Breaking Red Tape To Get To Debris

The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina had many Americans wanting to help.

For a group of six contractors from South Carolina, that meant driving to the devastated area to help in the clean up. But, when the got there, CBS News correspondent, Cynthia Bowers reports they were hard bent trying to find someone who would let them work.

When you look at the piles of debris Katrina left behind - literally there are miles of it - this story almost seems to defy logic.

Laughing, contractor Tomas Nyblom says, "We have to go south and fill out more paperwork. There's a new form today."

It would be funny if it weren't so sad. For two full days now, these can-do guys have been filling out forms, working the phones, and spinning their wheels trying to find somebody who'll let them get down to work.

Nyblom, who is also the pastor of the Church of the Vine, says, "When we got back last night, we were more tired from trying to get the work than we would have been had we actually been working."

By the time Bowers ran into them early Wednesday, they told her it seemed it was their relief effort that was beginning to look like the disaster.

"It is deflating," says Nyblom, "We were really excited to help out and now we have to go back to South Carolina and report that we didn't do much."

Volunteer Randy Hanson adds, "We have ten more skid steers; we have five or six backhoes; we have a dozen six-wheel dump trucks; and about thirty guys sitting by the phone waiting to come down."

And work at no charge. To begin to clear the seemingly endless mountains of debris that were now right in front of them, but still just out of reach.

Hanson notes, "For every piece of machinery you see on the ground working, there are twenty pieces of equipment driving around looking for work. Why don't they let us clean it up?"

And finally around lunchtime they did!

Their first assignment was a fitting one for these family men, clearing a playground for the children of Ocean Springs.

Volunteer Mitch McDonald was happy. He says, "It is nice to finally be able to do what we came down here to do."

Despite the obvious frustration federal, state, and local officials say they need volunteers. They want volunteers. This process will take many months and all kinds of hands are needed.