Florida Courier - September 15, 2017

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WHO TO THANK FOR LIVES SPARED DURING STORMS SEE PAGE B1

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SEPTEMBER 15 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

VOLUME 25 NO. 37

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HURRICANE IRMA

THE AFTERMATH

Destruction and an unknown number of deaths in the Keys; power outages statewide; and flooding yet to come, as Floridians begin life after Irma.

COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

Here’s a recap of post-Irma information from around the state.

Hurricane Irma has destroyed a quarter of the homes in the Florida Keys and badly damaged many more, federal officials said Tuesday.

“Basically every house in the Keys was impacted in some way or another,” Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long said.

In the Middle and Upper Keys – on the more savage right side of Irma’s 130-mph winds – the damage and storm surge appeared far more severe.

INSIDE

RED CROSS MISSED SOME MIAMI SHELTERS A6 NAPLES RESIDENTS COUNT THEIR BLESSINGS A6 STRESSED? HOW TO FIND CRISIS COUNSELOR B3 DOCTOR SHARES LESSONS FROM HURRICANE KATRINA B3 Emergency Management Director Martin Senterfitt, calling the destruction a looming “humanitarian crisis,” said a huge airborne relief mission mounted by the Air Force and Air National Guard was already in the works.

Among the services coming to See IRMA, Page A2

MIKE STOCKER/SUN-SENTINEL/TNS

A home in Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys was destroyed by Hurricane Irma.

‘BASTARD STEPCHILDREN’ Virgin Islands residents feel forgotten

BY JIM WYSS MIAMI HERALD / TNS

ST. JOHN, U.S. Virgin Islands – As Hurricane Irma bore down on the Caribbean last week, Laurel Brannick, a park ranger on far-flung St. John Island, flipped through news channels to see how she might be affected.

It appeared the U.S. Virgin Islands didn’t exist.

“The weather channels didn’t even include us,” she said. “All they kept saying was that Irma was in the Caribbean and headed to Florida.”

Now, after the killer storm has raked through the Caribbean and slammed into South Florida – leaving scores dead and billions of dollars in damage – residents of these hard-hit and isolated islands worry they’ll continue to be invisible to a reeling mainland.

Extensive but uncertain

NOT JUST A FLORIDA EVENT The historic Fort Pulaski National Monument is surrounded by flood waters after Irma came through on Tuesday near Savannah on Georgia’s east coast. The monument preserves Fort Pulaski, used as a prisoner-of-war camp during America’s Civil War.

Irma’s damage in the U.S. Virgin Islands, home to about 100,000 people, is extensive but hard to quantify days after a storm that destroyed most means of communication. Irma was a punishing Category 5 hurricane when it struck the islands.

Some of the devastation is immediately obvious: Homes and hotels were pulled apart and swept off their foundations. St. Thomas and St. John, once-lush islands and national parks, have been stripped bare of vegetation, as pieces of cars and boats dangle from dead power See ISLANDS, Page A2

CURTIS COMPTON/ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION/TNS

GOT QUESTIONS? HERE’S WHO TO CONTACT

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF

Florida Power and Light: www.fpl. com/storm or 800-468-8243.

Here is a statement issued just prior to the Florida Courier’s press time Wednesday night: “We estimate we will have restored power to essentially all of our customers along the east coast service territory by end of day, Sept. 17, and for customers along the west coast service territory by end of day, Sept. 22, with the pos-

ALSO INSIDE

sible exception of areas impacted by tornadoes, severe flooding and other pockets of severe damage.”

• Federal Emergency Management Agency: 202-646-2500, www.fema.gov.

Twitter: @fema • FEMA National Tele-registration Center, 800-621-3362 or 800-462-7585 (TTY).

• State of Florida Division of Emergency Management, 850-413-9969 www.floridadisaster.org. Twitter: @FLSERT

• For the latest information on road closures and traffic conditions: Call 5-1-1, or online at https://fl511. com. Also go to Google Maps either online or on your phone and click on Traffic.

• Citizens Property Insurance: www. citizensfla.com. 1-888-685-1555. Twitter: @citizens_fla • Emergency Management Centers in the Florida Courier’s counties of distribution: They can also give you information on school closings: • Miami-Dade County, 305-468-5400, http://www.miamidade.gov/fire/ emergency-management.asp • Broward County, 954-831-3900, http://www.broward.org/disaster/

• Palm Beach County, 561-712-6321, http://discover.pbcgov.org/publicsafety/dem/Pages/default.aspx • St. Lucie County, 772-462-8110, http://www.stlucieco.gov/eoc • Orange County, 407-836-9026, http:// www.orangecountyfl.net/?tabid=105#.

VZwvnMvws5u • Hillsborough County, 813-272-6600, http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/index.aspx?NID=115 • Pinellas County, 727-464-5550, http://www.pinellascounty.org/emergency • Duval County, 904-255-3110, http:// www.jaxready.com

COMMENTARY: CHARLES W. CHERRY II: RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE BLACK MIND | A4 COMMENTARY: REV. JESSE JACKSON: STRENGTHEN GOVERNMENT TO PREPARE US FOR DISASTERS | A5

FOCUS

A2

SEPTEMBER 15 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

Paradise lost and found A lot of animals got saved in Florida as Hurricane Irma blazed a path of destruction that stretched from the coast of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico.

Dogs got saved. Cats got saved.

A beached dolphin and a manatee were even rehabbed and placed back into the ocean waters.

However, several humans lost their lives before, after and during one of the largest storms in history!

Everyone affected Almost everybody in the state of Florida was impacted in some way by Hurricane Irma.

Florida, perhaps, needs to do a Klan check. There are so many White supremacist groups in the Sunshine State, I wonder how many crosses and sheets were damaged by the storm?

Sometimes, when there is sep-

Caribbean suffers greatly LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

aration, segregation and division, God will make you come together!

Skinheads and neo-Nazis needed bottled water just as much as activists and anti-fascists! White nationalists needed electric power as much as Black nationalists needed electric power!

For the very first time, God made some rich people feel just like some Black people have felt much of their lives.

People of all races, creeds, colors and ancestry needed food, shelter, clothing, love and support!

While people in Texas, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas were hit and hurt in hurricanes, the mostly Black residents of the Caribbean islands were devastated!

The United States and the British Virgin Islands were seriously damaged along with many other island playgrounds. But my favorite vacation destination, St. Maarten, was practically demolished!

Miraculously, God saved the lives of thousands of island residents, but He also left many Caribbean natives jobless, homeless and hopeless.

I have done a great deal of media and political work in St. Maarten. My company, All World Consultants, has an office in St. Maarten.

All World’s Caribbean direc-

tor, Jackie Blyden, and her family survived the storm, but her home was wiped off the map!

What about them?

Many so-called star athletes and musicians are coming together to raise funds to help victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in the United States. But how much of the telethon money, church money, government money and private dollars are going to the island territories?

Will the United States and Britain finance the rebuilding of the Virgin Islands, or will the two superpowers ignore and forget their island citizens?

The king of Holland visited his Dutch “territory” of St. Maarten and promised assistance. But will the United States and British leaders visit the Virgin Islands?

Let’s help them I think Black people all over the world should support Black people all over the world and

should help Black people all over the world.

Join me in doing what we can to help the impoverished people in the Caribbean who have suffered greatly and lost tremendously because of back-to-backto-back hurricanes.

Everybody that has been on a cruise has been on a Caribbean island, and most visitors have had a good time.

Help islanders help themselves. Send clothes, books, toys, money and everything else you can to help your brothers and sisters in the Caribbean.

If you don’t want to help for any other reason, you surely ought to want the Caribbean cathouses up and running!

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.

“Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants. net.

and he ran out of fuel to keep his generator running, he said he tried to charter a helicopter, boat or an airplane to get off the island. Finally, on Sunday, he found a private yacht that would take him and his two dogs back to Puerto Rico, where he hoped to catch a flight to Texas.

But he was worried that there wasn’t a larger-scale evacuation going on.

“It’s getting very hairy over there,” he said of the island.

“And nobody is talking about us.

It’s like they forget that we’re all Americans.”

History, geography

CIRA/NOAA

A GOES-16 satellite captured this geocolor image of Hurricane Irma approaching Anguilla at about 7 a.m. on Sept. 6. Irma went on to damage other Caribbean nations before making landfall in the United States.

ISLANDS from A1

lines. Electricity is out.

Barely survived Michael Beason, 65, hid in his reinforced shower with his wife and two dogs as the storm raged.

When it was over, nothing was left but his 4-by-6 concrete shower-bunker sticking out “like the last tooth in the mouth of a bum.”

“We spent two hours listening to our lives blow away,” said Beason, who ran an ice cream store on the island for 40 years and was planning to retire in a few more.

“I was fired by Hurricane Irma.”

Even St. John’s major health clinic lost portions of its roof.

Most of its recovery rooms are being used as shelters for weary, homeless nurses.

IRMA from A1

the Keys are “disaster mortuary teams,” he told a conference call on Sunday afternoon.

Disaster area Debris was everywhere, swept from the Atlantic to the bayside.

Much of U.S. 1 was littered with boats, five-foot-tall refrigerators, coolers, abandoned cars, mattresses, propane tanks, campaign signs, tin sliding from marina sheds, plastic toilets.

There is no electricity and no shade. The green canopy that moderated the searing summer heat is gone.

Hollywood deaths Eight people died in a Hollywood nursing home that had no air conditioning after Irma knocked out power. The Broward Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the eight deaths at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills Wednesday afternoon.

Police said 115 seniors were also evacuated after sweltering for

Thousands evacuated

has only heightened tensions.

FEMA and other federal agencies have been scrambling to evacuate thousands of stranded tourists and keep the islands supplied. The U.S. military in conjunction with the government of Puerto Rico has airlifted more than 1,800 U.S. citizens from the Virgin Islands, St. Martin, Antigua and Dominica since the hurricane hit, said Jamie Iriazzy, with Puerto Rico’s department of gaming, who is helping organize logistics for the refugees.

On Wednesday, a Royal Caribbean Cruise carrying passengers from St. Thomas and St. Martin is also expected to be arriving in Puerto Rico.

But the lack of contact with the outside world has turned each community into an isolated echo chamber reinforcing the idea that they’re on their own. Reports and rumors of looting, arson and armed gangs preying on tourists

Violence, looting

days – the center’s backup generator does not power the air conditioner, the facility’s administrator, Jorge Carballo said through a representative Wednesday.

Nursing homes like Hollywood Hills are the places licensed to take the sickest disabled and elder Floridians – people who can’t walk, are in the last stages of dementia or can’t breathe on their own. They are also among the most vulnerable when a hurricane knocks out power, officials said.

in several parts of Central Florida on Tuesday, even as power was slowly being restored and the massive cleanup effort began.

About 400 people, including nursing home residents with special needs, were evacuated Tuesday from Good Samaritan Society’s flood-prone Kissimmee Village. The 425-acre gated retirement community south of Kissimmee flooded at the highest level ever, county officials said.

The storm also may cost Orlando International Airport as much as $20 million, according to an early estimate by Phil Brown, executive director for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.

He said the airport suffered substantial storm damage, including some from flooding.

South Florida recovers Operation return-to-normal was in full swing across MiamiDade and Broward counties Tuesday. Damage from Irma, though widespread there, was not in most instances severe, assessments still underway suggest.

However, it’s going to be a while before every street is cleared, every home has electricity, every person is housed and air-conditioned, and the kids are back in school.

Damage in Orlando Surging waters spawned by Irma’s heavy rains caused flooding

A man who asked to be called “Biff” said he watched people get mugged and stores looted in the Coral Bay section of St. John just hours after the hurricane, as police remained on the sidelines.

“It was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.

“You have people looting and taking things from people who had absolutely nothing … And our local government did nothing, absolutely nothing.”

After spending the day unloading donations that were trickling in to St. John, often by private boat, from nearby Puerto Rico and St. Croix – another U.S. Virgin Island that fared better during the storm – Matt Gyuraki, a 35-yearold IT specialist, worried that there wasn’t more of a coordinated U.S. effort to rescue the islands.

“It feels like we’re the bastard

stepchildren of America and now nobody wants to help us,” he said. “America wanted us at one time, but now they really don’t.”

Limited cooperation The U.S. government and Puerto Rico have been leading evacuation and recovery efforts, but coordination has been chaotic at best. As park officials in St. John this week were struggling to get people off the island on private boats, the police imposed an 18-hour-a-day curfew – from 6 p.m. to noon – that threatened to stall the operation.

Steve Boswell, 34, lost his two restaurants, his charter-boat business and his gun shop on St. Thomas. As the hurricane rolled in late Tuesday and early Wednesday, it triggered dozens of tornadoes that chewed up houses around his, but left his home relatively intact.

But as looting swept the island

substances is expected to percolate into creeks and rivers that feed the St. Johns and raise its level before it flows through Jacksonville.

Environmental impacts Millions of gallons of poorly treated wastewater and raw sewage flowed into the bays, canals and city streets of Florida. More than 9 million gallons of releases tied to Irma had been reported as of late Tuesday as inundated plants were submerged, forced to bypass treatment or lost power.

Such overflows, which can spread disease-causing pathogens, are happening more often, as population shifts and increasingly strong storms strain the capacity of plants and decades-old infrastructure.

Jacksonville still flooding

$18 billion in damages

The storm also triggered surprisingly severe coastal flooding farther north in Jacksonville, where Irma’s surge coincided with high tide and heavy rain.

The St. Johns River rose to almost six feet, and rain totals reached 11 inches. Water containing raw sewage and other

Insured losses from Irma could total $18 billion in the U.S., far less than anticipated when it was a Category 4 storm, but still among the nation’s worst.

Karen Clark and Co., a Boston-based company that analyzes risk, estimated total losses, including the Caribbean, at $25 bil-

The islands were a late addition to the United States. The U.S. purchased the Virgin Islands from the Dutch in 1917 for $25 million during World War I, when there were fears that Germany might seize the territory as a naval base.

The islands are an unincorporated territory, with a non-voting delegate in the U.S. House, and are located about 40 miles east of Puerto Rico. They’re closer to Caracas and Colombia than Miami.

But the longer-term fate of the locals on St. John and St. Thomas is tied to when, and in what numbers, tourists return to the islands.

Along with rebuilding hotels and restaurants, the islands’ main attractions – rolling green hills and coral-rich waters – will have to recover. And that could take months, or even a year, said Brannick, the park ranger.

Isolation helps, hurts Brannick, who has lived on St. John for 25 years, struggles to explain how badly the park was damaged by Irma.

St. John is so denuded that hummingbirds are literally too hungry to fly, she said. The oldest structure on the island, a Dutch house from 1680 that survived multiple storms and served as a park museum, was entirely gone except for one wall. Its collection of pre-Columbian artifacts had been scattered to the wind.

The splendid isolation that makes the island so unique is now one of the main obstacles to its recovery.

“We’re a small community and we’re destroyed,” Brannick said.

“And it’s not like we can drive to New Jersey and get stuff. We’re an island.”

lion. Florida accounts for most of the $18 billion, followed by Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.

The estimate covers damage to buildings and their contents, other insured structures, and vehicles and the disruption to business. It does not include crop losses or losses covered by the nation’s flood insurance program, Clark said.

Irma falls just outside the top 10 list and above the $15.4 billion Clark estimated for Harvey’s losses.

The 1926 Miami hurricane still ranks as the worst in the U.S., according to Clark’s tally, with losses in today’s dollars totaling $150 billion. That’s followed by the 1928 hurricane that struck Lake Okeechobee at $77 billion, the 1900 hurricane in Galveston at $60 billion and 2005’s Katrina, which generated $59 billion in insured losses, she said.

Jenny Staletovich, Andres Viglucci and Daniel Chang of the Miami Herald; Mike Clary of the Sun Sentinel; and Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Ari Natter of Bloomberg News (TNS) all contributed to this report.

SEPTEMBER 15 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

HURRICANE IRMA

RED CROSS ‘DIDN’T SHOW UP’ AT MIAMI-DADE SHELTERS Schools chief says organization’s staff showed up late or never arrived

BY DOUGLAS HANKS MIAMI HERALD/TNS

MIAMI – Miami-Dade schools chief Alberto Carvalho said the county’s chaotic opening of dozens of shelters ahead of Hurricane Irma stemmed in part because the Red Cross “didn’t

show up” to manage operations.

Schools served as most of the 42 shelters that Miami-Dade’s county government opened ahead of Irma, the largest ever operated as a response to an unprecedented evacuation order affecting more than 600,000 residents.

On their own The American Red Cross has an agreement to operate shelters but lack of staffing slowed openings in Miami-Dade and in some schools left principals

scrambling to manage logistics tied to a sudden influx of more than 1,000 people looking for refuge and food.

“In some instances the Red Cross showed up very late. In some instances, the Red Cross never showed up,” Carvalho said at a press conference at Shenandoah Middle School on Monday.

“We made an executive decision that we would open the shelters on our own led by our principals and our custodians and our cafeteria workers.”

Some ‘glitches’ A Red Cross spokesman, Robert Baltodano, referred questions to the charity’s regional communications director, Grace Meinhofer.

She did not immediately respond to an email with questions.

Carvalho’s remarks were the latest to question Miami-Dade’s readiness to shelter residents for a major storm. Mayor Carlos Gimenez acknowledged “glitches” in opening the shelters, some of which only became available after dark on Friday with tropicalstorms arriving the next morning.

A3 He cited the Red Cross running out of staff and volunteers in Miami, as well as the National Guard arriving after the county needed troops to help open the shelters.

Kudos for troops Gimenez dispatched county police officers on Friday to fill in staffing gaps, and praised the school system for its response in the largest storm response in Miami-Dade’s history. The National Guard arrived in force late Friday, county officials said.

Carvalho joined National Guard troops at his press conference, calling them the “heroes” that got shelters running smoothly.

“We had scant support from anyone else, save from the National Guard and our staff,” Carvalho said.

IN NAPLES MOBILE HOME PARK, NEIGHBORS COUNT THEIR BLESSINGS

BY EVAN HALPER LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

NAPLES – Terry Thompson moved into his home in the Riverwood Estates Mobile Home Park in Naples two weeks ago. Remarkably, it was still there on Monday.

“There’s a lot of cleanup,” the 65-year-old Air Force veteran said as he assessed the situation around his home. Though it was intact, his neighbor’s carport had flown off and smacked into his wife’s car. Siding had blown off the house. Water still covered many of the streets. Debris was everywhere.

Thompson said he rode out the storm with his dog in the mobile home.

“It was wild. … The house was lifting and moving and shifting.

All sorts of things were going on,” he said.

CAROLYN COLE/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Terry Thompson, 65, rode out the storm in his home in the Riverwood Estates in Naples. Damage T:10” in the Naples area wasn’t nearly as bad as anticipated.

Loose carport John Jenkins, 52, also lives in a brand-new mobile home in Riv-

erwood Estates.

The street in front of the house was still underwater Monday morning, but his house was standing and mostly intact — which couldn’t be said for all his neighbors’ homes.

During the storm, he said, he went our twice and had to take aluminum sheets that were prying loose from his neighbor’s carport and get them out of the path of his house.

“It was quite interesting,” he said. “Their carport was peeling apart and coming at our house. … I was worried about all the debris.”

A friend drove by and Jenkins reached in the driver’s side window and gave him a hug. “I love you,” he said. He asked if the friend was OK. The friend reported that his house was fine.

The stakes were particularly high for Jenkins, who couldn’t get the bank to fund a loan for his home. “I put everything I got in the world into (buying) it,” he said.

THE FUTURE LOOKS

EMPOWERING This year’s McDonald’s® 365 Black® honorees are a living testament to the power of inspiration.

With every personal victory, they’ve used their success to lift their community to new heights.

To learn more about the achievements and contributions of this group of extraordinary women, visit 365Black.com

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Chasity Hale, Sanya Richards-Ross, Margaret “Marty” Gillis, Valeisha Butterfield-Jones, Tichina Arnold © 2017 McDonald’s

EDITORIAL

A4

SEPTEMBER 15 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

Nature isn’t on a rampage: We are In 1927, as the muddy waters of the Mississippi River began to recede from what was then the deadliest storm-related flood in American history, blues musicians wailed their sorrow and rage.

Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded his “Rising High Water Blues” that May: Children stand there screamin: Mama we ain’t got no home Awww, Mama we ain’t got no home Papa says to the children, “Backwater left us all alone.”

The gut-wrenching disaster, and others that swept through the Mississippi’s fast-populating basin in the early 20th century, led to more blues devoted to rain and flood than any other natural event.

Man-made event But Papa was wrong: It wasn’t the water that left families homeless and alone.

Under pressure to allow development of the Mississippi’s natural floodplain that once absorbed nearly half the nation’s rainfall, Congress had ignored Progressive Era wisdom that flood control required a mix of reservoirs, levees and preserved wetlands and forests.

Instead, lawmakers caved to a levees-only strategy that ushered in what the flood-law scholar Christine A. Klein calls “a century of unnatural disaster.”

We’ve long sung our blues, conjured our demons and imagined our enemies in deluges and sky-darkening storms. Even today we imbue the atmosphere with evil intention, like how we once saw swamps as villainous forces.

This way of thinking about storms leaves us feeling helpless and also off the hook: The problem is the weather, rather than human decisions that impede safety and drainage, or deny the

CYNTHIA BARNETT GUEST COMMENTARY

climate science we need to better understand the atmosphere, including record-breaking tropical storms.

No surprise Hurricanes Harvey and Irma did not surprise climate scientists, who have grown hoarse warning that the warming seas and atmosphere will amplify hurricanes and other natural disasters. And yet, media and meteorologists dubbed the exceptional cyclones “monsters,” as if they were spun from a fairy tale rather than hotter-than-usual ocean waters.

We have cried “beast” and “zombie storm,” watching Irma break global wind speed records and Harvey the U.S. record for greatest rainfall in a single storm.

Fear, perhaps, returns us to the ancient superstitions that named these storms after Huracan, the Carib god of evil.

In his new film on the climate change crisis, “An Inconvenient Sequel,” Al Gore describes the extremes that have drowned cities from Baton Rouge to Bangladesh as “rain bombs,” suggesting an angry god throwing down torrential rains and ruinous floods.

Fake news Last year, when Stu Ostro, a meteorologist with the Weather Channel, saw a smiling skull in Hurricane Matthew on infrared satellite imagery, its creepy eye over Haiti, he posted the “sinister-looking face” to Twitter. The skull went viral.

The Weather Channel, CNN and the Atlanta Journal-Consti-

Reflections on Hurricane Irma The name – “Irma” reminds me of one of my old girlfriends with a similar-sounding name.

She was crazy as hell, so unstable that I always had to keep an eye on her; I never knew what she was gonna do; and I ended up running in the other direction from wherever she showed up. Thinking about either “Irma” years later will give me the shakes…

Electrical workers are first responders – Let’s treat them as such. They never get the credit they deserve going coast to coast and disaster to disaster, restoring civilization to the masses. And if you don’t believe electricity is civilizing, try living without it for more than three days in Florida between April and October…

The revenge of Hillary Clinton and Kunta Kinte? A friend, Medellin Pepe, reminded me that Irma made landfall at Naples’ Marco Island – one of the richest and most staunchly Republican areas of the state – then made its way up Florida’s west coast before having an unexpected watery impact on Jacksonville, another conservative Republican stronghold. Democratic South Florida (other than the Keys) was mostly spared.

Hurricanes all start as West African dust storms that travel across the Atlantic Ocean, gaining strength as they travel from east to west. They remind me that our African ancestors never got paid for 200-plus years of free labor that made America the economic behemoth it has al-

QUICK TAKES FROM #2: STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

CHARLES W. CHERRY II, ESQ. PUBLISHER

ways been.

(To “King Don” Trump: Foreign aid to keep Kunta Kinte’s folks in the Gambia from kicking up West African dust would go a long way.)

Irma also showed no mercy to the Civil War Confederacy. She adversely affected all or parts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee with flooding rain, high winds, or tornadoes…

Temporary Refugee Status – I am one of the estimated 6 million Floridians who bugged out of the state as Irma approached.

There’s no shame in my game.

Better to be laid back in a recliner watching “Monday Night Football” in air-conditioned comfort in Atlanta as Irma’s remnants passed by, versus sitting in the stifling heat of a dark home waiting uncertainly for Florida Power and Light to perform its magic.

And though Irma seemed to follow many of us who temporarily relocated north, I don’t think many Floridians regret being a part of one of the greatest single mass evacuations in American history to date. Which

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE GOP

tution all assigned reporters to the “story.” Many TV broadcast meteorologists took precious air time to feature it.

We writers are not immune.

I was taken aback by this line in a favorite reporter’s story: “The weather appears to be on an unprecedented climate-change-induced rampage.”

But weather is not sinister. It is not on a rampage. It is not the bomb.

Many mistakes In the history of humans and their climate, such misplaced attribution has led to our most profound mistakes.

In medieval times, people became convinced during the weather extremes of the “Little Ice Age” that witches were conjuring the storms. As frightening weather intensified, so did witch trials, torture and executions of thousands of innocent people accused of “weather magic.”

Two hundred years later, the British parliament quashed pioneering storm forecasts under pressure from those who thought that the ability to foretell rain was black magic – a fear flamed by ship salvagers who worried predictions would cut into shipwrecks, and their profits. The brilliant Royal Navy vice-admiral who developed the advanced warnings, Robert Fitzroy, committed suicide in the wake of the merciless doubt.

In mid-20th century America, from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to the Everglades of Florida, federal engineers hyped up water as “the fierce, uncompromising enemy.” The propaganda film “Waters of Destiny” breathlessly describes the Army Corps of Engineers’ massive replumbing of the Everglades to save South Florida from “devastating, ruining, havoc-wreaking rains.”

brings me to…

Who are these people? The response to dangerous hurricanes puts folks into a few categories.

• “Cut and Run:” I’m a proud member! We watch the Weather Channel or local meteorologists religiously, know the intricacies and limitations of the “cone of uncertainty,” and have hurricane tracking apps on our phones. We can talk knowledgeably about wind speed, fronts, storm categories, barometric pressure, eyewall replacement cycles, and how far tropical storm or hurricane winds extend from the eyewall. If a dangerous hurricane takes a “jog” in our direction, we’re evacuating and not looking back, insurance or not.

• “Stay and Pray:” These folks primarily see hurricanes as a test of their religious faith. They are thus willing to gamble that their relationship with God will keep them “from all hurt, harm and danger.” They despise the evidence-based Cut and Run crowd, and assume that any ‘deviation’ by a storm away from them is due to divine intervention that protected them – even though the lives of their fellow Stay and Pray-ers in the storm’s path were destroyed by the deviation. But “favor ain’t fair,” is it?

• “‘Die Hard’ diehards:” I’d say this describes most of the 10,000 or more people who rode Irma out in the Keys. They voted for King Don and believe that Irma was a fake news conspiracy to drive them from the “Conch Republic.” These folks will tell you, “I survived Hurricanes blank, blank, blank, and blank, and I’ll survive Hurricane blank.”

They will never leave because they never think a storm would kill them. When it does, they “die hard,” knowing they made the

ADAM ZYGLIS, THE BUFFALO NEWS

Out of balance In fact, it was the compulsion to vanquish an enemy rather than live in water’s balance that put future generations in grave danger.

Soft rains, torrents and even hurricanes are part of that balance. Hurricanes are essentially giant engines that transfer heat from sea to atmosphere. Scientists are working hard to understand the extent to which global warming may fuel them.

Yet at this most crucial time, the Trump administration has purged climate experts, research funding and even the science itself from public websites as if we were back in the witchcraft days.

Lessening the blows of both storm disasters and climate change requires us to see the cycle rather than the Cyclops. Failure to do so will cause more of the same catastrophic destruction and human suffering now occurring in Texas, the Caribbean and Florida.

Things to do We are not powerless. Unlike hapless children in a blues song or a fairy tale, there is plenty we can do.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt

wrong decision…

• “Shocked and Awed:” Mostly newcomers to Florida who don’t get it until feeder bands hit. Many have never experienced a hurricane and just don’t know what to do. Deer, meet headlights on a dark two-lane highway at 60 mph…

Southwest Airlines – I’ve written before about how Southwest was my “last resort” hurricane evacuation strategy during Wilma in 2005, and it turned out that way again this time.

By last Friday, literally millions of Floridians had already endured six to 10-hour trips from South Florida to Orlando; 15 to 21-hour trips from Miami to Atlanta; and the like.

At the last minute, Mom and I were able to score two Southwest tickets from Orlando to Atlanta – a 55-minute flight – the Friday morning before Irma made landfall, and for less than $100 apiece. I got two tickets for my kids to evacuate from South Florida (that’s another story for another column).

Next time, I’ll do even better. On June 1 of every year – the beginning of hurricane season – I will go ahead and purchase Southwest tickets for the family somewhere entirely out of the hurricane zone. (Southwest’s very liberal policies make it generally easy to change dates without a financial penalty.) And if any storm that is a Category 2 or above comes anywhere within shouting distance of where me and mine are living, we are dropping the keyboard and heading out. After all, I’m a proud Cut and Runner!

Gov. Rick Scott – There are a long list of gubernatorial decisions with which I vehemently disagree. But he was on top of things during Irma, as the face of

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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has said that a hurricane emergency is not the time to talk about climate change. To the contrary, it is just the time to draw the nation to the conversation.

In recovery mode, we can remake cities to better withstand storms – in ways that help us reduce the carbon emissions warming the planet. We can plan retreat from those parts of the coast becoming unsafe for people. And we can hike investment in the science of climate change so that we can understand, rather than fear.

By putting the evil eye on nature, we take it off the humans who have science in their hands, but hold it behind their backs.

The rain is not the bomb. The storms are not the monsters. The weather is not on a rampage.

That would be us.

Cynthia Barnett is the author of three books on water including “Rain: A Natural and Cultural History.” She is environmental journalist in residence at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. She wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.

state government (ironic, given the GOP desire to shrink government and drown it in a bathtub) and by giving out relevant information regularly. For the first time in his two terms, he wanted to be asked questions by journalists, and actually answered them without stumbling and bumbling.

Noticeably, there was also plenty of political booty-patting to go around. (I use “bootypatting” because this is a family newspaper.)

Almost every time before they spoke, state and local officials lauded Scott, with the booty pats being passed up the chain of command from Scott, to FEMA officials, to King Don. Are all our political and administrative officials now so insecure that they’ve got to constantly be praised for the jobs we expect them to do?

Two quotes I’ll remember: “Evacuation is about safety, not about convenience.” (Gov. Rick Scott) “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” (A wise anonymous Christian) …

You know you are in a Black neighborhood when…you go to a supermarket located in the Atlanta area, and the store has run short of potato chips, water… and dark meat chicken. Oh, there were plenty of breasts, but not a leg, thigh, or drumstick to be found. And plenty of fruit and vegetables. Go figure…

To those still suffering – It’s (mostly) tongue in cheek. God bless you as you endure this…

I’m at ccherry2@gmail.com.

Follow@flcourier and @ccherry2 on Twitter.

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SEPTEMBER 15 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

Strengthen government to prepare us for coming disasters Hurricane Irma left most of Florida without power. Houston, America’s fourth-largest city, suffered the most extreme rain event in U.S. history.

Ash from wildfires in the West is blanketing Seattle; every county in Washington is under state of an emergency. The smoke is felt in the air all the way to the East Coast.

Last year was the hottest on record, exceeding the record set the year before that which exceeded the record set the year before that.

More to come Extreme weather is becoming more frequent and more extreme. For climate scientists, this is predictable and predicted. As Earth warms, the ice caps melt, the oceans grow warmer, more moisture is absorbed in the clouds, rains become worse, and severe storms more severe.

The Trump administration denies climate science and even seeks to suppress it. Trump’s political appointees are doing their best to ban the term “climate change” from government reports. They are dismantling agencies that study and report on the changing climate.

Ironically, among their biggest allies were Florida Gov. Rick Scott – who banned the phrase “climate change” from state reports – and the Texas Republican Party, devoted to pumping every drop of oil

REV. JESSE L. JACKSON, SR. TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

that can be found.

Bad storms, record heat and record wildfires won’t alter their denials. But the catastrophes are real.

When they occur, even rock-headed reactionaries turn to government for help.

Political hypocrites The same Texan legislators who voted against aid to the victims of Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the mid-Atlantic coast in 2012, lined up to demand aid for their constituents after Harvey. Those who say the government is broke appropriate billions. They look for government to organize the evacuations and warnings, to shelter the vulnerable, to mobilize the cleanup, to invest in the reconstruction.

Whether we agree that humans are a prime cause of climate change or not, surely we can agree to take the actions needed to protect ourselves as much as possible from the coming disasters and to ensure that we are prepared to react to them.

We don’t have to agree about the cause of this new extreme weather.

GOP leaders taste their own medicine There’s an adage that says, “What goes around, comes around.” I thought about that when I saw the response of many congressional Republicans after President Trump cut a deal with the congressional Democrats on raising the debt ceiling, Hurricane Harvey relief, and funding the federal government.

Republican lawmakers lost their damned minds. They whined and complained all over mass media.

Many reverted to what weak people do: they gave the media anonymous quotes.

Not new to us “Real” Black Republicans go through this constantly, and the party leadership doesn’t seem to give a damn. I have publicly and privately expressed my displeasure with the party when they cut deals with Black Democrats at the expense of “real” Black Republicans.

Congressional Republican friends

RAYNARD JACKSON NNPA COLUMNIST

and major party operatives, now you know how “real” Black Republicans feel.

Now you know how “real” Black Republicans felt when you hired Roland Martin, a liberal Black Democrat journalist, to emcee my Black Republican Trailblazer Awards Luncheon. Roland, a good friend, never misses an opportunity to denigrate and diminish all things Republican with his liberal vitriol.

But if Democrats were stupid enough to pay me to call them names, hell, I’d take the money too!

No meetings yet Now you know how “real” Black

My reaction to Charlottesville The barrage of commentary from the Charlottesville confrontation by lovers and supporters of the former Confederate States of America, especially regarding General Robert E. Lee, brought back memories of my reaction to an obnoxious statement made by the prominent American historian, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Extremely irritated by the demands from those advocating an Afrocentric interpretation of American history, Schlesinger, who was a swooning admirer of President John F. Kennedy, accused us of “using history as therapy.”

A rejoinder My response to him was included in a December 17-19,1992 column written for the Richmond Free Press.

Schlesinger, I noted, “has written history books, books that barely mention anyone other than White males. If anyone can be said to have used history, not only as therapy, but as a powerful instrument for promoting and defending the interests of people of European descent, it’s Schlesinger and his colleagues in colleges and universities throughout the country.”

I continued, “I don’t recall ever hearing or reading an article or book in

EDITORIAL

A5

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: TRUMP NEGOTIATES WITH DEMOCRATS

We simply must agree to prepare for and respond to it.

Preventive action On our coasts, buildings and infrastructure must be constructed to withstand extreme storms. In areas that are the most vulnerable and that have suffered repeated calamities, homes and factories should not be rebuilt.

We must strengthen dams and levees and protect wetlands that can help diffuse a storm’s power. Chemical and nuclear power plants must be protected against the risks of natural disasters.

The poorest and most vulnerable should not be shunted off to the lowlands most vulnerable to destruction. Response plans at the local, state and national level should be comprehensive and astrophic climate events are right now a clear and present danger practiced. to our nation’s security. Surely we should devote more attention to Here’s the rub That can only happen if we em- defending our own shores than we power public officials to take re- do to policing the world.

Prevention, mitigation, a stronsponsible action. It requires good government and adequate re- ger infrastructure and more sensible zoning are first steps. Eventualsources.

The conservative drive to dis- ly, we will need a true mobilization credit government, to starve it of on the scale of the effort at the befunds and to dismantle its func- ginning of World War II to accelertions must make way for a real in- ate the transition to renewable envestment in vital, necessary public ergy and to stop global warming. action.

Harvey and Irma have demon- Rebuilding America strated what the Pentagon already A real green mobilization will, has concluded: Extreme and cat- like World War II, create jobs, inRepublicans felt when Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with Al Sharpton and Marc Morial two weeks after he was sworn into office. To this day, he has never met with any Black Republicans.

I worked on Sessions’ first Senate campaign in 1996. He is a great person, but I wonder which White House staffer set up this disastrous meeting.

Sharpton and Morial have called Sessions everything but a child of God since their meeting. What was the purpose of their meeting – race insurance?

Now you know how “real” Black Republicans felt when in 2009, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich went on a national speaking tour with Sharpton promoting educational reform.

Three years later, when Gingrich decided to run for president in 2012, Sharpton used vicious language to attack Gingrich and diminish his presidential aspirations.

So much for thinking you can buy your enemy’s loyalty and affection by getting in bed with them.

angry at President Trump: we “real” Black Republicans feel your pain. It’s not fun, is it? Maybe your experience with Trump will make you a little more sensitive to our plight.

Nothing positive has ever come out of Republicans meeting with Black liberal Democrats. Yet, you continue to meet with individuals and groups like the NAACP and the National Urban League. Why? It reminds me of the movie classic, “The Wizard of Oz.” What you were looking for was right before you all along. The Tinman already had a heart, the Lion already had courage, the Scarecrow already had a brain; they just simply needed to be reminded of that which they already had.

The Black community already supports the policies of the Republican Party, but the party needs to awaken from its slumber and recognize that which they already have.

Historically, Blacks have spent more time in the Republican Party than they have in the Democratic Party. In the immortal words of my grandmother, “your actions speak Feeling your pain so loud, I can’t hear a damn thing To all the Republicans who are you are saying.”

observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers over me, according to the rules and articles for the governDR. E. ment of the Armies of the United States.”

FAYE Lee, when he joined the WILLIAMS, Confederacy, not only viESQ. olated every single word of that oath, he also led TRICE EDNEY WIRE armies that killed many thousands of United States which Schlesinger charged military personnel. romanticizing supporters of the Confederate enslav- Killed for less ers of African people as usThrough the years, this ing history as therapy.” country has jailed and/or executed many people for Rebel traitors doing much less than what Those people march- Lee did. Brother Malcolm ing in Charlottesville and X, Dr. Martin Luther King, their past and present fel- Jr., and Medgar Evers were low believers have almost assassinated for doing made most people ignore much less against the govthe fact that Robert E. Lee ernment of this country.

Having said this, I still and all those other Confederate generals who believe that rather than were West Point graduates tearing down statues of committed treason (“The Lee and other Confederbetrayal of one’s coun- ates on public land, we try by waging war against should demand that statit...”) and thus were in ev- ues of Nat Turner, Gabriery sense of the word trai- el Prosser, Denmark Vesey tors (“one who betrays and other warriors against one’s country, a cause or the enslavement of Afria trust especially one who can people be installed on commits treason”) to the public lands.

And they must be the United States.

They all swore the fol- same size or larger than lowing oath while at West those of the treasonous Point: Confederate enslavers.

“I … appointed a … in A. Peter Bailey’s latthe Army of the United States, do solemnly swear est book is “Witnessing to affirm that I will bear Brother Malcolm X, the true allegiance to the Unit- Master Teacher.” Contact ed States of America and him at apeterb@verizon. that I will serve them hon- net. Click on this comestly and faithfully against mentary at www.flcouriall their enemies or op- er.com to write your own posers whatsoever, and response.

NATE BEELER, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

novation, and new markets. It will revitalize our economy. It can help rebuild a broad and vibrant middle class.

To get there will take a profound political movement and a sea change in our politics. Even as we build for that, we can agree to take the steps needed to provide greater protection to our people. That should not be a partisan or an ideological issue. It should be a common cause.

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is president and CEO of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

It’s the messengers The message is not the problem.

The messengers that congressional Republicans use are the problem.

The Blacks you try to promote have absolutely no standing in the Black community. But congressional Republicans are comfortable with liberal Black Democrats, because Republican lawmakers know that the Black Democrats will simply do whatever they’re told.

Congressional Republicans, in essence, tell the Black Democrats how to be Black, like the Black acting school scene in Robert Townsend’s classic movie “Hollywood Shuffle.”

My Republican friends, come back home to the Black community. You don’t have to continue to live in the fake world of Oz. If you awaken from your sleep, you will find a whole new world of possibilities waiting for you in the Black community.

Raynard Jackson is founder and chairman of Black Americans for a Better Future (BAFBF). Visit www.bafbf.org.

Houston increases profits, de-emphasizes humans Hurricane Harvey affected 6.8 million Texans, according to big business media. It adversely affected a quarter of the Lone Star State’s populous. The death toll continues to rise.

Black, Brown, and White working-class urban and rural people bore the brunt of capitalism’s social disaster (events or nonevents that humans trigger) from Hurricane Harvey. It increased already existing disparities and divisions that capitalism births and nurtures.

Wealth, income, and racism stand out.

No real effects On the flip side of the coin, Forbes Magazine analyzed Hurricane Harvey’s effects on financial portfolios. The article’s writer, Bob Clarfeld, said that while fluctuations exist, the effects will be short-term. He cautioned against “shortsighted decisions rooted in angst and fear.”

What about Harvey’s short and long-term effects on working class peoples’ lives? What about their angsts and fears?

Take Houston. It was the hardest-hit area. Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country. Over half its populace is Brown and Black. White working peo-

DR. KENNETH O. MORGAN BLACK AGENDA REPORT

ple make up much of the other half.

Around 40,000 people will make shelters their home for a long time.

Displaced people number more than 100,000.

Over 218,000 people lack power. Officials told over 100,000 people not to use or drink their water. Deaths continue to mount.

No flood control, insurance Houston’s real estate and economic development markets, loaded with oil refineries and vast profit schemes, pushed flood control planning down the river.

Many Houston residents could not afford home insurance. Most all of these residents do not have flood insurance.

Over 400,000 people applied for FEMA’s meager aid. Paint the picture: no replacement for their homes and belongings.

Big businesses’ foot soldiers, public officials, and politicians at local, state, and federal levels of government collaborated with the rich in many

ways. They made lax laws, policies, and regulations – or no laws at all – that significantly caused destructive, lethal flooding.

At the same time, they minimized regulatory scrutiny regarding refineries, whose products were spewing toxic residue before Harvey. And now these floods spread the poisons across the Houston region.

Knew it was coming David Roth of the National Weather Service said that a hurricane hitting Texas should be expected “about every six years.” CNBC, the business channel, rated Texas No. 1 in business infrastructure appeal, although it cited waterways and transportation as issues that needed lots of improvement. The assessment came before Harvey. Everyone knew what would happen.

Dr. Robert Bullard, a Black environmental justice expert, called it a catastrophe waiting to happen.” He called “unrestrained capitalism” the culprit. Cross out “unrestrained.”

Not to worry. Your investment portfolio remains safe.

Dr. Ken Morgan is the former head of Urban Studies at Coppin State University and an activist scholar. Click on this commentary at www. flcourier.com to write your own response.

NATION

TOJ A6

SEPTEMBER 15 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

DACA decision angers Black immigration alliance

BY FREDERICK R. LOWE TRICE EDNEY NEWSWIRE

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), the nation’s largest Black-led organization championing racial justice and immigrant rights, blasted the Trump administration for rescinding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that allowed 800,000 immigrant youth to live in the United States without fear of deportation.

“BAJI is appalled by Trump’s decision to rescind DACA. By cancelling the program President Trump is again pandering to White supremacists over immigrant and poor communities as well as millions of organizations, businesses and allies that support DACA recipients,” said Opal Tometi, executive director of BAJI, which is based in New York.

Collaborative effort U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Sept. 5 that the Trump administration was rescinding DACA because it was unconstitutional. The program provided a legal status for recipients, including participation in Social Security for nearly 800,000 mostly adult illegal aliens.

During a nationwide news conference on Sept. 7, hosted by New America Media and Ready California, a collaborative effort to support organizations providing information and legal services to immigrant community members, reporters asked questions and experts outlined the new landscape without DACA.

Worried about future Luis Quiroz, a DACA recipient, told reporters his parents brought him to this country from Mexico when he was six months old.

“I am an American. I don’t know another country,” said Quiroz, who is 27.

He is clearly worried about

NELVIN C. CEPEDA/SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE/TNS

Supporters of DACA are show during a rally on the steps of the County Administration building in San Diego, Calif., on Sept. 5. what will happen to him with DACA being rescinded and with good reason. Both parents and his older brother, who is deceased, were deported to Mexico.

“I’m unsure what my future looks like without DACA,” said Quiroz, who lives in San Francisco.

Not all Hispanic Like most DACA members, Quiroz is Hispanic, which leads some casual observers to think all DACA members are Hispanic.

They would be wrong in making that assumption.

There are 575,000 undocumented Black immigrants living in the U.S. and 1 percent are DA-

CA recipients from Black countries. The leading Black countries for DACA recipients are Jamaica (5,302), Trinidad & Tobago (4,077), and Nigeria (2,095).

Tometi urged Congress to step in and fix the nation’s broken immigration system.

“It is now up to Congress to come up with a long-term solution

to a broken immigration system that protects human rights and enables immigrant families to live and thrive in the U.S.,” Tometi said.

The Trump administration has given Congress six months to fix the DACA program.

This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com.

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Cruise lines canceling trips, shortens others See page B2

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

SEPT. 15 – SEPT. 21, 2017

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

How to cook for a cause See page B6

|

SECTION

B

S

HURRICANE IRMA

THANK THE METEOROLOGISTS FOR LIVES SPARED 1

“THERE’S BEEN REAL CLARITY ON ‘GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE.’ ” RICHARD OLSON, INTERNATIONAL HURRICANE RESEARCH CENTER FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Forecasting, satellite monitoring and government planning have dramatically improved in recent decades.

2

BY MATT PEARCE, MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE AND EVAN HALPER LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

NAPLES – During a hurricane in 1900, a storm surge rose out of the Gulf of Mexico and annihilated Galveston, Texas, killing about 8,000 men, women and children.

In 1935, at least 408 people died when another cyclone slammed into the Florida Keys, many of them World War I veterans working on construction projects.

And in 1957, Hurricane Audrey’s storm surges crashed into the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, killing 390 people.

Hurricane Irma, which collided with Florida over the weekend, was in a similar league as those storms in its sheer power, and the number of people living in vulnerable areas has only grown.

Monitoring, preparation So how has the number of deaths — in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina as of Monday night — remained in single digits?

The answer is the modern science of hurricane monitoring and preparation, which has saved countless lives as forecasting, satellite monitoring and government planning have dramatically improved in recent decades.

One study in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews calculated that America suffered an average of 1,400 hurricane deaths per decade from 1910 to 1939, 700 deaths per decade from 1940 to 1969, and about 250 deaths per decade from 1970 to 1999.

“The number of people killed in hurricanes halves about every 25 years, in spite of the fact that coastal populations have been increasing, because of what we’re doing with forecasting,” said Hugh Willoughby, a professor of meteorology at Florida InterSee FORECAST, Page B2

3

1. Traffic rolls at a crawl on the northbound lanes of Florida’s Turnpike near the intersection of I-75 in Wildwood on Friday.

STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

2. Brain Blair, left, and his grandson, Aaron Blair, carry their blankets to the Coconut Palm Elementary School shelter in Miramar as powerful Hurricane Irma heads toward Florida on Saturday.

TAIMY ALVAREZ/SUN SENTINEL/TNS

3. Thousands of people wait to get into Germain Arena in Estero as the mandatory evacuation orders, prompted by Hurricane Irma, are extended in the area of Naples and Fort Myers on Saturday.

CAROLYN COLE/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

HURRICANE IRMA

B2

SEPTEMBER 15 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

STOJ

CRUISE LINES SHORTEN SOME TRIPS, CANCEL OTHERS The cancellations

BY HUGO MARTIN LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Hurricane Irma has put a temporary halt to operations at Florida’s usually bustling cruise ports, forcing cruise companies to cancel several trips and shorten others.

When the monster storm ripped through the Caribbean and Florida, it struck the world’s three busiest cruise ports — Port Miami, Port Canaveral and Port Everglades — as well as the top cruise destination, the Caribbean.

Although the storm is likely to put a dent in the operations of the $35.7 billion cruise industry, a final assessment of the financial impact may not be known for weeks or months, industry experts say. More than 3 million cruise passengers sail out of Florida ports each year.

As on Monday morning, Port Miami, Port Canaveral and Port Everglades remained closed, pending inspections by government officials to determine the extent of storm damage.

Carnival Cruise Lines, the world’s largest cruise company, canceled six cruises scheduled to depart between Sept. 7 and Monday, and delayed the departure of six others.

Royal Caribbean, another major cruise company, canceled two sailings, one to Cuba and another to the Bahamas. The company said the ships would be used for humanitarian efforts in the Caribbean.

Cruise passengers will be refunded their fares and fees and will be offered a 25 percent credit toward a future cruise.

CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Sea is docked on Aug. 29 at the Port of Miami due to heavy rains and flooding from Hurricane Harvey. It began Day 10 of what was supposed to be a seven-day cruise beginning and ending in Galveston. But in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey which closed the Texas port (and forced the cancellation of several cruises), the ship was instead diverted to Miami.

Stuck in Miami Royal Caribbean will also delay the departure of four cruises and, in some cases, will refund a portion of the fares to passengers whose trips have been altered.

Cruises on the Norwegian Sky

and Norwegian Escape were canceled last week, leaving some passengers stuck in Miami with a massive storm bearing down on them.

Norwegian Cruise Line said it accepted about 4,000 of those passengers onto the Norwegian

Escape and set sail for Cozumel on the eastern tip of Mexico, away from the storm.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian Sky has been deployed to the Virgin Islands to carry humanitarian supplies to victims of the storm.

1 1. Florida Highway Patrol trooper inspects a closed segment of Interstate 4 near State Road 434 in Longwood on Monday after a portion of the interstate highway northeast of Orlando washed away during Hurricane Irma’s passing through Central Florida on Sunday night.

JOE BURBANK/ ORLANDO SENTINEL/ TNS

2. A sign brought down by the winds of Hurricane Irma in Fort Lauderdale is photographed on Monday.

JOE CAVERETTA/SUN SENTINEL/TNS

FORECAST

casts and dire warnings had him in a panic. Could it stand up to 100-mph winds?

After briefly checking out a shelter, Burke and his family returned to their home and nervously hunkered down.

As the storm picked up, it became clear the house was holding its own. He even went out on his lanai to watch trees fall. “It was pretty intense, but we never felt endangered,” Burke said.

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from Page 1

national University in Miami.

More advance notice The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) errors in storm tracking have been cut in half in the last dozen years, giving residents 36 total hours of advance notice that a hurricane is expected, up from 24 hours five years ago, he said.

With Irma, he said, “The emergency response at all levels of state government was really, really good. They did the right things, they said the right things. They gave people good advice and they didn’t minimize the threat.”

Irma was one of the most powerful storms to ever crawl out of the Atlantic.

After ripping through Caribbean islands with Category 5 winds, killing at least 37 people, it weakened slightly as it took direct aim at Florida, whose explosive real estate development in recent decades has made it the nation’s third-most-populous state.

More drown Florida was slammed with huge storm surges, violent winds and heavy rains that socked the peninsula from south to north, flooding towns and knocking out power to millions of people.

But the most shocking thing about Irma may be what it didn’t do: kill in large numbers.

The greatest threat from a hurricane comes not from its winds, but from its surges of ocean water that flood shorelines, leaving survivors in buildings little way to escape.

A 2014 National Hurricane Center study estimated that 90 percent of American hurricane

Post-safety concerns

deaths were somehow water-related, mostly drownings. Between 5 percent and 10 percent of deaths were due to winds, not counting tornadoes.

‘The right call’ The survival lesson is clear: Get people away from flood-prone areas.

All along the state’s Gulf and Atlantic coasts, people heeded forecasters’ predictions and government orders and evacuated before the danger hit.

“This was an extraordinary event, and in some places we got surges far more than predicted,” said Heather Carruthers, who left her home in the Florida Keys and took her family to the relative safety of Orlando. Parts of the island chain were hammered by several feet of dangerous storm surge.

“When they were looking at a storm of this size, as well as its intensity, we knew it was not something that you gamble with,” said Carruthers, a Monroe County commissioner. “This is one you get out of the way for. We think we

made the right call.”

Unexpected places Richard Olson, director of the International Hurricane Research Center at Florida International University, said authorities have gotten much better at making the danger clear to the public.

“There’s been real clarity on ‘get the hell out of Dodge,’” he said.

In modern times, when hurricane deaths come, it’s often “in areas with flooding that nobody was expecting,” Olson said.

The most recent example is last month’s Hurricane Harvey, which dumped several feet of rain over parts of Texas and killed at least 70 people, mostly in flooding.

In Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans in 2005 and remains America’s deadliest storm in decades, one mortality study found that many of the 1,170 or more victims died in flooding near where the storm breached man-made levees.

Wrath of Andrew The previous most ruinous

storm to hit Florida was Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which destroyed tens of thousands of homes.

Many of the 30 or so people who died around Miami — the area hardest hit — were crushed in collapsed buildings or mobile homes, while most of the rest suffered heart attacks and other medical incidents in the two weeks after the storm.

Andrew prompted the state to overhaul its building codes.

Leslie Chapman-Henderson, head of Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, a nonprofit formed in 1998, said all of the group’s original recommendations had “long since been adopted in the minimum standards” for construction in Florida.

‘Pretty intense’ In the weeks and months ahead, experts will examine how buildings built with those standards held up. Some residents felt confident.

James Burke, 61, had no idea what would happen to his home in Naples in Southwest Florida during the hurricane. The fore-

For now, Chapman-Henderson sounded more worried about the behavior of homeowners than the safety of the homes they were living in.

It’s now common for much of a hurricane’s death toll in America to come after the storm, sometimes in auto accidents in unsafe driving conditions, carbon monoxide poisonings involving generators improperly used indoors, and electrocutions by exposed power lines.

“If you’ve never used a chainsaw before, right now is not the time to learn,” Chapman-Henderson said. Survivors might be “exhausted and stressed out, and not using a generator correctly.”

Wanted: More certainty Jean-Pierre Bardet, dean of the University of Miami’s college of engineering, said he was impressed with the communication from government officials about evacuations.

But with all the forecasts, all the satellite imaging, Bardet still wasn’t satisfied. He noted that the storm was initially projected to hit southeast Florida.

“It would be great in the future,” Bardet said, “if we had some more certainty.”

Pearce reported from Los Angeles, Hennessy-Fiske from Houston and Halper from Naples.

STOJ

SEPTEMBER 15 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

HEALTH

ROBERT GAUTHIER/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

A day after flood water receded, Yvonne Ferguson-Smith assesses the hurricane damage to her home while talking with her husband, Rico Smith, on the phone on August 30.

Harvey’s health toll: Texas doctor taps lessons from Katrina

BY SHEFALI LUTHRA KAISER HEALTH NEWS/TNS

As Dr. Ruth Berggren digests the calamity affecting her new home state of Texas, she admits to some PTSD. In 2005, she was an infectious-disease doctor at the nearly 3,000-bed Charity Hospital in New Orleans, one of a small number of physicians left managDr. Ruth ing patients and Berggren performing triage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

She spent weeks and month dealing with the aftermath, before moving to Texas, where she heads the University of TexasSan Antonio’s Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics, part of its Health Science Center.

Firsthand experience As Houston begins assessing Harvey’s impact, she’s “constantly comparing and contrasting,” she said. After all, Berggren remembers the power outages and the lack of clean drinking water.

She knows firsthand the trauma suffered by the medical personnel trying to keep people healthy under devastating circumstances.

“I remember what it was like

to be standing on the balcony of the ninth floor of Charity Hospital looking out over the floodwaters,” Berggren reflected.

This time around, she has been volunteering at a makeshift clinic in a San Antonio middle school, once again treating victims of the storm — elderly patients who had lost their walkers, and people who in the rush to evacuate had forgotten medicines (or perhaps lost track of when they last took a dose).

Some improvements Storms such as this place a heavy burden on the local health system.

Hospitals such as Houston’s Ben Taub Hospital, a Level 1 trauma center, worked to evacuate patients, even as food shortages and flooded streets promised complications for people trying to deliver refuge and health care.

But Berggren has also seen improvements. Harvey is the first major storm since the federal government revised emergency preparedness standards for hospitals, in response to Katrina and 2012’s Superstorm Sandy.

Her perspective Now, health care providers that receive Medicare or Medicaid dollars must have disaster preparedness plans, including relocation strategies for at-risk pa-

CDC reportedly tells employees not to speak to reporters

tients and mechanisms to maintain basic power.

Berggren recently shared her distinctive perspective, drawing on her knowledge of Texas, her memories from New Orleans and knowledge as one of the country’s leading bioethicists. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What kind of burden does a storm like this one place on local hospitals, and on the health care system?

A: The first responders are always the people there locally.

They’re being affected by the disaster at the same time as the population is. You have sort of a dual role.

Where I saw this burden take its biggest toll was two or three days into the post-Katrina storm, at Charity. The people who had the hardest time were the folks who didn’t know the safety or whereabouts of or well-being of their loved ones.

All the health care providers in Ben Taub now, and other hospitals caring for patients that had to be left behind — this is a very stressful and difficult time.

Q: Does that affect what kind of care they give, while seeing potentially increased need?

A: You have to start working with much more limited resources. There’s going to be limitations in communications. We’ve already heard about looming limi-

tations for food. Water has been OK, power has been OK — so those are two factors that weigh heavily in Houston’s favor. After Katrina, we lost power. We really didn’t have the ability to use our water supply. It was, in that respect at least, more dire.

However, as the days go by, the rains continue, the flooding continues — supplies are going to run out. There are going to be a lot of logistical hurdles.

Q: Hurricane Katrina shone a spotlight on some of these challenges that can arise at a hospital navigating a natural disaster — are there lessons you think people learned that we’re maybe seeing applied here in Harvey?

A: It does look like they were far better prepared, with regard to having protection for their power supply and for water in these hospitals.

You can never really be fully prepared. What I recall before Katrina is there was kind of a set of misplaced priorities. We had to all undergo about four hours of training about sexual harassment in the workplace because Tulane was worried about that that year in particular — and had had exactly zero hurricane preparedness. We didn’t even know what Code Gray was.

I think that whole region along the Gulf Coast is much more attuned to the fact that we have to prioritize educating health pro-

fessionals about disaster preparedness. I see better preparedness in the medical community and I like to think that’s part of the Hurricane Katrina legacy.

Q: What challenges should we expect in the storm’s wake?

A: There are always going to be vulnerable people, disenfranchised groups of people. If they’re not gotten out and they become further deprived of food and shelter and having their basic needs met, you’re going to see, unfortunately, I fear, the potential for violence.

We had the experience at Charity Hospital of getting shot at by snipers, and we never knew who they were. We assumed they were disenfranchised people who had become desperate and been deprived of food or perhaps medication.

It’s going to be very hard to get regular services back up and running. I would say mental health is going to be a big problem. We saw a number of suicides in New Orleans after Katrina. People have a bit of a sense of despair when they become aware of the scope and scale of the disaster.

Post-Katrina it took many, many, many months to see the mental health counselors and psychiatrists return. I would hope that in the intermediate-range and longrange planning for disaster recovery that mental health is given a really high priority.

Next, I would worry about some infectious-disease issues. There’s a lot that’s been written about Houston’s risk for a Zika outbreak.

Of course, the way you combat Zika is you get rid of standing water — and what does Houston have right now?

Q: Lots of standing water?

A: Lots of standing water! They have had a superb proactive public health response up until now.

I only hope the state continues to support that.

We have a lot of people living with chronic illness in general. When it’s tuberculosis, when it’s HIV, those people need their medications on a regular schedule, without interruption.

There were a lot of logistical hurdles in New Orleans, post-Katrina, in keeping patients on their full HIV regimens and full tuberculosis regimens.

My patients with AIDS and tuberculosis, who were evacuated without their medications — it took a long time before they could get to a place where they really felt they could confidently tell their health care providers what their needs were.

I had AIDS patients contacting me and saying, “Is it OK if I take my pills every other day to make them last longer?” And that’s exactly what you don’t want to do.

Q: With people saying recovery will take months and even years — what sort of long-term impact might we see on the health system in Houston, and on local public needs?

A: Physical infrastructure will take time to repair, but you can still provide funding to help people access care.

One vulnerable group that I would like to highlight is pregnant women. Between 2010 and 2014 we saw a 79 percent increase in maternal death (in Texas).

Houston doesn’t have to have all the floodwater evacuated and the buildings pristine to provide health care to vulnerable people.

Need a crisis counselor? How to get help Stress, anxiety and other depression-like symptoms are common reactions after a disaster.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has issued the following information on free services for people seeking mental health support after Hurricane Irma.

ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reportedly cracking down on the release of information to the public by its scientists and other staff members.

Axios, an online political-news site, obtained a memo from CDC public affairs officer Jeffrey Lancashire, who instructed agency employees not to speak to reporters “even for a simple data-related question.”

“Effective immediately and until further notice, any and all correspondence with any member of the news media, regardless of the nature of the inquiry, must be cleared through CDC’s Atlanta communications office,” the Aug. 31 memo said, according to Axios.

“This correspondence includes everything from formal interview requests to the most basic of data requests.”

NAMI Helpline

Got a recording The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called the CDC’s Atlanta communications office Tuesday, only to encounter a recording that suggested calling again later.

The CDC has long kept tight control over its external communications, as well as over its campus.

The complex has evolved into an armed encampment in the post-9/11 world.

But individual scientists and researchers have generally been available to explain their findings — which, of course, often have major implications for public health and, therefore, tend to interest the public (also known as taxpayers).

B3

JOHN FITZHUGH/BILOXI SUN HERALD/TNS

Angelyn Bush, a clinical social worker from Catholic Charities, right, listens as Jace Ladner, then 7, of Necaise Crossing, Mississippi, talks about Hurricane Katrina at Camp Noah in June 2006. The camp was to help children work through their Katrina experience. A large number of parents reported that children were suffering from mental health issues five years after the storm.

This is a free service that provides information, referrals and support to people living with a mental health condition, family members and caregivers, mental health providers and the public.

The NAMI HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The number is 1-800-950-NAMI (6264).

Crisis Text Line Text NAMI at 741741 to connect with a trained crisis counselor to receive free, 24/7 crisis support via text message.

SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline This is a 24/7, 365-daya–year, national hotline hosted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) dedicated to providing immediate crisis counseling for people who are experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster.

It’s a toll-free, multilingual and confidential crisis support service available to all residents in the United States and its territories. Call 1-800-9855990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to connect with a trained crisis counselor.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline If you or someone you know is in crisis—whether they are considering suicide or not—call the toll-free Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) to speak with a trained crisis counselor 24/7.

B4

SEPTEMBER 15 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

YOUR DOLLARS ARE

HARD AT WORK

Even a small donation can make a big difference

SupportHurricaneRelief.org

STOJ

STOJ

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

SEPTEMBER 15 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

B5

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.

Thousands of Caribbean culture lovers converge on South Florida every year on the Columbus Day weekend to attend the annual Miami Broward Carnival, a series of concerts, pageants, parades, and competitions.

On Carnival Day, “mas” (masquerade) bands of thousands of revelers dance and march behind 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks with booming sound systems from morning until nightfall while competing for honors.

Here are some of the “Finest” we’ve seen over the years. Go to www. miamibrowardcarnival. com for information on this year’s Carnival.

CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

Actors’ organizations create fund for members affected by storms LOS ANGELES – The SAG-AFTRA Foundation and the SAGAFTRA Motion Picture Players Welfare Fund (MPPWF) have created a Hurricane Relief Fund specifically to provide financial support to SAG-AFTRA members affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

The SAG-AFTRA Foundation seeded the Hurricane Relief Fund with $200,000 and the SAG-AFTRA MPPWF matched the contribution for a total initial assistance pool of $400,000.

The organizations will be reaching out to the entire 160,000 SAG-AFTRA membership for additional contributions and donations to the emergency relief fund. The Actors Fund has partnered with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation and SAG-AFTRA MPPWF in this critical effort to provide the social services and coordinate the grant reviews and approvals.

‘A helping hand’ The process has been streamlined to speed relief to those in need and consists of a quick, confidential application and consultation to establish need.

During the consultation, the social services professionals at The Actors Fund will also assess each applicant’s need for additional assistance, programs or services.

“As a Texan, the shocking images and devastating aftermath of Harvey, and now Irma, have really hit home. We are heartbroken for our fellow Americans, and our own SAG-AFTRA family, whose homes and lives have been upended because they happen to live in the paths of these unprecedented disasters.

“Our concern is not only for their safety, but also for what lies ahead,” said SAG-AFTRA Foundation President and ac-

tor JoBeth Williams. “We’re here to lend a helping hand to SAGAFTRA members in their time of need. We have to take care of each other.”

How to apply SAG-AFTRA members are eligible to apply for the Hurricane Relief Fund if they are currently active and have paid their dues through April 30, 2017, and have been affected by either Harvey or Irma. Affected and eligible members may apply by contacting The Actors Fund intake services directly: For those impacted by Hurricane Harvey, contact The Actors Fund’s Los Angeles Office – (323) 933-9244, ext. 455 or intakela@actorsfund.org For those impacted by Hurricane Irma, contact The Actors Fund’s New York City Office – (212) 221-7300 ext. 119 or intakeny@ actorsfund.org.

The SAG-AFTRA Foundation is accepting donations directed to the Hurricane Relief Fund from individuals and corporate donors who wish to help provide support to hard-hit SAGAFTRA members in the affected areas. Contributions can be made at sagaftrafoundation. org/donate.

Kelly Price

Big Freedia

BET.COM

Stevie Wonder performs at the “Hand in Hand’’ benefit concert that aired Tuesday night on four networks.

Celebs help raise $14.5 million for hurricane victims EURWEB.COM

“When love goes into action, it preferences no color of skin, no ethnicity, no religious beliefs, no sexual preferences,

LeAndria Johnson

Raheem DeVaughn

Big Freedia, DeVaughn, Price to perform at hurricane benefit concert and no political persuasions. It just loves,” said Stevie Wonder, who joined a roster of celebrities Tuesday night, volunteering their time to help raise money for those impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Wonder sang “Lean On Me’’ at the hourlong benefit named “Hand in Hand,’’ which was broadcast on four networks.

In 60 minutes, celebrities helped to raise $14.5 million for hurricane victims.

Many celebrities were there to lend a hand: Oprah was on the phones, along with Justin Bieber, George Clooney, Julianne Moore, Bruce Willis, Sofia Vergara, and Julia Roberts and many others.

Justin Timberlake shared stories while photos and videos showing experiences of folks impacted were displayed in the background, and loads of artists performed.

City Winery in Atlanta will be the site of the Hurricane Harvey Benefit Relief Concert on Sept.

20.

The concert is at 8 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. City Winery in conjunction with TriFectHer Entertainment are producing the concert. City Winery is located at Ponce City Market, 650 North Ave., Atlanta.

Performers scheduled are Kelly Price, Slick Rick, Trina, Case, Big Freedia, 112, MAJOR, LeAndria Johnson, Pastor Troy, Mia X, Donell Jones, Raheem DeVaughn, Gritz & Jelly Butter.

More are expected to participate.

Atlanta’s on air radio personality, Ed Lover, and actress and model Eva Marcille will host the event.

All of the proceeds from the ticket sales and silent auction will go directly to two Houston families (with several small children) who lost everything in the hurricane as well as James Franklin McIngvale, known as Mattress Mack. McIngvale is sheltering and feeding hurricane victims at his Gallery Furniture retail chain and mobilizing clean up efforts in the area.

General admission tickets are $55.

FOOD

B6

SEPTEMBER 15 – SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

S

Cooking for a

cause FROM FAMILY FEATURES

If you love to entertain and want to support a good cause, now you can do both at the same time.

Currently in its 16th year, Cook for the Cure is a program that gives those with a passion for cooking a way to support the fight against breast cancer.

Through culinary-based fundraising, events, auctions and the sale of select products, the partnership between KitchenAid and Susan G. Komen for the Cure® has raised more than $10.7 million for the cause.

“It adds another layer of purpose to one of life’s great pleasures, cooking and enjoying food with family and friends,” said Anthony Pastrick, brand manager for KitchenAid. “The program continues to fuel passionate cooks with simple, creative ways to support a meaningful cause.”

You can make a difference by hosting a party that lets you Cook for the Cure by raising awareness and funds for breast cancer research. Here

MINI FRUIT TARTS Recipe courtesy of Kelly Kwok of Life Made Sweeter on behalf of KitchenAid Makes: 6 pastries Pastries: 1 frozen puff pastry sheet (17.3 ounces), thawed 1 large egg 1-2 teaspoons milk Frosting: 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

are some ideas to get you started: • Invite guests for an evening of appetizers, such as these Mini Fruit Tarts, and drinks. Encourage fundraising by awarding a prize to the guest with the highest donation, or let donors enter their names into a drawing to win a restaurant gift certificate or spa treatment.

• Organize a fundraising bake sale. Get the neighbors involved in baking, promoting and selling – it’s a great way to bring people together.

Your contribution could be these Lemon Berry Cheesecake Bars.

• Host a potluck brainstorming party. Invite people who share your passion for helping others to bring their favorite dish and think up creative ways to support the cause as a group. Vote on a project then let everyone pitch in to get started. Cooking good food, sharing time with friends and giving back to the community – that’s a recipe for a truly great party.

Learn more at CookfortheCure.com.

8 ounces cream cheese, chilled 1-2 tablespoons coconut cream or full-fat canned coconut milk, plus additional (optional) 1 teaspoon coconut extract 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 3-3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, plus additional (optional) Toppings: assorted fresh fruit

LEMON BERRY CHEESECAKE BARS Recipe courtesy of Lindsay Conchar of Life, Love & Sugar on behalf of KitchenAid Makes: 12-16 bars 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs 5 tablespoons butter, melted 16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided fresh berries Line 9-inch square cake pan with parchment paper, bringing up over sides.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter, and stir until well combined.

Press crumb mixture evenly into bottom of cake pan. Set aside.

In bowl of stand mixer, beat cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest until smooth. In separate bowl, whip heavy whipping cream until it starts to thicken. Add

remaining powdered sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold half the whipped cream into cheesecake mixture and place remainder in refrigerator to use later.

Spread cheesecake mixture evenly in cake pan.

Refrigerate cheesecake at least 4 hours, or until firm.

Use parchment paper on sides to lift bars out of pan then cut into squares.

Use remaining whipped cream to top cheesecake bars then add fresh berries, as desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Transfer pastries onto baking sheet and bake 10 minutes, until pastries have puffed up and are golden.

Cool completely on wire rack.

To make frosting: In stand mixer bowl fitted with flat beater, beat butter on medium speed until light and creamy, about 3 minutes.

Add cream cheese and beat until smooth and fully incorporated. Add coconut cream, coconut extract and vanilla extract, and beat until smooth.

Gently stir in powdered sugar until fully incorporated. Turn stand mixer on high and beat 1 minute, until fully combined. Add additional powdered sugar and coconut cream until desired consistency and level of sweetness is reached.

Spread or pipe coconut cream cheese frosting into middle.

Top with fresh fruit and another pastry square. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

To make pastries: Heat oven to 400 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Place puff pastry sheet on lightly floured work surface and cut each sheet into 12 3-inch squares.

In small bowl, beat egg with milk to make egg wash and lightly brush onto each square.

Helping you is what we love to do.

In the Publix Pharmacy, we’re ready to answer your questions about prescriptions or over-the-counter medications. And when it’s flu season, you can get your vaccine here, on your next grocery trip. No appointment necessary.

See how we serve you at publix.com/service.