President Declares Major Disaster For Georgia

The head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) yesterday announced that federal disaster aid has been made available for the State of Georgia to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area struck by severe storms, flooding, tornadoes, and straight-line winds beginning on March 26, 2009, and continuing.

Acting FEMA Administrator Nancy Ward said the assistance was authorized under a major disaster declaration issued for the state by President Obama. The President's action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Coffee, Colquitt, Decatur, Dougherty, Echols, Lanier, Lowndes, Miller, Mitchell, Pierce, Tift, Ware, Wheeler, and Worth counties.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Federal funding also is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms, flooding, tornadoes, and straight-line winds in the counties of Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Early, Echols, Grady, Lowndes, Mitchell, Montgomery, Pierce, Toombs, and Ware.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

Terry L. Quarles has been named as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area. Quarles said that additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

FEMA said that residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated counties can begin applying for assistance tomorrow by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA(3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice.

FEMA leads and supports the nation in a risk-based, comprehensive emergency management system of preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation, to reduce the loss of life and property and protect the nation from all hazards including natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

Georgia Whistleblower Gets Big Settlement in Suit Against Defense Contractor

/PRNewswire/ -- According to whistleblower attorney Lee Tarte Wallace, a defense contractor has agreed to pay $4,000,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by whistleblower Buster Roderigas of Winder, Georgia. The suit, which was brought on behalf of the U.S. government, alleges that L-3 Vertex Aerospace overbilled and submitted fraudulent invoices to the government.

Wallace, of The Wallace Law Firm, L.L.C., in Atlanta, Georgia, represented Roderigas. She says Roderigas will receive $720,000 of the $4,000,000, and L-3 will pay an additional $318,425 in attorneys' fees.

"With the economic problems we have now, whistleblower suits are critically important. The U.S. simply can't afford to lose taxpayer money to fraud," says Wallace.

Wallace filed Roderigas' suit three years ago. Roderigas had been the acting assistant site supervisor for L-3 in Taji, Iraq, where L-3 has a contract to repair and maintain Army helicopters.

According to the lawsuit, L-3 sent a memo to its Taji employees, instructing them to take an hour and a half for lunch, but to bill for an hour of that time. Roderigas says he was told the military had approved the practice.

The lawsuit states that in September 2005, Roderigas learned from senior-level L-3 employees that L-3 had been billing the government for the time its employees were spending at lunch, and that the military had never approved it. The senior-level employees thought the overbilling had gone on for only a few months, but Roderigas offered to help prove it had gone on longer.

"All he ever wanted was to get the money back to the taxpayer coffers, where it belonged," says Wallace. "He should have been treated like a hero. Instead, he went through hell."

Roderigas claims he was told that he would need to re-apply for his job, and that his site no longer had a bed for him. He was given 24 hours to report for a new job in Balad, Iraq, and then was put on a helicopter that flew past Balad into an airport that had no flights to Balad for several days. To try to meet L-3's deadline, Roderigas got a ride with a Blackwater security patrol on its way to another heliport. The convoy was ambushed on a back road, and the vehicle directly behind Mr. Roderigas' was hit and blown off the road. Roderigas says that when he finally did reach Balad, he was told the site had no job for him - and no bed.

Roderigas returned to the U.S. and filed suit against L-3 Vertex Aerospace, a subsidiary of L-3 Communications Corp. The suit was filed under the False Claims Act, which allows whistleblowers to sue on behalf of the United States when they learn about fraud against the government. Wallace says, "It's a win-win situation. The U.S. gets paid back, and people get encouraged to report fraud against the government."

"Buster is a real American hero," Wallace says. "He stood up for what was right, even though it cost him. Thanks to him, taxpayers are getting back a big chunk of money."

A veteran, Roderigas was shot down in a helicopter in the Vietnam War.

Roderigas took the job with L-3 in 2004, because he had a premonition he needed to be near his son, who was serving in Iraq as a Bradley Commander. In May 2005, Roderigas' son was seriously injured when a roadside bomb hit his Bradley. Roderigas was able to be at his son's side in a military hospital.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Winder, Georgia Public Housing Authority Settles Race Discrimination Housing Complaint With Justice Department

PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Justice Department today announced a settlement that, pending court approval, will require the Housing Authority for the City of Winder, Ga., (WHA), to pay up to $490,000 to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminating against African-American tenants and housing applicants.

The WHA is a public housing authority that provides housing for persons of low income in Barrow County, Ga. Currently, the WHA owns and maintains nine public housing complexes in the city of Winder, and the neighboring towns of Statham and Braselton, Ga.

The complaint, which was filed today in the U.S. District Court in Gainesville, Ga., in conjunction with the consent decree, alleges that the WHA maintained racially segregated housing by assigning applicants to vacant units based on race, rather than in order of their placement on WHA's waiting list. The complaint also alleges that the WHA subjected African-American tenants to inferior terms and conditions of rental.

"Every person, including individuals who seek public assistance, has a right to be free from racial discrimination in housing," said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "The Department will continue its vigorous enforcement of the Fair Housing Act."

Upon court approval, the consent decree will require the WHA to implement nondiscriminatory policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the Fair Housing Act. The WHA will also provide training on the nondiscriminatory policies and procedures and the Fair Housing Act to its employees responsible for making housing decisions. In addition, WHA will ensure that housing units are made available for rent on an equal basis with the same terms and conditions for all persons, regardless of race.

In addition, the WHA will establish a $450,000 fund to compensate individuals who suffered damages as a result of the WHA's conduct and will pay a $40,000 civil penalty to the United States.

Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination can call the Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743, e-mail the Justice Department at fairhousing@usdoj.gov, or contact the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development at 1-800-669-9777.

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial status. Since Jan. 1, 2001, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has filed 267 cases to enforce the Fair Housing Act, 77 of which have alleged discrimination based on race. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page