Local Heroes and Parting Thoughts

After two months, a dozen video reports and over 40 stories on the blog, it’s time to end the little red tar balls project and get back to a real job. But there’s a story I call “Local Heroes” that needs to be told. They have done nothing as spectacular as walking on the moon but to life on the Gulf Coast it’s every bit as important. All they are doing is working every day to preserve their coast. Their home.

I’ve recorded some of these people on camera. I’ve talked with many more with the camera safely in its case. These are the people get up every morning and live their personal and professional lives. In that way, they keep the Gulf moving forward.

I spoke with a woman on a lunch van who sets up every day only a few hundred yards from a major mustering point for the oil spill response team in Slidell, Louisiana. The spill workers have their lunches shipped in so her business is in the bin compared to other years, but she still sets up shop every day.

I spoke to several shrimpers who are having their nets torn up by the anchors that were used to secure the oil booms. When removing the booms, the workers didn’t winch up the anchors. They just cut the mooring lines leaving the anchors on the bottom all sharp and pointy. But the shrimpers still cast their nets and try to figure out how to deal with that sharp debris.

I’ve talked to entrepreneurs whose businesses are hurting because the summer tourist season simply didn’t happen this year. Some businesses have failed and others still may. The rest soldier on.

These are some of my local heroes.

Each of the local folks I interviewed on camera are most certainly local heroes. In the order they appeared in the video vignettes, they are…

Kenny DiNero, because the spill has put him up against the wall in so many ways. More than most, probably. Last week I asked him what was happening with his claim. BP came back with a payment offer of only 5% of his losses for this year. Five percent? Are they serious? He also went to a meeting with Ken Feinberg, the head of the government agency that’s taken over the claims process and didn’t feel any more confident about a realistic outcome. Through his frustration, he keeps on fighting for his business and his personal financial survival.

Finley Hughes and Dustin Renaud, because they facilitate a massive effort that will help scientists understand the effects of the spilled oil and the dispersants on the wildlife. They work cheerfully and, it appears, tirelessly. Finley drags himself all across the coast to work with different Audubon groups and external entities increasing their effectiveness. Dustin works with an ever-changing cast of volunteers to comb the coast for precious data points to feed to scientists. Plus, being a local, he is passionate about how the oil has hurt his coast and his beaches.

Darlene Carter, because she loves her home town and her community and refuses to sit idly by when there’s trouble. In the five years since Katrina and the birth of the Moss Point Visionary Circle, Darlene and members of her community have developed numerous programs to instill values in the youth and teach the power of personal empowerment to everyone. As I think I said here when I first posted her video, what MPVC does is in the best American tradition. Find a problem and mobilize community resources to solve it. There’s no waiting for the government or some outside group to come in and fix it for them. It’s see and do. Right now.

Barbara Ruddiman, because she makes sure that people get fed that otherwise might not have a good meal and she does it week in and week out. She works the logistics to make it all work and figures how to make it work for more people because there are others who really need a good meal. Did I mention that “The Lord Is My Help” was started by Kenny DeNiro’s mother and that the lady with white hair behind the counter is 100 years old and is Kenny’s grandmother? They are my heroes too.

Mark LaSalle, because he seeks the truth in the science in his studies on the Gulf. He has no agenda or ax to grind. He simply wants to know what’s happening as a result of the oil and the dispersant. The fact that he’s passionate, self effacing and has a wicked but subtle sense of humor make him a lot of fun to spend time with.

Bill Stallworth, Debi Thomas and all the people at Hope CDA, because they care. But more than that, they’ve taken that concern for their neighbors and their community and converted it into a powerful force, supported by tireless energy and amazing good cheer. I don’t think I’ve ever met so many good hearted and committed people all in one place. Did I mention they are also very, very bright? What I’ve seen them do, with my own eyes is amazing.

Each of these people and so many people I never got to meet are all local heroes to me.

I will admit here, in this final post of the Little Red Tar Balls Project, that I have some very strong political views. I have done my best to keep them out of the stories told here. Only you can judge if I’ve been successful. What I do like about all of the people I’ve talked with is their spirit of self reliance. It appeals to the libertarian streak in me. Even the Steps Coalition with a left leaning approach to things, have the same spirit. They watch over their neighborhoods and communities and take action when they think it’s needed.

How many of us have seen bad things going on around them and done nothing to change it… to help. I have and I’ve never been proud of that. It took me 57 years on this planet to get involved. All I could do was help these people tell their stories and to try to shed some light on what’s really happening down here. Had I been from this area and had roots in a town or city I could have connected to some group to be more hands-on. But I wasn’t. So I came down here to tell stories.

If my opinion is worth anything, this sort of self reliance and involvement needs to be exported from the Gulf coast to the big cities and suburbs all over this country. Transplant this spirit to St. Louis, Missouri, Long Beach, California, Fredrick, Maryland or anyplace where issues need tending. Keep the political agendas out of it and big things can happen. You can see it up in Harlem where a lot of people are improving public education with their charter school initiatives.

The improvements might not be as big as we’d like, but each step in the right direction is one step farther from the wrong direction. We must add our light to the sum of light because as Bill Stallworth recounted in his interview, “Evil thrives when good men and good women do nothing.”

Richard Lucas
September 9, 2010
Biloxi, Mississippi

The Bayou: Nature's Nursery

As I spend more time in the Gulf and talk to more people who know this region I realize that it is an amazingly diverse and wondrous place. Unlike the shores of New England where I grew up that are famous for craggy bluffs and rocky shorelines, the Gulf coast is an alluvial creation of so many different rivers that drain from America's heartland. Inshore, these rivers create habitats comprised of marshes and swamps known as bayous. Bayous are homes for an amazingly diverse spectrum of wildlife. They are the breeding ground for countless creatures, provide protection from the elements and even other predators and they are an evolving and fragile ecosystem upon which the regions animal kingdom and humans so fully depend.

That is why so much work has gone into protecting these wetlands from the incursion of oil from the BP spill. In some areas this work has been effective, but in others closer to the source of the oil, things have not gone as well. Bayous and salt marshes on the Louisiana mainland and coastal islands have been the most at risk, and they remain exposed to the oil not recovered from the Gulf.

This piece is a tour of the bayous on the Pascagoula river. Captain Benny McCoy of McCoy River Tours takes us though the many swamps and marshes, and teaches us about the many cycles of life that go on there. If one wants to see nature's creatures, this is an excellent way to do that.

View on ExposureRoom

There was so much more that wasn't captured on camera that filled Benny's two hour tour. It was so very entertaining, fun and enlightening. He taught us about gators and egrets, flowers and marshmallows and the history of this place that most that don't live here probably never knew. For instance, did you know that parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana were once a country independent from the United States? Neither did I.

Special thanks to Captain Benny McCoy for his hospitality and expert commentary. I learned a lot of things I'd never known and saw a lot of things I never imagines. Also thanks to Mark LaSalle of the Pascagoula River Audubon Center for setting me up with this wonderful opportunity.

Wings on the Ground

"What can I do to help out?"

That's probably the hardest question out there for most people when faced with the BP oil spill. There are no intuitive answers. You cannot just run out, find an oiled bird and clean it. You cannot walk down the beach picking up tar balls. You cannot buy a boat, install a giant vacuum and suck the oil out of the Gulf. But people still want to help.

The good news is that there are people and organizations whose jobs are to contribute to the recovery effort, like the National Audubon Society. They know birds and their habitats, and they have thrown their full weight behind this recovery effort.

With their unique expertise in the avian world, they have developed a variety of ways people can help... and you don't have to be in the Gulf region to do it. Sure, you can always donate money, but the Audubon Society can channel your efforts into something that can make a difference.

In this segment, I spoke with Finley Hewes and Dustin Renaud who spend each day marshaling the resources of the Audubon Society to action. Please watch this segment and pay attention to their answers to the question, "what can people do to help", in the second half of the video. They have a creative plan that I would never have thought of, and you do not have to be in the Gulf to do it.

View on ExposureRoom

Yesterday, I interviewed Dr. Mark LaSalle, also of the Audubon Society for a more scientific perspective on the oil spill. That interview is currently in post production and will be posted in the next day or two.

Thanks to Finley and Dustin for their time and hard work.

Quick Update

It was a busy day today. I spent the morning shooting a couple of wonderful interviews at the Audubon support center this morning and am arranging for a third that I think will round out that video segment quite nicely. So that was time very well spent. These people, both the staff and volunteers are really working hard to make a difference, and their succeeding.

What I learned from them that sticks out is that you don't have to be here or open your wallet to help. Go to their web site and poke around a bit. If you live on a migratory route that passes through the Gulf region, you can set up a "feeding station" (my words) in your back yard where birds can chow down during their travels. If for some reason those birds' normal Gulf feeding grounds can't provide the food they need, you can help fatten them up a bit in preparation. They say it better than I do, so go there and see if you might be able to help.

The afternoon was spent at a community center in Moss Point where a presentation about the spill for kids had presentations from BP, the Mississippi Dept. of Environmental Quality and a host of other groups to inform the local children what was going on and to answer their questions. One child wondered when they could go back to the beach and swim. In Mississippi, they can now. The beaches are open. Another wanted to go fish. He can now. It's catch and release only, but that's for now. Another child asked, "What about the turtles, are they OK?" That just broke my heart. But it did my heart good to know that they care about what happens in their community. More on Moss Point in another post. I'm working on a video segment about this and will be online this week. It's second in the queue.

Finally, props go out to WLOX 10 TV for seeking out stories on the spill. I first met Krystal Allan at Kenny's bait shop when she was chasing a story. We've kept in touch and she's trying to help me with contacts and moral support. Big thanks to her for that. Today, Patrice Clark was on scene in Moss Point covering the presentations. She pitched something to me that has me intrigued. More on that in another post.

I haven't seen any other reporters or news vehicles in my travels except for in Orange Beach, AL for the Buffet show. Even CBS was there. For the local media I have a question. Can there be a more important story to your viewers, listeners and readers than the spill? Surely it touches their lives in large or small ways every day. Is there any other story you're following that does?

I want to say, "shame on you" to the other assignment editors, but I won't. Not yet.