Parish president praises hurricane response, but council members have questions

President Sam Jones praised St. Mary's response to Hurricane Francine at the Sept. 18 Parish Council meeting, saying the parish is well-positioned to receive federal disaster assistance.
"Occasionally there are people who complain about this or that," Jones said. "But we've done this with lightning speed."
One of the people with questions about the response was Councilman the Rev. Craig Mathews of Jeanerette, who relayed constituent complaints about being turned away for help after Francine hit the eastern parish Sept. 11 with a deluge and 100 mph wind.
The state government set up two points of distribution at Franklin and the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium soon after the storm to pass out food, ice, water and other supplies.
Municipalities also received aid supplies for distribution at their own fire stations, Homeland Security Director Jimmy Broussard told the council. The distribution points, called PODS, were staffed by National Guard troops and local volunteers.
"I'm not as concerned where a POD is located as I am with who has access," Mathews replied.
He said constituents reported that they were turned away from the POD in Morgan City and from a distribution site in Patterson because they didn't have proof of residency in those communities.
Mathews also accused the parish government of failing to distribute tarps, and said the parish should do more to put those who suffered damage in touch with organizations such as Volunteers of America.
That sparked an exchange between Jones and Mathews over the need to hire help for Broussard.
"I agree he did the best he could with the resources he had," Mathews said. "Get him some help."
But that will have to wait a year until the budget situation improves, Jones said.
Councilwoman Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink of Centerville also said people in that community and Verdunville told her they'd been turned away at Patterson and Berwick over residency.
Rink said Little Zion Outreach in Verdunville helped by distributing goods there.
"We need to have open communications ...," Rink said. "Even though this was distributed to municipalities, it should have been open to anyone who lives in St. Mary Parish."
Rink called for better planning.
Other local officials objected to the idea that people were turned away.
Jones said he was at Morgan City and that no one was turned away there.
"We did a good job," Jones said. "{Broussard] did a good job. The parish did a good job.
"All this complaining is not fitting."
In a Facebook post Thursday, Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna also denied that people were denied help at that POD.
"We turned away absolutely no one ...," Dragna said. "We gave everything we had to everybody who got it line."
He framed Mathews' complaints as part of the divisive rhetoric that has been part of Parish Council meetings this year, calling it "the same old circus act. ...
"Should have got in a truck and picked up stuff and brought stuff to your people if that's what you wanted. Don't bring Morgan City into your turmoil over there."
In Berwick, Mayor Duval Arthur said a Facebook book said aid distributed in Berwick would be limited to town residents. But the aid was distributed to people from in and out of Berwick anyway.
"We distributed all of our stuff," Arthur said. "Not one person got turned away."
Another part of the meeting evoked memories of another hurricane.
The council passed a resolution of respect for former Parish President Oray Rogers, who died Aug. 17.
Rogers, who was also a longtime Franklin City Council member, served two terms as parish president. He was president when the parish was hit by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and led what Jones has described as a successful recovery.