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PAGE FOURTEEN
(Times-Picayune, August 25, 1969)
By RONNY CAIRE (Special to the Times-Picayune)
PASS CHRISTIAN, MISS. -The aftermath of hurricane Camille may be harder to face for residents of this town than brutal winds and waters of the storm itself.
Weekend and summer residents from New Orleans and other nearby points will suffer financial damage be cause- of destruction of their proper* t* ose of us who lived and worked ir. . storm’s path face the problem of economic survival for ourselves and our families.
First, consider the community facilities thdl most of us take pretty well for granted: Police protection, fire protection, sewerage and water service, garbage pickup, street maintenance. Even if repairs to these physical facilities (all badly damaged or destroyed) are made with federal or state funds, tax sources which paid for their operation have disappeared.
With the town’s businesses almost totally destroyed, the monthly income of $7,000 to $8,000 is gone. Real estate taxes which supported the school system and part of the city's expenses will drop to virtually nothing, if collectable at all. There is no revenue to pay off the bonds on tb 'wly installed city water and se system, badly damaged in the hurricane. You can’t collect privilege tax money from businesses which do not e::ist.
Not only is the city crippled financially, but the built-up area surrounding the city is in the same fix as county tax revenues take a similar nose dive.
Second, the question of financing individual homes and businesses for those who want to return and rebuild is almost impossible. Even liberal provisions of Small Business Administration disaster loans arc not much help. MANY IN ‘HOCK’
Too many property owners and business operators are still in hock from damages of hurricane Betsy. Most accounts receivable will probably be uncollectable. Inventories, equipment and buildings are destroyed.
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the fate of many others but all suffered major damage. Whether they can reopen and survive is a debatable question.
Saturday we assembled a truckload of clothing, tools, foodstuffs, soap, from friends and acquaintances in New Orleans and delivered it to De-Lisle Elementary School, headquarters for the relief effort in that community behind Pass Christian, which was in even greater need.
Clothing went through windows to one classroom set up as a storeroom for donated clothing. Food went through another window to a classroom
acting as a temporary grocery supply room. A water truck was unloading at the front door as we pulled up,and small containers we brought were eagerly snatched up. Teenagers helped us unload.
UNDER SHELLING From 1-59 at Picayune to Kiln, Miss., to DeLisle, the destruction was as heavy for a rural area as I have ever witnessed. The Mississippi truck weighing station on the east side of the highway was a total wreck. Just a-cross the highway the weighing station on the west side was in operation, apparently untouched.
on
the job of
tying together a growing area
THE OWL, AUGUST 11, 1970
V^hole growth of pine looked like an area that had been under he^vy shelling,trees broken off at the ground 10 feet up, 20 feet up. One farm implement dealer’s establishment is level with the ground, and only tractors stored on the parking lot stand intact.Many homes and businesses are scattered all over the ground, every building showing damage. House trailers are smashed, overturned, demolished. Rural churches look like abandoned monuments to the usual graveyards next door.
The trip becomes a nightmare driving from Kiln to DeLisle. Trees have
been cut or dragged from the road to afford narrow one-vehicle traffic in many places, and the destruction is frightful.
At DeLisle, families are living huddled together in damaged buildings that still stand - emergency food and clothing at the school their only source of supply. Farm houses on the road with wells back in operation have posted “free water” signs at the front gate to help their neighbors.
Deputies and county patrolmen arc stationed at principal intersections
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