Tracking Down the “Unknown” Evacuees in Texas

I don’t really know what to say about this article from the Gainesville Daily Register (that’s Gainesville, TX). But, for some reason, I think it would make a good movie:

A team of six FEMA representatives from Montana arrived Tuesday morning to begin looking for the “other” evacuees. The team consists of Phillip Arrow Top Knot, Douglas Malatare, Maurice Bear, Joseph Bear, Gloria Bear and Marcedes Old Person.

The team is from the Blackfoot Tribe located in Montana.

“Fifty of them were hired to work for FEMA last year in Florida, and it worked out so well that this year FEMA hired 300 of them,” Fletcher said. “Maybe there aren't many hurricanes or major disasters in Montana.”

A group of Native Americans show up in a Texas town tracking down people in need of help with no where to go.

And they’re good at what they do:

FEMA policy forbids its employees from making comments to the press, so the Montanans declined to comment on their work in Gainesville. But their actions may speak louder than words.

“They said they found three rooms at the Ramada and five at the Holiday Inn Express that were occupied by evacuees, and they had barely started looking,” Fletcher noted.

I’d go see that movie.

This is actually a positive story. The county doesn’t have the resources to help the “unknown” evacuees, so they are trying to hook them up with FEMA who can help them.

The only thing is, I can’t find any info on the web about this Blackfoot/FEMA Tracking program – not that I don’t think it is a bad idea. Like any good journalmalist, I need to confirm my sources. Those internets can be sketchy sometimes.