REMEMBERING THE KATRINA VICTIMS SEEMINGLY FORGOTTEN

Understandbly, much of the attention in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has focused on the remarkable destruction in New Orleans and along the coastline of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. That is where much of the storm's wrath was felt, and that's where the largest number of it's victims lived.

However, there were many smaller communities well inland that did not escape Katrina's fury, and they have generally been ignored in the media reports and government attention. Small towns with names such as Gonzales, Wiggins, Collins, Purvis, Bayou la Batre, and Columbia. People in those areas are suffering as well, and many feel forgotten.

There is a great piece written by Michael Gannon of the Hattiesburg American, which is my hometown newspaper in Mississippi, and was reprinted in today's Pensacola News Journal. It focuses on those who live in the Pine Belt's rural Greene County, located roughly midway between Hattiesburg and Mobile, Alabama. While aid is beginning to reach towns there such as McLain, many people there are "country folk" and live away from towns, and lead hand-to-mouth existances. Many still do not have electricity restored, and some rural electric power cooperatives that service such areas may not have power available to all customers for several weeks...they simply do not have the financial and manpower resources as the larger, corporate utility companies. I especially encourage you to read the article.