger print
What’s inside... Blue Valley High’s Family tree, pages 6-7
Blue Valley High School
Bayou impacts Blue Valley Katrina has earth-space teacher on stand-by jessica katzenstein
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news editor
lue Valley Earth/ Space Science teacher Lisa Hill, a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is uDeath toll currently prepared to at 423 in New depart for New Orleans Orleans, 218 in to participate Mississippi in the organization’s uDamage to mass efforts to transit estimated at recover from $3 billion Hurricane Katrina. uOver 3,000 rescued “I have no by boat and air idea when I’ll be leaving,” Hill said. “If I uAbout 713,000 go, I’ll probably people without do community power relations. We hand out flyers
“I think New Orleans is an important city because it is rich in history and culture, and it can’t be forgotten. It should be rebuilt.” junior miles jacksonq
People wade in flood waters on Canal St. in New Orleans, Tuesday, Aug. 30. They are among many who are stranded in the after math of Hurricane Katrina. Photo used with permission from the Associated Press.
freshman zach hennigq
senior luke matheisq “I don’t think they [FEMA] got there soon enough to help because they weren’t prepared enough.” freshman julia hindsq
“Hurricane Katrina was disastrous, but it’s great that everyone is helping out.”
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eader eaction
Fast Facts
on how to get help, with numbers to call.” Hill got involved with FEMA in 1999 for the emergency management agency of Belton, Mo. As a meteorologist, she helped with weather needs, including sounding sirens for tornadoes and cleaning up after winter storms. Hill disagrees with current criticism of FEMA for not responding fast enough to the hurricane. “People don’t understand what FEMA is,” she said. “We’re recovery, not responders.” If Hill is called down to New Orleans, she will stay for one month and have a long-term sub take over her duties as teacher. “I’ll still have to do all the lesson plans,” she laughed. After much criticism, FEMA director Mike Brown resigned on Monday.
New student escapes devastation, adjusts to life as BV student matt killen
staff reporter
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ast Friday marked the first step toward normalcy for one Blue Valley student. Fourteen-year-old Benjamin Lyon began school again after moving from New Orleans. Lyon moved to escape Hurricane Katrina, which had ravaged his home. After receiving an urgent message from the mayor of New Orleans, Benjamin and his mother, like other citizens, quickly packed up their belongings. “Because of all the thing in the car I had to sit crosslegged with a dog on my lap for 10 hours,” Lyon said. The conditions in New Orleans after the hurricane were vile, he said. There was sewage running through the streets, terrible erosion and bodies piled up on the interstate. According to Lyon, telephone poles were broken into three separate pieces. “The conditions were hellish. People were looting, druggies would do anything to get a fix; it was crazy enough without all this chaos,” Lyon said. One reason some of the New Orleans residents didn’t evacuate could have been the “Cry Wolf” effect, Lyon
“It’s going to take a lot of hard work to rebuild what was once there.”
said. After all, this wasn’t the first time a tropical storm was supposed to hit Louisiana. Only a year ago Hurricane Ivan was heading their way. Some evacuated, though nothing happened. Many residents may have believed that this storm wouldn’t have hit New Orleans either. But why did the Lyons choose Kansas? The Lyons were offered a place to stay from a friend of the family. Lyon notes some of the biggest changes he has faced since moving are the emily kuykendall school size and the people. “ I’m used to going to a Freshman Ben Lyon does school with 3,000 kids, but homework in study hall. the people are nicer here than His family moved to any other place I’ve been,” Kansas because of Hurricane Katrina. Lyon said.