[StBernard] Editorials, Articles Focus on Southwest Louisiana's Recovery from Rita

[Westley Annis]

Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and the Louisiana Recovery Authority spent Monday marking the second anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Rita in Southwest Louisiana. Blanco and LRA board members and staff visited workforce training programs in Westlake and New Iberia to call attention to Louisiana's need for skilled workers to help move the state's historic recovery forward. The LRA released a report showing more than $312 million has been spent on the ground in the three parishes most affected by Rita, with millions more on the way. Click here read the report 
<http://lra.louisiana.gov/pr091807ritarpt.html> .

Newspaper editorials and articles focused on two years of progress since Rita and Blanco and the LRA's visit to Southwest Louisiana. Below is a round-up of some of this coverage.

Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Rita anniversary celebrates courage
September 25, 2007

Down along the Acadiana coast, those parishes hit by Rita got comparatively little attention in the national and world media, and only a portion of the tangible aid that was dispensed along Katrina's path. This despite the fact that Rita was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico, causing $11.3 billion in damage on the Gulf Coast. 

But the valor held strong, and the commitment to surviving and rebuilding never wavered. While much was lost to the elements, the spirit that has long typified the Acadiana coastline remained in place. 

On Monday, we celebrated that remarkable determination of the people in the Rita parishes to rebuild their communities and get on with their lives. 

Some of us have seen this uplifting phenomenon before - as when the people of the Cameron area rolled up their sleeves and set out to rebuild all that Hurricane Audrey destroyed in the 1950s. 

The people of the Rita parishes are special. Their courage during the worst days of the storm's aftermath will always be remembered.

*	Click here to read the full editorial. <http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/OPINION01/709250304/1014/OPINION> 


Baton Rouge Advocate: Our Views: A long legacy of Rita winds
September 24, 2007

The second anniversary of Rita's landfall is one of success but also a legitimate concern about whether the nation will continue to put a priority on hurricane recovery. 

The Lake Charles region is right to worry about becoming the lost survivors of 2005, especially as Katrina itself has faded as a priority in the nation's consciousness.

In Louisiana, that has not really been a problem.


>From the beginning, the Louisiana Recovery Authority and many others - including Gov. Kathleen Blanco and the state delegation in Washington - have recognized and supported recovery aid to the region.


*	Click here to read the full editorial. <http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/9949361.html?showAll=y&c=y> 
	

Daily Iberian: Blanco helps bring in first 'Louisiana Cottage'
By STEVE BANDY
September 25, 2007

The Recovery Workforce Training Program is part of a broader economic recovery program developed by the LRA and implemented by its state agency partners, in this case the Louisiana Workforce Commission. The construction program at LTC will train more than 300 workers over three years.

Andy Kopplin, executive director of LRA, said over the next three years there will be a demand for nearly 33,000 jobs in the six industry sectors covered by the RWTP program. Of those, 5,600 will be in the Hurricane Rita region. More than a third of the trainees served by the program will be in construction field.

"With millions and millions of dollars set to be distributed for physical construction projects in southwest Louisiana, we know skilled workers will drive our recovery forward," said John T. Landry, chairman of the LRA's Infrastructure Task Force.

"And to see these workers being trained while providing new homes for affected residents is an inspiring way to deal with two of our most critical issues - economic development and housing."

*	Click here to read the full story. <http://www.iberianet.com/articles/2007/09/25/news/news/news29.txt> 
	

Lake Charles American Press: Blanco: Job training will drive recovery 
By MIKE JONES
September 25, 2007

Gov. Kathleen Blanco marked the second anniversary of Hurricane Rita on Monday by praising the local recovery and highlighting a new job training program that she said would drive the economic recovery. 

She assembled many of her Louisiana Recovery Authority team members at Sasol in Westlake to describe her administration's efforts to promote long-term recovery. 

The governor said that when she is in Washington, D.C., to talk about the aid the state still needs to come back from the hurricanes of 2005, "I talk about how the Rita parishes are just as important as the Katrina parishes." 

The specific program she highlighted on the Rita anniversary was the Louisiana Oil and Gas Industry Collaborative, a program to help that industry and other key industries recover from both hurricanes. 

*	Click here to read the full story. <http://www.americanpress.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1677&Itemid=105> 

Baton Rouge Advocate: State aids Rita recovery work
By RICHARD BURGESS
September 25, 2007 

Blanco said the state had experienced shortages in those economic sectors before the hurricanes, but the hurricanes exacerbated the need.

"Because of our recovery, we are suddenly having a big shortage of workers," she said. "The need is more acute than at any time in our history."

Before her stop in New Iberia, Blanco traveled to Westlake in Calcasieu Parish to mark the launch of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Industry Collaborative Workforce Training Project - also funded through the state's recovery work force program.

The Westlake project is expected to turn out about 340 workers to fill oil-and-gas labor needs in southwest and south central Louisiana, according to information from the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

The construction program at Louisiana Technical College will train 300 workers, including carpenters, welders, industrial mechanics, electricians and air conditioning repair technicians, according to the LRA.

*	Click here to read the full story. <http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/9975116.html?showAll=y&c=y> 

Associated Press: 2 Years On, Rita's Effects Linger in La.
By DOUG SIMPSON
September 24, 2007

Gov. Kathleen Blanco marked the storm's second anniversary Monday by assuring area residents they were not being overlooked in favor of New Orleans and its struggles after Hurricane Katrina, the other Category 3 storm that struck the state in 2005.

"The Rita parishes are just as important to us as the Katrina parishes," she said.

Rita's 120-mph wind and 9-foot storm surge ruined every structure in Johnson Bayou and Holly Beach, and caused similar destruction in southeastern Texas. About 100 died in Texas, including 23 senior citizens whose bus exploded during evacuations.

The storm caused no fatalities in Louisiana, but plenty of property damage in Cameron and Vermilion parishes. In all, there were $5.8 billion in property insurance claims in Texas and Louisiana, according to a Texas insurance group.

Blanco touted the Louisiana Recovery Authority's new recruiting and job training program, paid for with a $38 million federal grant, aimed at filling a shortage of skilled workers, a problem exacerbated by housing shortages and other post-Katrina and Rita troubles.

"We've still got a long way to go, but the process is in place for a very strong recovery," Blanco told several dozen people at a petroleum processing plant in Westlake, a refinery town about 200 miles west of New Orleans.

*	Click here to read the full story. 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/24/AR2007092400222_pf.html> 


Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated South Louisiana, claiming 1,464 lives, destroying more than 200,000 homes and 18,000 businesses. The Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) is the planning and coordinating body that was created in the aftermath of these storms by Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to lead one of the most extensive rebuilding efforts in the world. The LRA is a 33-member body which is coordinating across jurisdictions, supporting community recovery and resurgence, ensuring integrity and effectiveness, and planning for the recovery and rebuilding of Louisiana. 

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