What Really Happened.com(1) posted a story (2)about the citation of George Barisich by FEMA. He got a ticket for selling T-shirts on Federal property. Who is this guy anyway?
Apparently he is a bit of a legend. A brief biography(3) is given on the Louisianna Folk Life website. Bare in mind when you read the biography that Mr. Barisich has lost most of what is described there. During Katrina, three of his five boats, his home and the homes of most of his extended family were destroyed. George has apparently had some unhappy experiences with FEMA.
He has been printing and selling T-shirts which say:
"Flooded by Katrina! Forgotten by FEMA! What's Next, Mr. Bush?"
He happened to hand one of these T-shirts to another Katrina survivor, while picking up a box of food from a charity relief tent close to a FEMA center. The article posted on What Really happened.com** says:
"He was cited by a group of Homeland Security officials for selling a T-shirt on federal property - in this case, near a FEMA center in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Chalmette, La.
I could not tell from that sentence if the Wal-mart Parking Lot and the FEMA Center were one and the same property. If he was in the Wal-mart parking lot, when he handed the shirt to the other survivor, isn't that private property? Or is FEMA renting the parking lot from Walmart making it a defacto piece of Federal Property? I did some investigation.
The FEMA Center address is listed as:
St. Bernard Parish
8101 West Judge Perez Rd.
Chalmette , La. 70043
[url]http://www.fema.gov/...[/url]
Dex Direct shows the Wal-mart address as:
Wal-Mart
8101 W Judge Perez Dr
Chalmette, LA
[url]http://www.dexonline.com[/url]
A Drive by any other name is still a Road?
On the FEMA website I found the news release which says a temporary "Mobile Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs)" was set up in the parking lot of Wal-mart in October, 2005:
[url]http://www.fema.gov/...[/url]
Apparently that Wal-mart is closed according to World Magazine. The FEMA center there has "served 43,000 households since fall:
In the meantime, FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC) will remain open to help residents with short-term needs. Generators buzz outside a 40-by-140-feet white tent in the parking lot of a now-closed Wal-Mart in St. Bernard Parish, where Gary Dorman oversees a FEMA DRC that has served 43,000 households since Katrina hit last fall. Mr. Dorman says residents can get help with travel trailers, food stamps, Medicaid, low-interest loans, tax preparation, mental health services, rental assistance, insurance, and job opportunities.
The job is challenging for FEMA, he says, because of the complications of local politics, and because FEMA is ultimately "just a band-aid." Mr. Dorman's DRC has been open in the parish six days a week since October, taking breaks only for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But in February, the DRC got one more break: The sign on the tent door informed residents that the FEMA center would "be closed on February 28 for Mardi Gras."
[url]http://www.worldmag.com/...[/url]
Hmm, I guess FEMA is renting from Wal-mart. I used Dex to try and contact Mr. Barisich and the United Commercial Fishermen's Association in Chalmette,LA. While there were listings for both, the phone numbers have been "disconnected or are no longer in service".
What ever the case maybe, our hero from the article says he didn't sell the T-shirt. He says he gave it away, so why did six FEMA agents descend on him? From a little reading up on Mr. Barisich, FEMA picked the wrong man to cite. He is a politically savy, well known individual, who is very active in his community. I suspect he will have the ear of St. Bernard Parish to state his case, as well as willing witnesses to support him. And FEMA ends up looking like a bully in a parking lot. From what I have read, they don't need that kind of publicity.
(3)From the Louisianna Folk Life page:
Shrimping and Commercial Fisherman
Mr. George Barisich is a third generation commercial fisherman. His parents are Croatian born, but came to Louisiana while still young. George was born in 1956 in New Orleans, and spent much of his childhood in Arabi, Louisiana. He presently lives in Violet in St. Bernard Parish, with his wife and children. From the age of eight years, he spent considerable time on his father's boat helping with the shrimping. While working as a fisherman, he attended Southeastern University.
George, like his brother, learned everything about fishing and shrimping from his father. When his father became too ill to work, he sold his half of the business to George. George has five boats, one of which he describes as being thirty-eight years old, which is made of cypress and double planked.
Most of the time he trawls for shrimp, but he has also fished for oysters. George is an active advocate for fishing as a traditional way of life. He says, "it's something that's in the blood." Commercial fishing is far more than just a job to him; it represents an entire traditional way of life. However, he sees it as being seriously threatened by increasing government regulations.
Today, commercial fishing is more high-tech than it was when George started shrimping in the 1960s. The fishing boats now have radar, VHF radio, and telephones on board. It's an entirely different life than it was in the past. The one thing that has not changed is that shrimpers are still out fishing for many days. George comments, " I am usually out six to seven days at a time, and maybe sometimes a little longer." When asked, "what makes a good fisherman?", he answered, "it's in the blood; also, believe it or not, it's the chase for the shrimp, and the adrenaline rush shrimpers feel."
Mr. Barisich is President of the United Commercial Fisherman's Association. For his presentations, he speaks on various commercial fishing operations and he uses tapes showing trawling and fishing operations on shrimpboats. George has attended the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the New Orleans Work Boat Show, the Islenos Festival, and the Bycatch Symposium in Seattle, Washington.
[url]http://www.nsula.edu/...[/url]
And a little more on George Barisich:
USA Shrimp Fishermen Dump Their Case
on the World's Shrimp Farmers
On December 31, 2004, the Southern Shrimp Alliance, an organization of shrimp fishermen from eight southeastern states, filed shrimp dumping charges against China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Brazil and Ecuador--the world's major producers of farm-raised shrimp. What follows is a chronology of events in the dumping case from its inception in February 2002 to the final decisions in January 2005. Scroll to the end of the story to read the lastest news first. To SEARCH the story, hit control-F; to find the next occurrence of your search, hit control-G.
February 26, 2002...Louisiana: Reggie Dupre, a Louisiana state senator, has written USA Representative Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana) alleging that dangerous foreign shrimp has been dumped on the USA market at low prices. Louisiana shrimpers have long complained about dumping, and at one point several years ago started work on a trade complaint, but dropped the effort because of cost considerations. George Barisich, president of a 200-plus member organization called Commercial Fishermen United, said he welcomes federal inquiry into foreign shrimp imports and hopes that eventually protective legislation will result. "We're getting killed with the Asian market," Barisich said. Source: Seafood.com (http://www.seafood.com). Louisiana lawmaker calls for shrimp dumping investigation. Ken Coons. February 26, 2002.
[url]http://www.shrimpnews.com/...[/url]
(1)[url]http://www.whatreallyhappened.com[/url]
(2)[url]http://news.yahoo.com/...[/url]
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