CAMP GRUBER - More than 2,000 refugees from Hurricane Katrina are
expected to arrive by 6 a.m. today and could be here as long as a
year, state Rep. Barbara Staggs, D-Muskogee, said Friday night.
"They don't have anywhere to go back to," said state Sen. Earl
Garrison, D-Muskogee.
The maximum the camp can hold in barracks and tents is 2,000. If
more come, they will have to be diverted to other sites or to
Kansas, camp commander Lt. Col. Ron Ragland said.
Emergency workers, Muskogee County Health Department workers,
American Red Cross personnel, and Muskogee County Sheriff Charles
Pearson worked on plans to aid in camp preparations late into Friday
night.
The refugees are expected to arrive from Houston by bus and are
expected to be met by:
One hundred nursing home beds, provided by the Eastern Oklahoma
Development District.
National Guardsmen are expected to help interview each refugee
before they are allowed on site. They also will check for weapons,
Pearson said.
The refugees originally were expected to arrive by 7 p.m. Friday,
but had not left Houston as of 6:30 p.m. Friday, so camp plans were
changed.
Cherokee County sheriff's deputy Jeremy Hitchcock told law
enforcement on site that the Tahlequah office got notice that 250
people were jailed in Houston after a riot broke out as the buses
were being loaded for the trip to Oklahoma.
Answers sought to educate children
It is not known how many children will be in the group, but
Staggs and Garrison said Braggs Public Schools will not be able to
accommodate all the school children. Fort Gibson, Muskogee and other
area schools will have to take up the slack, Garrison said.
Staggs and Garrison plan to contact State Superintendent of
Instruction Sandy Garrett today and ask that she declare an
emergency and allow the refugee children to cross school boundaries.
Staggs and Garrison also plan to seek legislation for the state
to pick up the tab for gas for the school buses that will transport
the students. No school district has the funds to bear all the cost
of the added students, they said.
There are many things yet to be worked out, the legislators said.
Sheriff's department to provide area security
Pearson met with camp officials and said his forces are ready to
help provide security.
"One hundred National Guard MPs will be here (Saturday morning),"
Pearson said. "We are here to back them up and secure Braggs and the
surrounding community. We don't expect any trouble, but we're going
to be prepared."
Braggs passed a city ordinance Friday night calling for a 9 p.m.
curfew.
Pearson said his officers will help enforce that curfew.
"We can't impede these people, but we need to provide security,"
Pearson said.
"People are worried because of all they have seen on TV,"
Muskogee County Undersheriff Juston Hutchinson said, after attending
a Friday night meeting at the Braggs Town Hall. "They want to help
these people. They are glad to help them. All the churches are
already buying food and clothing. But they're a little nervous."
While some area residents are concerned, Pearson said, "Only a
small percentage of those coming here won't be coming here for the
right reasons."
All full-time deputies were sent home at 8:15 p.m. and told to be
ready to come back when refugees start arriving.
Food on the way and more needed
Nellie Kelly, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross in Tulsa,
said 2,000 ready-to-eat meals were expected on site by midnight
Friday. A Tulsa military group also is bringing in the same kind of
meals, she said.
Muskogee County District 1 Commissioner Gene Wallace met with
camp officials Friday night and said that if people want to bring
what is needed most - it is water and food groups.
"Right now, there is no food or water on site," Wallace said late
Friday night.
Rob Mix of Muskogee drove a First Baptist Church van to the site
filled with supplies from the Muskogee County Health Department and
the church.
Mix, a former area teacher who works with the VA Regional Office
in the Education Department, said this crisis is an opportunity to
be there when people are in need.
"We (church members) want to help them - we want them to know we
care," Mix said. "They're Americans ... we love them."
Staggs said it made her proud to see Muskogee County out in full
force.
"They have all come together on this," she said.
Health concerns draw volunteers
Health officials told Pearson that when refugees arrived in
Houston, there were several dead bodies on the buses.
Because of the possibility of that being the case when buses
arrive this morning, Pearson called the medical examiner's office in
Tulsa and two funeral homes in Muskogee. If anyone dies en route or
while at Camp Gruber, their bodies will have to be sent to the state
medical examiner's office in Tulsa for identification purposes,
Pearson said.
Medical supplies are being brought in, and Dr. Mike Stratton and
other area physicians have agreed to be on site, Wallace said.
Muskogee County Health Department Registered Nurse Jane Jones
accompanied Mix on the trip to deliver vaccine and medicine. Jones
said the Health Department wants to help make sure the base of
operations is adequate to take care of the sick.
Originally published September 3, 2005
