Gulf Coast Kids Devastated by Oil Spill

(CBS)  There are very strong feelings all over the country about the oil disaster.

In a new CBS News poll, 41 percent of Americans say they're bothered by it and 56 percent say they're downright angry. On the Gulf Coast more than half say they're hurting a lot.

Nearly two out of three on the Gulf Coast say they've been personally affected by the spill either directly or indirectly. It's not just adults but kids, too.

Complete Coverage: Disaster in the Gulf

"I'm going tell you there's no other place in the world like this place right here," says 18-year-old Dylan Becnel. "No other place in the world. It may disappear."

For Dylan and his 14-year-old brother Austin, the Gulf Coast is in their blood reports CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric.

"I'm always on the water," says Austin. "All I do is hunt and fish. That's my life. And if I wouldn't be able to do that, I don't know what would happen. I mean, that's what keeps me out of trouble is the hunting and the fishing."

And the family business is citrus groves that they've owned for seven generations. It depends on the water, too.

"Knowing that that oil is going come in there and kill everything that's in [the Gulf]," says Dylan, "that's just hard to stomach."

Robin Drury's dad was a shrimp boat captain. Now he cleans up oil for BP.

"He loves to shrimp," says Drury. "He's been doing that all his life. And he just doesn't…he doesn't act the same. That's kind of sad."

Others worry what may be around the corner.

I'm sort of scared," says Julia Trahan. "We're losing most of our marsh. And then our marsh sort of saves us from having a hurricane." She adds, "If we were to have a hurricane then most of all of our homes would be gone."

Julia and her brother John Marc already lost a home because of hurricane Katrina.

"It's a big reality check," says John Marc. "Once you think it's all better from Katrina, everything's just starting… Everything was just starting to really make a big turn. Everything was getting better." He adds, "And then boom."

Dr. Irwin Redlener of Columbia University is assessing the psychological damage and helping to provide resources for this twice-battered community. This latest disaster is a slow and painful one.

"The impact, the sadness, depression and anxiety is very, very different," says Redlener. "This is probably more like it was during the dust bowl in the 1930s when people had to literally leave their homes and never come back. For children, this kind of unsettled uncertainty is extremely anxiety producing."

Leaving behind their heritage, their culture, their lives, that's something these kids hope they'll never have to do.

Dylan has a message for BP CEO Tony Hayward.

"I think what he said was he wants his life back, if I heard right," says Dylan. "Well, we want our lives back. We don't get to do any of the fun things that we used to do."

And more fallout from the spill according to the executive director of the Plaquemines Parish Care Center: There's been an increase in domestic violence and in substance abuse among adults.

More on the oil spill:

Oil Rig Worker: Blowout Preventer was Leaking
Relief Well Drilling "Business as Usual"
Nations Rethink Drilling Due to BP Spill
Oil Spill Taking a Toll on Fla. Tourism
BP's Worst-Case Estimate Was 4.2M Gallons a Day
Shelby: Hayward Must Go
Ken Feinberg: Oil Spill "Pay Czar"

[ohgrowup]

"Beyond Petroleum!" Part 6 Captain America to the rescue!

Synopsis: In the last episodes of "Beyond Petroleum!" the Thunderbirds where unable to stop the oil spill with a giant contraption called "The great metal condom idea". In a last resort BP CEO Tony Wayward turned to Stingray to save the world and his job. Unfortunately the Stingray was no match for the oil spill which left Marina flopping on a fishing boat's deck before a crewman cut her head off and threw her overboard. Now, in a final last resort Tony Wayward has changed strategy and called on British and American forces to blend together into one super hero: Joe "The Hulk" Bidden.
But the Hulk (alias Joe 90 (Biden) lost complete control of himself and is destroying every rig he can jump on. So with everything going awry the U.S. government stepped in with the invitation of BP and sent Captain America (which is really President Barack Obama) to evaluate and act on "The Hulk" (Joe Biden) disaster and the small oil leak.

Barack America: You have now completed a claim for the disaster.

Tony Wayward: It's about time! I was starting to wonder if the U.S. Government was competent in processing disaster claims! So what are you going to do now?

Barack America: Thaaaaaaaaaaad!*

Barack America: Hold my shield Thaaaaad!
Barack America: And my cape!
Barack America: And my Ipod!
Barack America: And my reading glasses!

Tony Wayward: ???

Barack America: And my pink handkerchief!

Tony Wayward: Captain America?

Barack America: And my matching pair of yellow socks! And my Rolex Mickey Rourque ?The Wrestler? watch and my Li'lAbner cartoon collection and my ...

Tony Wayward: Captain America?!!!!

Barack America: I am ready! Thaaaaaaaad, hand me my shield!

Tony Wayward: But what will you do to stop the flow?

Barack America: Firstly, I will perform an inverted corkscrew with a double half pike rounded off with a swan lake overture!

Tony Wayward: No, I mean how are... Never mind!

Barack America: Stand back Mr. Wayward, this is a job for Captaiiiiinnnnn Ameeeeriiiiicaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Thaaaaaaaaaaad! Can you give me a push please?... Splash!

Ringing on the Presidents cellphone:

Tony Wayward: Hello?...

Michelle Obama: Listen to me whoever you are, this is Michelle Obama! Somehow the Vice-President has put in my husband's head that he is
Captain America. He can't even do Kung Fu or Karate, or swim!

Tony Wayward (with women voice): "I'm sorry; the number you have dialed is no longer available..." Click!

To be continued

- Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander of the Unified Command for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

[Renewable216]

IF YOUR BEACH HAS TAR BALLS IT HAS PAH KEEP YOUR KIDS OFF THE BEACH AND OUT OF THE WATER DON'T LISTEN TO THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Can you mix Gulf swimming with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in oil?

Local residents need to ask the questions! For example the BP people don't want workers to wear face masks when they cleaning up the oil because it looks bad. Your local Chamber of Commerce people are telling people it's OK to go the beach.

The sad part is do beach visitors know the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that some PAHs in oil may reasonably be expected to be carcinogens.

Some people who have breathed or touched mixtures of PAHs and other chemicals for long periods of time have developed cancer. Some PAHs have caused cancer in laboratory animals when they breathed air containing them (lung cancer), ingested them in food (stomach cancer), or had them applied to their skin (skin cancer).

You have to ask yourself if your willing to put yourself and your chalderns lives on the line here! Who is testing the amount of PAH in the water and in the tarballs found on your beach? Should BP be testing ? Who pays for the tests ?

[childers1960]

I find it apalling, although not surprizing, that Ms. Couric in her interview asked the kids living on the gulf coast what message they have for the CEO of BP, without asking the same question regarding the mis-informed Enviromentalists who have worked relentlessly for the past 30 years to get drilling of land and into the water. And not just into the water, but 45 miles out and 1 mile down. The fact remains that there is enough clean, responsible drilling to be had in the U.S. (on land), to keep our society going for 3 centuries. Fortunately we will never need the use of that much oil as alternative sources of energy are implemented. But until then, we need oil. We rely on petro-chemicals and bi-products for more than we can even imagine. Sure we can go with alternative fuel for our cars, but what about what we use in our everyday lives, i.e., clothing, homes, plastics, roads, playground equiptment, our i-pods and Androids, not to mention the computers we are using right now.

Mark in Santa Fe

[punky1965]

I believe that one of the main problems with the SPILL and any other US tragedy is the ECONOMY!!! So many of us have been laid off that it's stupid for major corporations expect a good job done from people who are untrained and paid less than those of us who were laid off to save $$$$$$$$$$$$. Really tragic when you look beyond the layoffs and see how many are also devastated and facing foreclosure because their income has stopped mid-stream!!!! What ever happened to the American Dream of taking responsibility and being paid well for ones efforts! I'm surprised more things aren't blowing up, killing people because of faulty equipment, and on and on and on......