European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 19, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Rebuilding from in i irom Pic 3 continue is Cov i reeks inc Oft of ill w employ Sikut ail administration paid 1 20 employers to help clean up debris and Llie Young adult c Onse Valion corps worked Lor several weeks trimming the internal Revenue service offered the vet Erans administration Lent Money and both the a and social Security administration helped pay some Hospital but grand Island also found the government Well a few examples the Law enforcement assistance administration denied a request for a new emergency communications system and the Federal Highway administration refused to repair damaged traffic and seven months after the the cites request for million to repair Street build a put in Trees along City streets and make other improvements still was pending before housing and Urban devel this never was intended to be the Mureall for All the problems of a disaster Ruby says in his Fema office in Kansas maybe the president coming through raised some but i just cannot think of a Way total devastation can be erased so within Days of the a tenth of the cites population lined up at a High school auditorium and a senior citizens Center to Register for Many of the 500 would return dozens of about 300 families were housed promptly in govern men paid apartments and Mobile Homes shipped from a Federal warehouse in but some of the 240 families still homeless camped out in the rubble of their Home waiting for the government to build its own to bile Home government rules forbade it from using space in com Mercial Parks located in a flood Plain even though a 100year flood in this Flatland would never reach the front door of a Mobile sea opened shop to offer Loans to homeowners at 3 percent Well below the prevailing 15 to 20 per cent at the local businesses were encouraged to apply for percent Loans if they could find other i 5 percent if they could when he tornadoes struck the rupps Dean and Ann were huddled in the Southwest Corner of their basement with their two the twisters lifted the House off the ground and then shoved it into the missing the family by the government found an apartment in town for the rupps and gave them food the family insurance agent wrote them a Check for five Days but the rupps were and like 858 others they turned to the Small business administration to fill the of those 503 were approved some still Are the rupps filled out the 11page form and an out town sea appraiser took a look at what was left of the Rupp he said the lot was Worth Rupp already had sold the lot for he looked at me like 1 was Rupp five months later Rupp got a Check for less than he he didst i just decided to go with the flow and forget he others received less than they and among them renters and elderly were turned Down for sea the Andersons Linda and their seven children didst get a dime from they were if a they just look at you like a piece of Anderson what can Yuu 1 you did i any Hurja i Ktuk i ionic in a Mobile ill Anih for an a it con none Avail tin routed for temporary so the found a Home they Wei Teil to buy and went to it turned them later they got a veterans administration loan at percent not the seas 3 but still a lot lower than Bank elderly people like Marion and Doris Mcbride also found the sea the Mcbrides Home was and they  find another in their Price they bought one for More than the insurance Money and hoped sea would make up the but an sea loan officer told us we were too poor and  afford to pay Back a says anger swelling again As she the Mcbrides have combined monthly income of from social Security and other retirement we have Good always have she weve always paid our Bills first before Carter says Hes going to help everybody 3 percent Loans for says but its really just for those who have a Good while folks like the Andersons and Mcbrides were Bud Masten thought sea a suffering from a heart had been thinking of Selling his liquor store for but when tornadoes turned it into a pile of broken Glass and oozing spirits he found himself under insured and without a steady he had to one of those sea Guys sat Here at our Kitchen table until one night to help make us eligible for a 000 loan at 3 percent on the Masten which was slightly and nearly at 5 percent on the Masten others ran into painful Jack Bud Rasmussen says he was told a Check to rebuild his tire business would be ready in sep the Money didst materialize until late novem Alvin alms lost a Bowling Alley and nightclub in the tornadoes but haunt seen a cent of the he says sea one reason the sea insisted on proof that the building was it Doest take an Engineer to see the Walls Are All smashed a Blind pig would be Able to Tell the building was a total alms a two month delay Cost Bill Lavreys Cycle shop its Christmas Ive taken quite a says Lawrey while working on salvaged motorcycles in a warehouse far from custom ers weve got a lot of fighting to get our custom ers six months after the 524 Loans had been 44 were still a tangible record that didst impress people like John whose application was one of the Willman wants to build a grocery store that is bigger than the 27yearold Structure that was but first he has to Tell sea what it would Cost to rebuild the old sea Only lends enough Money to replace destroyed in Willman s that was about i can see seas says sitting in a living room brimming with salvaged toothpaste and Aero sol but the whole principle is it would be stupid to put it Back the Way it and How can i get a bid on two dozen 1953vintage compressors Leo an sea official from who directed the Agency operation in grand a government is tougher on business loan a but he says we try to turn things inside out to make it workable for elderly people on fixed like the my become pretty much automatic declines As far As were he renters like the Anderson can get Loans for uninsured household but not to buy a a sign shop in grand Island was denied a loan for labor costs in rebuilding its but another sea office 100 Miles away approved a similar loan request for the sign company other the Andersons and masters at least had some insured but More than 450 others lost essential household goods sofas and refrigerators which we rent those necessary expenses and serious needs won them Ostring attached bundles of Money More than in All through the govern ments individual and family Grant people who lost aging refrigerators and air conditioners were Given new those who lost a bed got a new not one with Gold but a says Mike director of the program administered by the state on a cos sharing basis with the Federal a Young band Leader received the to replace musical instruments he lost when a nightclub was the instruments were tools of his a state review panel even a millionaire could qualify if he were uninsured and unable to receive help from another they can have or socked away in cd for All we Matsukis if it is a necessary expense and serious need caused by the disaster and not covered by insurance or other government the panel will Grant the for the Grants we rent and about applicants were turned these people sought help from the salvation the american red Cross and from churches and individuals and could respond quickly to those still in ran into government when it tried to lighten the Bleak atmosphere of government Trai Ler Parks by posting family names on the numbered Trail Federal officials demurred that would be defacing government in the they the cites own Tornado Relief fund of More than 000 also filled some paying for civil defense equip neighbourhood planning Tornado sirens and a program to help children Deal with about went for a consultants plan to rejuvenate South Locust a ragtag Avenue with fast food grocery liquor stores and hotels most destroyed by the the report recommended million in including Street widening and new Road a group of business leaders and City officials hoped for economic development administration Grants for areas of sudden and severe economic but grand islands unemployment want High enough to qualify for one because Many workers found temporary jobs Clearing and then the Locust Street area is in a flood where Federal Money cant be spent for they flew three Eda people out Here from Denver to use a 1974 map to Tell us were in a flood says mayor we knew and even if the obstacles could have been a two year environmental Impact study would have to be theres got to be some says City administrator Dwight in not convinced that reason 3 up outside Relief the r3 manager of a grand Island Bank dutifully maintains watchman role Over the Bank business went on As usual while Bill Laurey put up Walls in his new motorcycle v k 1 associated press he Federal governments disaster Relief Agency last year quietly did away with its Necase Atatim approach to sharing disaster assistance costs and began using a formula that requires the slate and local government to pay on fourth of the some officials in where tornadoes ravaged the town of grand were taken by and a Battle ensued Between the state and City Over How to Divide the local since the mount Helens eruption in governors of states where the president declares a major disaster have been required to sign a document agreeing to pay 25 percent of the Cost of Federal the government picks up the remaining 75 Nebraska Charles Thone came under heavy fire from some in the state for agreeing to the cos sharing in said Nebraska they will get any sucker to sign a Thone responded in not one of those governors who will go running to Washington with their hands crying for every Ive seen too much of we can stand on our own two feet on but it became increasingly Clear that one of the states feet was grand that made mayor Bob Kriz the governor said he wanted us to split the 25 per cent with the Kriz that a great sum of Money to regardless of what the government paid we  handle i asked the governor to ask for More but he the Federal emergency management administration has spent about million to clean up repair Utility lines and other Public facilities in grand nearly million of that will be picked up by the state and after weeks of disagreement Over who should pay How much of the the state and City agreed to split the with the state paying 75 percent and the City 25 the argument in Nebraska is typical of the response Fema has heard since the disaster Relief act of 1974 became the act says Federal Aid should be supple mental not but there is no set the disaster areas share of the Cost was sup posed to be a amount of which became somewhat of a subjective said Thomas acting associate director of Fema in it became More apparent that in some respects we were being criticized for not being he so beginning with the mount Helens president Carter began ordering a 7525 a con Gressional conference committee says the cos sharing arrangement should but the exact split in 1981 will be up to Fema and 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