KEEPING OUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT

I'm guessing that this should be Sports Illustrated's "This Week's Sign That the Apocalypse Is Near"


Football Forces Evacuees Out

From Tribune news services: Tribune staff reporters Angela Rozas and Charles Storch

September 1, 2005

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- First it was Hurricane Katrina chasing them away. Now it's the fans of the Miami Hurricanes. Hundreds of storm refugees are being evicted from Tallahassee hotels to accommodate football fans coming to town for the Miami-Florida State game Monday night.

"There is absolutely no compassion here whatsoever," Lynne Bernard wrote on a bulletin board on the Web site of The Times-Picayune of New Orleans. "The Hampton Inn in Tallahassee is pretty much throwing us out because of a football game."

A message left for the manager at the Hampton Inn was not returned, but other hoteliers said there was little they could do. At the Courtyard Marriott near the Capitol, evacuees were taking up 15 of the hotel's 154 rooms on Wednesday. A Quality Inn had several dozen of its 90 rooms occupied by storm refugees.

"This weekend has been booked for a couple of months," said Antwan Hinkle, the Quality Inn's front desk manager. He said people who have planned trips for months would not take it well if they were told just days before the game that the hotel could not provide rooms.

Christian Heritage Church announced plans to open its doors for as many as 200 refugees for four nights starting Friday then began referring people to the local chapter of the American Red Cross, which is planning to open shelters for 3,000."When Miami fans come in, it pretty much takes over Tallahassee," said Cheryl Everett, a church volunteer.