According to plan, as Tropical Storm Bonnie gets uncomfortably close. From Unified Incident Command:

The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Buras, LA, which is providing medical care to oiled wildlife, will relocate to a larger facility in Hammond, LA early Friday morning. The transport will occur overnight in order to minimize stress on the animals.

The current Fort Jackson Bird Rehabilitation Facility is located in a hurricane evacuation zone and subject to damage from tropical storms and hurricanes. Moving the facility to the Hammond site eliminates the risk of evacuation in the event of a storm and reduces stress and potential loss of life of the birds.

Initially, the Hammond Bird Rehabilitation Facility will be capable of handling approximately 1,000 birds. Capacity could increase to as many as 2,000 to 3,000 birds.

When it was announced earlier this month that the move was imminent, I was writing a story (”The Volunteers of BP’s America“) about volunteering in Port Sulphur as birds came in and were sent to Fort Jackson, where they’re cleaned, or, if they’re dead, catalogued. Now, instead of a 20-minute drive to the Buras facility, the animals that come to Plaquemines will have to make a two-hour trip to Hammond:

Tom Buckley with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says he doesn’t anticipate any problems relocating that far from the docks.

“It’s obviously a little bit further away,” he says. “Right now it’s in the No. 1 top hurricane evacuation zone, so moving it to Hammond will get it out of that evacuation area, and it’ll be a stable, more secure facility.”

The new facility will have climate-controlled housing, more space for a larger volume of birds, and “state-of-the-art equipment,” Buckley says, “rather than the rubber buckets and the other things (wildlife handlers) have been forced to use — but which they’ve used excellently. But this’ll be better and more efficient for them, and I’m sure for the birds, too.”

Pickup sites in Plaquemines Parish, like the one at the marina in Port Sulphur, will remain in use. “Plaquemines Parish will continue to be an important location for receiving, stabilizing, and transporting animals from impacted areas,” the Unified Command release said. Wildlife branch director Rhonda Murgatroyd said the branch “is grateful to Plaquemines Parish officials and residents for their assistance, and we appreciate their continued support as we move.”

But that distance could mean rescued birds may sit in oil for several hours before getting cleaned. To Port Sulphur, VOO carrying oiled birds navigate a network of bayous and inlets bleeding into the Gulf — a trip that already takes more than an hour.

On July 7, Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nungesser said moving the facility is “unthinkable.” He doesn’t understand why it’s moving, and why there won’t be any cleaning operations near the parish. “If they would embrace more volunteers and people from all over the country to help, a greater volume of these birds would be cleaned at a faster rate,” Nungesser said.

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Many of you know Chef Who Dat (note: click here for essential viewing) and the cavalcade of characters that inhabit section 641 of the Superdome. Here’s the Chef before last season’s Monday Night game versus Atlanta:

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Like many (if not all) stadium secions, the season-ticket holding patrons at “Cafe 641″ have developed a tight-knit community that’s led to silliness, some bike crawls, and now, a cancer fundraiser with a twist. Per the e-mail I received today:

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A Cafe 641 patron and season-ticket holder, Sean Niehus, is raising money for St. Baldrick’s, a foundation that raises money for children’s cancer research. Sean has agreed to shave his head at the annual St. Baldrick’s shave-a-thon AND to grow a mustache. To help him raise money, we’re auctioning off a pair of tickets to the 2010 Saints/Bucs game in Section 641, Row 40, Seats 13-14.

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I like how not only is Niehus shaving his head, but that he’s also growing a mustache in the tradition of Cafe 641’s Patron Saint. Check out his picture, going from long blonde hair to a shaved head and a mustache would be a stark transformation. Gotta give to a guy willing to do that for a good cause.

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Bid’s can be made on the tickets on eBay here or you can donate directly to St. Baldricks by clicking here. And yes, that is Chef Who Dat in a wedding dress on that eBay listing. Not sure how that will help with the bidding.

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Photograph by Greg Rhoades

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OK, I know I promised to be done with the VooDoo posts but I forgot about this one and, seeing as how it’s an ongoing story, it doesn’t really count.

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Anyways, if you know anything about brass band music in this city you should know that Derrick Tabb, the snare drummer for Rebirth, was featured on CNN’s Heroes segment for his Roots of Music foundation. The kids that Tabb has worked with over the years were out in full force at VooDoo, performing every day of the event and even finding time to do some marching.

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If you were wondering who all those people with blue signs were that said “Vote Derrick Tabb” and maybe dismissed it as some politician, well, shame on you. This is to make Tabb CNN’s Hero of the Year and everyone should cast their vote immediately. You can vote as many times as you want until 6 a.m. on Thursday November 19. There will also be a tribute to all the Heroes on CNN on Thanksgiving night.

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Rock the vote, New Orleans.

Derrick Tabb, founder of The Roots of Music — a music education program for middle school students in New Orleans — has been nominated as one of 10 nominees for CNN’s Hero of the Year Award. Tabb, who is also snare drummer for the Rebirth Brass Band, will receive $25,000 as part of the nomination. On November 26, CNN will broadcast “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,” and as part of the celebration, the hero of the year will be announced, who will receive an additional $100,000.

In a recent interview with CNN’s Larry King, Tabb said the program has 103 participants and another 400 kids on a waiting list. If you would like to cast your vote for Tabb, visit this site.