Base housing:Seabees bring in mold killers

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Posted on Tue, Sep. 20, 2005

M O R E N E W S F R O M

• DoD

• US News

GULFPORT | Seabees bring in mold killers

By MICHAEL NEWSOM

mmnewsom@...

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/12690896.htm

GULFPORT - The Seabees have hired contractors to attack mold in

base , and the executive officer said the belongings of those living

there will be protected from theft.

Cmdr. Rice, the executive officer at the Naval Construction

Battalion Center, said crews will come in and remove mold from the

walls of about 60 houses and the work will be monitored by Seabees

and civilian Department of Defense employees on the base, a move

that is necessary since many of those who occupy the houses are in

safe havens.

" We picked the trustworthy guys that we know we can trust to do

that. We are absolutely sensitive to the ownership of private

property, " he said.

Many of the Seabees housed on base were given what is referred to by

the Navy as safe haven, which means the military will allow any

personnel to stay in a safe area for up to 180 days with a housing

and meal stipend paid by the Navy.

Rice stressed that an inventory will be taken in the houses that

must have all items removed and that inventory would be checked upon

the completion of the work. He said Seabees will move furniture and

smaller items, but in some cases there could be an instance in which

the entire contents of a house would be moved by a moving company,

but he did not believe that would be the case.

He said the work on the mold was taken up by Kellog, Brown & Root,

which does most of their work. He said the firm would hire

subcontractors for specific jobs. He said if something was reported

missing, the owner of the home would have to file a report with the

appropriate government agency and the situation would be dealt with

on a case-by-case basis.

" We're just taking care of the Seabees. We care about their personal

effects. Our goal is to get them back into housing in about two

weeks. We are using every means to protect their belongings, " Rice

said.