Gulf oil spill: Anger on Grand Isle after president leaves

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Grand Isle, La., residents lashed out Friday at a presidential visit they viewed as little more than a show.

Chris Santity, who works for the local gas company, said that at 7 a.m., he saw busloads of people heading to work on cleaning up the beach. They were gone by noon, he said.

‘They brought them in just to work the beach while the president was here,’ he said. ‘That’s a joke. The president’s a joke.’

With his eyes on Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, who was walking toward a helicopter on a baseball field, Santity added: ‘That’s going to be our next president right there.’
Margaret and Louis Guillot, of Thibodaux, La., woke up to a beach-side view of more than 100 people dressed in blue and red shirts and plastic white jumpsuits. White canopies were set up along the beach.

The couple, who were staying at a two-story camp called the Tackle Box in the middle of the island, said it looked like the workers were rushing to clean in time for the president’s arrival.

But around noon while barbecuing lunch, Margaret went upstairs to get a spatula.

She came downstairs and proclaimed with disappointment, ‘Louis, the tents are gone.’

Sitting on a porch swing, she recalled, ‘I thought, finally, the beach is going to be tended to.’

Margaret, who has been vacationing here since she was 7, said that if the workers are gone, the beach should be clean.

‘If there’s more work to be done why aren’t they continuously out there?’

Despite the oil, she convinced her husband to come out Thursday night to support the local economy.
‘If we only give them $20 this weekend, it’s $20 they wouldn’t have made,’ she said.

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the work shifts had to do with the heat, not the president’s schedule.

--Nicole Santa Cruz