[StBernard] (no subject)

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Mon Aug 25 22:19:34 EDT 2008


FEMA takes trailer while soldier is in Afghanistan

07:33 PM CDT on Monday, August 25, 2008

Scott Satchfield / Eyewitness News

A wind-shredded American flag still hangs on the front of a home on 4th
Street in Chalmette -- one Arnold Crabtree has struggled to rebuild.

Crabtree was deployed for a year of duty in Afghanistan a couple months ago,
but in the time since he's been gone, the soldier says FEMA came by and took
the trailer he had been living in.

Friend and neighbor Kathy Hernandez says Crabtree was shocked when she
delivered the news.

"Just freaked out...freaked out, worried," Hernandez said. "He had his
sergeant contact FEMA to secure the trailer being there when he arrives home
in a year, so you know, he thought he had taken care of everything he needed
to before he left."

Hernandez, who has been looking after Crabtree's property since his
deployment, says FEMA left his possessions outside the home, before taking
the trailer.

Then, last week, St. Bernard Sheriff's officials confirmed Crabtree's
damaged home was burglarized. Deputies arrested a married couple, Jason and
Christy Cain in the crime.

The couple lives just around the corner.

Hernandez says the problems keep piling up and taking a toll on Crabtree.

"Well he's dealing with having to be over there, and you know, worrying
about things over here," she said.

FEMA officials didn't comment on the specific case -- citing privacy issues
-- but, they say a trailer is removed only if the agency can't contact
someone over the course of several weeks. Then, they would deem the trailer
abandoned, and remove it.

Officials say they always box up a person's belongings, and store them in a
secure location. Hernandez isn't buying it, however, and says her friend
deserves better.

"This man is away in another country fighting a war for us and he has to be
concerned with, you know, having his roof over his head taken away," she
said. "No one should go through that, and its just not fair for this man to
have to be worrying, 'Am I going to have a roof over my head when I get back
home?'"

Video: Watch the Story
http://tinyurl.com/6nflzr




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