Just a little note about the response to the damage from Charlie and Frances (and to a lessor extent Ivan):

Pitiful. Plain awful. Charlie destroyed my neighborhood here a little N. of Orlando. There has been NO govermental response at all. (Save FEMA which has handed out checks to the UNINSURED.) Any damage not fixed by the homeowners remains. The debris remains. Had it not been for the "good ole boys" and their chain saws I assume we would still be trapped in here.

The public servants (Police and Fire) have actually had a detremental effect on the recoverery. Let me explain:

The police in the intial days seemed to be concerned that only FL licensed contractors do any repairs. This has effectively scared everyone off. In one case they threatened to arrest a brother of a storm victim for working on the roof because of lack of permit and a FL contractors license. That house later suffered $15,000 damage from the rain.

In another case the police threatened to arrest a single mother for disturbing the peace for running her generator after 10 PM.

Here, the seldom seen fire department made a drive through last week. They were warning people that there was a "voluntary" evacuation for flooding and that if you didn't leave they would NOT respond to emergency calls. They sounded more like lawyers than public servants.

I live on the St. Johns river, and anyone who has lived here any length of time knows we are not in the 100 year flood plain and the chance of flooding was non-existent. However, they did scare some of the older people and newer residents. My neighbor spent 2 days sandbagging her house. The fire department did throw out sand bags for the taking at their location, but filling them (no matter how old or disabled) was up to you. Maybe there were lots of fires in the flooded areas.

The Red Cross (consisting of 4 women in a compact car) came by once with meals 6 days after Charlie. For ice, water and gas you were on your own the entire time.

The power company was admirable after Charlie (7 days with much damge) but not so good after Frances (8 days with no discernable damage).

My neighbors still have damaged roofs with no one to repair them. I have not ONCE seen any public official help anyone. (The property appraiser drove through twice.) Private contractors are finally removing debis in some areas but not here.

I can only feel for those that suffered Ivan. I certainly hope they receive better treatment than we have..

Mr. U.