FAIRHOPE — Gov. Bob Riley and Alabama National Guardsmen were at LuLu’s at Homeport Marina in Gulf Shores on Friday morning, but they weren’t there to sample owner Lucy Buffett’s famous L.A. Caviar or enjoy the restaurant’s sumptuous cheeseburgers made using grain-fed beef. Instead, they were there helping LuLu’s employees fill out claims forms that will be filed with BP in order to recoup money lost due to a drop in tourism.

Riley called out the National Guard troops earlier this week to go into affected Alabama communities and help residents apply to BP for compensation. Around 150 Guardsmen are bunking down in the Baldwin County Coliseum in Robertsdale, and are hitting the road with Alabama Emergency Management Agency officials each day for a month or more to assist Baldwin and Mobile county residents as they deal with the claims process.

“We know we have 17,000 condo units,” Riley told the troops on Tuesday. “But, we have just 28 claims to be paid.” Riley pointed out that only 70 charter boats have applied for aid, out of about 1,000.

Riley believes some think the process might be too cumbersome, and it will take too long to get help.

The claims teams will be at locations throughout the area setting up the claims process.

Claims offices are already in place at 1506 North Mackenzie St. (Highway 59), Suite 104 in Foley and at 24039 Perdido Beach Blvd. in Orange Beach.

Riley and Doug Suttles, BP chief operating officer for exploration and production, said the first check was not the only payment those making a claim will receive. Checks will be issued monthly, without the applicant having to file again.

“We have to get people to put a claim in,” said Suttles. “There is no cap on claims. We want to expedite the process.”

Riley and Suttles pointed out that while there have been reports of affected people having to bring in reams of documentation to prove their losses, a tax return or a wage statement might be enough to get a simple claim process moving. Checks for simple claims may be issued on the spot or within a day or two. Claimants have the option of having their check mailed to them or returning to the office to pick it up.

“More complex claims may take longer,” Suttles noted.

Eligibility and determination of payment of a claim will still be made by BP. The Alabama Claims Action Teams will assist businesses and residents here in filing the claims so they can be reviewed by BP as quickly as possible.

Riley warned those who wish to “game the system” will be prosecuted for fraudulent claims.

President Barack Obama this week directed National Incident Commander Adm. Thad Allen to meet with top BP officials to assert the administration’s oversight of BP’s claims process to ensure that every legitimate claim is honored and paid in an efficient manner.

Allen sent a letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward, expressing the American people’s demand for additional transparency into the claims process, including how it works and how quickly claims are being processed for both individuals and businesses impacted by the oil spill.

“BP, as a responsible party, is accountable for making the communities, individuals and business impacted by this spill whole again,” Allen said. “We need more detail and openness from BP to fulfill our oversight responsibilities to the American people and ensure that BP is meeting its commitment to restore the Gulf Coast.”

Meetings, including participation by NIC representatives and BP officials, will be held in each of the four impacted states through Sunday to ensure they are given the opportunity to provide their input into improving the claims process.

Allen voiced his concerns about a variety of claims issues, including delayed processing time for large-loss claims, claims pending with no action taken, payment calculations for individual loss of income claims (particularly for seasonal workers), translation of claims material and accessibility for the hearing impaired.

He directed BP to provide more information about the company’s plan for continuing to pay monthly loss of income claims, the mediation program BP is putting in place and their placement of coordinators in each state and how these liaisons will engage with local officials.

Obama administration officials say they will continue to hold BP and other companies responsible for the spill accountable for repairing the damage, and repaying Americans who’ve suffered a financial loss as a result. BP reports that 41,958 claims have been opened so far, from which more than $52.9 million have been disbursed. No claims have been denied to date, according to the company.

To file a claim, visit www.bp.com/claims or call BP at (800) 440-0858. Any claim that is denied by BP or not settled within 90 days of submission to the oil company may gain relief from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund through the National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC). The NPFC claims support number is (800) 280-7118.

Know your rights

The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce and the University of South Alabama Baldwin County are holding a special presentation by Frank Young of Slaughter & Haskel Attorneys at Law to provide an overview of your legal rights due to the oil spill. Young will review the process of how to file claims — how it works, why it works and documentation required.

The presentation will take place Friday, from 9 – 11 a.m., at the USABC Performance Center at the intersection of Summit Street and St. James Avenue in Fairhope. The event is open to the public.

Call Kathie Barton at 928-6387 for more information.

Pinch on schools

Alabama Superintendent of Education Joe Morton said the oil spill is impacting school funding. In a statement issued by his office on Thursday, Morton said, “The BP nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico is having and will continue to have a negative effect on the Education Trust Fund (ETF).” He noted the fund is comprised of 10 different taxes collected at the state level, and is dedicated to funding public education from pre-kindergarten through medical school.

The primary taxes are personal and corporate income taxes, a 4-cent statewide sales tax and a utility tax. Each has its own unique impact on the ETF, according to Morton, and when one or more are reduced, there are less accumulated tax receipts to fund education in the state.

“As tourism diminishes along Alabama’s Gulf Coast, as the seafood industry is crippled due to the no-fishing areas of the Gulf of Mexico, as oyster and shrimping areas are decimated by the oil spill, tax receipts to the ETF will suffer,” he said.

Morton said he will enlist economic experts outside of the state education department to crunch numbers and come up with a reliable model of how much funding might be lost, then send BP a bill. If the oil company turns down the claim, he said he would “institute a court action against BP on behalf of the 745,046 school-aged students in Alabama’s public schools to ensure all lost tax receipts are recovered and placed properly in the Education Trust Fund of Alabama as quickly as possible.”

Additional protection for Mobile Bay

Gov. Riley announced Wednesday that a mile-wide breach on the west end of Dauphin Island (known as the Katrina Cut) will be filled in to protect Mobile Bay and the Mississippi Sound. BP has agreed to cover the project’s $15 million price tag.

“Filling in Katrina Cut is critical and necessary as a protective measure,” said Riley. ”This gap right now does nothing but provide an opening for the oil to flow into some of our most sensitive estuaries, marshland and oyster beds. We won’t leave these areas exposed to oil when we can prevent it.”

The gap on the west end of Dauphin Island created by hurricane wave action in 2005. Riley said. “We’re going to return it to the state it was prior to Hurricane Katrina.”

The project has already been bid, and the contract requires the work to be completed in less than 80 days. Work will begin immediately upon Coast Guard approval.

Close to home

The State of Alabama Fishery Closure, issued by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, covers all Gulf of Mexico waters from the Florida state line west to the Mississippi state line. In conjunction with the Gulf closures, an additional fishing ban is in effect inland from Mobile Ship Channel marker No. 22 to Little Point Clear, and east of the channel. A closure map can be found at www.outdooralabama.com.

The Alabama Department of Public Health has expanded the swimming advisories in Bayou St. John, Terry Cove, Cotton Bayou, Old River and in Alabama waters west of the Dauphin Island Bridge.

The city of Fairhope continues the execution of its booming strategy, with the completion Wednesday of 11,000 feet of containment boom deployment.

The city’s contractor is working toward the completion of an additional 10, 500 feet running north, from the Pier Street area to the north Fairhope corporate limits.

BP Contractors continue their maintenance activities on existing deployed boom. Their response forces have been activated as well.

The city has been advised that BP will boom in triple layers along the Eastern Shore, from Point Clear north to Interstate 10.

The Pier Street public access ramp remains closed.

Spanish Fort officials continue to implement wet-staging of boom along four key areas of the region in anticipation of potential landfall. The plan targets a bulkhead just east of the Tensaw River; an area referred to as the Crossiver, where Interstate 10 crosses over the Causeway; an Apalachee River inlet; and a portion of a Blakeley River inlet.

The efforts are part of the state-approved response plan and will be funded with $500,000 of the $25 million BP allocated for oil spill response in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

n Daphne, Emergency Management Coordinator Chip Martin said that training for city workers in preparation for a possible cleanup was continuing, and that oil spill developments were being closely monitored.

Baldwin People Editor Donna Riley-Lein and Staff Writers Kelli M. Dugan and Simon Duffy contributed to this report.