Cheney Visits Hurricane Evacuee Sites

By LIZ AUSTIN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 1 minute ago



AUSTIN, Texas - Vice President Dick Cheney toured Hurricane Katrina shelter operations in Texas' capital Saturday, praising the state's efforts to assist evacuees from the Gulf Coast.

While he was at the Austin Convention Center shelter, about two dozen protesters gathered outside chanting, "Cheney, Cheney, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide."

Cheney also visited the Texas State Operations Center, where state officials did the planning for receiving more than 240,000 people in Texas after flood waters rose in New Orleans.

At the convention center, where 1,500 evacuees remained, Cheney met briefly with 23-year-old Telisha Diaz, who told him she spent four days at the New Orleans convention center before being brought to Austin a week ago.

"It's overwhelming that the state of Texas is giving so much, just giving us everything — jobs, food," Diaz told the vice president, who was surrounded by local officials and congressmen.

Cheney said Diaz's sentiments of gratitude were echoed by all of the evacuees he had spoken with in the two weeks since the hurricane pummeled Gulf Coast communities in Louisiana and Mississippi. He applauded Texas' response to the disaster.

"I was impressed with the caliber of the effort that was mounted here, and it's a good place to come learn some valuable lessons," Cheney said.

He brushed off media questions about the federal government's slow response to hurricane victims in the hours and days after the storm and the removal of Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown from his command post in Louisiana amid the criticism and questions about his qualifications.

Cheney said he supported Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's decision regarding Brown and would not comment on any other possible leadership changes.

While Cheney was in Austin, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt visited a shelter in Dallas. He said his department has established special "evacuee" status for affected individuals to expedite their access to benefits.

The process will allow states to enroll evacuees without requiring documents such as tax returns or proof of residency for programs such as Medicaid, child care support, foster care assistance and substance abuse treatment.

In Houston, officials said the number of evacuees at the Astrodome, Reliant Center and the George R. Brown convention center went down overnight by about 1,300 to a total of 7,327 as evacuees continued to find other places to live. Officials at shelters in Houston and Dallas said they still hope to have everyone in temporary or permanent housing by Sept. 17.

The NFL team the Houston Texans plays its first home game at Reliant Stadium on Sept. 18, but Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said that was not a factor in trying to get all of the evacuees moved.

"This is a shelter, not a home, and it will not become a refugee center," Eckels said.

___

Link Here