<VV> Corvair Club Members In Louisiana - Katrina

[MSYVairs at aol.com]

I have been deluged with e-mails about the status of the various Corvair  
people in the Louisiana area. I will comment on the people I have heard from,  
defer to Craig Hardy in Shreveport (relatively untouched by storm just  
overwhelmed by evacuees!) so that he can let us know their status.
 
Norbert Voll - Currently is at the BOQ at Fort Polk.
 
Jim Dingman - He and family are in South Carolina. Have no idea about his  
house in Slidell
                        but Slidell took a VERY hard hit with the storm with 
100 mile plus winds  and
                        lots  of flooding.
 
Jim Plaier -    Jim and family spent Sunday thru  Tuesday night with us in 
Denham Springs
                      (suburb  of Baton Rouge) then headed to wife's family 
in Beaumont,TX. Is 
                      currently looking for an apartment in Lafayette where 
he will continue
                      to  work for Home Depot (was department mgr of kitchen 
design at store
                        in  New Orleans). They have been told they won't be 
allowed back to
                        New  Orleans (uptown area) for at least two months. 
Thinks his Corvair
                        has  not been damaged!
 
Lou Pinard    -    Craig Hardy will  provide more info but after the 
Convention he headed to
                          Vietnam for several weeks. Don't know if he is back.
 
The Grilles   -         Have not been members of  the local club for YEARS! 
Have no idea
                            how  or where they are. Think one of the boys 
lives in Covington.
                            Covington  (along with Mandeville) look like war 
zone's!
 
Steve Spence   - Lives in Shreveport
 
Shawn Cousins -    Moved to Houston, TX area quite some  time ago.
 
Crawford Rose  -      Lives (or lived)  in New Orleans. Not a member of the 
club and have had
                               no  word about him.
 
I have not heard from the other 20 members of the New Orleans Corvair  
Enthusiasts nor what condition their Corvair's are in. Hopefully with this  e-mail 
it will "spark" them into action and we will hear from them!
 
My family is doing fine. We have 10 family members "camped" out with  us for 
who knows how long! We only suffered wind damage with all the trees  we have 
on our acre. We had 70 mile an hour winds and minor rain.  Lost one  major limb 
but it did not hit either of the houses or the BIG garage where the  
Corvair's are! Did have lot's of debris from the trees that is now sitting in a  60' 
by 4' high and 5' deep line at the curb! 
 
I reopened the dealership on Tuesday with no damage and only a couple of  
cars with wind damage (of course we don't have much stock left thanks to the GM  
sale!!!). We are scrambling to buy inventory from other dealers and get it  
shipped in. We placed a HUGE order with GM today for extra inventory for the  
next 60 days.
 
Baton Rouge has gone from 400,000 people to about 800,000 people and 5  major 
corporations/banks have announced that they are moving HQ's from MSY to  
Baton Rouge. The New Orleans airport is closed until some time in November and  
will be used only for military and humanitarian traffic. Many of the New Orleans 
 airlines have or are going to shift their traffic to the Baton Rouge airport 
for  who knows how long.
 
Let me make this clear...New Orleans is a total disaster...the city will  
recover but it will be months and possibly years with portions never recovering  
to where it is today. New Orleans is now 40 miles closer to the Gulf of 
Mexico.  Plaqumine Parish is now just a very small piece of land. The pictures I 
have  seen show huge sections of the wetlands completely gone. The 500 million 
that  they approved for the restoration of the Louisiana coast will be a drop in 
the  bucket.
 
I would ask that each of the members of CORSA and Virtual Vairs in your own  
special way, pray, and if you can contribute to the charity of choice for  the 
people of SE Louisiana. There are people that have no home, no job, no food,  
no money and are quickly giving up hope. Yes, there are the few "renegades" 
that  make it look like New Orleans is a "lawless" town. That is quickly 
changing.  This of course doesn't mean there are people in Florida, Mississippi and 
Alabama  that aren't in similar shape. I don't live there...I live in 
Louisiana.
 
Thank for the band width! And I hope I answered the questions about our  
fellow Corvair owners! Please feel free to contact any of our club members you  
may be familiar with. I know they would love to hear from you!!!
 
 
Bill "Swamp-Rat" Hadley
Prez, New Orleans Corvair Enthusiasts
Denham Springs, LA