From The Star Telegram
By Jack Douglas Jr.

Warren Jenkins feels the stares and senses the suspicion when a Texan learns he is a Hurricane Katrina evacuee. That’s when he wants to shout that he is not a criminal or a welfare moocher, but simply a Louisiana native who, like hundreds of thousands of others, has lost everything and is now in Texas trying to pick up the pieces of his life.

Since as many as 500,000 Katrina evacuees poured into Texas — many of them poor, sick and elderly — calls for police service have increased in host cities, emergency rooms have become busier, public school campuses have become rowdier and welfare resources have been strained, state officials say.

They predict the state will spend more than $121 million this fiscal year, with the federal government kicking in another $646.1 million, to care for the special needs of the young, the old and the ailing among the displaced hurricane victims still in Texas, and likely to stay.

Another $230 million is expected to be spent this fiscal year for the nearly 39,000 Katrina students enrolled in Texas schools, with the hope, officials say, that much of the cost will be reimbursed by the federal government.

But some Houston residents say they are growing uneasy about their “guests,” following a trail of hotel rooms left ransacked by evacuees and as Houston experiences a sharp jump in its homicide rate, with at least 33 Katrina refugees being involved in 25 killings in that city.

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