Charlieb Lives in the Heart of New Orleans

Has anyone heard from Charlieb? I'm in possession of his address and phone number. I googled his number. The map indicates that he resides 1 mile west of New Orleans(i.e. Tulane University) and 1 mile south of Lake Ponchartrain. This places him precariously close to the destruction in New Orleans.

Hopefully we'll be getting news from CharlieB soon, thanks for mentioning it Jim.

I did call this weekend. No answer.

Phew! We made it so far!
Thanks so much for ya'll's great concern.
We were devistated by Katrina here.
It's been hell, but thank God my home was OK with only some minor damage and no flooding since we live against the Ms.River which is higher than most other areas and live in the suburb of Harahan outside the city. I had some damage but everything outside this and a few other communities is like a war zone.
We had to flee very quickly. My four kids were petrified and it was very devistating to see the whole city nearly wiped out. People don't realize the devistation. A whole major city almost gone overnight! Millions fled and now without jobs, etc.
We finally came back last Wed. night to check on our property and they were forcing everyone to leave again on Thurs., except those who could live on their own for two weeks till they can gets service crews in here to make it liveable, and fortunately our electricity came back Thurs. and then were able to stay. We don't have clean (drinkable)water yet but they say in a few days. Never realized how important clean water is! It's also very hot here now and there is a curfew under strict military and police guard especially after 7pm.
Otherwise at least we are safe.
Businesses are encouraged now to re-open today (Monday) 9-12-05, so if anyone is interested in helping with cleanup it is now possible. I also saw a few big tree companies rolling in already which confirms their approval to begin servicing the area.
I am without a job now and can help anyone who may be interested in coming here by guiding them around and keep them safe and in return if they would graciously allow me to work for them also. I have gear and am ready.
Please pray for us down here. This was bigger than 911 in devisatation and loss of life.
Your brother in the trees,
Charlie Brown

Charlie,

It was good to hear from you in the Katrina aftermath. Personally your family will be in my prayers.

Regard,
JimK

Thanks so much!
It's great to have other American patriot brothers who are willing to come to the aid of their brothers.
I feel we must all pull together in these times we are living in. I think more things will be coming and affecting other areas of our country. Are we ready?
God Bless you all!

Charlie,

Please stay in touch with the forum and let us know how things are going for you and your family in New Orleans.

Take Care

JimK

YEA!!
Today some more prayers were answered:
We finally got our clean water system working, so we don't have to boil it anymore and we can bathe and drink it without worry!
I also found and started a part time tree climbing job with a local tree service who finally called me to come in to work.
I'm not used to such heavy labor but I'm thankful I can earn some money now.
It was humbling because they made me realize how much I really don't know about climbing because we had to remove a huge(100ft) water oak due to Katrina and the co.'s climber explained to me what he would do and I listened and learned, but in the end he showed me a split down the center of the oak so it was not climbable. I did not notice this split so there's a lot to be said for experience. So they had to use a bucket and crane to remove it and did it within 1 1/2 hours--incredible! Needless to say, had they used a climber, he would have to not only be safe, but more importantly had to be quick.
I found it interesting and wanted to share with ya'll how the tree service co.'s must produce quickly and still be very safe. It was very impressive.

Good to hear you have water again.

That's the best thing about rec climbing, there's no rush! It should be a great learning experience for you hanging with commercial tree workers but I know for myself, I can't imagine doing that kind of work day in and day out. Good luck and climb safe.
-moss

Charlie,

Congrats on the water.

Any new adventures on the tree crew?

Regards,
Jim

Moss, you're right. I can't take the abuse much longer, day in and day out.
I was supposed to be a climber and all they are having us do right now is removal only with crane and then limb pickup. I can't take the unrelenting heat and sun and the stench at every site from the city not picking up garbage in 3 weeks since Katrina. They are using us to simply clean up sites and so this is not general arborist work.
I gotta find something else.
Also this crew I'm with is very untrained and laxadazical---We removed a hanging limb yesterday, which the tip got stuck on the top of an apartment complex and the base was still attached to the trunk. When the cutter went up in the bucket, he tied a line more to the base end of the limb and cut it at about the middle of the limb. We had taken two raps of the line around the base of the tree and first the cutter did not even tell us to stand clear when he cut, then since he cut it in the middle, the tip fell freely, and the other end(butt to middle) swung on the rig line because the groundie didn't know to let the line run, so we had to run fast cus the limb swung out at us.--Phew! It was funny after, but not at the moment.
I gotta find another job.
Anyway thanks for asking guys. I've learned that just because someone has a Tree Service Co., doesn't make them professional or knowledgable.
I gotta find another job.

Be careful! In 1995 Atlanta had hurricane Opal. The devastation was awful with trees down everywhere. I was getting 200 calls a day, most with trees on or about to be on a house. It was a nightmare of extremely dangerous work.

Watch who you work for. Sooner or later a good company will show up. Watch how they work. Be ready to move at a moments notice when you hear a saw or hear the tree crack. Quick reactions will save your life. Even experienced workers make mistakes as fatigue sets in. The pressure to get a tree down and move on to the next terrible situation is almost unbearable. Keep your cool at all times and walk away from a company that gets careless or has a crew that does not work together.

As for being a climber in this kind of work. This is the most dangerous type of tree work you can be involved in. Be glad you do not have to climb. The biggest asset you can be is a safety engineer on the ground and be a good rope handler. A climber is nothing without a good ground man. Watch out for your fellow workers too. If they do not know how to watch each other’s back, teach them. If they can’t learn how to do it, move on and find a crew that can.

Make sure you have a briefing with the crew before every job. Everyone needs to work as a team. If the crew boss does not listen to input, it is a sure sign of a loner, which is not a good asset for a team effort. It literally can mean life or worse, an impaired life if mistakes are made. Even with the best laid plans, things can go sour. Busted up trees are SUPER dangerous beasts. If you cut at the wrong pressure point, the tree can explode!! It will come at you so fast that there will be no time to react.

Plan your escape route with every cut. Make this a practice. Is the running path clear? Will others be in front or you when you take off running? Make sure there is a plan. Talk it out continuously with your work mates. WATCH EACH OTHERS BACKS!! You can make it through this period if you are SUPER CAREFUL AND WATCHFUL. Take nothing for granted.

This work is not for everybody. If your intuition says NO, then walk away from whatever it is your intuition is saying no to. I walked away from many situations during our hurricane event in 1995. There were many people ready to fill my place when I said, “I do not feel comfortable with this job. You will have to find someone else.”

Good luck and keep us up to date on your plight. The more often you write here, the better the community will feel by knowing that you are okay and what is up with your situation.

You can use me as well. Call me, e-mail me, U2U me, or post here. Please communicate as often as you like. It would personally make me feel better knowing I am contributing rather than just sending money to Red Cross.

We have not had to evacuate yet, again, unless Rita makes a more northerly turn.
The actual New Orleans city is under a voluntary evacuation again, but I live in the suburbs just west of the city and we don't have to evacuate yet.
So it looks like its headed for Galveston or Houston right now, which is the same wonderful people who helped my family and so many others during Katrina. Ironically now they're the potential victims thus far.
Thanks Peter for your great words of wisdom and support.
Fortunately, today, I had to resign from this untrained and dangerous tree service co. before someone got hurt or I died of cleanup exhaustion in the 95 deg. heat.

The owner was making all the money(disproportionately) and not paying his workers a decent wage. He paid everyone only $10 per hour without exception, yet he bragged he could pay a good climber $500/day, except that he wouldn't actually give it to anyone because no climber in his book could measure up to his standards. This was simply an excuse to lure new workers in to his group and then to abuse them. Everyone was treated as a groundie and no one would ever actually climb because he only used a bucket truck and a crane, so he had no need for a climber except in a few instances where he would climb up to simply place a removal strap on a limb, then the crane would attach to the strap to remove large sections of the tree.
It's sad because when someone is supposed to be down here helping during this crisis, he's abusing people for profit and consequently doing a shabby job and creating even more danger for the public.
I'm glad I left, but am now without a job again.
I lost most of my clients who were devistated by Katrina, and as a practicing CPA, thought that while some of them were recovering, I could do some tree climbing work to bring in some income, until they were back on their feet. It's going to take some time before businesses are up and rolling again around here, except for the necessity industries which got help from the gov.
Anyway, I've got 4 kids, one with epilepsy and therefore special needs, a wife, and no job.
If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I'm trying hard to keep my spirits up, but don't know what to do.
I'm putting many feelers out and checking out other tree services as well.
Maybe I should go hustling trees myself since I have all the gear. Anyone want to help down here?
Anyway thanks guys for all your support. I'll keep ya'll posted.

P.S. -- The Red Cross has been a big problem here, because, they supposedly have raised more than $93 million in support, but will not come in to the disaster(greater New Orleans) area, which is ludicrous, because this is where they are needed. So the very people who need them are not receiving any money from them and yet they are only setting up stations in cities far away to families who were displaced and happen to show up in that city. I have relatives who went to for example, Memphis, TN, and they got their hotel rooms paid for, but we can't even get basic needs, much less financial help down here in the area. Something is wrong with this. Even mayors around here have finally gotten this very complaint out to the national media. Their little suburb cities are going broke while helping their citizens and yet red cross or Fema won't step up and begin to disburse the monies raised for this very purpose.
So, my suggestion would be to please complain to any higher ups you may know and/or help someone directly if you can.

Charlieb- please check your U2U.