[StBernard] deLoach

[Westley Annis]

Deborah,

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on this one.

First off, in the UNSOLICITED that he sent out, he leads the reader to
believe that the email was sent out with the consent of parish officials:

"information provided by the St. Bernard Parish Government"

Since Craig was even wondering why he got an email, I don't think the parish
gave him permission to use the emails as he did.

Secondly, I still question his "Chalmette" address.  All searches I've done
show no relation to DeLoach and Chalmette.  I'm not saying I'm 100% on this,
but when you pull out a goose egg, you gotta call it what it is.

Third, his web site appears to be specially constructed to sell to Katrina
victims.  Goto http://www.deloachcorp.com and you get nothing but a logo and
email address.

Not wanting to go off of just my opinion, I did ask others who have to
connection to St. Bernard or Louisiana to give me their impressions.  This
one is a good example of the responses I got back:

----
Just glanced at his site, and it sounds like they're something of a
clearinghouse:

http://www.deloachcorp.com/construction/services.htm

"From demolition to finished product our resources of over 10,000 qualified
craftsmen and specialty contractors are committed to successful completion
of your project."

They seem to suggest that they don't even provide good service::

http://www.deloachcorp.com/construction/contact.php

"It may be difficult to contact us during high-volume periods.
Alternatively, the electronic message form below may be submitted."

I don't even see a BBB entry for them...
----

This is from business associates of mine who are business and computer book
authors. 

He may have good intentions, but that does not excuse that the fact that
what he did is unethical and possibly illegal.

Not counting the messages that got through my spam filters, I have 165
emails flagged as spam in just 18 hours.  I just cannot endorse anyone that
does anything that even remotely looks like spam.

You have seen it on this list numerous times, any business or organization
that has wanted to say they were open or willing to help St. Bernard Parish
was broadcast to the list.  Sometimes more than once, if there was someone
who replied back to give positive feedback.

He had no problem finding this list and trying to put out a positive spin
once we started talking about him.  Shouldn't have been too hard to find it
earlier.

The parish has 122 names on their website and this list is hovering right
around 700.  You think he would have field day if he got a hold of my list?
There is a reason that not only is the list of email addresses password
protected, but I also send out emails strictly with my email address on
them.

I also feel like I may have to start editing out email addresses and phone
numbers on the messages that people post.  It is not just identity theft
that worries me.

Westley


-----Original Message-----


To Mr. DeLoach, thanks for the explanation. Pardon us St. Bernardians who
are gun shy these days. Katrina has hardened our hearts due to broken
promises, loss of faith in our government's reaction and intentions,
unscrupulous retailers, contractors, insurance companies, attorneys, etc.
who are only too glad to empty our wallets, and our lack of privacy issues.
Had your email message been prefaced with an explanation of who you are, why
you are sending it, how you obtained our email addresses, and what you can
offer, etc., many of us would have had a positive reaction instead of
negative.
ddk