Mississippi Suffering Overshadowed

BAY ST. LOUIS, Mississippi (AP) -- Margaret Pertuit lies still on a bed in a dark, waterlogged room at the Economy Inns Motel, awaiting one of two things: death or rescue.

Her thin, pale limbs are covered in the bruises common among people on blood thinners. But Pertuit, 85, has stopped taking her medication, half-hoping for the clot the drug is supposed to prevent.

"I just hope it will take me," she says.

For thousands stranded along the Mississippi coast since Hurricane Katrina, the damaged hotels where they took refuge have become almost uninhabitable.

From one motel to the next, the conditions are the same -- hot, smelly, soggy and dark. Toilets won't flush. Water won't run. Boredom won't end. Carpets are caked in mud and the concrete outside is often more inviting than the beds in the fetid rooms.

Just off Interstate 10 near Bay St. Louis, at what used to be a Waffles Plus restaurant and motel, Joanna Dubreuil and her two sons are luckier than most. Within the wreckage that surrounds them is an artesian well. The pump was carried away, so water now gurgles nonstop from a white plastic pipe jutting from the ground.

Dubreuil washes sheets in it but, fearing contamination, tries to keep a toddler from drinking it.

Ten people are living at the Waffles Plus, where vehicles passed by for five days without stopping. On the sixth morning, a church group pulled in and handed them a box of food -- the first they had received.

Jimmy Dubreuil, 23, had tried earlier in the week to enter a Dollar Store several miles away but says he was chased out by a police officer who pistol-whipped him. A fresh gash on his close-cropped head has been stapled shut.

"They started telling us we're thieves," he says. "We're not thieves. We just wanted to feed the babies."

Muneer Ahmed, who owns the Economy Inns, sleeps outdoors like everyone else. His children, instead of attending classes at Bay High School, have been sweeping mud and carrying debris from the office and their first-floor kitchen.

His rooms are soaked and stink of mildew. The business he spent $300,000 building is in shambles.

"When I came here, my heart was broke, because this is the only business I got," he says.

Ahmed's guests are staying for free, sleeping on the concrete in front of their doors and squatting behind the buildings to relieve themselves.

Despite the discomfort, guests like Noel Rowell stay put. He has no gas and no money, so he, his girlfriend and three children do the only thing they can: "We're sitting back, waiting for the United States of America to take care of us."

It is unclear when emergency officials will be able to help stuck guests leave, by providing gas or a ride. Until then, they rely on each other.

"We are all sharing and living like one family," Ahmed says.

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Mississippi is receiving less than half of what it's asking in federal disaster relief for Hurricane Katrina, the director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said Sunday.

Robert Latham is the latest Mississippi official to criticize efforts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree previously said the city went days before getting federal help.

"We're getting much less than 50 percent of what we're requesting," Latham said. "We're trying to ration it so that everybody gets some. We know it's not enough."

Ice distribution points in Hattiesburg were empty Sunday, DuPree said, even though 50 trucks of ice are sitting at Camp Shelby. DuPree said the trucks can't be released because FEMA hasn't released them.

"That's the kind of service that we're getting ... something's wrong with that."

Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee said he took one of the trucks with ice to a distribution point in Brooklyn. He declined further comment and referred all questions to FEMA.

President Bush could provide some answers to the FEMA issue today when he makes his second trip in three days to storm-ravaged Mississippi and Louisiana.

Bush, accompanied by his wife, Laura, plans to visit Pearl River Community College in Poplarville to discuss emergency efforts with Gov. Haley Barbour and other Mississippi officials. Bush also plans a stop in Baton Rouge, La.

Katrina slammed into the Mississippi Coast and Southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29. The storm, the most destructive hurricane to hit the area since Camille in 1969, has left thousands homeless and a mounting death toll.

The storm claimed at least 161 lives in Mississippi. Michael Leavitt, secretary for U.S. Health and Human Services, predicted the death toll in Louisiana will reach into the thousands.

Lamar County officials on Sunday reported their first storm-related death: One person died from a heart attack the night of the storm because emergency personnel couldn't get past blocked roads. Coroner Ed Waldrop would not identify the person.

In Gulfport, an Oak Grove man died Friday while helping clear storm debris at his mother-in-law's home in Gulfport. Blake Nettles, 48, died of an apparent aneurysm, said Paula Sinopoli of Gulfport, his sister-in-law.

Health problems also are a major concern. Dysentery has been reported on the Mississippi Coast. And hundreds of federal health officers and nearly 100 tons of medical supplies and antibiotics are being sent to the Gulf Coast.

Camp Shelby, just south of Hattiesburg, has become a staging area for many of the resources for the massive federal response to Katrina. Latham said a comprehensive water and ice distribution plan is in place for Mississippi.

Federal aid

Latham, the MEMA director, acknowledged he doesn't have a big enough staff to send a MEMA representative to Forrest County. But he said his agency and FEMA are starting to look at where disaster assistance centers will be opened.

"It's a difficult situation we're all facing," Latham said. "I understand the mayor's concern, and I don't think he is getting what he needs."

Mary Sudak, news director of FEMA's regional office in Atlanta, did not return calls for comment.

Meanwhile, essential services are being restored - although slowly.

Thirty-five percent of the 21,051 customers in Mississippi Power Co.'s Pine Belt district, which includes urban areas in Forrest and Lamar counties, have had power restored, spokesman Arnie Williams said.

"We're getting outside workers into the area sooner than expected so that has allowed us to be a bit more effective in our restoration efforts," he said. "When it's all said and done, we expect to have over 8,000 outside workers in our service areas."

Hudson estimated 20 to 25 percent of customers served by electric power associations in Forrest County have had power restored.

Water service

Hattiesburg water customers have water unless the service to their homes or businesses was damaged, public services director Bennie Sellers said. However, a boil water notice remains in effect until the Mississippi Department of Health certifies the water is safe to drink.

"The first sample went to the lab today," said Melissa Massengill, city spokeswoman. "The law is that there must be two samples 24 hours apart and it takes 48 hours to process that sample. We don't know if there will be an loosening of restrictions."

Gasoline supplies are coming back on line, and the reopening of the distribution hub in Collins will make even more fuel available, Latham said. Half of the gasoline moved through one of the three terminals in Collins is going to emergency response with the other half to retail distribution, he said.

"The other two are being dedicated totally to commercial distribution," he said.

Latham fears consumers will try to hoard gas once it becomes more readily available.

"Then that's going to create another crisis," he said. "Be patient. Buy what you need and allow the supply to build up."

BellSouth service is coming back with 350,000 access lines statewide back in service Sunday, said C.D. Smith, regional manager in Meridian. He said 598,000 of BellSouth's 1.3 million access lines in Mississippi were out of service due to storm damage.

Evacuation shelters

The American Red Cross continues providing shelter for about 1,700 people at the multi-purpose center in Hattiesburg. DuPree spent time there Sunday and was able to help a couple stranded by car trouble.

"They only needed to go to Lumberton," DuPree said. "We got them a ride to Lumberton."

Social Security representatives will be at the shelter today to help evacuees get checks they would have received on the first of the month.

Fire protection

The Hattiesburg Fire Department has been given the added task of fire protection for military relief flights coming into Hattiesburg's Bobby L. Chain Municipal Airport.

"There are lots of C-130s coming in," Massengill said. "They're flying some helicopters in. They're staging here and evacuating people out of New Orleans and coming back to Hattiesburg at night."

Some of the pilots, who sleep on the floor at the police-fire training academy, are from Montana, she said.