Waiting For Cleanup In Mississippi
KAGAN: So here we are, months after the federal government promised to clean up the mess left behind by Hurricane Katrina. But some areas along the Gulf Coast look no better today than they did the day after the storm. A little bit late. Some communities have come to the conclusion that if you want something done right, you're going to have to do it yourself. Sean Callebs reports from Jackson County, Mississippi, and a story you saw first on CNN's "Paula Zahn Now."</s>JOSH RIMES, HOMEOWNER: I've got some stuff you all can put in here that we can just get (ph).</s>SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It's become a sad routine for Josh Rimes and his father Dwight. About once a week, they pick through the splintered ruins of Josh's house looking for anything that can be salvaged. Today, it's a bit of fence. Are you frustrated that four months after the disaster it's just a mess?</s>JOSH RIMES: Oh, absolutely. It's, you know, it's like we can't do anything until, you know, whether we build or whether we sell, this has to be cleared.</s>CALLEBS: The Rimes thought Jackson County, Mississippi, would be cleared of trees and ruble by now. County Supervisor Frank Leach says the county had a contract to have the Army Corp of Engineers remove debris from public and private land.</s>FRANK LEACH, JACKSON COUNTY SUPERVISOR: One of their representatives made a statement. I've got the checkbook and if you do what I tell you, you won't pay any money whatsoever.</s>CALLEBS: Leach says the county took that advice, but the Corps of Engineers never took any debris from homeowners' property.</s>LEACH: I got tired of waiting for, it's on the way or it's going happen or we're going get there, because every time we begin to communicate, guess what? It was another red tape. It was another issue.</s>SAM HORTON, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: I understand, the frustration.</s>CALLEBS: Sam Horton is with the Army Corps of Engineers.</s>HORTON: It has been four months since Katrina hit, but the magnitude and the scope of this recovery effort and the hurricane itself is just unprecedented.</s>CALLEBS: Just how much debris remains from devastated homes is anyone's guess. But Jackson County, Mississippi, officials are convinced that federal authorities simply didn't live up to their repeated promises. So fed up with the clean up, Jackson County recently fired the Army Corps of Engineers. But surprisingly, it didn't have to be this way. The county was given a choice. So now all it can do is look longingly at a neighboring county that made a different decision.</s>LEACH: You know, it's really exciting when you stop and look just across the bay and we can see that here, even as we're looking across that way, they went about doing this on their own.</s>CALLEBS: Biloxi and Harrison County turned its back on the Corps of Engineer's offer to remove the debris and still, using federal money, hired their own clean-up crews. And, look, many residential areas here are cleared of tree limbs and remnants of wrecked homes. The Corp of Engineers says it did remove 90 percent of the debris from public areas in Jackson County, but says the hold-up in cleaning private property results from the need to get permission before working on homeowner's land. More red tape, according to county officials, and more disappointment for debris fatigued homeowners. The county says it's hired private contractors to begin the cleanup work after the first of the year. DWIGHT RIMES, HOMEOWNER I don't anticipate it being cleaned up any time soon. Not the way it's gone the first four months, no.</s>CALLEBS: And what do you think of that?</s>DWIGHT RIMES: Well, again, it stinks, but it's reality.</s>CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, Jackson County, Mississippi.</s>KAGAN: Be sure to tune in each weeknight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern for "Paula Zahn Now." Tonight's program highlights Kleine-Levin Syndrome (ph). A rare disorder that literally causes people to sleep their lives away. Last year's natural disasters, including the devastating earthquake in Pakistan, for survivors, their lives will never be the same. Most have nowhere to go. Ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY, meet one man who is doing everything he can to help those who have lost everything. And a family's pain. Two children critically ill after contracting a deadly infection. We're back after this.