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Show DAILY HERALD Thunday. August 23, 2007 Katrina Cash Continued from CS Help did come in the first few weeks and months, in the form of workers from Honduras and Mexico who arrived m New Orleans to work in the rebuilding. Thank God for than, they were the work force for many, many months, Thompson said. He recalled that a group r- - s , : "' vyV:. i J ;rc:v I For gas stations, soaring prices have magnified the percecard costs and ntage-based Continued from CS caused mare and more cusFrancisco Galicia, the mantomers to pay with plastic. "Whats happened is a ager of that Fountain Valley Shell, said he had been offerdoublewhammy," said David Robertson, publisher of the ing cash discounts of 4 to 6 cents a gallon for six months. Nilson Report, a credit indusCustomers had questions at try newsletter. Members of the conve-first, Galicia said, but now nience store group, which has "they understand why Im sued credit card companies over the fees, paid (6.6 billion ing-r in credit card fees F vary, but on a typical card sale, Galidas staand booked (4 8 billion in tion pays 10 cents phis 2 per-- . profits, Lenard said. cent of the purchase price to "The credit card companies the credit aid company. made more at our stares than Customers pay too. In 2006, our store owners," he said, motorists whether they noting that most of the profit used cash, credit or debit ... from gasoline goes to the recards paid an average of. . finers rather than service stations and convenience stores. 42 cents a gallon more because of credit card fees, said Dealers say the problem . is at its worst in California, Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of where gas prices have been Convenience Stores, which higher for longer and lengthy commutes mean drivers fill up represents outlets that sell about 80 percent of U.S. fuel frequently. Fees have been a peren- Its not uncommon for 70 nial sore point with all retail-- ' percent to 90 percent of a serers. Complaints have grown vice stations sales to be made louder because money col- yia credit card. lected through card fees has Oil companies have played a more than doubled since 2001, role too. Chevron Corp., Exx- -' and rewards programs have on Mobil Gorp GonocoPMl-lip- s convinced people to use their and others have offered cards for everyday purchases. rebates and aggressively pro r J(f do-ingi- " they were I eyed and full of generosity" also came to help. The first thing to be done was kffl the mold, a process that took weeks. Then the kitchen had to be gutted, a job done in November, and the walls left open for two more ' months to be sure they were College miuaeaanocifdPwM Robert Thompson computer at hit Fair Grinds coffee house in Neto Orleans.: ' was no general contractor around and so many tasks of rebuilding had to wait because we could only get one thing done at a time." StiD, the Thompsons got the coffee house going again despite the lack of a kitchen. In January 2006, they started serving free coffee an the pa- - ; tio, and also let people without water take showers on the undamaged top floor of the buikj-inThe Fair Grinds became a community center where people would gather, bring fend, exchange items like dothing, books and furniture, and see what help they could give to or receive from others, And, with no mail or regular newspaper delivery, It was a place to get . . g. . tafa with a customer os he works on his .. A1 around the Fair Grinds, the rebuilding was very slow as weU. "It wu very primitive, like Robinson Qrusoe we really were kind of scabbing together our existence at that paint, Thompson said. IW tins past June, the cof-fee house was finally ready to reopen as a business. Thompson was able to find workers, because working in a coffee house appeals to people. There are still many other loose ends before the rebuilding is com- - ' piete, but we'!! work them through," Thompson said. On the phis side, he's made improvements to the coffee house from what it was before ' Katrina. . New Orleans itself , of .. course, is still far from recovered. Thompson noted, for example, that he gets mail only three times a week. "Those are the kinds of frustrations we find ourselves with, he said. .. ; Myer also had to rebuild his business, but while there was heavy damage to his office in Gulfport, Miss., the bigger problem he had to deal with was the disappearance of his in the eiarly recovery from the storm. He strapped gas cans to the roof of his SUV and drove to Pensacola, Fla, to get fuel that enabled him to keep his business mobile. It took six months before the mail was delivered, but its still not back tonormaL By eight months after Ka-trine, Myer felt like Ms business had recovered. And because he is in the staffing industry, " clients. and the devastated Gulf Coast is still rebuilding, hes had huge Myer, who at the time1 owned Express Rssonnd demand for Ms services. The staffing franchises in Gulfport storm actually has enabled his and Baton Rouge, Ul, said business to expand; hes opened an office in Hattiesburg, Miss., the Gulfport office had water and weVe had tremendous inside, but it wasn't unusable, However, he said, we were growth in our Gulfport office ' annihilated from the standpoint were part normal. of our customer base Around him, though, along In the week before Katrina,-- , the Gulf Coast, there is still Continued froni C6 ' he billed 39 clients; the week widespread evidence of the oral arguments will be heard. after, just five. He had to disaster, and reminders that The court didn't set a specific quickly go out and find busiMyers company was among date far that hearing, and it the more fortunate ones. ness, and recalled, The only "You have cement slabs wasn't clear how soon a ruling vay I could literally recruit would come after that. thriving businesses once people was talking to people : The court said Nacchio's at who unfortunately were liter- -. were, he said. ally on the street, with no job, and no place to five. So Myer operated for weeks out of Ms sport utility vehicle not only because of the damage to his off ice, but also because it was the best way Treatment by allergy to be as visible as possible. He set up signs around the vehicle specialists for with jobs that were available, children and adults with and took applications right asthma and allergies to: then and there. Eventually, he switched to a motor home. PLANT POLtENS ' Like Thompson, Myer has had to deal with a broken FOODS infrastructure. Gasoline, for PETS ; example, was in short Supply . . . . . : . . : . a discount." Switching to cash isn't for everyone.ua cash discount .. . e. information. ns last-yea- s completely mold-freBut Thompson noted there , moted branded credit cards to lock in loyalty. Travis Plunkett, legal director at the Consumer Federation of America, likes the trend toward cash mark-dowfor fueL "It is something that dealers should be freely allowed to pursue, with no coercion on the part of the payment systems, Plunkett said. Customers who don't use a credit card should have the opportunity of isn't steep enough, Lenard . said, "one of the challenges is that a customer might say, Big deaL I get more than that in rewards.'" . And dealers risk alienating their credit card customers, who tend to be more loyal than discount seekers. "The marketer thinks, I'm going to be nice to you. I'm going to give you a discount for paying cadi,' and the con- - ' ' sumer thinks, Hey, they're .. penalizing me when I want to use my credit card, said Tom Robinson, chief executive' of Robinson Oil Corp., owner .. of Rotten Robbie gas stations, which don't offer cash mark-down-s. "It's interesting how often that backfires." . . Nacchio . r . . isp file their appeal by Oct. 9 and the government must respond by Nov. 9. Nac-- . chio could also choose to file a response to that by Nov. 20. ' The judges warned that under the expedited schedule,' any request by either side far more time "will be viewed with disfavor." torneys must . . - Nacchio was charged with 42 counts of insider trading for selling stock at a time . when Qwert managers were ' warning the company faced financial risks because R was ' relying on money from one- - . time sales to meet revenue ; targets. The information was concealed from invertors. . . wmm . ... Si INSECT VENOM. 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