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PostalReporter.com
Storm strands two postal workers
By Chris Schutz
The Oklahoman
NORMAN - “I give up. They can have New Orleans.”
James Miller, 35, a postal worker from New Orleans happened to be in Norman for training when Hurricane Katrina blew into the city where he lives and works.
Now, he and co-worker James Baux can only sit in the six-story housing facility that is part of the U.S. Postal Service training center here and wonder what’s become of their homes and jobs.
When the warnings about Katrina’s severity became more insistent and relatives kept calling, Miller’s wife, Denise, and their granddaughter Ivion Roebuck, 6, left Sunday to make an 18½-hour drive to Norman.
Katrina may have made him and his family into instant Oklahomans, Miller said.
“We’re not going to be able to go back (to New Orleans) for 12 to 16 weeks,” Miller said. He’s hoping the post office might have an opening here.
The Red Cross has issued the Millers vouchers for clothes and help with finding an apartment.
Denise Miller, who worked at a New Orleans retirement home, is trying to find a temporary job, and they’re planning to put Ivion into school.
The family hasn’t been able to get word about the welfare of several relatives in Louisiana, Denise Miller said.
Baux said he’s heard that his rented home in New Orleans could be under nine or 10 feet of water. “That’s unconfirmed,” he said.
Baux and Miller work at a post office that’s in a flooded area near the Superdome, Miller said. “The transformers and switching gears are in the basement,” Miller said.
Baux said when he heard the storm was coming, he dropped off his daughter, 21, and son, 25, with another daughter at a Baton Rouge apartment. They’re among 15 people sharing a one-bedroom unit.
Baux, 43, said he’ll go back to New Orleans, which has been his home for 34 years. “I don’t plan on relocating,” he said.
Besides the conditions back home, Baux keeps thinking about one more thing - the mail.
“I estimate a million pieces of mail per day that will be delayed,” he said.
My heart and prayers go out for postal workers as well as others affected by Hurricane Katrina .
I also pray that others will force the federal government to take care of ALL people affected by the Hurricane including African Americans.
no one cares about us
Move to Oklahoma to get away from them thar turnadas. Yup! That'll work!
By the way... evacuees will be given PO jobs where they ended up. How refreshing. Or is it a rumour?
Someone should tell Baux not to worry about the mail. He needs to focus on the personal needs of himself and his family. USPS will handle any delays.
Wonder why the "poor" didn't leave their homes to avoid the storm? Welfare check day was coming up on the first. That is the most important day of the month. Get that check and cash it. If your not there when it arrives it will probably be stolen. Only they never expected the flooding that occurred until it was too late.
You have to be a mailman to understand.
buffaloed, Fats Domino isn't on welfare and he didn't leave his home.
free big screen tv's in the big easy
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