Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Congressman Ross Meets With Officials

Congressman Mike Ross is working to make sure federal and state monies will be used to fund 100 percent of the cleanup after the recent winter storm disaster.

Ross has been touring Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District, meeting with local officials and checking the damage done by the ice and snow.

Arkansas had 52 of its 75 counties declared federal disasters because of the storms, while 24 of the 26 counties in the Fourth District were as well.

Phone calls concerning the disaster began coming in to Ross's new office in Washington before he had time to figure out how to use the phone system.

He met with President Bill Clinton Thursday, Jan. 4, asking the president to raise the limit to 100 percent coverage instead of the usual 75 percent reimbursement given by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Along with FEMA's 75 percent, the Arkansas Disaster Emergency Management (ADEM) will kick in 12.5 percent for cleanup, leaving cities and counties to pick up the remaining 12.5 percent.

"With a disaster of this magnitude," Ross said, "cities and counties can't afford the 12.5 percent. The president knows of the damage and considered coming down, but decided against it." Clinton's reasoning was his presence would cause more problems than it would do good.

"I'm confident federal aid will be increased to 100 percent," he said, "unless the president's staff gives him a reason why he can't."

Ross said Arkansas didn't get much in the way of federal assistance for any of the disasters it has during 2000. The year started off with a blizzard, was followed by straight-line winds in excess of 70 miles an hour, a drought occurred during the summer and the year ended with the ice storm.

Any individual or government agency looking to get federal help, Ross said, needs to keep good records and make sure everything done is documented.

Nevada County is in the second declaration of disasters which means individuals can apply for federal help as well. Normally individuals's losses aren't considered when a disaster hits.

This time, though, individuals can apply for help with FEMA, though they will be referred to the Small Business Administration first.

Individuals, Ross said, can either qualify for a low-interest loan or a government grant, depending on their income level, as this is the determining factor for assistance.

"Anyone who can't get help can call my office," he said, "but try FEMA first, then let us know."

There will be long term problems created by this storm, he said. "This has been devastating to agriculture. The timber industry is has been heavily damaged, and people have had to cut when they weren't ready. This has driven the price down."

The trees not cut, he said, are creating a lot of debris, which is making a floor of fuel for fires this summer. Ross is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on these problems.

Local cattle rancher Lamar Barham said FEMA has been good to him and he's dealing with something he's never seen before.

His ranch is surrounded by timber up to the fence line. When the storm hit the trees near the fence fell on it, destroying the fence.

Ross said farmers and agriculture has traditionally been left out by FEMA and the USDA when disasters hit. He will be meeting with other federal leaders from Arkansas to discuss this when he returns to Washington, D.C.

"We can't wait on legislation after a disaster," he said. "I'm finding out there isn't a lot of cooperation between FEMA, the USDA and Farm Services Agency (FSA). We need to get this corrected to help farmers."

Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown said he can't wait for federal money to come in and needs to be working on getting things cleaned up now. "There needs to be a way to speed things up.

"I know we'll be getting 87.5 percent back, but we don't have it to start. We don't get reimbursed for straight time. If we got 100 percent funding, we could bid it out."

Brown said county workers have been pulled off their regular jobs to help with the cleanup effort. While the county can use overtime worked as in-kind labor for its 12.5 percent, the standard 40 hour week doesn't count in this venue.