- 3 Bags of Ike...er...Ice!
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- Dear Jeff,
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- Just thought I'd send you an update from the Land of
Ike, I thought you might be wondering how things are going. Good news,
the family is safe and the roof is on the house. The rest of the area is
not as lucky. Overall the situation is pretty bleak. Major metropolitan
areas and big hurricanes don't get along very well. The landscape of this
part of the Gulf Coast has been greatly changed. I personally am heartbroken
over the loss of the legendary Balinese Room, historic 40's nightclub on
the pier in Galveston. It had legal gambling and hosted entertainers such
as Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Jack Benny. Ike took it away in pieces.
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- Gas stations are mostly closed, I only saw one open on
my way home from work and there were three police cars present and incredibly
long lines. Electrical power is still out for over 90% of all consumers,
it is slowly coming back but it may be weeks yet for many people to have
their power restored. Some electrical providers have 100% of their customers
down. No lights, no traffic lights, no any lights and I'm telling you,
that's a dark dark, it makes perfect sense to have a curfew, its too dark
and there's way too much dangerous debris. Some of these electrical providers
service more rural areas surrounding Houston proper. A customer base that
covers many miles of East Texas piney woods, most of which cannot be traveled
as we speak, and may not be even reached for some days to come. In the
years I have lived in the sweltering heat of Houston I have heard many
people occasionally wonder, "How did people live here 100's of years
ago without air conditioning?" Well, we are about to find out.
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- Food, water, and ice, are the basics in an emergency.
The things people don't have when the power goes out unless they have prepared.
Many people prepared for Ike, they were smart. Many did not, they were
mistaken. When a hurricane hits and the power goes out, the water pumps
can break, the food spoils, the water can go bad, and no one can make ice.
I proudly work for a large organic grocer. I am considered "essential
personnel" in this state of emergency. If I get pulled over driving
off-curfew, all I have to say is water, ice, and food and I get a handy
dandy FEMA pass that says I can go to work. Today, I was a first responder.
I work for a company that knows how to do hurricanes right, sadly, we've
had lots of practice the last few years, or should I say past few weeks
even? Thanks Gustav.
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- Anyone who has been paying attention knows that there
are no more "back rooms" in grocery stores, and haven't been
for years. Stores order "truck to shelf" and what you see is
what you get. As soon as we knew Ike was on his way, we had truckloads
of ice heading toward us arriving as soon as it was safe for our drivers
to get there. We had some HUGE generators and refrigerated truck trailers
to save the food in the store in case the power went out, and of course,
it did. Despite the situation in their own areas and families, we had team
members there at 6am to get to the point of a "soft" opening
by 11, and we did it. When we opened the doors there were about 500 people
waiting. Since many of our team members are still stuck in the mess of
Ike themselves, we ran for 6 hours with a short staff. We controlled entry
so that everyone could get what they needed without causing a big jam up
and we could get everyone taken care of. I think we did a heck of a job.
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- People show their true colors in times like these, they
are either accepting, grateful, and patient...or they aren't. One of the
things I observed today was how spoiled rotten some people are. I don't
think they even understood what it took to get that store up and running
under such conditions. Do they realize what happened so they can get their
water and ice and food? Many people expect to just be able to go get what
they need now that the storm has "passed". We just had a hurricane
folks, not a thunderstorm, not a tropical depression, or even a tropical
storm...a big ass HURRICANE.
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- So, the answers were... "Noooooo...we don't have
milk. Nooooo...we don't have eggs. Those are perishable commodities"...perishable
- that means it spoils quickly. If you haven't had power for two days,
your eggs will be bad too! We will have some tomorrow when our trucks can
get into the city. My voice is horse from hours of shouting to people
lining up all day outside to get into the store. I wonder how many
times I yelled, "3 bags of ice! To make sure there's enough for everyone
we have to limit you to 3 bags of ice!" You see, we had to do it,
it's only fair, we want to make sure everyone gets enough to get them through,
at least until tomorrow when we'll have more. This is an emergency; we
have to take care of each other, not just ourselves.
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- And so I shouted to the lines of people, "No milk!
No eggs! Yes water! Yes bread! Yes meat! Yes lots of cold beer and 3 bags
of ice!" "3 bags of ice please! To be able to give you, and
everyone else in line behind you, AND the people who are not going to be
in line for another 3 hours, some ice, you may have 3 bags of ice. These
are big bags, 20 lb each, you will be able to leave with 60 lbs of ice."
One man asked me if it was the same price as it was before the hurricane.
It was, and although I can understand the question, I was offended. It
is sad that someone even had to consider such things at such times, but
there ya go.
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- I have been wondering how the national coverage of this
event is being handled. I hope people are being shown real pictures of
what damage has been sustained, especially in Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula
and Gilchrist and Crystal Beach and into Orange and Chambers counties.
I have had TV on the radio for my source of information and there has been
some complaint by local media of not being allowed to get to those areas
by air, even after it was safe to do so. My guess is that Boliver is basically
gone, there are many people who left there, and other areas, that would
like to know what's happening. I understand ace "investigative journalist"
local ABC reporter Wayne Dolcifino questioned Governor Rick Perry pretty
strongly on this point during a press conference this afternoon, and why
the press aren't getting death numbers. I don't have the ability to track
that interview down now, but it may be available online. I can most certainly
understand why there aren't a lot of confirmed deaths yet, heck, the
first responders couldn't even get to the places hit the hardest to start
figuring that out. People haven't returned to determine who is missing.
I also heard that Rick Perry basically told the nation, we've been there
for others, now it's our turn. I am not one in regular agreement with Rick
Perry, but in this case, he's probably right. It's our turn, send help.
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- Lorie Kramer Land of Ike Houston, TX
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- seektress@sbcglobal.net
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