DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones said poor planning and management prompted him to send the Red Cross a letter threatening to remove them from the center by 5 p.m. Monday unless improvements were made. He said Atlanta chapter director Tim English never met with him to discuss the problems.

In the four days the agency's DeKalb center was open, it served roughly 2,500 families and dispensed $2.4 million in financial aid, but Jones said overwhelmed volunteers weren't prepared to deal with the crush of victims looking for help.

``I was tired of seeing them treated like cattle and not like American citizens,'' Jones said.

The Red Cross said it would offer to send victims seeking long-term shelter to a relief center in nearby Gwinnett County. The agency will also provide transportation from the DeKalb center in the next two days, said Red Cross spokeswoman Sherry Nicholson.

``We were invited guests,'' she said. ``It's his operation, not ours.''

Jones said he saw week-old babies and elderly evacuees waiting for hours in lines and volunteers ill-equipped to handle the hundreds of victims seeking help. Hundreds seeking FEMA checks were turned away and many others were given debit cards that wouldn't work, Jones said. In some cases, he saw exasperated volunteers walking off the job.

``The same frustration the evacuees are receiving, we're receiving,'' Jones said.

``Everybody's been walking away with a bad taste in their mouth because of the Red Cross,'' he said. ``I'm not saying that represents the Red Cross internationally, but it's what we've been seeing here locally in metro Atlanta.''

DeKalb opened its own center at the same location in Lithonia, about 20 miles east of Atlanta. The center will be a one-stop shop to help victims find housing, register for school, seek medical attention and apply for unemployment relief, Jones said.

English did not immediately return messages on Monday. Jones appeared on several TV stations to leave messages on English's cell phone seeking a meeting.

In a statement, the Atlanta chapter of the Red Cross said it is ``comfortable'' consolidating services to two facilities because Georgia aid centers have seen a decline in the number of Katrina evacuees.

The statement also noted that the agency helped nearly 1,000 residents in the past year who were displaced by fire or other disaster.

In an afternoon news conference Red Cross officials told reporters Vernon Jones had asked for money from the Red Cross to rent the space.

Jones issued an agry rebuttal. "The American Red Cross said that DeKalb County only wanted money in order for them to remain at the DeKalb County Relief Services Center. This is completely false. What DeKalb County has consistently asked for is what the victims deserve: a high level of customer service, factual information, respect and to primarily honor their financial commitment to our fellow Americans. We are disappointed that the American Red Cross never negotiated with us in good faith"

The Red Cross has provided about $36 million in financial aid to more than 36,000 families that fled to Georgia.

Associated Press Writer Doug Gross in Atlanta contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)