FEMA Fails Again!

ANOTHER FEMA DISASTER

Two weeks ago tonight, we had a terrible night of tornadoes that hit on the western edge of Toledo, Ohio and then skipped to the eastern edge of town to a little farming community about four miles from where we live. Five people died, the police department was totally flattened, homes were reduced to rubble (see picture) and the high school was completely blown to pieces. (This was supposed to be the shelter for people without a "safe place") Luckily, it was a Saturday night and school was not in session. The next afternoon was supposed to be graduation, but it was postponed for a few days and held at a local Community College. Even the school busses were picked up and tossed about like Matchbox cars. When daylight came and the officials could survey the total damage, they found a terrible carnage of homes, public buildings, vehicles and even a turned over train. All the trees were denuded and the official damage report made it a Category F4 tornado. The amazing thing was the outpouring of local support for this small community. My daughter has a group of young adults from church that meets for food and fun every Tuesday evening. She called her people and said , " Bring sturdy shoes and work gloves....we're going to Millbury this week." They picked up debris for hours, working side by side with inmates from the Sandusky County Jail. Hundreds of people came from miles around, including a football team from a town south of Findlay, Ohio, to do anything they could for the people. National Guardsmen told my daughter on one of her trips, "Hey, don't do such a good job... it will affect the damage rating when FEMA gets here." Well, guess what? Yesterday, FEMA turned down the request for a Disaster Designation, because most of these hard working people had insurance and the citizens were cleaning up much of the mess by hand. Men were using chain saws to cut up fallen trees and women were dragging branches to the edges of roads for volunteer trucking to the dump. They had been burning large piles of wood, but the Environmental Agency told them they had to stop to protect the Earth from Global Warming. Duh! So, now Lake Township has no high school and no police department and no help from the government in this disaster. Why are the people of New Orleans still whining and not working on their city's five year old mess, but receiving aid from the government, when the Governor of Ohio has to beg for a little help for a town obliterated by a tornado. Funny, these folks did not have five days to get out of town....only about ten minutes warning that a severe storm was heading their way. Life is not fair, but neither is our Federal Government.

Students, veterans team up to place Memorial Day flags

My husband and I went to Toledo Memorial Park in Sylvania, Ohio to visit the final resting place of our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, a niece, a nephew and one of our granddaughters. It is a beautiful cemetary....lush grass, beautiful trees and peaceful quiet. When I was young, the pond in the middle of the park had graceful swans swimming about through the warm summers. While we were there this Memorial Day Weekend, I was awed by the rows upon rows of American Flags throughout acres of gravestones and markers. I thought that VFW Posts had veterans placing the flags at the graves of the military, but then I saw this video from a local TV station. The students they talked about are from the high school that my husband, my children and I had attended many years ago. Whitmer High School is in Toledo, Ohio, not Sylvania. We are very proud of the social studies department and the students , who honored our military. They are wonderful representatives of the youngest generatiion. God Bless them.



Students, veterans team up to place Memorial Day flags: "Whitmer High School teamed up with the American Legion Post 587 to place American flags at Toledo Memorial Cemetary."