Vilsack Says Evacuees Didn't Know They Were Going to Iowa
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Above: A mother and daughter are processed at the fairgrounds on Friday.
DES MOINES- Governor Tom Vilsack welcomed the evacuees to Iowa, but at the same time he expressed some concern with the process. Namely, the fact that they were not told they were coming to Iowa until they were in the air.
20 evacuees from New Orleans boarded a plane, but their destination was unknown. Your first question might be, "Why not tell them?" Right now, there is no answer.
In a Friday news conference, Governor Tom Vilsack announced Iowa has twenty new visitors, but he criticized the way the evacuees got to the state- without a clue. A passenger on board said nobody knew where they were going until about twenty minutes into the flight, making the governor question why the government would do something like that. Vilsack said, "The individuals coming to our state by plane did not know they were coming to the state of Iowa when they got on the plane. I don't know what the justification for that is. I think that's kind of unfortunate. I think people should have a sense of where they're headed."
The governor also said since Katrina hit, at least 516 hurricane victims have come to Iowa. Fifty of them will be attending the University of Iowa. All of them will hopefully find some kind of new beginnings in our state.
