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GALVESTON — Two former presidents began work Tuesday to help the Texas coast rebuild after Hurricane Ike, starting with a helicopter tour of the Bolivar Peninsula and other hard-hit areas.
"What we have seen is abject devastation," said George H.W. Bush, who has joined with Bill Clinton to raise money for the recovery effort. "We've also seen the determination to come back."
The two, accompanied by former Secretary of State James A. Baker and Louisiana businessman Richard Zuschlag, lifted off from the polo fields at Memorial Park early Tuesday morning and headed south, hovering above the wind- and water-swept area as Coast Guard Lt. John Moran described the damage and offered tales of his crew's rescue of stranded residents before the storm.
The men later toured a FEMA field office set up in Galveston's Island Community Center and surveyed debris and damage at Bermuda Beach.
The former presidents announced last month that they would form the Bush-Clinton Coastal Recovery Fund, patterned after similar efforts to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the Asian tsunami.
Tough time to raise funds
So far, the fund has raised $1.5 million."We hope to do better than that," said Baker, serving as national chairman of the fund. "These are not the best times in the world to raise money."
Clinton, however, remained optimistic.
"I think we can get money," he said at a news conference at the beach. "You look at how much money has been given to both political parties in the last six weeks. People do care."
But he acknowledged that the nation's attention quickly drifted from Hurricane Ike as the financial meltdown began just days later. "What we hope is to say, 'Hey, don't forget about this place.' "
While Hurricane Katrina's damage was spread more widely, Clinton said, "we flew over Bolivar. There's one place (left) standing. You still have missing people. So I felt there was a lot of very severe destruction, and I don't think the American people know."
Money raised by the fund will be used for long-term recovery, rebuilding such infrastructure as roads, sewage systems, churches and community systems. It will be months before the money is distributed.
Day of fact-finding
However much money is raised, and whenever it is distributed, local political leaders said they are grateful."It was good that they came," said Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough. "Money is important, but their influence is equally important."
Tuesday was a day of fact-finding. Bush, Baker and Clinton met with local leaders and recovery workers at the FEMA center for a briefing led by Gerry Stolar, branch director of the FEMA Area Field Office.
Afterward, workers from FEMA and other agencies crowded around the two men, shaking hands, sharing hugs and snapping pictures.
Clinton, especially, was curious about restoring the beaches and about using new technologies to keep the sand from disappearing in the next storm, said Steve LeBlanc, Galveston city manager.
The men also quizzed local officials about the University of Texas Medical Branch, the medical school hard hit by the storm. Classes there will return next week, but the school and its affiliated hospitals put storm losses at $700 million. The hospitals remain closed.
'Sincerely interested'
Despite the nation's financial mess, Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas said she is optimistic that her city will receive the money it needs to rebuild. "They've raised a lot of money in the past," she said. "I think they are sincerely interested."And any sign of national interest was good news to those still waiting for help.
Peter Davis, chief of the Galveston Beach Patrol and a Bermuda Beach homeowner, stood nearby as Bush and Clinton paused for an on-the-beach interview with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, which was set to air Tuesday night.
"I think keeping attention focused on Galveston is really good," said Davis, who is living in a hotel while his house remains without water, power or sewer service. "I think it's fantastic to have both (political) parties here, working together."
The two former presidents famously joined together in a bipartisan effort to help people affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and by the Asian tsunami. The Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund raised $135 million, and the Bush-Clinton Tsunami Fund raised $1 billion.
They have declined to set a goal for the Ike recovery fund, but said the work will transcend politics.
"It's about helping people in trouble," Bush said.
Source:Chron.com
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