Times Picayune: Woman begins walk from New Orleans to Washington for victims of oil disaster

Woman begins walk to Washington for oil spill victims, The Times-Picayune, March 13, 2011:

Not long after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, Cherri Foytlin asked President Barack Obama on CNN to come down to New Orleans and talk to her, so she could show him the damage that had been done, both environmentally and to her own health. When he didn't make that visit, she decided she would take matters into her own hands and travel to the White House -- on foot.
Eliot Kameniitz/The Times-PicayuneCherri Foytlin heads off down Louisia Street near Mirabeau on a 31-day walk to the White House on Sunday.

Foytlin began her 1,243-mile walk from New Orleans on Sunday morning with eight others who believe in her cause. It's scheduled to stretch over 31 days, and others have pledged to join her on her walk when she arrives in their cities. Others have agreed to  meet her in D.C.

The Rayne resident and her husband, Forest Foytlin, said their family -- including six children -- is approaching financial ruin as he continues to look for work in Gulf oil fields.

She said blood tests show that she has elevated levels of toxins that can be found in crude oil, and, like many residents of the oil and fishing towns in south Louisiana, Cherri Foytlin believes the nation and its political leaders aren't paying enough attention to a struggling region in the aftermath of the spill. ...

Read the report here.