Katrina thoughts

My husband's been in Mississippi since Tuesday covering the aftermath of Katrina for the Dispatch. I've only talked to him a few times because the cell-phone reception there is sporadic.

He spent the first two nights sleeping in his car. On the third night, he slept on the floor of a newspaper office in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Last night, he found a Days Inn that had somehow reopened. This morning, he took his first shower. He said he was starting to be disgusted by his own stench.

He paid $40.00 yesterday for a two-gallon container of gasoline, purchased from a college student. He drove to a sports arena that's being used as a shelter and spent the day interviewing people there. He said he could've written a 600-inch story about the things he saw and heard. Several times, he had to leave the arena and just be alone with his thoughts; he was so overwhelmed.

And to think: he has a home and a job and a family to come back to.