Amazing and eerie photos on site.

http://www.AboveTopSecrets.com
Vallhall posted on 6-9-2005

I just got back from a FEMA Detainment Camp

I'm extremely depressed to report that things seem to only be getting
sadder concerning the people so devastatingly affected by Katrina
last week. Two car loads of us headed over to Falls Creek, a youth
camp for Southern Baptist churches in Oklahoma that agreed to have
its facilities used to house Louisiana refugees. I'm afraid the camp
is not going to be used as the kind people of the churches who own
the cabins believe it was going to be used.

Jesse Jackson was right when he said "refugees" was not the
appropriate word for the poor souls dislocated due to Katrina. But he
was wrong about why it is not appropriate. It's not appropriate
because they are detainees, not refugees.

Falls Creek is like a small town that is closed down about 9 months
out of the year. It is made up of cabins that range from small and
humble to large and grandiose, according to how much money the church
who owns the cabin has. Each cabin has full kitchen facilities,
bathrooms and usually have two large bunkrooms - one for women and
one for men. The occupancy of the cabins varies according to the
church. This past week the Southern Baptist association of Oklahoma
offered the facility as a place to house refugees from the Katrina
disaster. Each church owning a cabin was then called to find out if
they would make their cabin available. Churches across the state
agreed.

I started my journey by loading six large trash bags full of clothes
in the back of my beetle buggy. I then went to the local Dollar
General and purchased various hygiene products, snacks and even a set
of dominoes and a deck of cards. I had my daughter take her own
shopping cart and go and select her own items that she wanted to
take. I told her to imagine herself without anything in the world and
then select what she would need to live every day.

We then met up with my elderly parents who had gone to the Dollar
Store themselves, and to the grocery store and had spent WAY too much
of their limited social security on the venture. But that's okay. We
ended up having to take both vehicles on the 150 mile round trip
because they were both pretty full. My son showed up and wanted to
go. He drove my parents while my daughter and I rode in my car.

To say we all left with excitement would be appropriate. My 78 year
old mother is a "fixer". She loves to help people and she absolutely
needs some one to dote over. That she was about to be able to help
some people who had lost all in their lives had her feeling
physically healthier than I've seen her in days. I was glad to get
the chance to actively do something other than donate what little I
can to some faceless charity hoping it would get to the people who
needed it. I felt glad I could do some small something that might cut
through the helplessness I've felt over this situation. Both of my
kids were eager to assist.

The only odd thing that occurred prior to setting off happened while
I was gassing up in our small town. My daughter was pumping the gas
and a lady she knew pulled up to an adjacent pump. My daughter
started telling her where we were going and that we were taking
things to the refugees. The lady told my daughter that she had been
told the Red Cross was not allowing any one to deliver supplies. When
I returned to the car from paying for the gas my daughter informed of
this. I told her that the Red Cross would not be preventing the
members of our church from entering our own cabin, so it really
didn't matter. It was at that point we decided to stop back by the
house and get my daughter's camera so that she could take pictures if
required.

From the moment I heard about Falls Creek being scheduled to receive
refugees I had two thoughts run through my mind:

1. What a beautiful place to be able to stay while trying to get your
life back in order.

2. What a terrible location to be when you're trying to get your life
back in order.

The first thought is because Falls Creek is nestled in the Arbuckle
Mountains of south central Oklahoma. One of the more beautiful
regions of the state. It would be a peaceful and beautiful place to
try to start mending emotionally, and begin to figure what you're
going to do next.

The second thought comes because Falls Creek is very secluded and
absolutely no where near a population center. The closest route from
Falls Creek to a connecting road is three miles on a winding narrow
road called "High Road" (It gets that name for two reasons - it's
goes over the mountain instead of around it like "Low Road" does, and
it's where the teenagers of the area go to party). The road has not a
single home on it for over 3 miles. After battling that 3 miles over
mountains, you'll find yourself about 5 miles from the nearest town,
Davis, Oklahoma, population ca. 2000. This is no place to start a new
life.

A few pictures headed toward Falls Creek over High Road to give you a
feel of the seclusion.

~All of sudden the landscape changed from picturesque mountainous
rural America, to something foreign to me as we approached the rear
gate of the camp. Two Oklahoma State Patrol vehicles and four
Oklahoma Troopers guarded the gate. We started through and they
stopped us.

"Can I help you, ma'am?"

I informed him we're here to deliver supplies to *our church's name*
cabin. He stood silent and stared at me. My daughter turned and
snapped a picture of his vehicle - very conspicuously.

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/fema.html

I smiled at him and he asked, "Do you know where that cabin is
located?"

I informed him I did. He looked at me a bit longer and then
said, "Ok" and stepped away from the car. They stopped my parents'
vehicle as well, but I assume my son informed them he was with us.
They let them pass.

We made our way through the narrow streets toward our church's cabin.
We noticed that the various church cabins had numbered placards on
them that normally weren't thereWe arrived at our cabin and started
toting the clothes in. We finally found a group of men upstairs in
the dorms trying to do something alien to them - make beds. They had
almost completed the room of bunk beds and told us we could go over
to the ladies' dorm room and start on it. We lugged our sacks of
clothes back down the stairs.

Then we got the first negative message. "You can't bring any clothes
in. FEMA has stated they will accept no more clothes. They've had 30
people sorting clothes for days. They don't want anymore." My mind
couldn't help but go back over the news articles that have accused
FEMA of refusing water in to Jefferson Parrish, or turning fuel away.

We lugged the bags of clothes back to the car. We then turned to
bringing in our personal hygiene products. That's when we learned our
cabin had been designated a "male only" cabin. Approximately 40 men,
ranging from age 13 on up would be housed there. We started resacking
the female products and sorted out everything that would be useful
for men.

We lugged the bags of female products back to the car. We asked if
they knew of a cabin that had been designated for women. The "host"
(the hosts are Oklahoma civilians who have been employeed??? by FEMA
to reside at each cabin and have already gone through at least
one "orientation" meeting conducted by FEMA at "BASE" which is some
unknown but repetitively referred location within the camp) told us
he believed McAlester cabin was dedicated to females. He then
explained there were male, female and family cabins designated.

We then started lugging in our food products. The foods I had
purchased were mainly snacks, but my mother - God bless her soul -
had gone all out with fresh vegetables, fruits, canned goods,
breakfast cereals, rice, and pancake fixings. That's when we got the
next message: They will not be able to use the kitchen.

Excuse me? I asked incredulously.

FEMA will not allow any of the kitchen facilities in any of the
cabins to be used by the occupants due to fire hazards. FEMA will
deliver meals to the cabins. The refugees will be given two meals per
day by FEMA. They will not be able to cook. In fact, the "host" goes
on to explain, some churches had already enquired about whether they
could come in on weekends and fix meals for the people staying in
their cabin. FEMA won't allow it because there could be a situation
where one cabin gets steaks and another gets hot dogs - and...

it could cause a riot.

It gets worse.

He then precedes to tell us that some churches had already enquired
into whether they could send a van or bus on Sundays to pick up any
occupants of their cabins who might be interested in attending
church. FEMA will not allow this. The occupants of the camp cannot
leave the camp for any reason. If they leave the camp they may never
return. They will be issued FEMA identification cards and "a sum of
money" and they will remain within the camp for the next 5 months.

My son looks at me and mumbles "Welcome to Krakow."

My mother then asked if the churches would be allowed to come to
their cabin and conduct services if the occupants wanted to attend.
The response was "No ma'am. You don't understand. Your church no
longer owns this building. This building is now owned by FEMA and the
Oklahoma Highway Patrol. They have it for the next 5 months." This
scares my mother who asks "Do you mean they have leased it?" The man
replies, "Yes, ma'am...lock, stock and barrel. They have taken over
everything that pertains to this facility for the next 5 months."

We then lug all food products requiring cooking back to the car. We
start unloading our snacks. Mom appeared to have cornered the market
in five counties on pop-tarts and apparently that was an acceptable
snack so the guy started shoving them under the counter. He said
these would be good to tied people over in between their two meals a
day. But he tells my mother she must take all the breakfast cereal
back. My mother protests that cereal requires no cooking. "There will
be no milk, ma'am." My mother points to the huge industrial double-
wide refrigerator the church had just purchased in the past
year. "Ma'am, you don't understand...

It could cause a riot."

He then points to the vegetables and fruit. "You'll have to take that
back as well. It looks like you've got about 10 apples there. I'm
about to bring in 40 men. What would we do then?"

My mother, in her sweet, soft voice says, "Quarter them?"

"No ma'am. FEMA said no...

It could cause a riot. You don't understand the type of people that
are about to come here...."

I turn and walk out of the room...lugging all the healthy stuff back
to the car. My son later tells me the man went on to say "We've
already been told of teenage girls delivering fetuses on buses." My
son steps toward him and says "That's because they've almost been
starved to death, haven't had a decent place to get a good night's
sleep, and their bodies can't keep a baby alive. I'm not sure that's
any evidence some one should be using to show these are 'bad
people'."

We then went to the second dorm room and made up beds. When we got
through and were headed outside the host says to me and my
daughter, "How did you get in here?" I told him we came in through
the back gate. He replies, "No, HOW did you get in here? No one who
doesn't have credentials showing is supposed to be in here." (I had
noticed all the "hosts" had two or three badges hanging around their
necks.) I told him it might have had something to do with the fact my
daughter was snapping pictures of the OHP presence at the gate. He
then tells us, "Well, starting in the morning NO ONE comes in. So if
you have further goods you want to donate you will have to take them
to your local church. They will collect them until they have a full
load and then bring them to the front gate."

Me and my two kids then walked over the hill to the camp's
amphitheater.

First - just another OHP car...

The amphitheater is full of clothes (but I'm not sure I'm seeing
enough for 5000 people for 5 months).
But there was more...an Oklahoma Department of Safety truck and a
military vehicleand a cell phone tower (which fretling didn't get a
pic of...grrr). Falls Creek, because it sits in a "bowl" surrounded
by mountains, is notorious for no cell phone coverage.

There were buses coming in the front gate at about a rate of 1 every
2 or 3 minutes. We could hear them below us as we walked back up the
hill. We could also see their white tops through the trees. We
figured these were busloads of refugees arriving, but we never saw
these buses in the camps, nor were any refugees visible at the camp
while we were there.

We then loaded back into our vehicles and headed toward the cabin we
had been told was for women so that we could off-load our appropriate
products. When we arrived there was no one in the cabin so we
preceded to unload our vehicles and take the merchandise in to the
cabin. A horde of "hosts" who had been hovering at a nearby cabin
head toward us.

"Can we help you?"

I explained to them what we were doing.

"Uhh... you can't just leave donated goods in the cabins. FEMA has
stated they want all supplies to go to their central warehouse. They
said they have had far too many supplies come in and they need to
handle them. You can't leave ANY clothes."

I just stared at them.

One chubby-checker, after several moments of pregnant pause broken
only by the sound of my 82 year old dad continuing to shuffle boxes
out of the back of his car (GO DAD!), says "I'll call "BASE" and
confirm what should happen here."

I continue to stare.

He pounds out the number on his cell phone and when some one picks up
he chickens out and just asks "I need to verify that cabin 11 is a
female only facility." When he hangs up he says that it is and I
respond, "Well, good, we'll get on with this then." It's at that
point my son pulls me aside and says, "Every damned one of them have
the same phone. That's what the comm tower is for at the
amphitheater. Now we know how FEMA runs through billions, they've
given every one of these people a Cingular phone when walkie-talkies
would have worked just fine."

We off-load our goods into the McAlester cabin. Fretling takes pics
of the buckets of toys that have been donated by citizens for the
kiddos coming this way.
And a dorm room:We then start out of the camp. I tell my daughter I
want to go out the main gate this time. Here is what we saw on the
way out:

Just another OHP car...

This cabin was apparently commandeered by a group of people in navy
blue jumpsuits with insignias all over them. You can see them in the
left side of this pic. But they were standing all over the place on
both sides of the narrow street.
This is just one OHP car in a long line of them parked along the side
of the street.

Three firetrucks parked along the river.

Talk about a surreal moment...troops (unknown if Regular or National
Guard) have taken up residency in the Durant First Baptist Church
cabin very near the main gate of the camp.

Two things to point out in the pictures above...we passed a row of
about 6 or 8 ambulances parked in the street just in front of the
troop cabin, and the large tent on the top of the hill...we have no
idea what that is for.

Main gate completely blocked by OHP vehicles as we approach:

More OHP vehicles parked at the rear gate as we pass by:

Now I'm starting to understand why it doesn't matter that this
location is not conducive to starting a new life. #