This is very disturbing

[lsbets]

I alluded to this in another post a few days ago, and now the NY Times has started to pick up on it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/10/national/nationalspecial/10emt.html

The sherrif's department in Gretna Parrish blocked the bridge leading out of NO and would not allow people to walk out of the city. They stopped people from escaping the SUperdomw and convention center. The fired shots over the heads of the evacuees to get them to turn around. Officials in Gretna Parrish told folks they didn't want another Superdome.

With all the race baiting that has gone on after the storm, this seems to me to be real racism. The white folks in Gretna parrish didn't want to let the black looters from NO into their city. This is really disgusting.

[Tom]

Sec, Ljb.......?

How will this be Bush's fault?

So no wwe know what the cops who weren't LOOTING were doing!

What a sorry city.

[schweitz]

Being pretty familiar with NO, I was wondering why the people at the convention center didn't just walk across the Mississippi Bridge to Gretna. Now I know.

[Secretariat]

Sec, Ljb.......?

How will this be Bush's fault?

So no wwe know what the cops who weren't LOOTING were doing!

What a sorry city.

This isn't Bush's fault. I had no qualms with Bush on the evacuation as I stated over and over. My qualms with Bush was his tremendously slow response to the aftermath. I keep posting that, but people hear what they want to hear.

i do have a question for native New Orleans people. Are are the Parishes part of the city, OR are they independent suburbs? Pretty shameful report.

[Tom]

So how is that this story was missed by all those cameras in the area?:confused:

[lsbets]

Gretna Parish is a seperate entity, not a part of the City.

I think I remember Geraldo mentioning that they folks were not allowed to walk out, but it didn't start getting covergage until people talked about the police shooting over their heads to stay in the city.

[doophus]

Gretna is the parish (county) seat of Jefferson Parish, and it sits at one end of a Miss River Bridge while the Superdome sits at the other end of same bridge. Ramps and bridge may equal 2 miles in length from Dome into downtown Gretna.

I, too, heard Geraldo's remarks, but I didn't associate them with Gretna but with Metairie and I knew that walking to Metairie via I-10 westbound wasn't possible due to high water in multiple areas.

No local reporting on this episode to date, and I would be surprised if this episode actually happened. The Jefferson Parish sheriff is a Chinese-American who has been in office since 1979. Sheriff Lee is a Democrat in a heavily Republican parish. See his bio below.

http://www.jpso.com/lee.htm

[schweitz]

Doophus--I hope you are right and it didn't happen. I can say that if I was at either the Superdome or convention center I would be walking across that bridge.

[lsbets]

Doophus,

I will admit we do not know the whole story of the Gretna bridge. But, here is a link to video of first Geraldo and then Shepard Smith. Shep specifically talks about the checkpoint at the Gretna bridge and then turning people around and sending them back into NO:

http://homepage.mac.com/mkoldys/iblog/C168863457/E20050902214254/index.html

[toetoe]

Isbets,

I don't want looters of any hue in my neighborhood. Are you saying they overreacted?

[lsbets]

I'm saying that the vast majority of people stuck in NO were not looters.

[Kreed]

Calling them looters is wrong; they are neglected citizens driven to loot.
They probably never looted before. This disaster was mismanaged totally
and it was that breakdown that caused them to loot. In fact, I hope there's
a class action suit against both the State & Feds by these innocent neglected
citizens.

[JustRalph]

Calling them looters is wrong; they are neglected citizens driven to loot.
They probably never looted before. This disaster was mismanaged totally
and it was that breakdown that caused them to loot. In fact, I hope there's
a class action suit against both the State & Feds by these innocent neglected
citizens.

typical! being poor doesn't automatically make you turn to looting...........Give me a break......neglected citizens......now that is funny........

[doophus]

Calling them looters is wrong; they are neglected citizens driven to loot. They probably never looted before. This disaster was mismanaged totally
and it was that breakdown that caused them to loot. In fact, I hope there's a class action suit against both the State & Feds by these innocent neglected citizens.Which leads us to the murderers at the Superdome and the Convention Center and those who attempted to murder but failed due to their poor marksmanship.......I suppose, as per the above, that.......

Calling them murderers is wrong; they are neglected citizens driven to murder. They probably never murdered before. This disaster was mismanaged totally and it was that breakdown that caused them to murder. In fact, I hope there's a class action suit against both the State & Feds by these innocent neglected murderers.

BTW, according to my sources, not even ONE of the refugee's pointed a finger at a lawbreaker, looter or murderer. WHAT A GREAT BUNCH OF CITIZENS!

Dammit, Derek, get real!

[Suff]

When we saw atrocities at Abu Garib and GITMO... the main point in response to these crimes was


"Its a tiny Percentage of the great men and women serving our country".

New Orleans has 1.5 million people. 147 of them have been arrested for crimes. I would submit... On average New Orleans have a similiar rate of morality as the US Military. Beause looting , raping and murder were done by a tiny percentage of the citizens serving thier community.

[doophus]

Doophus,

I will admit we do not know the whole story of the Gretna bridge. But, here is a link to video of first Geraldo and then Shepard Smith. Shep specifically talks about the checkpoint at the Gretna bridge and then turning people around and sending them back into NO:

http://homepage.mac.com/mkoldys/iblog/C168863457/E20050902214254/index.htmlAmong those I've asked about this episode, most are aware of Geraldo's report, but they say they haven't seen any local reporting of same. (4 local TV stations; 2 daily papers)

I've asked more than a few folks. I'm beginning to wonder if Geraldo might be guilty of a little sensationalism. ;)

Schweitz, I doubt that those in the Convention Center could get to the bridge ramp due to hi-water. Also, that could have been a problem for those in the 'dome. I'm guessing that the ones who may have walked the bridge were the ones already on the roadway, but, of course, I dunno.

Time will tell, I guess.

[schweitz]

Schweitz, I doubt that those in the Convention Center could get to the bridge ramp due to hi-water. Also, that could have been a problem for those in the 'dome. I'm guessing that the ones who may have walked the bridge were the ones already on the roadway, but, of course, I dunno.

Time will tell, I guess.

One end of the convention center is under the bridge and I believe I remember stairways on some of the bridge pillars. It didn't flood at the convention center but I don't know about the entrance ramps a few blocks away. Either way I think I would have found a way on to that bridge.

[Blackgold]

In Gretna, just over the MS River Bridge, there is (was) the Oakwood Mall- burned to the ground by looters.

In Algiers, just under the MS River Bridge, across the river from New Orleans- we had a friend that watched 3 looters fight for the right to enter his house.

When they approached the door, our guy burst from his home with guns blazing and shot all three. He then ran as fast as he could until he found the cops and they got him out of the 'hood.

Certainly, Gretna didn't need any more people to "manage" after the storm.

And other communities turned away people being dumped on their doorstep.

You have to ask yourself, if this is an example of how we can depend on the Dept. Of Homeland Security, that oversees FEMA- then god help the community that gets hit with a 'dirty bomb.'

[boxcar]

The thread title is quite apprropriate for what I'm about to post, which is why I'm posting it here even though it doesn't deal with the immediate topic at hand.

Many of you might have heard CNN's Wolf Blitzer's remarks about how the people in the NO area are "sooo poor, sooo black"?

What a lowlife, condescending, insulting race hustler! According to him, these facts are going to raise lots of questions. Let me begin the questioning, then:

To All Poverty Stricken Black People (oops meant to say African-Americans - err.. Haitians need not reply):

How do you feel about being born black?

Have you ever felt inferior to your white counterparts?

Do you now or have you ever had a persecution complex?

Do you feel that being black is a handicap?

Does being black automatically put you in the underprivileged class?

As a black person, are you constantly being victimized?

Do you attribute your poverty to the rich in our society?

Does being black entitle you to special or preferential treatment by society in general, and by the federal govenrment particularly?

What do you feel white Americans owe you?

http://wolfblitzer.ytmnd.com/

Boxcar

[Blackgold]

What you don't hear about is all the illegals from S. America that are in the Katrina affected region.

These are the people that will be hired by the contractors to rebuild the area blown apart by Katrina.

Yet they can't even reach out to FEMA, the National Guard, the Police- to nobody, 'cause they are scared they will get deported.

Imagine, living in filth in a storm striken area is still better to some than being in their own country.

[Tom]

typical! being poor doesn't automatically make you turn to looting...........Give me a break......neglected citizens......now that is funny........

Ralph, some people actually do not have color televison.
How can you blame them fro taking life's nessessities?

[schweitz]

I alluded to this in another post a few days ago, and now the NY Times has started to pick up on it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/10/national/nationalspecial/10emt.html

The sherrif's department in Gretna Parrish blocked the bridge leading out of NO and would not allow people to walk out of the city. They stopped people from escaping the SUperdomw and convention center. The fired shots over the heads of the evacuees to get them to turn around. Officials in Gretna Parrish told folks they didn't want another Superdome.

With all the race baiting that has gone on after the storm, this seems to me to be real racism. The white folks in Gretna parrish didn't want to let the black looters from NO into their city. This is really disgusting.


Just saw a report on CNN that said NO residents were told to cross the bridge to safety by NO police and when they got to the other side they were stopped and sent back by oficers from Gretna. Also reported that shots were fired over their heads.

[MichaelNunamaker]

Hi Everyone,

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/10/94823/6592

Mike Nunamaker

[Blackgold]

Uncoordinated efforts of authorities is something I thought we learned from 9/11.

Just because one group sends some folks in a direction without checking with the receivers, doesn't mean anything other than that's what happened.

Gretna Police had their hands full fighting looters and trying to save people.

In fact, the New Orleans police stopped people at gunpoint, people that were trying to get into town to help with the rescue effort.

Once things go to martial law, all bets are off.

But what really concerns me is the Superdome, the Convention Center and the Interstates and bridges full of people- all make nice footage for Geraldo, Oprah and all the other picture grabbing hounds. There is still no coverage about the rural counties in Mississippi and Louisiana where poor folk of all races are really struggling. And you've got illegals from S. America living in the woods with no medical attention, while they wait for the impending construction boom to employ them.

[boxcar]

When we saw atrocities at Abu Garib and GITMO... the main point in response to these crimes was


"Its a tiny Percentage of the great men and women serving our country".

Surely, Suff, you're not trying to imply that there's a moral equivalencey between what happened in Iraq an what happened in NO, are you?

Boxcar