Mailman

Karl "The Mailman" Malone tried to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi with debris removal. Then FEMA got involved. Read the rest of the story.

When former Utah Jazz all-star Karl Malone brought his logging company in Arkansas into Pascagoula, Miss. to clear out debris left behind by Hurricane Katrina, his team was met by a brick wall named Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and orange cones nicknamed the Army Corps of Engineers. Both said Malone wasn't authorized to bring his machinery into the area to clear private property.

Bob Anderson, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, said FEMA and the corps by law could only allow approved contractors to clear debris and that only government agencies could work on ''public rights of way.''

The Mailman wasn't trying to hear it.

''There was a lot of red tape, and I ain't got time for that,'' he told AP. ''I found out that if you're going to do something good, just go ahead and do it. Once I get in my machine, no one is going to get me out. We just said 'the hell with it.' FEMA didn't approve, but we did it for the people.''

The federal government is here to help. God help us all.

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In a related story, well sort of in that it involves mailmen of another sort, the main New Orleans mail processing and distribution center opens today.