Mother Nature at it again

I see where the Cardinals and Royals are donating $25,000 each to the relief efforts, and the Cardinals Double-A team in Springfield is giving $25,000, too. NASCAR's Jamie McMurray and sponsor Bass Pro Shops are sending trailers full of relief supplies to the area.

And the Chiefs are giving $35,000 and are conducting a bottled water drive.

I'm trying not to be cynical, but should those teams (not sure the value of the relief that McMurray is arranging) be digging a little bit deeper?

Cardinals=25K
Royals=25K
Cards Double-A team=25K
Chiefs=35K and a bottled water drive
Rams=nothing so far.

That 110K will do zilch when we're talking about the problems Joplin is facing now.

All of these teams (except maybe the minor league one) got mucho taxpayer funds for their new stadiums or renovations. I think it's fair for each of these teams to hit the low 6 figures at a minimum. if not up around the 250K neighborhood. And if these NFL players want to get more fans on their sides during the lockout, bring some buses full of them down to help with the search-and-rescue, and cleanup efforts.

 

I think the Double-A Cards are also going to do some sort of collection during their next homestand. Also, the Double-A Cards are owned by the big birds, so it's really the organization giving $50,000 total.

On the other side of the donations coin, Walmart announced it would be donating $1 million.

As far as S&R goes, right now they're asking people who aren't trained first responders or medical personal to stay the hell out of Joplin. I assume they'll be asking for normal people to clean up debris/help at shelters/do whatever in the next week or so, but right now they want a select group of people who really knows what they're doing to be the S&R team. They've got two different volunteer sign up lists online - one for the medical personnel and one for everyone else.

 

Try harder.

If more people had the attitude of you, they'd give diddly squat rather than face the hassle.

 

Gonna be a bad day in Oklahoma today.

 

Joplin right on the edge of the pink.

 

So many people have donated blood at North Park Mall that they've actually asked people to stop coming in because they're at the max storage capacity and any extra would go bad before it could be used.

The Joplin Outback also called the Zimmer stations and said they'll be handing out hamburgers and chicken sandwiches until the supply is gone. They plan to open for regular business at 4, serving bottled water and canned soda because of the boil order, because "It's been a while since people have had a hot meal."

Back where I live, I went to a sandwich shop to pick up an order. Just after I came in a nurse who had been commuting to work at St. John's came in to get something. She arrived in Joplin at 6:10 Sunday and went to work in triage. She worked all but 6 hours of the the previous 36 before the hour-plus drive home. She has no idea when or where she'll next work. She hadn't seen any TV coverage and didn't know yet that St. John's has pretty much become the icon of the tornado.

 

Jamie McMurray is from Joplin, but it sounds like his family lives elsewhere now. I imagine he has a lot of old friends and acquaintances in Joplin, and I imagine the other drivers will contribute some cash.

 

A mind-numbing 62 counties in Kansas are in a Tornado Watch right now.

 

Tornado on the ground near OKC.

 

KFOR from OKC almost had a chaser killed on live-streaming video. A telephone pole snapped and flew in front of the car as they were about a quarter mile from a tornado.

Edit: Pole, not poll. Stupid auto-predicting iPhone typing.

 

Was watching that live and saw it fly over the vehicle. Unreal.

 

OKC is now bracketed. One on the ground to the north, one on the ground to the south. TWC is saying a third is close to developing.