Timely aid requests were made

To the editor:

Robert Lucas charges that state and local officials did not request assistance in a timely manner when Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29. Let's look at facts. National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield has stated that his office was "briefing [officials] way before landfall. It's not like it's a surprise. We had in the advisories that the levee could be topped."

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency on Aug. 26 and requested help from the Pentagon. On Aug. 27, Blanco asked the president to declare a federal state of emergency: "I have determined that this incident is beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments, and that supplementary federal assistance is necessary." On Aug. 27, Mississippi's governor followed suit -- all before Katrina had even made landfall. Yet on Sept. 1, the president explained that no one had expected the levees to break. On Sept. 2, with an estimated 80,000 people stranded in New Orleans alone -- 30,000 of them in the Superdome -- the president complimented FEMA's director on doing a great job.

State and local officials did ask for help. How many of us, if we had possessed the power, wouldn't have dispatched every available ship, soldier and relief worker to the Gulf? And why did our president fail to do just that?

IDA DOMAZLICKY, Cape Girardeau