I visited the Robert E. Lee Statue at Johnson Bayou Sunday, Jan. 8, for the first time since Hurricane Rita. It was at ground zero, maybe a hundred yards from the Gulf of Mexico where the hurricane first came ashore. I could detect no damage at all to the statue, which includes a granite base and a bronze statue of Lee. The flag ploe behind it, which I would guess is 30 feet high, was rusty all the way to the top. I would take that as an indication the storm surge went at least that high, well over the statue, which with base I could guess to be about 10 feet high. Johnson Bayou High School was gutted, much like the pictures I've seen of the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library at Biloxi. Nearby Holly Beach was 100 percent destroyed. I didn't see a single building standing. But I did see a Confederate battleflag flying.