Camp Gruber population drops, first lady to visit

Monday, September 19th 2005, 4:08 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ As first lady Kim Henry prepared to deliver toys to children of Hurricane Katrina evacuees at Camp Gruber, the number of Louisiana citizens housed at the camp continued to plunge.

Lt. Col. Ron Ragland, the camp's commander, said a bed count showed 352 evacuees Monday morning, down from 564 people who were in the barracks on Friday.

``Things are getting pretty quiet around here,'' said Tulsa chapter Red Cross spokesman Nellie Kelley, who guessed the number of children at the camp was well under 100.

The first lady will deliver toys collected during the annual Septemberfest held on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion 10 days ago.

She also is scheduled to tour a Head Start program set up at the Oklahoma National Guard camp by the Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness. Mrs. Henry, a longtime proponent of early childhood education, is a board member of the organization.

Ragland said he expects the evacuee population at the camp to continue to drop as more people find apartments and make other living arrangements at nearby Muskogee, at Tulsa and other locations.

He said he understood officials in Tahlequah were working to find housing for evacuee families who have children attending high school in that city.

Eventually, he said, a point will come where the remaining evacuees ``have no place to go'' and a decision will have to be made on whether to leave them at Gruber or transfer them to other Red Cross shelters.

``I know the Red Cross and other agencies are working to try to find more suitable housing,'' Ragland said. ``Until the governor tells us to stand down, Gruber itself will be in full operation.''

He said Gov. Brad Henry told officials to prepare to serve evacuees for Gruber for several months when the decision was made to use the camp for a shelter.