Bush Leaves Coast
By Tom Wilemon, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Mar. 1–BILOXI — Air Force One departed the Mississippi Coast at 12:24 p.m. as President Bush headed to New Orleans following visits with residents of a Long Beach neighborhood and a meeting with elected officials in Biloxi.
” I fully understand there’s still work to be done, that even though progress has been made, this storm was so devastating that we have still got to stay focused on the task, and that we’ve got to work with the Governor and the local officials, the supervisors and the mayors, to continue to help address their needs,” Bush said after the meeting with elected officials at Biloxi City Hall. “And of the things I’ve heard loud and clear is that there’s a continued frustration with the slowness of federal response at times. And therefore, it’s important for me to hear that, and my friend, Don Powell, to hear that so that we can come and do what the people expect us to do, which is to respond to the needs of people in Mississippi.”
Earlier, the President visited with people in a Long Beach neighborhood who have rebuilt or are rebuilding their homes with federal grant and loan money. Bush said he had come to the Coast to let people know Washington had not forgotten about them and for the U.S. taxpayers to see what their tax money had done to help areas that had been virtually wiped out.
“My most vivid recollection is the piles of rubble, literally debris stacked upon piles of debris,” Bush said. “I had faith that I would come back to a house but I had trouble visualizing it.”
He visited several homes in the area.
“One of the things people like to say is, ‘Welcome to my home,’” he said. “It has a special ring to it here on the Gulf Coast.”
It was the President’s 14th visit to the Coast since the hurricane. Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway gave Bush a gag gift of appreciation: a personalized car tag that read “Bush 43.”
“You’ve been to the Katrina zone 14 times in 18 months,” Holloway said. “It’s not that we don’t like seeing you, but you’ve been here so many times. It’s about time you had one of these. Don’t leave home without it.”
For more on the President’s visit, check back at sunherald.com throughout the day and read the Sun Herald on Friday.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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