Lutz said his odyssey began Sept. 6 when he left Wisconsin with a load of water and ice for Meridian, Miss.
He said he arrived on time but was told not to unload; instead, the drivers were sent to Columbia, S.C. Barred from unloading their freight there, they were directed to Cumberland, arriving Wednesday evening, Lutz said.
snip
The drivers acknowledged they were being paid well some as much as $800 a day but they said they could make as much hauling their regular loads. "There's no telling when I'll be able to get home," said John Thomas, a driver from Texas. "I can't leave the load. I could sit here and get upset or complain, but it doesn't help."
Just more of that famous Bush administration expertise at work.
The reality is, even after 3 weeks, dismissing the head of FEMA, and for the first time in his presidency accepting responsibility for a failure, the relief effort is still a mess.
Three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck, red tape and poor planning have left thousands of evacuees without basic services, according to local and state officials, public policy experts and survivors themselves.
Of course the presidents habit of avoiding responsibility and passing the buck can be found here too.
In Mississippi, people waiting for promised housing in the form of mobile homes or trailers found themselves in a Catch-22 situation: Even as local officials said they were waiting for FEMA to provide the shelters, officials at the federal agency said they were waiting for local officials to provide the right locations.
One lesson of this screw-up is when you ignore an agency and staff it with party hacks and not experts, this will be the end result. I wonder if he is even aware of his responsibility in this area.
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