Traveled by car down to Venice, LA = as Far south as you can get in LA. It's where Katie Curek broadcast the news about the BP Oil Spill, a hazmate orange-dressed Coast Guard told the guys. Rene and I were visiting with a shrimp fisherman who called himself a "CoonAss" and shared all about surviving Katrina. From Levy to levy was full of 30' of water and they lost all 3 of their shrimping boats. He had insurance on the house but not the boats so has slowly been building back up. They lived with relatives in Pensacola while their place was underwater. Lots of paperwork and grants offered and misuse. You got a grant if you built your house or mobile home on stilts, but their opinion of that was "makes it easier to blow down", and unless stilts made house 30' above ground, you would still be flooded.
Of course their big concern is getting back in the shrimpin' bizness. Shallow season starts May 1 so they're gearing up and hoping for a great year.. Their worries are people won't eat them for fear of oil. In their area the Mississippi was pushing out so probable got a quart of oil, but bays over, there's more oil and it's still being cleaned up. He was wearing a BP Oil Recovery Team Hat. He said early on after the spill they hired the locals to show them the way out through the channels and it was good money. Now they hired big wigs so locals lost out. Hard working folks who love their way of life just like farmers do up north.
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