The Times Herald from Port Huron, Michigan • Page 3

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2005 National News. TIMES HERALD, PORT HURON, MICHIGAN 3A on tafeasna iMlllUJIU-U'ilMUIIt-) TRIP Pay '25 end get voied n. 3 -1 Lj-j JL. 8 aM IB 2VTT LeS i 1 1 I -t will fea EiiM 2 IN TOKENS Casino in Detroit by Detroit Free Press 4th year in a row five pieces of storm-damaged property, not a Thanksgiving Day spread. For some, there's too much work for Tl a a i uc Celling 11VJ luincy, aaiu ThankSglVing daV Off Robinson, a 64-year-old land- Pick-up Point K-Mart-at 1-69 and 32nd S.

1UJ.U, 11C JJ1LA.CU Up LJUILICU water from a food-distribution GREEKTOWN CASINO Call for Information and reservations By CHUCK BURTON, The Associated Press THANKSGIVING LINEUP: People line up Monday at the Gourmet Butcher Block in Gretna, to buy turkeys and turduckens, a turkey stuffed with a chicken and a duck. One Week 0nlyTj iPre i nojiaay bdiC By CAIN BURDEAU The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS Debbie Shifter faces the daunting task of whipping up Thanksgiving dinner for 18 in the tiny kitchen of her FEMA trailer. Shifter, who lives in Bay St. Louis, Miss, had to drive 45 minutes to find a Wal-Mart that survived Hurricane Katrina. Downsizing the ingredients to fit her compact oven, she will serve a 13-pound turkey instead of the usual 20-pounder.

Because of a lack of counter space, she will do the chopping and dicing on two wooden TV trays in her living room. Guests will eat outside at a plastic table on her lawn, or in shifts at the kitchen table. Dinner will be served on paper plates with plastic utensils. "We done lost everything we owned, just about except for us," she said, standing next to the ruins of the larger trailer home she once called home. "We're going to stick together at all of our holidays." Grim holiday For many people across the hurricane-stricken Gulf Coast, this is going to be a grim Thanksgiving.

In New Orleans, where death and destruction still hang over the many empty streets and ruined neighborhoods, Eldon Robinson's thoughts are on his point. "I can't afford to buy no turkey." Instead, he will work on his damaged roofs, kick himself for dropping insurance on his rental property before Katrina struck Aug. 29 and wish his family could be together. His wife is going to north Louisiana, where their two daughters live. Johnnie Clark, an 83-year-old fanner who works 40 acres outside the city, used to spend Thanksgiving selling peas, turnips, sweet potatoes and other produce at farmers' markets in New Orleans.

Clark is not going to market this year. The carrot slicers, salad spinners, chopping boards and pea shelters he kept in his New Orleans home are caked in slime, rendered unusable. "We'll have a little celebration on Thanksgiving," he said softly. "We're not going to let things like this stop us. It wouldn't be good for the family or the house or the city." Search for normalcy Some hope the holiday season will help people in this hurricane-ravaged region reset their moral compass.

"We need to be back with our families to give that good Southern hug," said Glenn Mistich, a butcher who supplies the Mo Interest Mo Payments Till January 2007! Storewide Savings famous Louisiana Thanksgiving specialty known as turducken: a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. When Katrina hit, the refrigerators went out at his shop in the suburb of Gretna, spoiling 4,000 turduckens, 3,800 boned chickens and about 700 stuffed chickens. With his poultry supplier under water, he had birds shipped in from Houston and got his turducken assembly line fired up again. He was rushing to fill orders this week. Volunteers, celebrities, churches and aid organizations are rallying to serve meals to the tens of thousands of displaced and penniless victims.

"I want to feed those who are homeless, out of work," said Heidi Bruno, a 47-year-old Slidell woman who is homeless herself. Her home still has no power, and she and her 30-year-old son have been staying with friends in New Orleans for the past month. On the weekend after Thanksgiving, she will serve up food at her Pentecostal church. "I don't know what we'll be feeding them," she said, "but it will be hot and a blessing." i ii JL bave up to 52 OFF J'I. i ii FURNITURE COMPANY SINCE 1916 LEXINOTON GALLERY LA-Z-BOY Comfort Seating Canlsr tlexsceel.

Upholstery Serta FEMA extends emergency housing Hotmtii Cectvwc Lm LA-Z-BOY FLEXSTEEL SERTA LEXINGTON Ava-Wft- May de OiappaedaKH Furmmstxms to tosttstw purposes or. FREE DELIVERY tKii-Xi (xtvous (wrtfases Canric4 Ce certced V- Cers mm NEW HOURS! 10-6PM THUR. FR1. 10-PM SATURDAY 10-6PM SUNDAY NOON -4PM A CLOSER LOOK to 317 Grand Diver Port Huron 984-4066 VISIT US AT www.spikefurniture.com Last week, FEMA set a Dec. 1 deadline to stop hotel payments everywhere but Louisiana and Mississippi, where housing remains scarce.

That plan drew sharp criticism from Congress, city and state officials and housing advocates who feared 15 days would not be enough time for evacuees to find stable housing and sign leases a process that can take months in rental markets nearing capacity. "We want these families to be U- IIASiAtNEV 1IE, BUT THE SAME GREAT SERVICE! The Associated Press WASHINGTON Stung by complaints it was pushing hurricane victims out before the holidays, FEMA extended its hotel housing program Tuesday by a month in 10 states where most of the homeless evacuees sought shelter after Katrina and Rita. More than 46,000 families in those states now have until Jan. 7 to move out of hotels and into travel trailers, mobile homes or apartments until they find permanent homes. The deadline comes much sooner Dec.

15 for 3,500 other households scattered nationwide, before the Federal Emergency Management Agency stops paying their hotel bills. In all, FEMA is paying for 49,826 hotel rooms for hurricane victims at about $3 million a day. The hotel program has cost the agency at least $300 million since Katrina hit Aug. 29, followed by Rita on Sept. 24.

At its height, FEMA was housing 85,000 families in hotels. The Federal Emergency Manage ment Agency's Web site is www.fema.gov. 1 In Las Vegas, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said the FEMA extension did nothing to solve what he called certain eviction of evacuees. Nearly 730 families remain in hotels in Nevada.

Under the new guidelines, officials in the 10 states will have to file plans with FEMA by Dec. 15 outlining how they will help evacuees move out of hotels and into travel trailers, mobile homes or apartments until they find permanent homes. Those states are: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas. back in some R. David semblance of PauliSOH normalcy," said R.

David Paulison, FEMA's acting director. Still, Paulison said, "Let me make this really clear: We are not kicking people out into the street. We are simply moving them from hotels and motels and into apartments that we will continue to pay for." a Mm a I m. Jt. jr mm- m.

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