Bob Wick visits employees affected by Hurricane Katrina

On Wednesday, September 28th, Bob Wick flew to Louisiana to viewfirst hand the devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina and to visit theemployees who have kept working to get the newspaper to our customers.Accompanying Mr. Wick was Tom Riebock, Director of Human Resources.

Flying into Bogalusa the first impressions one is left with isthe enormous number of homes with blue tarps on their roofs protecting the homesfrom further damage. The other thing that is evident is the extensive damage totrees. Bogalusa is heavily wooded and in many places it appeared that two thirdsof the trees were down. As we drove through the area with Lou Major Sr. it wasclear the trees took out power lines and damaged many homes. Piles of debris andcut limbs were every where.

Covington looked better in part because the newspaper is nearthe hospital which was a priority for the power company and other firstresponders but the people living in the Wal Mart parking lot told a differentstory. Traffic was so bad Mr. Wick did not get into Slidell but conducted a flyover to survey the damage. From the air, it was clear any homes near the waterwere heavily damaged or gone completely.

Bob arrived at the Daily News and personally thanked all theemployees as he walked around the newspaper to each department. This wasrepeated that afternoon at the Covington location which now houses the jointoperations of the Sentry News and the News Banner. J Kennon showed Mr. Wick thecombined product under the masthead of the St. Tammany News.

Mr. Wick expressed his gratitude for the effort all theemployees had put forth under the most difficult of circumstances. He said, "Acommunity is not a community without a newspaper and you are to be commended fordoing such a wonderful job".

Of the 118 employees affected by the storm all but a handful areback in some capacity. Many have had to adjust to new duties and crampedquarters but morale was high.

The trip emphasized the dedication Wick employees have towardtheir newspapers and the motivation to serve their communities by putting outthe news that is vital in a time of crisis.