Mendon officials, emergency personnel off to Mississippi By Danielle Williamson / Daily News Staff Tuesday, September 13, 2005
MENDON -- Police officers and firefighters have answered a request for mutual aid from the mayor of a small Mississippi town devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and are heading down there today for at least a week of work.
"From what we hear, this is going to be pretty rugged," Police and Fire Chief Ernest Horn said of his trip to Waveland, Miss.
Horn and selectmen Chairman Kenneth O'Brien are driving to Waveland this morning, followed by several town vehicles with police officers, firefighters and materials that will get them through a week in the community.
Officials last week announced their plan to "adopt" Waveland, roughly the same population as Mendon, and about half its size.
Horn and O'Brien have been in touch with Waveland Mayor Tommy Longo, who asked them to lend a hand. Horn said he would submit the necessary paperwork to state and federal agencies so Mendon could be reimbursed for its services.
Horn and O'Brien will make the nearly 24-hour trip in Horn's unmarked Ford Explorer. They will spend a day in Waveland, and intend to return Friday.
"We'll talk to the mayor, pastors, Scout leaders, people on the street (and ask) 'What is it you guys need,'" O'Brien said.
Sgts. Donald Blanchette and Brian Massey, Officers Chris Bettencourt and Matt Hore, and firefighters Buddy Lowell and Alan Tetreault Jr. have volunteered to provide services to Waveland for a week.
"We'll set these guys up, and make sure they're set on their mission," O'Brien said.
The public safety officials will go to Waveland in two police cars and a pickup truck, which will haul a trailer of supplies, tents, food, water and a generator.
"Primarily, they'll be providing law enforcement and fire services for the city," Horn said.
Waveland's police officers and firefighters are exhausted, Horn said. Florida public safety officials have been helping the city, and Mendon will either augment or replace them.
"The goal is to try to give his guys a break," Horn said.
To ensure Mendon is protected in the officers and firefighters' absence, Horn said "unneeded days off" have been canceled, and some officers will work additional shifts.
Posted by: USMCMP5811
Waveland: A sight to see By Danielle Williamson / Daily News Staff Thursday, September 15, 2005
WAVELAND, Miss. -- Driving into this devastated Gulf Coast town yesterday evening, their mouths agape from the startling sights, Mendon officials looked out at abandoned vehicles littering the roadside, businesses destroyed and piles of debris that remained where homes once stood.
Led by Mendon Police and Fire Chief Ernest Horn, a contingent of Mendon police, fire and local officials arrived in Waveland to bolster a corps of hometown officers and other volunteers in a city without functioning traffic lights or electricity.
An obviously shocked Horn asked a National Guardsman doing duty as a traffic cop -- there's no power in Waveland and the traffic lights don't work -- "Where's the police station?"
"I don't know," the uniformed guard replied as he directed cars through the four-way intersection. "There's a police car behind you; you can ask him."
"Those guys are with me," said a surprised Horn from the window of his Ford Explorer, referring to his Mendon caravan.
The confusion among emergency personnel who have rushed to Waveland's rescue is one of the reasons Horn's departments decided to "adopt" the city 35 miles from New Orleans. The caravan of Horn's cruiser, two police cars and a brush fire truck left Mendon Tuesday for Waveland, where four Mendon Police officers learned yesterday what their responsibilities would be as temporary patrolmen for the city.
The town is offering Waveland mutual aid.
In that capacity, Sgt. Donald Blanchette, who is in charge of the mission, Sgt. Brian Massey, and Officers Chris Bettencourt and Matt Hoar will have the same authority as Waveland officers. Horn is returning to Mendon tomorrow.
The men will work 12-hour shifts for about the next 10 days, Horn said.
Firefighters Buddy Lowell and A.J. Tetreault, who originally planned to stay with the officers, will head back to Massachusetts today.
"They have more than enough firefighters," Horn said at Waveland's new "police base," a large shopping lot where police and fire departments from as far afield as Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota have made camp while their officers help Waveland.
Two weeks ago, the lot where emergency crews are gathered was ravaged by Katrina's 35-foot-high storm surge that traveled seven miles from the Gulf Coast and crashed over the Wal-Mart that is now in the process of being emptied of its destroyed contents.
Today, the devastation of the lot has been replaced by dozens of emergency personnel, like Mendon's, who have traveled hundreds, or thousands, of miles to help their comrades.
Mendon's encampment outside the abandoned Wal-Mart consists of a 24-foot trailer emptied of its emergency supplies of a generator, food and water and converted into lodging for four Mendon policemen.
Pitched by the trailer are three-man tents that will be home to selectmen Chairman Ken O'Brien, Horn and the firefighters.
"We lost all our patrol cars, our station, our records: we lost everything," said Waveland Assistant Police Chief Michael Prendergast.
When Katrina hit, Prendergast and 25 other Waveland officers and dispatchers were in or near the police station. One officer noticed that the outside of the station was getting flooded, and officers rushed to put sandbags on the water to stop the water level from rising.
Within minutes, Prendergast estimated, water levels had reached 20 feet. Fourteen officers clung to a bush in front of the station, while the rest stood on the roof.
"I've never seen anything like this in my life," the assistant chief said.
All the officers made it out of the storm alive, but only half have returned for work.
"Some have pneumonia, and others got infections from the water," Prendergast said. "Some just had to get away, and I let them."
The remaining officers have been working 12-hour shifts and overtime to address the city's increased patrolling needs because of the hurricane.
The city has enforced a curfew of 8 p.m. No one is allowed on the desolate streets between that time and 6 a.m., Prendergast explained.
Looting has been a problem, but not as much as in New Orleans, he said.
Tuesday night, an officer was shot at, he said. The shooter escaped. As a result, officers patrolling Waveland's streets must wear bulletproof vests.
Prendergast estimated 2,000 of Waveland's roughly 7,000 residents are still in the city. He could not estimate the death toll, only saying it was "a lot."
Hoar will be patrolling the night shift with Massey from 6:30 tonight to 6:30 a.m. tomorrow.
"I came here expecting to work my butt off," Hoar said. "I will be working the night shift, like I normally do. I'm unfamiliar with the area, but I'm not worried."
Blanchette, who will coordinate Mendon's coverage of Waveland's streets, said he is confident in the officers' abilities.
"I have an excellent crew with me. They're well-seasoned," Blanchette said.
Horn is excited his men will have the opportunity to help others, as well as bring some tips home for their comrades.
"Not only is this a great way of helping a fellow community; it's a great opportunity for my guys to experience a very difficult, chaotic environment -- and teach the guys back home what they've learned."
With the sun down by the 8 p.m. curfew, Mendon's officials were settling in last night as the temperature remained humid, sticky and near 90.
At 10 p.m. in Waveland (9 p.m. locally) the still night air -- without a hint of a Gulf Coast breeze -- was broken by the hum of generators that power lights at the base camp.
Under a nearly full moon, and a smattering of clouds, Mendon police and firefighters were getting ready for a dinner of canned chicken noodle soup, spaghetti and macaroni.
Mendon officers will hit the street this morning, working with local and other out-of-state volunteers.
This could be the first of several trips to Waveland for assistance.
"There are people living here, and people will return. People will rebuild. It's going to take time, but we'll get back on our feet," Prendergast said.
Posted by: USMCMP5811
Mendon police on the job: Help out hurricane-devastated community By Danielle Williamson / Daily News Staff Friday, September 16, 2005
A woman in her 50s pulled up in front of the Waveland Police station yesterday afternoon and stepped out of her minivan with a scowl and a cigarette.
The first officer she encountered on her way to the uninhabitable building was Mendon Police Chief Ernest Horn.
"I need to speak to someone," she said to the chief. Noticing his "Mendon Police" T-shirt, she asked, "Are you from around here?"
"No, ma'am, I'm not, but I can help you," Horn said, as the 97-degree sun beat down on his dark shirt and pants.
Four Mendon officers and Horn spent yesterday filling in as Waveland policemen, who are exhausted after weeks of patrolling with half their department, no police cars of their own, and in some cases, not knowing where their families are. Mendon officials started camping out Wednesday in a Wal-Mart parking lot-turned makeshift command center. The actual police station still stands, but Katrina has caused extensive mold problems and destroyed its contents and equipment.
Waveland officers pitched a tent outside the station, and continued to respond to in-person reports from there. Just weeks earlier, 14 of them clung desperately, for five hours, to a nearby bush while water rose to their necks.
Other officers waited out the storm on the station's roof, and watched helplessly as their cruisers floated past them, banging into the side of the building and leaving numerous dents.
But yesterday, and for at least the next eight to 10 days, Waveland officers won't have to worry about not having cruisers.
Mendon, as well as handfuls of other departments from across the country, will be sharing one of its cruisers and two motorcycles.
Also yesterday, Waveland Police Officer Steve Beale didn't have to worry if he'd have sufficient help for the aforementioned woman's request for assistance. Horn had his back.
After bringing the angry woman to Beale, Horn followed Beale to the woman's home in his unmarked Ford Explorer.
The woman, Lynn Johnston, had just returned to Waveland from 45 minutes north, where she had spent the last weeks seeking shelter with her son after the storm. She returned to her Waveland apartment to find someone else living there.
"I would like these people to leave now," Johnston said, forcefully, outside her apartment where an older woman on oxygen sat next to her two, small, barking dogs.
Beale asked the seated woman if she lived there. She replied she did. But after Johnston showed him a check verifying her residency, Beale told the woman she had a minute to tell him the truth. Again, she insisted that was her home.
"How long have you lived here," Horn asked, as Johnston unpatiently paced behind him.
"A week," the woman said, sheepishly. "But the landlord said I could."
Beale ordered the woman to move out within the next day, and she agreed. By law, Horn later explained, the woman could have been arrested.
"In 95-degree temperatures, and this kind of environment, are you going to throw her out on the street? No," he said. "Everybody has to try to calm down a bit. Nerves are high."
Waveland is benefiting from some order, as its residents' lives were turned upside down by Katrina.
Horn, Mendon selectmen Chairman Ken O'Brien, Sgts. Donald Blanchette and Brian Massey, officers Chris Bettencourt and Matt Hoar, and firefighters Buddy Lowell and A.J. Tetreault have seen this firsthand.
Blanchette and Bettencourt patrolled the day shift yesterday, while Massey and Hoar were scheduled to work the night shift.
Prior to beginning their shift on two motorcycles, Blanchette and Massey got a tour of the small city, and came back shocked.
"I said earlier, it reminded me of Kuwait City," said Massey, a veteran of Desert Storm, referring to his first impressions of Waveland while driving in Tuesday. "I take it back. This is 10 times worse."
Waveland Police Sgt. Eddie Peterson took a reporter and photographer yesterday through the most devastated areas of the city, accessible only to emergency workers and officials.
Peterson lost his Waveland apartment in the hurricane, and is living in a trailer outside the police station. Not one home on the southern side of Waveland's railroad tracks -- the section of the city closer to the ocean where residents qualify for flood insurance -- was untouched.
In the areas closest to the water, only foundations remained. Appliances littered once-immaculate yards, and residents' belongings clung to barren treetops.
Homes that did not turn into a pile of debris were nearly caved in. Some were marked with an "X" and a number. The markings meant that emergency workers had gone through the area, and the number referred to the number of people found alive -- or dead -- inside.
Many homes had numbers or messages on their sides; some were meant for insurance companies for identification purposes; others were cries for help.
"Need help finding mother's urn of ashes," read one message, which included a phone number.
Most residents closest to the coast, Peterson said, had evacuated prior to the storm. Officers scrambled before Katrina took its final hit to go door-to-door and request people leave the area.
"Lawfully, you can't physically make them leave," Peterson said. "We found about 10 people who didn't want to leave, so we made them sign a next-of-kin. For some, that set off a light bulb."
Waveland officials have not released the number of the city's 7,000 residents presumed dead. Peterson said the last number he heard was 40.
"This area was so peaceful," the softspoken Southerner said, shaking his head, as he drove slowly past yards and yards of debris.
Katrina's surge left Waveland's streets flooded for hours. Gradually, though, the water subsided, as the city, unlike New Orleans, is 18 to 20 feet above sea level.
"Wild Bill" Laprine, 66, sat under a canopy with neighbors yesterday on a street 200 yards from the coast. He and several other townies are the only people still staying in the once-vibrant neighborhood, which is the home of city hall (now collapsed and non-existent).
"This is the only place I got to stay," said Laprine, who evacuated before Katrina hit. A retired electrician and carpenter, Laprine intends to rebuild his house in eight months if he gets a trailer from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Mendon officers said they would do whatever they could to help Waveland in its process of rebuilding.
Horn came to an eerie realization yesterday afternoon.
"A month ago, the Fire Department was looking at new badges, and liked this one style after looking at an Internet catalog," the chief said. "We asked for a sample, and the one they sent us was Waveland's."
Posted by: USMCMP5811
Mendon police leave Mississippi for home By Danielle Williamson / Daily News Staff Thursday, September 22, 2005
Four Mendon Police officers plan to head back north today from a week of work in southern Mississippi, where they have helped local police officers respond to a variety of unique calls during Katrina's aftermath.
"The guys...were thrilled to have us," Sgt. Brian Massey said yesterday from Waveland, Miss., after working his last night shift there. "They needed the extra bodies. It's something we haven't really faced before. It's kind of a free-for-all."
Massey and Officer Matt Hoar primarily patrolled towns that abutted Waveland, one of the Gulf Coast's hardest-hit cities. Sgt. Donald Blanchette and Officer Chris Bettencourt worked days in Waveland, Massey said.
Mendon answered a call for mutual aid relief from Waveland Mayor Tommy Longo last week. The four officers drove the 1,500 miles to Mississippi, and set up camp in a Wal-Mart parking lot, where emergency personnel from across the country have established a command base.
Police and Fire Chief Ernest Horn, selectmen Chairman Kenneth O'Brien, and firefighters Buddy Lowell and A.J. Tetreault also made the long trip, and returned to Mendon Saturday.
"I am extremely proud of the work that our guys have done down there," O'Brien said.
Tensions are high in the devastated small city of 7,000. Officers have answered many calls for domestic disputes, as many residents are beginning to return to the area.
"There was a guy shooting off his gun last night," Massey said yesterday. "He wanted to see if it worked. He was shooting off in a residential neighborhood."
Mendon officers have also helped arrest "professional looters" who come from out of town and collect whatever they can find, Horn said.
Last week, they guarded a local fire station from looters as firefighters responded to calls. Also during their stay, the officers provided backup for a drug raid.
"When people's houses get blown over, you find what they've been hiding," Horn said.
The Waveland mayor is expected to officially release Mendon officers this morning. Waveland officers, many of whom have not been working since Katrina hit, are starting to come back to work.
Horn said his officers would bring with them a signed letter from the mayor, which states Mendon has provided Waveland with mutual aid. This will help the department apply for reimbursement from the state, Horn said.
Horn estimated the cost of the trip, between fuel and manpower, would be $4,000 to $5,000. The four Mendon officers will be paid for the hours worked, and overtime costs were incurred to cover Mendon while they were gone.
"It's very important for the people of Waveland to see their police department," Horn said. "Everyone appreciates (the out-of-town officers), but it's still a bit unsettling. Having Waveland back on patrol brings a sense of normalcy, which is comforting to the public."
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