Waiting for you to get Pretty Since 1920
Volume 84, Number 3
Longwood. Student Helps in Mississippi Rescue Ef fort
September 29, 2005
Longwood student from Franklin to receive award from statewide group Kent Booty Public Relations Release
Janet Jones Editor In Chief On September 4th Will Pettus left Farmville with the Virginia Department of Forestry to help the hurricane victims in Mississippi. Three crews from Virginia went down south to help the hurricane victims. The crew Pettus was in worked for and with the National Park Service, first helping Mississippi Park Service employees so that they could get back to work and help others. The crew then went into neighborhoods and cities, assisting citizens who did not know how to move dangerous objects. They removed water-logged furniture while also distributing food and water. The National Guard, Red Cross, churches, and police were all working together, doing anything they could to help. Pettus arrived on a bus, and had to adjust to the absence of stop lights due to the lack of electricity. They set up in a national park by the water, where they had to sleep in a tent, or on the sand. There were no restrooms, water,
electricity or showers. Pettus said, "The city was very quiet with no vehicles. There was a curfew, so no one could be out after dark. There were no lights in- the city, but each night the city became brighter." Upon arrival the only thing remaining in the city were the foundations. Huge casino barges were ripped up and washed ashore. Because the water surge was 30 feet above ground, most things were underwater. The water rose up like a wall and bulldozed through the city, leaving it in disarray. Doors, windows and walls were blown out of houses. Photographs, personal letters, records and yearbooks filled the streets. In the national park Pettus camped out in there were golf clubs, televisions, and kitchen chairs in the woods. Many of the bodies were washed out to sea, but were not recovered because the focus was on those still alive. Recovery teams have been recovering body parts, but were unable to classify them as a body. This, along with the sewage.
rotten garbage, and dead animals, has created an overwhelming smell in the city. There are houses sitting on the streets with debris piled 20 feet high. There was a trash pile created that sat 100 feet high and spanned 1000 football fields wide. Some residents of the neighborhoods they entered informed the crew that they were the first people they had seen since the storm. Electricians were trying to get electricity running again, but because of the abundance of water, this only created more fires. There were a few radio stations still running, but many of them were simulcasting. Broadcasters were giving out numbers for FEMA, Red Cross, access to medicine and where to go to find missing people. According to Pettus, the media is not showing the reality of Mississippi. 'They are focusing on New Orleans because it is a well known city. The mayhem going on with looting is not the biggest problem, and should not be the main focus." Pettus helped and spoke with people who had stood on' a kitchen counter for hours waiting for the water to go down, people
who had latched onto trees for survival, or found a neighbor with a row boat and jumped on. Many of these people did not leave before the flooding because they were told the water would never raise that high. They survived Hurricane Camille, and felt they could live through anything. Others were too ill to leave the hospitals, or were working with these people in the hospitals. Those who stayed were trapped in a social batde. The younger, stronger survivors were hoarding the food and gas that remained. For now, people will continue sleeping on the concrete, in blown-out apartments, but FEMA plans on setting up huge trailer parks, one containing 300,000 trailers. They feel that these people will be able to afford this reduced price housing with their insurance money. Pettus flew back to Virginia safely, but there are still rural areas and bayou communities in Mississippi that have yet to be been investigated thouroughly enough to determine the damage, or see if there are any survivors.
Ivy Walton, a Longwood University junior from Franklin, has been selected to receive the Minority/Diversity Scholarship Award from the Virginia Association of Teachers of English (VATE). The award honors a minority student enrolled in a teacher preparation program at a Virginia college or university who plans to teach English. It will be presented Oct. 15 in a luncheon during the 36th annual VATE conference in Roanoke, which Walton will attend. 'The scholarship, which rewards the efforts of highly capable students entering teaching, represents VATE's commitment to improving English-language arts instruction in Virginia schools," said the organization's president, Janice SuppaFriedman, in a letter to Walton. "Your scholarship, interest in learning, and recommendations show your promise of becoming an outstanding teacher." Walton, who is majoring in English with a concentration in secondary education, is a member of the Students of Longwood Association of Teachers of English (S-LATE) and Lambda Iota Tau, the English honor society. She is a graduate of Franklin High School and is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Walton.