I… have been wanting to really thank you for the 8 State Hurricane Kate Book… what I have read has been very moving & uplifting. This book has made me realize even more what you, Cindy, Sarah & so many others did for our animals. The sacrifices you & so many others have done for us still will never be forgotten. I am sending a copy of this book to my best friend, in LA who used to live in New Orleans for 25 years. I know she will love the book. Thank you for the time you spent in creating this masterpiece & I am honored that we were part of 8 State Hurricane Kate. God Bless All of the Animals, especially Kate!

Earlier she had written:

There is a place in Heaven for you & your organization. I have a suspicion that you will be greeted by the animals first! I wonder why? Take care.

Wouldn’t that be cool? To make it to heaven and be greeted by all of the animals?

The story of Carolyn’s dad Al and his dogs Bruce and Duke is told in chapter 7 of the book. They are among the many faces of those who were lost to Katrina and those who survived as well. I don’t want Al, Bruce, or Duke to be forgotten. Friendship with Carolyn and our connectedness across the country is one of the positive outcomes of the Katrina tragedy. Helping the animals and meeting wonderful people like Carolyn was (and is) our pleasure.

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Since our fundraisers were cut short by the approach of Hurricane Gustav, I will donate $5 per book sold via www.8State Kate.net during September to groups including the Humane Society of Louisiana, the LA-SPCA, and Animal Rescue New Orleans. Thanks for your support.

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When I looked at the boarding pass to find out which gate to head for, I noticed that she had put me in a first class seat. Wow! When I got to my gate, the Lucky Dog hot dog stand was the only food stand open (ironic since Wendy Diamond’s dog is named “Lucky”). This guy was smart. He had stocked up and was cleaning up the cash! I got a ¼ lb Lucky Dog and took a seat.

I ended up talking with Doug, who had come down from the Detroit area for the Southern Decadence Festival (when I looked this up, it was labeled “The Gay Mardi Gras”). Doug told me that their hotel closed down and kicked them out. When they woke up on Saturday morning their windows had been boarded up! After talking with Doug for a couple of hours, I gave him a book. He told me that he entertains a lot and will display the book on his coffee table and tell all of his friends about it.

On the flight out of NOLA, I sat next to another gay man from Indianapolis who was in NOLA for the Decadence Festival. Behind me were some oil rig workers who had been evacuated from out in the Gulf, and Deb, the NWA agent who had gotten me the first class seat.

On the flight from Detroit to Minneapolis, I sat next to Soren. He is originally from Minnesota and is now a 6^th grade English teacher in St. Bernard Parish. He just graduated from college in May and didn’t train as a teacher in college. Over the summer he completed the Teach for America training program in Arizona, then he started teaching 6^th grade English in SBP on August 11^th. He was grading papers on the plane and told me that the kids are 2 or 3 years behind. He said he doesn’t know how to be a teacher and is just learning, but I think he is doing a great job so far. He has spent time in the Middle East and told the students that they can get scholarships to go to college if they want. I think he is a very interesting person for those kids to have as a teacher—someone who is from a different part of the country and can bring other worlds to them. I told him that I’m familiar with the parish and people who have lived there all their lives and take on the profession of their family (like shrimp fisherman). Many people haven’t traveled and don’t know anyone much outside their parish, which makes it much harder to leave, even for something as urgent as a hurricane evacuation. But with the recent hurricane activity, people in St. Bernard Parish may have to give more thought to living somewhere else and maybe doing something else for a living.

Soren told the kids to evacuate. Some tried to turn in their books and told him that if this is another “Katrina” they are not coming back. The only books they have to read now are in his classroom because there isn’t a library any more. I gave him a copy of my book, told him of Christa’s and Jace’s stories from Chalmette in SBP that are told in the book, and told him if he thinks it’s appropriate for his class, that I will donate more books. I said that part of the story is sad and that they may think it’s crazy to put so much $ and effort into a dog, but that it tells the stories of some people in Louisiana too and it’s also important for them to know that people far away care about them. Jace has children and if any of them are in the 6^th grade, Soren will know them.

Soren is concerned about the fate of his school, the kids, and their families. They have gone through so much stress already. The parents are stressed and the kids may have concerns that haven’t been heard because families are just trying to cope. I suggested to Soren that he give the kids journals. He had already done that and he “grades” them confidentially, not grading content, but just giving them credit for writing. I also thought about those kids having pen pals from Minnesota or another place. Soren had thought of that too, but hasn’t had a chance to set it up yet. He’s only been teaching there for less than 3 weeks. I know some teachers here in Minnesota who may be interested in getting their classes involved.

I wasn’t looking for adventure this time. I run from hurricanes. I was hoping to visit, remember the animals that were lost and recognize the people who did such wonderful work after Katrina (+ publicize the book to help raise money for some of these organizations). I left New Orleans in a plane loaded with gay guys who were there for the Decadence Festival and ended up in Minneapolis with people coming in to St. Paul for the Republican convention. Talk about a diverse journey! And somebody please tell me that if the Republicans are so much in favor of family values why they have to keep the downtown bars open later for their convention.

I saw Soren’s family meet him at the baggage claim. He hadn’t been back to Minnesota since the beginning of the summer and had thought that he wouldn’t be back until Christmas. So although Hurricane Gustav was weighing on his mind, he was glad to see his family.

While waiting for our bags, I stood next to a man who works for the City of New Orleans. He had evacuated his family in time to get to the convention. Ironically, the convention may now be disrupted by Hurricane Gustav.

I finally arrived home at about 12:30 am on Sunday morning, August 31^st. Gustav was expected to make landfall in Louisiana soon. The outer bands were already causing high winds in Louisiana and Mississippi. I was glad to be home, but very concerned for the people and animals of the Gulf Coast.  

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Another couple from Maine was visiting NOLA for their first anniversary. After many phone calls and searching online, they were able to change their flights to go to Washington, DC for a couple more days of vacation before returning home. I hope they made it out.

I was able to get Northwest Airlines on the phone and finally found out that they had put me on a different flight. The internet was overloaded and sometimes didn’t work well. In spite of all the background noise in the lobby of the B&B, the NWA agent talked me through the process of getting my receipt and boarding pass printed out (nothing was going smoothly for the NOLA area flights).

The morning newspaper had articles about Katrina memorial events, a woman in St. Bernard Parish who had just finished hanging drywall in her house with the help of a volunteer organization, and coverage of Gustav. On my way out of the B&B, Tim the gardener/maintenance guy asked me for a ride. We tried to stop at Wal-mart to get waterproof containers for my books that would have to stay in NOLA for now. Wal-mart was all boarded up, with “closed” spray painted on the plywood sheets. Police were patrolling the parking lot and the National Guard was patrolling the nearby neighborhoods. Tim told me that the Wal-mart and the neighborhood were looted and destroyed after Katrina. He said that there was videotape footage of even the cops looting the store. We found a hardware store and I bought four Rubbermaids for the four boxes of books. Turns out Tim was on his way to the Audubon Bird Sanctuary. He wanted to find out if the birds were still there. If they were not, that would be his sign to get out of town. So then I realized that even Tim might consider leaving. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry though. He wanted to give me a tour of St. Charles Avenue and have me go to the art store with him on the way to the bird sanctuary. It was after 11:00 am, my flight was before 5:00, and people had told me to allow at least four hours to get to the airport. So although the tour would have been fun any other time, I told Tim that I’d better get on my way. On the way to the art store, he told me about how much the neighborhood had been trashed after Katrina. That was only making me want to get out more. It was quiet and peaceful though, with not many cars on the road, but some people still in the neighborhoods. I dropped Tim at the art store and headed over to Canine Culture to store my books.

Although the book signing benefit for ARNO was cancelled (ARNO was evacuating animals that day) Canine Culture was open until 2 pm, mostly to supply people with pet food and carriers for evacuating. I put four boxes of my books in Rubber Maids and hoped they would stay safe. I fit about 20 books into my suitcases and hoped for the best. At Canine Culture they were preparing to evacuate and the atmosphere was getting anxious. I wanted to stay to help them, but thought I should get a move on to the airport. A customer gave me great advice to take the Earhart Expressway most of the way to the airport. I am very grateful for that advice! The neighborhood was quiet, with some people in loaded-down vehicles and some boarding up windows, getting ready to either stay or leave, I don’t know. The universities, including nearby Tulane, had already closed and the students weren’t around. I stopped at Walgreens across the street to get some trail mix because I’d heard that there might not be food service at the airport. People were getting high strung and agitated and I wanted to get going.

I called Diane again and left her a message regarding my plans, thanked her and wished her well. I also left a message for Deedra of Canine Culture about the books (she wasn’t at the store when I was there), thanked her too and wished her well. Then I headed for the airport via the Earhart Expressway, which was easy going, with hardly any traffic. I practically flew over the Earhart Expressway (no pun intended!). When I reached  Airline Highway, about 3.5 miles from the airport, the traffic was stop and go, averaging about five mph. It took me about an hour to go that last 3.5 miles. While stopped in traffic I called NWA again to make sure I had seats on a flight before I turned in my rental car. Their automatic check-in system said that I had a flight from Detroit to Minneapolis, but didn’t have a record of a flight out of NOLA. This was getting nerve-wracking! I finally got an agent on the phone who couldn’t find a record of my flight out of NOLA at first either. Eventually she was able to find it and confirmed to me that I had a seat on the flight and could continue to the airport. Apparently the flights out of New Orleans were under local control and were difficult to reach through the usual system.

I was relieved to see a National Car shuttle heading toward the airport. When I got to the rental car drop-off, I gave them the 3 gallons of water that I had put in the car in case I had to evacuate. There were a lot of people milling around, but I caught a shuttle right away.

Next…arriving at the airport and the people I met on my way home.

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At the luncheon, Joe DuBois, Past President of the Coalition of Louisiana Animal Advocates, was the Master of Ceremonies. Wendy Diamond, Founder and Editor of Animal Fair Magazine, Honorary Chairperson of the Katrina Animal Memorial Project, and Celebrity Judge on “The Greatest American Dog” TV Show gave the Keynote Address. Distinguished Speakers were presented an honorary key to the City of New Orleans. They included Becky Robinson, President and Co-Founder of Alley Cat Allies, Debrah Schnackenberg, Director of Animal Emergency Services and Chair of the National Animal Rescue and Sheltering Services for the American Humane Association, Laura Lanza, Regional Director of the ASPCA, Patty Hegwood, Director of Animal Care, Best Friends Animal Society, Frances Hayward, President of Friends of the Amigo Foundation, Mary Pat Boatfield, Executive Director of the Nashville Humane Association, Paul Jolly, Director of the Petco Foundation, Ed Powers, Vice President, Strategic Planning and Operations for Petfinder, and Susana M. Della Maddalena, Vice President and Executive Director of PetSmart Charities.

The following supporters were recognized:

Marc Aronstam, Owner, Aronstam’s Designers & Fine Jewelers and award-winning designer from Indianapolis, creator of the “Paws to Remember” sterling silver pendant

Ed Kostro, author of “Through Katrina’s Eyes, Poems from an Animal Rescuer’s Soul”

Mamou, author of “Kreasy and Katrina”

Jenny Pavlovic, author of “8 State Hurricane Kate: The Journey and Legacy of a Katrina Cattle Dog”

Cathy Scott, author, “Katrina’s Paw Print: Pets Saved and Lessons Learned”

Therese D. Thompson, author, “Dogs Gone Wild—After Hurricane Katrina”

Pioneer Spirit Awards were presented by Courtney Chandel to the following people and organizations:

Humane Society of Louisiana Golden Heart Recipient: Garo Alexanian, Founder of Companion Animal Network TV and North Shore Animal League America

Amanda and Marty St. John, Founders and Directors of the Muttshack Animal Rescue Foundation

Brenda Schoss, Founder and President of the Kinship Circle

Pilar Gosselin DVM, Dave Brace DVM and Rory O’Neill, Canadian Animal Rescuers

Special Recognition was presented by Marilyn Knapp, Founder, Stealth Volunteers, to Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO), represented by ARNO Executive Director Charlotte Bass Lilly and Shelter Director Robin Beaulieau

The Hurricane Hero Award was presented by Cassandra Koster to Mark and Shannon Miller, Founders, Winn Dixie Animal Rescue Center

Many of the “All Stars” of Katrina animal rescue were present. Notably the HSUS was not present, as I’m sure they were not invited. Much of the $ that they raised “on behalf of Katrina victims” did not stay in the Gulf Coast, but apparently went back to Washington, DC. The Humane Society of Louisiana was left largely to defend for themselves.

Candace, a Louisiana girl who raised over $500 for the animals on her own, was given special recognition by Wendy Diamond. Her mom bought her a book and I signed it for her. We had our picture taken with my book display table. I told her that she is probably more famous than I am! She and her mom walked away and then a minute later she ran back over and hugged me. As she was walking away, she read what I had written in her book and ran back over to give me a hug. The whole trip was worth having that moment with Candace! She is a hero to me. If every kid was like Candace, the world would be a much better place.

The event broke up pretty quickly after lunch. I didn’t sell a lot of books, but met some nice people. I was set up next to tables for SpayMart, Alley Cat Allies, and Invisible Fence. I got a book into Wendy Diamond’s hands, and the books that went out at the luncheon went to people who will appreciate them. I met the other authors and we signed books for each other, but I didn’t get to spend as much time with them as I wanted to. Everyone scattered pretty quickly after the luncheon. I saw Amanda and Martin St. John receive their award and then they were out the door shortly after. They were in the process of coordinating the refrigerated semis to evacuate animals to shelters close to the shelters for people. They made the Katrina Promise and they are committed to keeping it. If you would like to support their efforts, please go to www.muttshack.org.

It may seem ironic that Gustav was bearing down on us as all of these people who did animal rescue after Katrina were here to remember the animals that didn’t survive. But on the other hand, it’s great for the animals that we had planned to be here already. No time was lost in getting people down here since they were already here. At the luncheon, someone asked for help loading animals at the St. Bernard Parish Animal Shelter (which I had visited in May). After lunch, 20 people went there and helped load the animals for evacuation and clean and organize the shelter. As I said, it’s a good thing those people were here already. St. Bernard Parish had a mandatory evacuation starting at 4:00 pm on Saturday. After that, nobody was allowed back in.

After the luncheon on my way out of the hotel, I ran into Jeff Dorson of Humane-LA. He encouraged me to get more involved and I told him that I’m starting the 8 State Kate Fund. He told me about watching the movie “The Secret” and creating his whole vision for what he is doing now. I had just listed to the audio book version of “The Secret” and he encouraged me to keep going with my efforts. He was surprised to learn of my “real” engineering profession and what I consider my “calling” to write and do more for the animals. He bought a book from me, and I’m curious to know what he thinks once he’s had a chance to read it. He said that we need to talk more and I agreed. He is always very busy, but I’m curious to hear more about his evolution in this area. He will be at the shelter in Tylertown, MS for Gustav.

On Friday evening, restaurants and other businesses on St. Charles Avenue were already closing and some were boarded up. I picked up some dinner at a nice Carribean restaurant around the corner from my B&B. I called Northwest Airlines and was able to move my flight out up to Saturday afternoon. They changed my flight, assigned me seats on the Saturday flights (connecting through Detroit instead of Houston, the original plan), and reassured me that I would be able to log in on Saturday morning and print boarding passes.

I attended the benefit for Humane-LA at Tipitina’s on Saturday night. The benefits for ARNO and Humane-LA on Saturday had been cancelled due to Gustav. National Guard vehicles were starting to show up in the neighborhoods, but there was no curfew and the weather was fine. Jeff Dorson and Joe DuBois helped me get books from the car and set up. I spoke quite a bit with Joe and Mary DuBois, a very nice couple from Houma, southwest of New Orleans. I had a good long talk with Joe about our experiences at Lamar-Dixon and how poor the “leadership” was there. Joe had volunteered at Lamar-Dixon for two or three weeks and then went down to Raceland with Pasado’s Safe Haven at about the time I arrived at Lamar-Dixon. He knew my friend Connie from L-D. Mary decided to buy a book and I’m curious what a fellow Lamar-Dixon veteran will think of it. Joe and Mary were planning to drive down to Houma and get their animals on Saturday morning. They know the back roads and could take them if they needed to evacuate.

Next: Getting out of NOLA

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On Friday morning, Annie, a native of New Orleans who cooked our breakfast at the Creole Garden Inn, told me that she wasn’t taking any chances. She was going to evacuate immediately after she finished with our breakfast. She told me her Katrina story. She had stayed in the housing project where she lived and ended up stranded in 19 feet of water. She clung to a boat that someone was using to help evacuate and somehow got to the SuperDome. She told me about sitting on the ledge outside the SuperDome, of seeing bodies stacked up outside. She said that a lot more people died than were reported and I don’t doubt that. There was human waste flowing out over the ledge of the SuperDome and the inside was like a huge toilet. There were babies being born among the human waste and people dying. It was complete chaos. Then someone brought guns into the SuperDome and started shooting. She couldn’t understand how the governor didn’t know that there were people at the SuperDome. I even knew in Minnesota that people were there. All you had to do was watch the news.

Somehow Annie ended up leaving the SuperDome to get out of town. She ended up at a bridge where law enforcement was shooting at prisoners who she thinks were just trying to get out of the water. I don’t know the rest of her story, but I understand why she wanted to leave early this time. She didn’t want to take any chances, and I don’t blame her. She urged me not to wait, but to leave right away. Shortly after breakfast, she was on her way.

When we first sat down, I thought we were going to have a conversation. But Annie needed to talk and she needed somebody to listen. Even three years later, some of the people who went through horrible experiences after Katrina still don’t feel heard. So I listened and told her that I understood, at least as best I could without having been there myself. I don’t care whose fault you think it was, Annie still went through a horrible experience and this time she needs to get out right away.

Before I drove over to City Hall for the Katrina Memorial Service that morning, Tim the gardener-maintenance guy pulled me aside and told me not to worry. He pointed out that the B&B is on high ground. The buildings in that neighborhood are old, they’ve been there forever and didn’t flood after Katrina. He said that people are over-reacting because of Katrina, but that I should stay calm, I’ll be safe there. I thanked him for being calm and pointing those things out to me.

My sister was urging me to leave and I explained my plan to her. She had seen news reports that spoke about current events while showing old Katrina footage. These “news” reports were very misleading and freaked some people out. They thought the events they were seeing on the screen were happening now in 2008 when they were really from Katrina. Sometimes the media sucks.

Believe me, we were all tracking the storm there in NOLA. I understood that the path can change, the predictions can change, and nothing is for certain. A lot of people got caught off guard with Katrina. I was watching the weather forecast and following the projected path of the storm online. So far, it looked like my flight going out on Sunday would be fine and people were telling me that flying out was my best option. Trying to drive out would be difficult, and I probably would not be allowed back in to catch my flight later once contra-flow (all lanes of the highway with traffic heading out) went into effect. I just needed to keep track of the storm and make sure that the airport didn’t close before I could leave. I wasn’t able to move my flight up yet. Northwest airlines didn’t have a weather waiver, but once they did, they could move my flight up without charge. I had a seat reserved on my Sunday flight out and predictions were that Gustav wouldn’t arrive until Monday or Tuesday.

I had a rental car and I had a few options if I had to drive out. I could go to Baton Rouge and stay with the family that I had stayed with in September 2005. I could also go to Alexandria and stay with the people and animals at BARK (and meet Kate2) if needed. But I was concerned about heading out on the road and getting stuck somewhere.

Next….The Katrina Memorial Service and luncheon honoring the animals who were affected and the people who came to help…

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I will write much more about the Katrina memorial events and the people that I met on this trip later. I will post photos too. Please check back later for more info.

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When I tried to log in and get a boarding pass this morning, my flight to Detroit had been cancelled. That’s when I realized that this could get dicey. But I was then put onto another flight to Detroit a few minutes later. Let’s hope it goes as planned. I’m not sure which will be worse–trying to get out of New Orleans with other frantic people wanting to get out ahead of Gustav, or trying to get into Minneapolis with all the crazy Republicans who are coming into town!

The good news is that there are much better plans this time for evacuating the animals, and they seem to be going well. If you want to help, please consider making donations to these organizations who are working so hard to get the animals out. I will give more info on that later. Be safe!

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The good news is that we are much more organized than before Katrina. Muttshack has refrigerated trucks ready to take animals to pre-organized shelters inland, and trained volunteers ready to help. And all of these people who had planned to be here for the Katrina memorial service are dedicated people. Luckily for the animals, they are here already and willing and able to help. After Katrina, many people vowed “Never Again”, and those people are here, thank God.

It’s not a great time to be selling books, and I may not even sell enough here to pay for my trip. But the books that are going out here are getting into the hands of people who will relate to the story. Taking care of the animals is so much more important. That’s what brought us here in the first place.

I am watching the weather forecasts carefully. I have a rental car and a seat on a flight out on Sunday afternoon. I have an offer to stay with someone on high ground here in New Orleans, a family in Baton Rouge, and a family in Alexandria, if needed. I’ve given this a lot of thought and have asked many people here, and the consensus is that it is best to stay here and catch my Sunday flight. Trying to drive out now could be disastrous and I could get stuck who knows where with no way to get back to catch my flight. The roads are getting busy, although there has been no official evacution order…yet.

I have limited internet access, but will be updating on my blog when I get a chance. Please check here again for updates. How ironic that we are facing this again on the 3rd anniversary of Katrina. Believe me, when I bought my plane tickets a couple of months ago, I thought long and hard about coming here on the Katrina anniversary. It was important to be together with all those people who cared enough about the animals to come down the last time. I hope this time is different.

I only have computer access now in a public place with many distractions. I have so much more to say when I get more time to write later. Stay safe.

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