FOLEY, Alabama – Stacy Simmons is a single mother of two girls. She is self employed and desperate. “This is my reality. I have ten bills here. I’m losing everything, everything. ”
She was at the Feinberg meeting last week. “I raised up all my bills, all my disconnects. He said he wanted all my info personally. I made sure he got it before he left.”
Lee Hagan was also at that meeting. He owns the local radio station in Gulf Shores which saw advertising dollars disappear during the oil spill. “Our only source of income is advertising from the businesses that are in this area and as they suffer, we suffer and we’re all suffering,” he told Feinberg at the meeting.
Hagan’s claim was denied but he got a promise from Feinberg. “I will personally look at that information.”
Hagan handed over his claim to Feinberg right then and there. Seven days later, nothing has happened. It’s the same story for Stacy Simmons and that has her questioning why?
“It’s always going to be something to make us so desperate that we have no choice because he’s wanting everybody to take the cheapest way out,” she says.
With the help of Project Rebound and a local church, Simmons can hold the bill collectors off for a little while longer. She hopes Feinberg has finally gotten the message. “Stop making excuses. Do your job. Do what your getting paid to do. There are too many people struggling and it shouldn’t be this way.” At least for now, it is.
According to the latest figures from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, the number of people filing claims in Alabama stands at just under 70 thousand. More than 28 thousand claims have been paid in Alabama totaling 608 million dollars.
See video here: http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/feinberg-one-week-later-still-waiting/1204274/Jan-25-2011_5-54-pm/
