Thread: Senator Trent Lott's home destroyed by Katrina

I'm sorry he lost his house but I bet in the long run he will make out, and probably be one of the first to get a new house built while others wait.

www.orlandosentinel.com

KATRINA'S AFTERMATH

Lawmakers lose property
Tamara Lytle
Washington Bureau Chief

September 3, 2005

WASHINGTON -- All that's left on Sen. Trent Lott's homestead is a 200-year-old oak. At Rep. Gene Taylor's home, there was a pair of khakis and nothing else.

Lawmakers from the Gulf Coast, like many of their constituents, found their homes and those of family members badly damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Others have no idea of what has become of their homes in areas that are still inaccessible.

Many of those lawmakers were fighting the fuel shortage, communications breakdowns and other headaches as they tried to coordinate efforts to deal with the nation's largest national disaster.

"These are his friends and neighbors, and everyone has pretty much lost everything," said Courtney Luttig, spokeswoman for Taylor, a Democrat from Bay St. Louis, Miss.

Florida Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Indialantic, will get his own firsthand look today as he heads to Jackson, Miss., to volunteer his skills as a doctor at the Veterans Affairs clinic.

The home of Lott, R.-Miss., was in Pascagoula and sat on the shoreline on stilts. The 154-year-old Cajun cottage-style home had survived Hurricane Camille without even water damage.

President Bush toured the three hard-hit states, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, on Friday with Lott and other officials. "Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house," Bush said. "And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."

Unlike poorer residents of the three states who couldn't afford to evacuate, the area's members of Congress mostly fled to relatives' homes or to Washington.

Staff for Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said her childhood home was underwater and her current home is likely damaged, as are the homes of most of her family.

Taylor saw his home by boating there with his son, a high-school senior. His childhood home next door, now owned by his brother, also was gone. His family is staying with relatives on a farm while he camps out at a command center.

I'm going to speculate here that one of the first things Congress does will be to pass an interest free, never repay "loan" program for members who suffered a loss.

It will work just like the old House bank, where members wrote checks without actually having money on deposit to cover them.

I'm sorry for their loss too, but for once they can feel the peoples pain. As for them receiving special treatment, the American people will be watching and there will be hell to pay