Some flee hurricane; McKenney weathers storm
When it became apparent last week that Hurricane Gustav was going to slam southern Louisiana, Joan Hargis and her family were not going to take the same risk that left them on a rooftop three years ago in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. But when Gustav’s arrival over coastal Mississippi was imminent, Tom McKenney was sent scurrying south into the eye of the storm.
The two Marion natives may have shared different approaches to Mother Nature’s most recent torrent, but both still endure the pain and memories of 2005, when Katrina unleashed its fury on the Gulf Coast.
Hargis and her family couldn’t bare another Katrina and were making plans late last week to head back to her native Crittenden County even before her sister offered her the run of a vacant home. Accepting the offer, Hargis and seven of her friends and family opened the door to Keith and Beth Todd’s Greenwood Height’s home just after midnight Sunday.
“We knew after last time we didn’t want to go through that mess,” Hargis said Tuesday, awaiting word on conditions in her Slidell, La., subdivision.
And the word was not good later that day. Hargis, who left Kentucky for the Pelican State in 1977 learned that the Pearl River had flooded as it did in 2005, swamping portions of her subdivision with a concoction of floodwater, sewage and debris.
“I’m not sure what we’re going home to,” she contemplated as she sat across the living room from her unwitting granddaughter Brooklyn Barker, who arrived a month after Katrina dissipated.
On Monday, McKenney was fully aware of what Gustav had left for he and his wife Marty. The McKenney’s share residence between Long Beach, Miss., and their Marion farm, so over the weekend, Tom headed south to tend to the Gulf Coast home, utilizing back roads to avoid delays that may have prevented him from arriving in time to batten the hatches.
“I felt like it was my responsibility to be down here,” he said over the phone after the storm had passed.
The McKenneys, who rent a cottage behind their daughter Melissa’s Long Beach house, fared much better than three years ago when their Ocean Springs beach-style home was completely washed away by Katrina’s storm surge, as was their son Jeff’s.
“It was nothing like Katrina, but then again, there’s nothing like Katrina,” Tom said Monday, planning to return to Marion as soon as things were back to normal in Long Beach.
Ironically, the McKenney’s signed the papers to purchase their first Mississippi home amid 1979’s Hurricane Frederick.
At press time Wednesday, Hargis and her family, who packed into two vehicles to escape Gustav along with almost two million others from Louisiana, were uncertain of when they would leave Marion for the coast. None were looking forward to what awaits them.
“I kind of feel like Mother Earth wants her coast back,” Hargis’ daughter, Melissa Pearson said.
Pearson, who lives in New Orleans with her children Madison and Aidan, has a second-story apartment but still insisted on placing valuables high off the floor before leaving last week. After Katrina, she was taking no chances.
Hargis and her son, L.J., also took to high ground with their irreplaceables, or what was left of them after flooding from the Pearl River and Lake Pontchartrain filled their Slidell home three years ago. This time, the same attic that provided an escape hatch onto the roof from rising flood waters is holding their valuables.
“It was so bad,” Joan said of the quickly-rising floodwaters in 2005, “it turned over the refrigerator.”
That was after they rescued the family cat from on top of the appliance and their puppy rafting on a pillow inside the home. No one was hurt, but everything – cars, photos, clothes, furniture, etc. – was lost.
“That was the hardest part,” Joan said. “The whole family was displaced for a year.”
In fact, after gutting the home for mold, mildew and water damage, the Hargises just finished the Katrina-spawned renovation last month. Now, it could all be to do over again.
“If you didn’t experience it, you cannot understand,” said Joan, who also lost her mother, Elizabeth Stevens, and her father, John Sanders, in the last year. “It’s been a rough three years.”

Marion native to appear on talk show
In hindsight, Casey Bettag's hind-side is about to get more attention than she ever anticipated. In fact, you can check it out on the new season of the Rachael Ray Show on WSIL TV 3.
Answering an online request for feedback to the question, "What do you hate about your butt?" Bettag penned her complaint, sending it in with little expectation of winding up on the perky cooking phenom's daytime talk show.
Her complaint was not having too much junk in the trunk, as modern popular culture now refers to a little extra padding on the derriere. Bettag said her biggest complaint is not having a rump to hate.
What her response landed her – and two other women – was a trip to talk about her tush, or lack thereof, with Rachel Ray.
"It was a neat experience, but a little embarrassing," said the 34-year-old Crayne native and Crittenden County High School graduate. "I was shocked – I didn't think that the one thing to get me on television would be my back side."
On maternity leave with her third child, Bettag called on her mother Janet Stevens to travel with her to New York for the taping. Only she didn't tell her why they were traveling.
Stevens said this week that she assumed she was going with her daughter on business, as Bettag frequently does for her job with the phone company in Ferdinand, Ind.
"On the way to the airport I told her that I had answered a request on the Rachael Ray Show, but she said, 'Keep dreamin,' and didn't believe me."
It wasn't until Bettag produced the itinerary in their hotel room that her mother discovered her true roll of babysitting while her daughter's bum was among three featured in a segment on a popular daytime talk show. Stevens got a free flight and three nights of lodging out of the deal, as well.
In the three days Bettag was on the set of the Rachel Ray Show, producers filmed a background segment and gave her a new outfit becoming to her booty. Bettag went through a dress rehearsal, met with the set manager and stage manager and went through hair and make-up prior to taping the segment before a live audience.
Bettag and the other two girls featured on the segment met Emmy-winning Rachael Ray back stage before taping, which was an obvious highlight of the experience.
"It was a unique trip, but I don't think I'll be sending any more information to talk shows," Bettag said. "Definitely not about my rear end."
Hallie Goldfarb, a publicist for the show, said an air date for Bettag's appearance has yet to be determined. Watch The Press for an air date.

Highway 60 Yard Sale will include county
It could be one of the largest yard sales in history, stretching near 200 miles from Meade County, Ky., through Marion.
The third annual Highway 60 Yard Sale will take place the first weekend in October and for the first time, Crittenden County has been invited to participate. Marion Tourism Director Michele Edwards said active participation from the county was sought by organizers just last week.
"We've still got plenty of time," Edwards said.
The now seven-county yard sale along U.S. 60 in western Kentucky will be made up of hundreds of individuals and groups invited to set up yard sales and craft booths along their properties and the highway, according to the event Web stie, www.highway
60yardsale.com. Edwards is encouraging not only residents looking to clean out their garage, but organizations looking to make a few dollars for projects.
"We'd like to see it as fund-raisers for community groups and churches," she said.
Edwards will be the local organizer for the event. While individual or groups are invited to set up on their own, by working with the tourism office and Edwards, yard sales will be included in extensive advertising throughout the state.
"We have $1,000 for advertising," Edwards said. "They'll be advertising in every paper in the state."
Besides the yard sales themselves, restaurants, shops and other businesses should benefit from the exposure, Edwards said. With potential to draw visitors from all over along the 175-mile route, many communities build their own special event around the Highway 60 Yard Sale such as the Green River Area Development District's Arts and Crafts Festival that will take place at the John James Audubon State Park in Henderson.
"This gives people in our commuity a change to get in on it," she said.
Edwards is working on reserving areas along the federal highway – like Marion City Hall parking lot – as locales where those who may not have a place to host a sale along U.S. 60 can gather to sell their wares.
For more information on the Highway 60 Yard Sale or to sign on, contact Edwards at 965-5015.