And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: "John E Hussman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> replies: It is eerie to see and entire housing area gone, totally gone. Even the foundations leveled. Big cottonwood trees were uprooted or twisted in half, power line poles sheared halfway up their length. Individual survival stories are coming out now and it seems miraculous the death toll was not more then one. What used to be the "Igloo Housing" is gone. The Rapid City Journal reported about six hundred people were served by the disaster-relief food stamp issue. The food stamps did not have anything to do with poverty guidelines but were meant to replace food lost due to the storms passing through last week. According to local population estimates well over one thousand people should have been served by disaster relief services but a lot of people were reluctant to participate. Over the past years, in particular during this era of "Welfare Reform", a lot of our Indian people were singled out for indictment and prosecution on what was interpreted as welfare fraud. Some elderly people whose homes were leveled in Oglala asked only for a tent to put up near where their home used to be so they could be near their possessions. Once bit, twice shy, when it comes to what they believe is assistance offered from the state of South Dakota's Department of Social Services. Other people who suffered losses because of the storms but who do not live in Oglala feel they are not getting the services they are entitled to. It's going to take a while to straighten this mess out but someone needs to seek these people out and explain things to them in the language they understand. A lot of Oglala residents were wondering why FEMA and the Red Cross set up headquarters in Pine Ridge, sixteen miles Southeast of Oglala, instead of in Oglala. In considering the difficulty that people whose homes were devastated in finding transportation to get to Pine Ridge or even to Loneman School for help it would seem logical to headquarter in Oglala. People from Pine Ridge were seen taking food that was destined for distribution to storm victims. The food was taken in plain site of those that were given the responsibility to safeguard the food. There is a clique of privilege that permeates nearly every aspect of life in Pine Ridge, and if you are a part of the "in" group, you can expect certain privileges. Privileges that are gained at the expense of others. Therefore, the people that helped themselves to the food were not stopped. Some lip service was given to the looting on KILI radio, but we will see what results. Meanwhile current news reports: http://www.msnbc.com/local/knbn/19338.asp Helping our neighbors in need People in the town of Oglala are slowly rebuilding their lives following a devastating tornado that blew through the Pine Ridge Reservation last Friday night. On Thursday Hot 93.1 radio, and NewsCenter 1 delivered the first truckload of donated items to the tornado stricken Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Wednesday morning we began collecting donations at the Dan’s Supermarket parking lot, with 93.1 d-jay Bobby Rock leading the charge. [CG:DUAL\Bobby Rock\Hot 93.1 Radio] “Because a lot of people lost a lot of homes a lot of personal belongings, a lot of people have in the Oglala area don’t have any food, this is where they’re coming to the Lone Man School to get fed, and I wanna help.” The items were dropped off at the Loneman school in Oglala, they will then be distributed to people in need. Although the outpouring of support from around the Black Hills has been greatly appreciated by the people of Pine Ridge, the need for more assistance still remains. [CG:DUAL\Stanley Looking Elk\Oglala Volunteer] “Feels good, everybody feels good cause you see a lot of our girls here are worried about he people, we thank the people very much.” Another load of windows, doors, and other larger items collected by NewsCenter 1 and Hot 93.1 will be shipped to Oglala in the near future. Black Hills movers donated the moving truck...it was unloaded by volunteers from “Youth Build” in McLean County, Nebraska. <snipped> President Clinton declared Shannon County a Federal disaster area Wednesday afternoon. The Federal Agency of emergency management estimates that the tornadoes caused one million dollars in damage to Oglala. Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
