Friday, 2 September

Still no power at home, so our morning routine of bathing and dressing in the near-dark is becoming rather, well, routine. Not a complaint, mind you - there are thousands who have no home to have power at - but we are getting used to our dabbling in Amish-ness.

More folks trickled in to St. Luke's last night - some from Women's Hospital; some just showed up looking for a place to stay. We now have about 20 housed in various church offices and meeting rooms full time, and several staying with parishoners who have power. One family reported being turned away from another local church before coming to St. Luke's, because of fears about the unrest here in Baton Rouge (more about that later) Served "Continental Breakfast" this AM for everybody.

One of the families we are housing lived in Lakeview, mid-way between my parent's house and my in-laws. They were evacuated out day before last, in a boat down West End. They said that my parents house was still standing, and that the water did not appear to have reached the second floor. Hopeful news. Now, let's see if we can get back there before the looters.....

Overnight, our little cow-town of Baton Rouge has become the largest city in Louisiana. Due to the influx of people, everything is running short, including tempers. But the stores do seem to be getting resupplied, though gasoline, ice and bread will mean a looooong wait in line. There are no hotel rooms available, and the apartment stock has pretty well dried up. Realtors tell me that homes are selling fast, as people realize that they may be here for months, or for good. Commercial space is also, I am told, getting scarce, as New Orleans business try to get up and running again. I have heard several reports of people saying that they, and/or their businesses, will stay here and not go back. Boom time for Baton Rouge, though I wish it were under different circumstances.

Now, about the "unrest" here in Baton Rouge. The initial news reports about the near rioting downtown, the looting, the robberies and the carjackings have been loudly denied by the local authorities. Too loudly, for my tastes. The City, for all it's insistance about business as usual, closed all of it's offices downtown until Tuesday, and SWAT teams are patrolling the streets. When the plain-spoken Fred Rayford is parsing his words and evading questions, well...... I know of two people who have been either robbed at a gas station or carjacked, and one of our volunteers at church, who works downtown, claims she witnessed an incident on North Boulevard and saw the results of the looting. My take is that SOME incidents are happening, but not to the extent claimed in the initial news reports. We will still be cautious, lock our doors, and exercise that Second Amendment thing.

More later,

.....CLIFF