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Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

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To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

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The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

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Rule #10

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Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
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Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

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  • Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

    For anyone who has missed it and assumed the worst had passed... A day after Katrina and conditions are actually worsening in NO and the area. Levee breaks and rising water are now a problem on top of the damage. Damaged and flooding roads are limiting access. Gas leaks are now a problem. Water is not sanitary.

    Living conditions (for thousands) in the Superdome are deteriorating. No AC.

    3,000 pound sandbags are being used to try and close a break in the levee at the 17th Street canal.



    -Bball
    Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

    ------

    "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

    -John Wooden

  • #2
    Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts....

    I will start by donating $500 personally, and I have contacted Purdue University and Eli Lilly, see if we can get a fund raiser going.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts....

      Search starts for survivors and dead in Miss. after Katrina

      HOLBROOK MOHR

      Associated Press


      GULFPORT, Miss. - Rescuers in boats and helicopters searched for survivors of Hurricane Katrina and brought victims, wet and bedraggled, to shelters Tuesday as the extent of the damage across the Gulf Coast became ever clearer. The governor said the death toll in one Mississippi county alone could be as high as 80.

      Power was out to about 800,000 customers statewide, according to officials of electric companies and rural power associations.

      "The devastation down there is just enormous," Gov. Haley Barbour said on NBC's "Today" show, the morning after Katrina howled ashore with winds of 145 mph and engulfed thousands of homes in one of the most punishing storms on record in the United States.

      Barbour said there were unconfirmed reports of up to 80 deaths in Harrison County - which includes devastated Gulfport and Biloxi - and the number was likely to rise. At least five other deaths across the Gulf Coast were blamed on Katrina.

      Barbour and emergency officials were to tour the coast later Tuesday.

      "We know that there is a lot of the coast that we have not been able to get to," the governor said. "I hate to say it, but it looks like it is a very bad disaster in terms of human life. The beach is essentially destroyed on the coast."

      Officials said as many as 30 people died at the Quiet Water Beach apartments. The only evidence of the apartments is a concrete slab. Red bricks which were once its walls are scattered around the area, which is located just across U.S. 90 from the beach. In the debris is a crushed red child's play wagon, jewelry and clothing.

      Behind the slab, a wall of debris is washed up against homes. The nearby U.S. 90 is buckled and covered with debris - twisted boards, pieces of wall, bricks and the possessions of those who lived there.

      People are digging through the rubble, looking for any possessions that survived. One man in military dress wouldn't give his name but said he had escaped. He picked up a kitchen fork and said: "There's one of my forks." He shook his head and walked away.

      Joy Schovest, 55, was in the apartment complex with her boyfriend, Joe Calvin, when the complex began to fall apart in the rising waters. She broke into tears as described what happened.

      "The water got higher and higher. It pushed all the doors open and we swam out. We grabbed a lady and pulled her out the window and then we swam with the current," she said. "It was terrifying. You should have seen the cars floating around us. We had to push them away when we were trying to swim."

      Her daughter, 30-year-old April Huffman, embraced her as she began crying.

      Joy Schovest said: "The cell phones don't work and I know my family thinks I'm dead."

      She wouldn't discuss why they stayed despite mandatory evacuation.

      Katrina was downgraded to a tropical storm late Monday. Southern Co. officials said power was out to all of its 195,000 customers in south Mississippi served by Mississippi Power Co. Farther north, Entergy Mississippi officials reported power was out to 260,400 customers.

      The Electric Power Associations of Mississippi said power was out to about 400,000 customers throughout the storm damaged area from the coast to north Mississippi.

      Jack Crochet, 56, Biloxi, walked down a buckled and sand-covered U.S. 90 Tuesday carrying a bottle of champagne. He shook his head, looked at the debris and said: "This is all that's left of my house."

      Crochet weathered the storm in his home near the beach in Biloxi. His home also was near an apartment complex where dozens of people were believed to have been killed.

      "We thought everything was going to New Orleans," Crochet said. "I've been through Camille and Betsy, but this storm surge here, when it came in, it looked like a tidal wave.

      "There's just nothing left," Crochet said. "It's never going to be the same. It's over."

      Also in Biloxi Tuesday, 30-year-old Paul Merritt surveyed the damage with his 18-year-old wife, Carla, and their 3-month-old son, Brandon. He said the water rose to the second story of his town house, which is less than a block off the beach.

      "I've never seen destruction of this magnitude," Paul Merritt said. "You see this stuff on TV and you hope that it never happens to you. Everything's gone. Our pets are dead. The water got up to the second level of my ."

      His 25-year-old brother, Jacob Merritt, said the roof was ripped apart in his apartment complex in Biloxi. He sat in a cinder block Tuesday in the rubble of a beach-front hotel, Star Inn, and clasped his head in his hands. He said he had pulled out 12 people from a building during the hurricane, and he believes they all lived but had minor injuries.

      After the storm, "there was a lot of looting going on," Jacob Merritt said. He said he saw people stealing beer and cigarettes from the Circle K convenience store.

      Tree trunks, downed power lines and trees, and chunks of broken concrete in the streets hampered rescue efforts. Swirling water in many areas contained hidden dangers. Crews worked to clear highways. Along one Mississippi highway, motorists themselves used chainsaws to remove trees blocking the road.

      More than 1,600 Mississippi National Guardsmen were activated, and the Alabama National Guard planned to send two battalions to Mississippi.

      Teresa Kavanagh, 35, of Biloxi, shook her head is disbelief Tuesday as she took photographs of the damage in Biloxi

      "Total devastation. Apartment complexes are wiped clean. We're going to rebuild, but it's going to take long time. Houses that withstood Camille are nothing but slab now," she said.

      The Hard Rock and Beau Rivage casinos took severe damage.

      There is debris all around Beau Rivage and the neighboring, Windjammer Condominium's bottom floors are completely washed away. All that remains of the Sun Tan Hotel is the toilets.

      Katrina's tidal surge damaged major bridges to three coastal counties, including those linking Biloxi with Ocean Springs and the connection to Bay St. Louis.

      The storm swept sailboats onto city streets in Gulfport and obliterated hundreds of waterfront homes, businesses, community landmarks and condominiums.

      The concrete Eight Flags display marking the historic Gulfport-Biloxi boundary - a signature of both coastal communities - was gone.

      A foot of water swamped the emergency operations center at the Hancock County courthouse - which sits 30 feet above sea level. The back of the courthouse collapsed under the onslaught.

      In Biloxi, the mayor's office said the storm's surge put at least five casinos out of commission. Treasure Bay's pirate ship was beached. Beau Rivage still stood, while Hard Rock Casino - scheduled to open in early September - was half destroyed.

      Hard Rock's signature guitar, touted as the world's largest, survived the lashing.

      Barbour warned evacuated residents to stay away, saying most could not get to their homes, anyway.

      "It will be unsafe to return to the coastal area for several days," Barbour said Monday during a televised news briefing in Jackson. "Be patient. Don't be in a hurry to go back."

      http://www.sunherald.com/mld/thesunherald/12508426.htm
      Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

      ------

      "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

      -John Wooden

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts....

        NO is now trying to evacuate people who stayed behind. The circumstances are worsening and they say the city will no longer be able to sustain life. Bodies are said to be floating in the water.

        While originally thinking they escaped their worst fears and worst case scenario, that is no longer the case. The mayor is saying it is worse than they ever imagined. The flooding didn't happen immediately but is happening now. Reports are the water is waist deep near the Superdome (which is a shelter for thousands).
        ----

        http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/0...SCH065073.html
        Floodwater inundates New Orleans after hurricane
        Aug 30 1:56 PM US/Eastern


        By Erwin Seba


        NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The historic city of New Orleans was steadily filling with water from nearby Lake Ponchartrain on Tuesday after its defenses were breached by the ferocity of hurricane Katrina.

        With the floodwaters rising in many areas, threatening the French Quarter, residents were plucked from the roofs of their homes, bodies were seen floating in the streets and rescuers searched the city in boats and helicopters.

        "We probably have 80 percent of our city under water; with some sections of our city the water is as deep as 20 feet. Both airports are underwater," Mayor Ray Nagin told a radio interviewer.

        New Orleans, a city that usually throbs with the life of its carnivals and the sound of jazz and blues, was in a "state of devastation," Nagin said.

        In many residential areas TV pictures showed the water was up to roof level after the surge caused by Katrina breached a section of the levee along a canal leading from Lake Ponchartrain, which looms to the north of the city.

        Much of New Orleans, a city of some 500,000, lies in a bowl below sea level, bounded by the lake and the Mississippi River, North America's biggest river, which curves along the south of the city before discharging in the Gulf of Mexico.

        "We always were afraid the bowl that is New Orleans would fill quickly," Walter Maestri, emergency management coordinator for Jefferson Parish, said in a radio interview. "Now with the water rising today, it appears to be filling slowly," he said.

        "The water is rising so fast I cannot begin to describe how quickly it's rising," Tulane University Medical Center Vice President Karen Troyer-Caraway told CNN. "We have whitecaps on Canal Street, the water is moving so fast."

        The downtown hospital was surrounded by 6 feet of water and considering evacuating its 1,000 patients.

        SCENE OF DEVASTATION

        "The devastation is greater than our worst fears," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said in a news conference. "It's totally overwhelming."

        Weather experts had predicted the city would be quickly overwhelmed by the impact of Katrina, which tore across the coast on Monday but initially damage appeared less than catastrophic.
        By Tuesday, however, the full impact was clear as the water rose and overwhelmed pumps, part of an elaborate system of walls, canals and other devices built to protect the city from just such a disaster.

        Fears grew about pollution, with the water believed to be carrying sewage, spilled fuel and other pollutants from residential and commercial districts inundated in the flood.

        Reporters said there was waist-high water round the Superdome, the huge covered football stadium near downtown New Orleans that had been used as an emergency evacuation center for thousands of residents.

        Local television showed people and dogs sitting on rooftops, the houses below them invisible in brackish water. A hand was visible through a window in a house surrounded by chest-high water.

        One man was seen using an ice chest as a flotation device. Another clung to metal scaffolding to escape the deluge, which ironically occurred in sunshine and blue skies Tuesday.

        No deaths were officially confirmed, but Nagin said bodies were seen floating.

        Officials went on television to urge people not to try to return to their homes yet. "You need to get used to where you're at right now because this may take us some time." said U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal.
        Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

        ------

        "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

        -John Wooden

        Comment


        • #5
          OT: Is everybody from down south OK????

          Has anybody heard from Alabama-Redneck???

          Anyone else from down in that area? I know Will Galen made it through the first hit, is everybody else ok on here?


          Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts....

            I spent alot of time in Biloxi at Keesler AFB, and it's weird to think that it's all in shambles now.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: OT: Is everybody from down south OK????

              Originally posted by Peck
              Has anybody heard from Alabama-Redneck???

              Anyone else from down in that area? I know Will Galen made it through the first hit, is everybody else ok on here?
              Isn't he from northern Alabama. he should be OK

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                What about Gyron?

                -Bball
                Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

                ------

                "A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."

                -John Wooden

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                  Originally posted by Bball
                  What about Gyron?

                  -Bball
                  He posted on the shout box thread at 10 PM that he and his family are OK and he feels lucky to have gotten out of there.
                  The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!).

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                    I donated a big chunk of change to the Tsunamai relief. Sort of wish I hadn't now but that was the charitable budget for the year. And with gas going for what it is I don't think I'm going to be able to give anything here - maybe 50 bucks or something, tops.

                    It's amazing - people were warned so the loss of life will be much lower but the devastation in Gulfport and Biloxi looks horrifyingly similar to what happened to Aceh.
                    The poster formerly known as Rimfire

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                      For those that don't know, I work at Eli Lilly. There was an announcement yesterday that Lilly will match all employee donations to the Red Cross dollar for dollar. I can coordinate something and double our efforts if anyone is interested.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts....

                        Originally posted by cramerica
                        I spent alot of time in Biloxi at Keesler AFB, and it's weird to think that it's all in shambles now.
                        I have a good friend that is an instructor there. He was evacuated to Jones Hall and he has been able to call periodically, even during the storm, to let me know how he's doing and ask what I have heard. Aside from losing commercial power and hearing the doors rattling a little, he said you wouldn't even have known there was a hurricane outside. That building is a fortress. He told me yesterday that he was able to look out at the parking lot where his car is and said that from what he saw and has heard, where he parked was the only lot that wasn't under water and his car sustained no damage. They are on generators but have only lights, no AC, and they have to stay there until at least Thursday.

                        Being in Jones Hall he has access to Comm equipment and has been able to set up a makeshift FM radio as well as tactical radios to communicate with others on base and learned that most of base housing is gone and there has been severe damage to the rest of the base. We also got a message that classes will not start again until at least 3 Oct, which may be optimistic.

                        The hard part was when he asked if I had heard anything about his neighborhood in Ocean Springs. I told him that I had heard it was totally destroyed. He has lost everything except the clothes he and his kids have with them. Luckily his wife was TDY in S. Carolina and was scheduled to return the day the storm hit but stayed there instead. She will bring them supplies as soon as she is allowed to return. Hopefully that will be soon.

                        He is way more fortunate than most though. Being military and being sheltered on the base he has plenty of food (MREs) and water so he is counting his blessings.

                        When were you there?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                          Thanks for the concern everyone. I'll post some stories of what I saw while I was down there later today.

                          Its bad. Real bad.

                          I was on the outer edge of the hurricane in Gulf shores, Alabama, and we still got hit pretty hard, but nothing like what louisana, mississippi and even Mobile, Alabama got.

                          I look at the picture son the internet and now, that I have been to most of those places, and even from the pictures in Mobile, I was there just 3 days ago on those streets. Then I look at where I was at an realize how lucky my family is to be safe and to have not lost much by way of property.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts AND post stories/updates....

                            Just received this from my Employer. Those in Indiana may want to check it out.

                            If you receive questions about hurricane relief volunteerism and donation, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) asks individuals interested in aiding victims to contact the Indiana Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters (INVOAD) at www.invoad.org or Indiana 2-1-1 at www.in211.org
                            The poster formerly known as Rimfire

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                            • #15
                              Re: Sites to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts....

                              Originally posted by bread
                              I have a good friend that is an instructor there. He was evacuated to Jones Hall and he has been able to call periodically, even during the storm, to let me know how he's doing and ask what I have heard. Aside from losing commercial power and hearing the doors rattling a little, he said you wouldn't even have known there was a hurricane outside. That building is a fortress. He told me yesterday that he was able to look out at the parking lot where his car is and said that from what he saw and has heard, where he parked was the only lot that wasn't under water and his car sustained no damage. They are on generators but have only lights, no AC, and they have to stay there until at least Thursday.

                              Being in Jones Hall he has access to Comm equipment and has been able to set up a makeshift FM radio as well as tactical radios to communicate with others on base and learned that most of base housing is gone and there has been severe damage to the rest of the base. We also got a message that classes will not start again until at least 3 Oct, which may be optimistic.

                              The hard part was when he asked if I had heard anything about his neighborhood in Ocean Springs. I told him that I had heard it was totally destroyed. He has lost everything except the clothes he and his kids have with them. Luckily his wife was TDY in S. Carolina and was scheduled to return the day the storm hit but stayed there instead. She will bring them supplies as soon as she is allowed to return. Hopefully that will be soon.

                              He is way more fortunate than most though. Being military and being sheltered on the base he has plenty of food (MREs) and water so he is counting his blessings.

                              When were you there?
                              I've been there three times. Once in '97 for my tech school (3 months), again in '01 for another tech school (3 months) and I was there last year about this same time of year for a couple weeks for my 7-level. I was in Thompson hall for school and stayed in Muse Manor, the Holiday Inn off of highway 90 and I also stayed in a hotel in D'Iberville.

                              I went to most of those casino's and restaurants and I saw some pictures of Keesler and it is in some bad shape. I'll be surprised if they get classes started by 3 October.

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