Corrigan Texas town Police and Mayor ignore pleas for help from Minority Rita Evacuees

If you contact me, my daughers mother in law took names and notes on everything she saw and everyone she talked to and numbers . Between the 5 adults with us we can fill you in on alittle more than you may have.
patty szalay16 [at] hotmail.com

LET ME START OFF BY SAYING THANK YOU TO THE CHURCH MY FAMILY AND I ALSO STAYED THERE AS WELL THEY ARE LIKE ANGELS SENT BY GOD DUE TO THE HEAT MY SON ALMOST PASSED OUT AND I WAS STANDING NEXT TO THAT BLACK WOMAN MENTIONED ABOUT THAT THE WHITE MALE COP PUSHED I WAS SO IN SHOCK BY IT I COULDN'T BELEIVE IT HERE ARE COPS THAT ARE SUPPOSE TO HELP THE PUBLIC AND HERE THEY ARE ACTING LIKE ANIMALS TOWARD US,AND THE STORE BROOKSHIRE BROTHERS I WATCHED AS THEIR OWN EMPLOYESS CAME OUT OF THE STORE CARRYING WHAT THEY WANTED AND NEEDED BUT WOULDNT ALLOW ANY OUTSIDERS OF THEIR TOWN IN THE STORE IT WAS VERY SAD!!AND THE GAS HAVING TO STAND IN A LONG LINE FOR A NUMBER THEN WAIT TILL YOUR NUMBER IS CALLED OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS SO UNORGINIZED AND HOTT OUTSIDE PEOPLE WERE ON THE SIDES OF THE ROAD BARELY ABLE TO MOVE I TOLD A COP ABOUT IT AND HE TOLD ME IT WASN'T HIS PROBLEM?GO FIGURE?AND WE STOPPED NEXT TO A GAS STATION THAT WE WERE ABLE TO USE A CREDIT CARD AT NEXT TO SONIC AND WE FILLED OUR GASOLINE JUGS AND WE SEEN PEOPLE START FIGHTING OVER GAS AND TOLD THE COPS ON THE ROAD AND THEIR RESPONSES WERE,"OH WELL WHEN IT BLOWS UP WE WILL RUN"WHAT KIND OF A COP IS THAT?I COULDN'T BELEIVE MY EARS AND WE HAD HEARD THINGS ABOUT THE MAYOR THAT I HOPED WASN'T TRUE BUT THE MORE I SEEN IN CORRIGAN THE MORE IM LEANING TO BELIEVE IT!!! I HOPE OTHERS THAT WAS THEIR IN CORRIGAN TEXAS FIND THIS PAGE AND SHARE THEIR STORIES IT IS SO SAD A TOWN IS GETTING AWAY WITH THE WAY THEY ACT TOWARDS OUT OF TOWN PEOPLE AND AFERICAN AMERICAN PEOPLE THAT HAVE TO LIVE THERE AND PUT UP WITH THAT KIND OF TREATMENT.GOD BLESS THE CHURCH THAT HELPED US THE"FAITH TEMPLE EVANGELISTIC CENTER"FOR HAVING SUCH A OPEN HEART OF COMPASSION BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE DID.

LET ME START OFF BY SAYING THANK YOU TO THE CHURCH MY FAMILY AND I ALSO STAYED THERE AS WELL THEY ARE LIKE ANGELS SENT BY GOD DUE TO THE HEAT MY SON ALMOST PASSED OUT AND I WAS STANDING NEXT TO THAT BLACK WOMAN MENTIONED ABOUT THAT THE WHITE MALE COP PUSHED I WAS SO IN SHOCK BY IT I COULDN'T BELEIVE IT HERE ARE COPS THAT ARE SUPPOSE TO HELP THE PUBLIC AND HERE THEY ARE ACTING LIKE ANIMALS TOWARD US,AND THE STORE BROOKSHIRE BROTHERS I WATCHED AS THEIR OWN EMPLOYESS CAME OUT OF THE STORE CARRYING WHAT THEY WANTED AND NEEDED BUT WOULDNT ALLOW ANY OUTSIDERS OF THEIR TOWN IN THE STORE IT WAS VERY SAD!!AND THE GAS HAVING TO STAND IN A LONG LINE FOR A NUMBER THEN WAIT TILL YOUR NUMBER IS CALLED OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS SO UNORGINIZED AND HOTT OUTSIDE PEOPLE WERE ON THE SIDES OF THE ROAD BARELY ABLE TO MOVE I TOLD A COP ABOUT IT AND HE TOLD ME IT WASN'T HIS PROBLEM?GO FIGURE?AND WE STOPPED NEXT TO A GAS STATION THAT WE WERE ABLE TO USE A CREDIT CARD AT NEXT TO SONIC AND WE FILLED OUR GASOLINE JUGS AND WE SEEN PEOPLE START FIGHTING OVER GAS AND TOLD THE COPS ON THE ROAD AND THEIR RESPONSES WERE,"OH WELL WHEN IT BLOWS UP WE WILL RUN"WHAT KIND OF A COP IS THAT?I COULDN'T BELEIVE MY EARS AND WE HAD HEARD THINGS ABOUT THE MAYOR THAT I HOPED WASN'T TRUE BUT THE MORE I SEEN IN CORRIGAN THE MORE IM LEANING TO BELIEVE IT!!! I HOPE OTHERS THAT WAS THEIR IN CORRIGAN TEXAS FIND THIS PAGE AND SHARE THEIR STORIES IT IS SO SAD A TOWN IS GETTING AWAY WITH THE WAY THEY ACT TOWARDS OUT OF TOWN PEOPLE AND AFERICAN AMERICAN PEOPLE THAT HAVE TO LIVE THERE AND PUT UP WITH THAT KIND OF TREATMENT.GOD BLESS THE CHURCH THAT HELPED US THE"FAITH TEMPLE EVANGELISTIC CENTER"FOR HAVING SUCH A OPEN HEART OF COMPASSION BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE DID.

It ahs now been a few weeks and governor perry ignored letters and phone calls, as did the racist mayor of Corrigan Texas who has strong links to the KKK.

Also Brookshire Brothers supermarket ignored calls and letters , After an Corrigan Officer Keyes or a name like that bought items for white people hile shunning a young hispanic woman who needed milk for her baby.

She then sat her butt inside the conoco station and prevented people form even using water from there. why was conoco getting special treatment.

The racism was clear and yet Governor Perry ignores letters and complaints.

To all the people who had to come through Corrigan, TX on HWY 59, the people of Corrigan agree with you that it was a horrendous ordeal. However, as a resident, and employee, of this TINY East Tx town, let me shed a little light on it for those of you who only heard or experienced the negative side



The traffic coming up Hwy 59 began midday Wednesday and thickened up quickly. Hwy 59 isn’t meant as an evacuation route out of Houston, but more for the flow of people coming up from the Beaumont area. Nevertheless, it became an evacuation route just as every other road did coming north from the southern areas. At the one red light in Corrigan, traffic began backing up from the East. Hwy 287 IS an evacuation route and people were coming up from the Beaumont – Port Arthur area and converging into the already heavy north bound 59 traffic. Schools were released early, football games were rescheduled, and school was dismissed for Thursday and Friday. Our 6 person police department had been advised during the evacuation process, they would work 12 hr days with no days off until further notice.. Officers who were off duty were called in to begin directing traffic, and keeping it moving while waiting to see how DPS and TXDOT (the ones in charge of Tx. highways) were going to begin handling road situations.

As Wednesday progressed into Thursday, the one and only red light in the town of Corrigan was put into caution mode; meaning for north and south bound traffic they saw yellow (except the left turn signal which stayed red). East and West bound travelers received a continuous red light. The light remained in this mode the entire evacuation time. During that day, it became very obvious our town was looking at some major problems that were beyond our control. Our little town’s resources were pretty well tapped from our own local people preparing for the storm. Supplies were gone from the store shelves and gas was running low. By Thursday evening, the 3 phone lines at the police department were ringing off the wall.Traffic condition phone calls, elderly evacuees with health needs, and stranded motorists were the majority of the calls. Thankfully during the evacuation nightmare, local town problems slowed down to a crawl as there was no officer available to take any calls. Businesses began to close as stranded people converged on them needing aide- understandably. Convenience stores and our one and only grocery store eventually closed. Many of you have read that it was because they didn’t want to provide service. This is a total and complete untrue assumption. Our stores were forced to close for several reasons. Mainly, their supplies were diminished. Stranded people and evacuees had begun to literally trash these places. Using restroom sinks as toilets, throwing used toilet paper all around, clogging toilets, stealing items. That was the least of the trouble. Travelers, understandably zapped of energy, patience, necessities, and fuel, had begun brawling over fuel and water- though there was little to be had. It was out of necessity these businesses were forced to close. As Thursday turned into Friday the situation was nightmarish. There was no such thing as 12 hour shifts for the officers and other city workers. The volunteer fire department (who is paid NOTHING for their support during this time), and other city workers, were stretched thin helping to contact aide and trying to locate resources to help get people back on the road. Doing much of this from their personal vehicles knowing the gas they had was all they would get, in case of their own personal emergency. Our town had more stranded motorist than it did residents. It is true what they were being told. There was NO shelter, there was NO fuel, there was NOTHING for them. Our town has never been a proposed shelter provider as there is nothing here to sustain a shelter, especially once the electricity goes off. When our electricity goes off, soon after our water goes off, which is followed by our sewage system. Our stores had been bought out of supplies by the local residents and there was nothing to offer fleeing evacuees. Did it make our business owners selfish and racist? Did it make our city governement rude and racist? Did it make our officers abusive and racist? No, it did not. Race never came into play here. EVERYONE was in dire straits. This catastrophe knew no color, nor did the handfuls of people who worked to a collapsing point here in our town. It knew no age, no gender, no economic status. Everyone was in bad shape.



I didn’t get to witness much of this evacuation nightmare in person. I was one of the police dispatchers taking phone calls. I heard it all through the phone wires and over the police radios. It was a nightmare for you motorists but please understand it was a nightmare for us workers that were trying our best to get you all out safely. Though some of you came to us needing medication (which we had none of), needing a place to clean yourself (because you’d had nowhere to go to the bathroom), needing directions to a shelter (which we didn’t have), needing fuel, needing food, needing a phone……… we had no way to help you. We did our best and I’m sorry if some of you didn’t witness our best. In a situation like we were all in (you all as well as us), there is no such thing as normal or routine. For the city workers, it was work till they collapsed only to be called out again for broken or vandalized utilities or fires or gas/ water leaks. For the officers, there was no such thing as 12 hr shifts. Time “off” was spent trying to cram in a meal, run errands for the city or heaven forbid their own families, come down from their highly stressed highly emotional work. For all of you who were in the heat and doing without, our city workers and officers were in the same predicament. They understood your plight, but there was nothing they could do, but to try to keep you moving through town or get your stranded vehicle out of traffic, on to someplace that could provide you with shelter and assistance. As stressed and tired as you all were, they were also. Our officer moved millions of people through 2 traffic lanes over the course of a few days. They were cussed, hit with vehicles, objects, and other unsavory items. If they didn’t have time to sit and chat with you as you passed through the caution light, don’t take it personally- you were one of millions coming through. You were one of millions caught in the nightmare of traffic but may also have been one of the ones that once you got to our light wanted to stop and ask the officers something or give your 2 cents or cuss them. It wasn’t their fault. Maybe you were one of the evacuees who called me and proceeded to cuss me for what was happening. Once again, it wasn’t my fault. However, I didn’t take your calls personally- I understood you were desperate. But at the same time, while you were busy cussing me, you were tying up 1 of the 3 lines I was using to help emergency personnel locate a medically needy person, or a law enforcement agency asking me or notifying me of roads closing down. I even had a phone call from a woman in Houston who wasn’t even involved in the evacuation process. She called to inform me she was calling on behalf of all those who couldn’t. She'd heard on the Houston radio stations that Corrigan Tx was the reason for the back ups (nevermind all other highways were having the same trouble). She wanted to know why no one was running our stop light and why couldn’t we get some officers to work it? I had to laugh at that point and inform her that the radio stations she was listening to were probably one of the biggest problems because with their misguided announcements about our town, they were angering people who then called on 1 of our 3 lines and clogged our phones down with complaints. Therefore we were unable to take emergency phone calls. Never mind the fact that at the time of her phone call, our light had been on yellow with officers moving traffic for over 36 hrs!



For some of the incidents I’ve read on this site just keep in mind…………. You only see part of a story. As far as the Brookshire Brother’s grocery store incident- I was one of the “white women” that was purchasing cigarettes- though I’m a non smoker. The minority woman the article spoke of came up and simply asked if the store was closed. Yes, it was. Even for baby milk she asked….. yes….. Brookshires wasn’t denying a mother milk for her baby. There was NO milk for her baby. The store was indeed closed. If the milk hadn’t all been purchased, it had been stolen. As I mentioned local people had stocked up on supplies. Houston area stores were out of supplies, why would anyone think our 1 small grocery store would have anything? The cigarette purchase was a last minute courtesy to emergency people before store employees left for good. Emergency people were allowed to purchase items they needed at the door for a few minutes. It had nothing to do with being white women buying cigarettes and denying a minority mother milk for her baby. Had the author of that article REALLY been paying attention, he’d have noticed the store clerk was indeed a minority herself! A Hispanic woman as a matter of fact………. Same as the mother who inquired about purchasing milk. The whole reason there was an officer posted at the door was to keep people from tearing into the store- which is what was happening in other areas simliar to ours. And for the officers and their actions, if a water bottle was thrown at a car, is it at all possible that perhaps this vehicle had just almost run over an officer, or actually hit them as they went by? This did happen quite a bit. It’s easy to say almost hitting an office was accidental, but was it really? And the 2 people who lingered at the police department and were told “time was ticking” for them to leave. I see it wasn’t mentioned that our “lobby” is actually an entranceway that is about 5 ft by 10 ft long. There are 2 uncomfortable chairs to sit in there as well as 2 large snack machines. It’s not meant as a lounge. And when emergency employees are trying to carry items in or out of the police dept and several are having to come through at one time, it would have helped a lot if no one had been there sitting. It wasn’t meant to be a rest stop for 2 people of the millions who came through to sit, visit, and get to know one another.



As I close this long reply, there are 2 things i'd like to leave readers with. First, this evacuation from coastal areas was a nightmare. No one town or one group of people is to blame. What you need to do is call your government officials and encourage them to come up with a better evacuation plan that involves all agencies up and down these Texas highways to be on the same wavelength. Tx Dept of Public Safety (DPS), Tx Dept of Transportation (TXDOT), county sheriff departments, and city police departments need to all know what the other is doing and how things will be managed when an outpouring of vehicles will converge on the highways. Secondly, I encourage those of you who have judged our town to try to see the “other side” of what went on here. Our fire department worked 24 hrs a day for FREE. Our officers did their extra shift hours for NO money. Many of you who came through were extremely nice offering our workers cold water and a kind word. Many of you I spoke to thanked our dept for its help and wished our town well. For all of you, I thank you. There were enough kindnesses to layer in with the terribly unkind words. It is what kept our spirits from completely falling out from under us. For those of you who thought we were the racist, backwoods, rudest people you ever met, I encourage you to visit our town on a more normal day. We have a few good places to eat and we’re a friendly bunch of people up here. I can say this with the greatest sincerity. Afterall, I am a transplant to
Corrigan from the Houston suburb of Deer Park.

Unfortunately racism does occur in America and elsewhere. However, it's those that constantly turn any event into a race issue that cause racism. It is the RACIST that even notices the races of people needing help while at the same time ignores the race of people helping. A truly compassionate, intelligent person does not notice race but instead notices PEOPLE.

It is pure IGNORANCE that causes someone to scream racism rather than actually consider there may be other factors at play. Imagine.... a store is racist........or........ it actually had NO milk or food? Consider a small town's police force got up one day and decided to be rude and racial to all the people traveling through.......... or......they actually were overwhelmed, and doing the best they could with no assistance all the while being forced to deal with incredibly rude, demanding and obnoxious evacuees.

A closed-minded, ignorant person would assume the store and the police force is racist, and rather than help their community, they would like to foster hatred and throw blame.The person that screams racism every time they don't get what they want is a selfish, closed-minded human being that only contributes negativitey to our society.

If true racism is happening, then action should be taken. The action should be based on FACTS and not opinions or assumptions.

Nobody should be judged or measured simply by the color of their skin, but all of us in all societies should judge people based on their behavior.

Here's a thought for every human being.....Either contribute positively to this world or don't contribute at all!

Corrigan is a VERY small town. If you have ever traveled through the area on a regular day you would understand why there was very little help. I left the coast on the Tuesday night before the mandatory evacuation...traveled up Hwy.59 and as any other little town it's completely closed. There was nothing open. That's how small town people/businesses live. The town has ONE small grocery store and TWO gas stations. I know teachers that live there and they are NOT hateful or racist. There is simply not a big supply of food, gas and essentials that evacuees need. That is probably the reason evacuees were required to keep moving up Hwy. 59 towards Lufkin, which was overloaded with evacuees and ran out of basics as well. When people are under stress they tend to blame others for not helping them. You should have a plan before an evacuation or any disaster. Perhaps you should drive through and visit Corrigan on a regular day. You will see how the town, people, police and business live. They are not hateful, unhelpful people. If they could have provided more help for evacuees that day, they would have. Don't blame others for disasters...they didn't cause them.

The intersection in Corrigan,Texas is the only intersection in the United States of America, where Highway 287 intersects with Highway 59. This means that Beaumont travelers intersects with Houston, Galveston, etc travelers. Hurrican Rita put around 2.5 million people through the tiny town of Corrigan, Texas. The highways are beat out. Corrigan, Texas was incredibly overwhelmed. Panic was everywhere. Mayhem was in the air. There were NO resources for anyone. All TOWN people of Corrigan had nothing - for awhile. EVERYONE suffered, not just one race. Every race suffered. There were some visitors in Corrigan that were very rude, and intimidating. Then there were the ones that were managing just like everyone else - which is the best that they could due to the given circumstances. The town could not help that they had no restrooms to offer the evacuees .. they did not have a restroom themselves .. but, that did not stop the evacuees from using it in the streets .. where it lays in the city. There were other people of a different race that were injured during Hurrican Rita, and are still fighting for their very life today - but they are not blaming it on racist .. and they suffered a bad ordeal. I did not like the treatment of some things/people to myself - but I could not blame the mistreatment as a racist issue .. unless I changed my race .. the truth is, that everyone had problems .. not just one person, and not just one race. This was a problem of magnitude which no one has faced before, was not prepared for - and just did not know how to handle it - nor had anything to anyone help with. People that came out of this with the health of themselves and of their loved ones, needs to be so very thanfkul, and thank God for this blessing. No one was wanting harm for anyone .. this was desperate times for everyone .. everyone was scared .. and hurting .. which caused tempers to flare .. and circustances were not normal. I don't know who was rude .. or who was not rude .. or whatever happened .. but things happen in life everyday to all races of people .. and to every person, sometime in their life . Now, peace is needed. I am not taking up for anyone - but perhaps a little consideration could be factored in, due to the circumstances .. plus, realizing that the real truth is that every race suffered. Making a situation worse, does not make good.

You're RIGHT ON !! These were not ordinary circustances. I saw every race treated rude, which was actually just the results from sheer human panic. Not everyone called it racist. Some people passing through the town were very rude. This was a catastophy time, where most people were doing their part just to survive. People were helping people, and people also had to help themselves, if they could. Lots of people were hurt and harmed, but I don't hear everyone going around blaming everyone else for their own problems.

You say the mayor has KKK connections. How do you know that the mayor has KKK connections? Why do you make this accusation?

I just wanted to let you know i live along hwy.59 you people were told to leave in pleanty of time. you chose to wait until the last minute.some of you came up to our house and DEMANDED we give you gas. others DEMANDED we let you use our bathrooms.we didn't have water or electricty,if we had gas we would have left town in time before the storm hit. the traffic on hwy.59 was the worst we have ever seen, you were the ones being RUDE this is our home not yours we didn't invite you here. you were a guest here and a very bad one. if you had taken the time to look around you would have seen all colors of people live here, not just white. the next time you are told to leave town there is more than one way out of houston,take one of them.

i am so glad that someone cleared up what happened in corrigan durring the evacuation process. i was completely outraged by what was said about the town. the evacuees should have left when they were instructed to do so. i live in wichita falls now and was able to get one of the houston news stations and i heard them say DO NOT wait until wednesday to leave. so for thoes of you who waited until the last min. to leave and were acting like savages, breaking into places and trashing the town you should have thought about that when you were hungary and out of gas.

Why do people cry "racism" everytime they get their feelings hurt or don't get their way? Our town took in two nursing home facilities, our Methodist church took in several groups and National Guard was here helping. Our Methodist church was trashed. How do we know it wasn't you that trashed it? My family went down south 59 and asked two families if they needed help. One family was an African American family. DO NOT accuse the town of Corrigan of being racist. The residents in the subdivision on hwy. 59 had people coming in their yards using the restroom on the grass. They were banging on the doors during all hours of the night, demanding to use the phone and restroom. The residents of Corrigan were experiencing the hurricane just as the evacuees were. The Corrigan residents had no power or phone service. I applaud the church that did help. But they were not the only ones that helped. I can understand the frustrations of the evacuess, but under no circumstances should you accuse a whole town of being racist because of your ignorance. By the way, Corrigan is not designated to be a disaster evacuation town. We did not have the facilities to respond to the number of evacuees we received.

My cousin's widow and myself were stranded in Corrigan for Rita while attempting to return to Louisiana to attend my cousin's funeral. My memories of those three days are mixed with the passing of my cousin whose funeral we missed and the Love that was shown to us by the Faith Temple Church of God in Christ. These angels provided us with food and shelter much of which was out of their own pocket. I will never forget this unselfish act of kindness. I hope to visit Corrigan and the Church one day to thank you all personally for protecting us. God bless you.