[Dialogue] Katrina refugees - coming soon to a state near you

[jim rippey]

Janice, Jann, et al:  of interest re: your project hopes.  Note Red Cross cautions (and turf jealousy??)  down in the article.

Jim Rippey in Bellevue, NE

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Note: Mon a.m. 9/5/05, ABC showed Perez's plane on the ground loading 86 refugees.  They interviewed him and reported on the relief supplies that had been unloaded from the plane on its arrival.  Perez said he was prompted to act by the slow government response.

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Hurricane victims may be coming to San Diego, By: MARK WALKER, North County Times, Escondido, CA0903/05

The head of a local oil and gas exploration company is planning to bring more than 140 victims of Hurricane Katrina to San Diego on Sunday through a private relief effort he is bankrolling.

David Perez, chief operating officer and chairman of the board of San Diego-based Surge Global Energy, said he was arranging the evacuation flight without the sanction of any government or relief agency. If all goes well, Perez said, he might arrange for additional evacuation flights.

Perez was scheduled to leave San Diego for the Louisiana capital of Baton Rouge, La., late Friday night or early this morning.

On Friday evening he said he had chartered a Boeing 737 that would leave New Orleans on Sunday morning and arrive in San Diego by mid-afternoon.

The New Orleans airport reopened for humanitarian flights and the owner of a Carlsbad jet-leasing firm said arrangements for the charter had been confirmed.

"This is a humanitarian effort for a nightmare taking place right in front of me," Perez said. "If I can help make these people's lives better for one week or one month, that can make all the difference in the world."

The 42-year-old Carmel Valley resident said he did not have a clear idea of how the people he hopes to help will be selected. Law enforcement and relief agencies in Baton Rouge and New Orleans have been asked to assist in that process, as have Jewish relief organizations in that region, he said.

Perez said the effort could go beyond one planeload of homeless hurricane victims. His goal is to evacuate as many as 500 families or up to 2,000 people, he said.

The details on where those people will stay once they arrive in San Diego, and how they will be cared for, were still being worked out, according to Perez and others helping him.

"If I can help even one person, I don't care how much I have to spend," Perez said during a telephone interview from the San Diego offices of the public relations firm Porter Novelli. That firm represents Carlsbad-based Executive Jet Services, which is helping Perez with all flight details.

Earlier in the day, Perez ordered the purchase of food, water and medical supplies and was also underwriting the costs of Executive Jet Services delivering those goods to the Gulf Coast.

Executive Jet Services owner Tara Hollier said Perez spent well more than $100,000 buying relief supplies and arranging for the flights.

The company has been arranging relief flights into the Gulf Coast since Wednesday, Hollier said.

An American Red Cross official in San Diego said agency officials were not endorsing Perez's actions but understood his motivation.

"I commend Mr. Perez for putting his money where his mouth is and his impulse to help is admirable," said Red Cross spokeswoman Gayle Falkenthal. "He shares the feelings of so many people we talk to who see the news coverage and feel frustrated that people aren't getting help soon enough."

The Red Cross does not support private relief efforts that take people thousands of miles from their homes without clear-cut arrangements for their housing, employment and medical needs, Falkenthal said.

In this case, however, none of those concerns may be at issue. Falkenthal said Perez seems to have the financial resources, energy and initial planning to take of those he brings to the county without having to rely on local social service agencies.

"Generally, however, it is our hope that people would work with organizations such as ours that have the systems and resources in place," she said. "There are so many things to consider to make sure someone is taken care of and Mr. Perez may not be aware of all of those."

In 1986, Perez co-founded Cellular Solutions, a wireless software development company that was sold in 1990. He spent the rest of the decade starting other companies and working as a consultant.

In 2004, Perez was named chief operating officer of Surge Global Energy, which also has offices in Calgary, Canada, and is involved in oil and gas operations in Texas, Alberta, Canada, and in Argentina.

North County Times, Escondido, a Lee Enterprises paper serving north San Diego County and southwest Riverside County, CA Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker at nctimes.com.