|
| |
See other Commentaries
Katrina rescue efforts abused
The following is an email that was sent by a citizen
who's town (Baton Rouge) made an effort to assist the evacuees of Katrina. It is
self explanatory for the given situation but we are sure that it does not apply
to all evacuees.
http://wut2.com
In a message dated 9/20/2005 8:24:17 PM Central Standard Time,
*******@prodigy.net writes:
Those of us in La. know who screwed up this disaster. Our
Governor, the
levee board, the Corps of Engineers and the New Orleans Mayor are
primarily to blame, and lastly, FEMA.
By the way, things have improved significantly. We give credit to
our
armed forces who have taken the pressure off of local law enforcement
allowing them to regain control of our cities. I've often wondered
why New
Orleans police have a reputation for being tough, no nonsense guys -- I
now
understand.
The looting here has been bad. You won't see it on TV, since we're not
even close to being newsworthy considering all the deprivation, death and
suffering being reported. Our parish took in the first 600 evacuees, and put
them up in one of our brand new high schools located next to I-10. In l0
hours they had trashed the school, torn out urinals, ripped the bleachers
out of the gym and trashed the classrooms and computers. We moved them,
plus 600 more to a place across the Interstate at an expo center. By
Tuesday night, there were 3 car jackings and 3 armed robberies. So we
had
to call in our deputies, police and Nat'l Guard troops to guard the
evacuees. Most of our law enforcement had been down in NO working
the
rescue mission. The same stories apply to BR, only multiply the numbers 10
fold. My godson/nephew is the ******(position omitted) of the K-9
Department in Shreveport,
250 miles north of BR. He had been in NO working on the rescue till now,
except he has been called back to Shreveport tonight to protect against the
looting there. ******* (name omitted) works for a doctor in a clinic
next to our small
hospital in Gonzales. It's situated across the Interstate from the evacuee
center. At 11 AM yesterday (Thursday), the police locked down the hospital
and the clinic to protect them from looters. The clinic closed down at 2 PM
and the medical staff got escorts out of the vicinity.
The national news seems to carry a constant theme of Louisiana politicians
crying "shame, shame America". "Where's the
government?" It's the mantra de jour.
Our governor had the power to declare martial law and commandeer school
buses to evacuate the N.O. folks. She did not. Her news
conferences are unscheduled, unformatted ramblings, punctuated with tears and
calls for help and prayers......but not much information or direction.
She has been
noticeably absent from sight today since the President toured.
Maybe I
can't see the forest for the trees here, but I don't want any of you
"Americans out there" to accept any blame for the lack of
immediate
response when it was clearly the responsibility of local and state
government officials.
****** * **** ***
1614 LaSalle Parc
Baton Rouge, La. 70806
The
names and email address has been removed by the editorial staff of http://wut2.com
The amazing thing is this taking place in a city that has given refuge to
those in need.
Pass
this on.
|
