Nevada to accept 800 Katrina refugees

Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005 | 9:56 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada will be accepting about 800 of the people left homeless by the Katrina hurricane and Gov. Kenny Guinn will declare a state of emergency to qualify for federal funds to handle the arrivals, officials said this morning.

Mike Hillerby, Guinn's chief of staff, said state and local officials worked through the weekend arranging for 500 of the homeless to live in the Las Vegas Valley and 300 in northern Nevada. Las Vegas will be ready Thursday to accept the people and Northern Nevada will be ready Wednesday.

State and local officials worked through the weekend setting up the program, Hillerby said.

State officials expect the refugees will stay in Nevada two or three months, Hillerby said. The declaration of a state of emergency will allow for federal agencies to cover the costs of expenses such as housing, food and clothing.

There will be medical care available and the children among the refugees will be enrolled in school, Hillerby said.

There will be a "one-stop shop" set up in Las Vegas for these people to get services, he said.

There were "quite a number of people" who made it on their own to Las Vegas because they had relatives or they worked for one of the destroyed or damaged casinos owned by Nevada corporations, Hillerby said. He said those people were looking for jobs in Nevada.

He said the Red Cross would be handling the donations being made to aid their people.

He said he expected Nevadans to "be very excited" about giving a helping hand to the 800 who have been left homeless.

Keith Rheault, state superintendent of public instruction, said he will be issuing school districts guidance on how to accept these children. He said they can be immediately enrolled in school without paperwork from their former schools. He said once the children are in class, the schools can then start trying to gather the information from the former schools.