Biloxi-Ocean Springs MS bridge

 Monday marks the beginning of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season.  In the four years since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we’ve heard much about lessons learned.  Hopefully, and especially for those who live on the Gulf Coast and spend one half of our lives in hurricane season, those lessons have been heeded. 

From the ultimate resignation of Michael D. Brown, the one-director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to the months of finger pointing and blame-laying over what went wrong with the levees that crumbled and flooded New Orleans, new guidelines have been put in place to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.  It might be decades before we know if those guidelines will suffice.  Then again, it could be put to the test over the next several months.

Hopefully, the 1800-plus deaths that resulted during Katrina alone will be enough incentive for everyone to heed evacuation orders.  It’s doubtful since people have chosen to stay since the beginning of time; still, the horror and fear of the 911 calls that were released and told chilling stories of those who had nowhere to go and could only relay the hell of their last minutes will be enough to give folks pause to rethink their decisions to stay.

Perhaps the most disturbing after-effect of Katrina’s landfall was the kindness extended by Houstonians and the unfortunate cost to them.  By welcoming more than 150,000 New Orleanans, it was repaid with a 22% increase in violent crimes, unemployment rates that most of the rest of the country is just now beginning to see due to the recession and depleted coffers for social programs, hospitals and unemployment.  It was so bad, Houston police officials were forced to form a Gang Murder Squad to deal with the influx of criminals, many of whom were gang members who left their territory on New Orleans’ streets.  Its murders rose 20% in the year after Katrina and many, if not most, involved those relocated from New Orleans, either as the accused or the victim.  It’s estimated that the costs associated with the rise in crime after Katrina neared 18 million dollars. 

Baton Rouge welcomed 100,000 evacuees.  It had its share of crime as well.  As the police chief of that city, Jeff LeDuff, said, “I’m willing to be my brother’s keeper, but while my brother is in Baton Rouge, he must behave.”   Calls to the Baton Rouge police departments went from around 500 a day to over 750.  New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagan said at the time that they welcomed the city’s citizens to return home, but that they must be willing to work.  This left many in Houston and Baton Rouge to wonder what exactly the officials in New Orleans expected them to do with those who would not or could not work.

Sadly, should history repeat itself, neighboring cities will most likely be hesitant to be so welcoming to those most in need.  Then again, southern hospitality being what it is, there’s a good chance memories will be short when it comes to matters such as those.

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Growing up in south Mississippi, you grow accustomed to nothing being a secret.  Just when you think you’ve managed to keep the cover on some interesting tidbit and are sure you’re the only one privy to some enticing story, you realize everyone else, from the state line of Alabama to the state line of Louisiana, is thinking the same thing you are: everyone thinks they know something no one else knows, only to find out everyone already knew.  Until today.

Turns out Gulfport’s mayor, Brent Warr, one of the most favorite politicians on the coast, has been indicted on sixteen federal charges, including conspiracy to defraud the federal government by lying to both FEMA and HUD to receive monies set aside for Hurricane Katrina victims. He and his wife, Laura, have both been indicted and each

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faces up to 210 years in prison and over $4 million dollars in fines.  Here’s the shocker: no one knew.  No one was aware they were even due in court for any reason today.  It wasn’t until the indictment was opened and read in the U.S. District Court could you hear the gasps across the state.  They both have pleaded innocent in the presence of their lawyer.

Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr

They’ve been accused of taking money earmarked for residents whose primary residences were damaged and needed financial assistance to restore their homes.  The home the Warrs’ claimed was indeed damaged.  It’s located directly on the beach and is a beautiful white mansion, complete with huge white columns, indicative of how homes were built in the late 1800s.  The problem, though, is that it wasn’t their primary residence and in fact, they weren’t even living in it.  His only statement, made today, reads, “This inquiry has been going on for more than a year now, and we hope and pray for a much faster resolution.  We have entered a plea of not guilty.  Out of respect for the justice system and the government, I will not speak further about the claim made against us.”  That’s interesting because he makes no mention of his neighbors and the citizens as a whole in Gulfport who didn’t have access to these kinds of funds, and in fact, many are still waiting for some kind of resolution to their own claims.  These are the same neighbors and citizens who elected him into office only a month before Katrina made landfall in August, 2005.  In fact, he was so popular that his name had been mentioned several times when a replacement for Senator Lott was being considered.  At the time, he said he wouldn’t be pursuing that option since he was so busy with the recovery effort on the coast.

The indictment reads:

Count 1:        Conspiracy to defraud the federal government by lying to FEMA and HUD to receive emergency disaster assistance funds for their beachfront mansion.

Count 2:        Fraud for filing a FEMA disaster claim in which they misrepresented 1814 Beach Drive as their home when Katrina hit.

Counts 3-6:   False statements about the beach home; specifically, filing a disaster assistance claim, signing a sworn statement that information in the FEMA claim was true, filing for a federal homeowners assistance grant from HUD, swearing in a statement to the Mississippi Development Authority that information in the grant application was true.

Maximum penalty on each count, counts 1-6: five years in prison, $250,000 fine.

Counts 7-8:   Theft of FEMA funds; theft of HUD funds.

Maximum penalty on each count, counts 7 and 8: 10 years in prison, $250,000 fine.

Counts 9-11:  Wire fraud for electronic transmissions from FEMA of $2,000, $2,358, and $5,200 from Sept. 15, 2005 through Nov. 29, 2005.

Count 12:       Mail fraud for $150,000 homeowners grant check on Jan. 19, 2007.

Counts 13-16:    Mail fraud against Lexington Insurance Co. regarding misrepresentations about personal property, alternate living expenses and the extent of renovations in relation to the beach home; misrepresentations resulted in checks Lexington mailed for $4,271.33, $29,526.31, $29,442.46 and $25,200, each representing a separate charge.

• Maximum penalty on each count, counts 9-16: 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine.

For now, the trial’s been set for April 6^th.