Memories of Games drew plea for aid

Dry Utah is a welcome change from the soggy New Orleans wasteland.

But some evacuees are wondering how they ever ended up in the Beehive State in the first place. Some had never even heard of Utah before they found shelter at Camp Williams.

"We thought we were going to Texas," Billy Stalbert said. "They misinformed us, but it doesn't really bother me. It's nice to be someplace dry."

So, how did Utah become one of the first states asked to aid the expected evacuees?

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu sent an e-mail plea to Utah Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert Aug. 31 seeking assistance to find a place to shelter the thousands of displaced hurricane victims.

Utah officials say the state's Olympic volunteer effort is apparently what prompted Louisiana officials to ask Utah for help — even though the Beehive State is nearly 2,000 miles away.

"I think he understands Utah, and the good hearts of the people here," Herbert said of Landrieu. "It's a place that was dry and we have facilities to help the evacuees. The Olympics opened up the door and gave us the opportunity to help serve these people."

In the e-mail, Landrieu also said he figured Utah had vacant housing left over from the Olympics that could be used to house evacuees, Herbert said.

But Olympic Village, which once housed thousands of athletes during the 2002 Winter Games, wasn't available. The village is now student housing for University of Utah students, who began moving in weeks ago.

As soon as Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. found out about the Louisiana lieutenant governor's request, the Utah governor called a meeting with his Cabinet and other advisers. During that meeting, Maj. Gen. Brian Tarbet, the Utah National Guard adjutant general, told the governor that Camp Williams had more than enough room to accommodate evacuees, Huntsman's spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi said.

Nearly three hours after the meeting began, Huntsman called a press conference and announced the state would welcome up to 1,000 evacuees. Two days later, he doubled that number, saying the state had enough resources to help more people.

As of Wednesday night, about 450 evacuees were living at Camp Williams. Some were ready to move on to other places. Approximately 280 evacuees had signed up initially for vouchers to take Greyhound buses to Dallas and other locations. But Wednesday afternoon only 90 had obtained vouchers.