[StBernard] Robert Estopinel is Setting an Example for St. Bernard

[Westley Annis]

No Party In St. Bernard Parish
Friday, February 24, 2006
By Rick Leventhal 

Feb. 24, 2006

St. Bernard Parish is a mess. It's hard to believe it's been almost six
months since Katrina hit here. From the look of things, it could've been
yesterday.

Shopping centers and strip malls and fast food restaurants flooded during
the storm, still sit empty and exposed on Jean Lafitte Parkway. Windows are
blown out, roofs are damaged or gone, signs are broken, parking lots are
still littered with debris.

Entire neighborhoods are in shambles. At least 40 percent of the 25,000
homes in the parish are unsalvageable, and all but ten of the rest are in
need of significant repair.

We drove thru Arabi and Chalmette, stunned by the apparent lack of progress
with cleanup and repairs. It's a sad-looking place, and the hardy locals
who've stayed admit it's depressing, but on almost every block there are
folks rebuilding their homes.

Robert Estopinel is hoping to set an example for his neighbors. He lost his
home and possessions in the floods after the storms, and only got partial
insurance reimbursement, but he's already spent more than $13,000 tearing
down and carting off his broken home and cleaning his lot. He and his wife
are living in a trailer on the property and will soon begin construction on
their new home, even though the closest grocery store is now 40 minutes
away.

"I don't have family anywhere else," he told me. "This is home. It'll always
be home. And it'll come back. It may take a couple years, but St. Bernard
will come back."