Posted on 09/05/2005 8:24:15 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - When night falls, Charlie Hackett climbs the steps to his boarded-up window, takes down the plywood, grabs his 12-gauge shotgun and waits.
He is waiting for looters and troublemakers, for anyone thinking his neighbourhood has been abandoned like so many others across the city. Two doors down, John Carolan is doing the same on his screened-in porch, pistol by his side.
They are not about to give up their homes to the lawlessness that has engulfed New Orleans in the wake of hurricane Katrina.
"We kind of together decided we would defend what we have here and we would stay up and defend the neighbourhood," says Hackett, a U.S. Army veteran with a snow-white beard and a business installing custom kitchens.
"I don't want to kill anybody," he says, "but I'd sure like to scare 'em."
With generators giving them power, food to last for weeks and several guns each for protection, the men are two of a scattered community holed up across the residential streets of the city's Garden District, a lush neighbourhood with many antebellum mansions.
The streets, where towering live oaks once offered cool shade, are now often impassable because of huge fallen branches and downed power lines. Lovely porches framed in wrought iron lay smashed. Many of the homes appear only slightly damaged, or even untouched.
But the neighbourhoods are stunningly empty, and so quiet that they sound like a forest.
It is a short drive but a world away from the city's downtown, where tens of thousands of hungry, thirsty and increasingly angry people waited in misery at the Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center before evacuations finally began.
Here, Carolan starts his nightly watch by lighting a big fire in his barbecue pit. Hackett turns his lights on and jams a 4.5-metre wooden brace against the front door so no one can break through.
The night is "black, black, black," Hackett says. "It reminds me of when I was in Vietnam, it reminds me of Dac To."
They have not had a problem staying awake. Each night there are gunshots in the distance, sometimes people walking through, an occasional car driving by.
"Last night I had to draw down on some people," Carolan says. A car with what sounded like a crowd of drunken, partying kids came through and stopped.
"I had to come out with a flashlight in one hand, pistol in the other," he says, crossing his arms like an X. "I said: 'Who are you? Do you live here? What are you doing here?' They said, 'We're leaving."'
Hackett, who in his 50s, lives alone, with his two cats and a bunch of neighbour's pets that he is caring for. Carolan, 46, is keeping watch with his brother, wife, son, and three-year-old granddaughter.
In the first few days, they were especially fearful. Looters smashed windows and ransacked a discount store and a drugstore a few streets over. Three men came to Carolan's house asking about his generator and brandished a machete. He showed them his gun and they left.
"It was pandemonium for a couple of nights. We just felt that when they got done with the stores, they'd come to the homes," Hackett says. "When it's not easy pickings, they'll go somewhere else."
Things have gotten quieter, the men say, but not quiet.
"What do you say, I'm a survivor," John Carolan says with a laugh, thinking of the reality TV show. "Hey, give me the million bucks now."
How long can Carolan and the others hold out?
Hackett has enough gas and food for a month. Carolan says they have weeks' worth of food and bug repellent, and he will siphon gas from left-behind cars to keep his electricity going.
"Everything we have is in our homes. With the lawlessness in this town, are you going to walk away from everything you built?" Carolan says. "A lot of people think we're stupid. They say, 'Why did you stay?' I say, 'Why didn't you stay?"'
bump
God bless them.
I like the shot-gun idea best. Hard to trace 00 buck to any particular gun. "With all the looters around they must have been competing for the spoils and shot each other sir".
And THAT my friends is the right of EVERY CITIZEN, EVERY DAY not just in areas hit by devastation but every single day in good weather and bad to protect their homes and families from thugs, murderers, rapists and looters. It's not only the ONLY way but...it's the AMERICAN way!!!
Hmm, no mention of race.
These are smart guys.
How dare these men be SELF-SUFFICIENT at a time like this....
I have heard that it is a very corrupt and wicked place.
I think his story would be much different if his home was in the flooded area. But if you have something worth saving and can stick it out Why not? The dry area's will be the first to have power and services restored I would think, so hopefully they won't be in the dark much longer.
I'm not in the situation so I can't stand in judgment of the prepared homeowner, but I think that inconveniencing the looters by making them find an unarmed generator owner is only a partial solution.
To Carolan, it is a COMPLETE solution.
This reminds me of an asian grocery I recall from the LA riots. The owners had chained together a line of grocery carts around the front of the parking lot as an obstacle to the store itself. On the roof of the store were two shooters at opposite ends of the frontage with full cover over the front parking lot and crossing fields of fire. Two other shooters were in the front door of the store. Any rioters trying to get past those shopping carts were going to get shot up real good. These guys knew what they were doing and the rioters could tell. Surprisingly enough, this store was left completely alone while those around it were pillaged.
"like the shot-gun idea best. Hard to trace 00 buck to any particular gun. "With all the looters around they must have been competing for the spoils and shot each other sir"."
3 1/4" OOO gives you a little more range and as many pellets
A year or two ago, friends visited NOLA and came back saying they heard it had won the distinction of being the most violent city in the US. I knew it had gotten pretty bad, but still not sure how true what they said is.
these guys prepared..in light of the disaster in new orleans, I've recently made plans to become self-sufficient in event of a disaster, up to and including a terrorist attack by ordering 60 days worth of MRE's for 5 people. It's not exactly cheap, but those things last forever..
I wonder if the MSM will report that guns have probably (someone showing up with a machete asking about a generator isn't exactly looking for work removing fallen trees) saved these guys lives..
This is Great. These People, Citizens of the United States of America are doing what the Second Amendment says and i'm proud of them and they are in my prayers. This comes from a NRA life member. God Bless America and all who believe in HER.
God Bless Charlie Hackett and John Carolan- true Americans both.
" "It reminds me of when I was in Vietnam, it reminds me of Dac To.""
Bad idea to be sneaking around the house of a guy who think's he's back in Nam'. :)
Never been, there, but I'll tell you what I know. I dabble in writing a little, and have a friend who is a professional bouncer/cooler. He works for several of the clubs down there, goes in and tells them what they need to do.
He and I had been talking about a book chronicling what he does. We talked months ago about me coming down around Mardi Gras time. I asked him how dangerous it was. He said, "I'll be with you as much as I can, but you need to take whatever measures you feel necessary to protect yourself while you are here." I asked if that meant bring my gun, and he said "You are a smart guy, figure it out."
Hang in - good people are pulling for you!
Never been, there, but I'll tell you what I know. I dabble in writing a little, and have a friend who is a professional bouncer/cooler. He works for several of the clubs down there, goes in and tells them what they need to do.
He and I had been talking about a book chronicling what he does. We talked months ago about me coming down around Mardi Gras time. I asked him how dangerous it was. He said, "I'll be with you as much as I can, but you need to take whatever measures you feel necessary to protect yourself while you are here." I asked if that meant bring my gun, and he said "You are a smart guy, figure it out."
"he will siphon gas from left-behind cars to keep his electricity going."
Adapt and improvise!
"I like the shot-gun idea best. Hard to trace 00 buck to any particular gun. "
Any decent rifle round will completely pass through an assailant. Try tracing something you can't locate.
The media will say the gun owners should have thought about the thugs feelings! They needed the generator. They should have given them the generator, the guns, ammo, wives, children, food, water. Then, properly appeased, the thugs would have left. Everyone would be happy.
Disgusting.
with a side note in paragraph 14...two unidentified bodies were found today..etc..etc..etc.
I leave an unloaded rifle next to the door so any one that breaks in will at least have a gun to threaten me with, when I bring out my moosberg 12 gauge with pistol grip and combat handle (home defense) fully loaded, first rounds a blank then rhodesian special ammo.
The Garden District will be one of the first neighborhoods to come back and the Tulane campus and other facilities in it will have to be among the staging areas for the reconstruction.
People in Gulfport, Miss. are doing the same thing. A 30 year Navy Seabee with a wife and two small children, banded together with neighbors. They are sharing and rationing food & water. Also protecting themselves from looters. He said they are a military community and will survive.
Around here, folks use a "burglar load" in shotguns. First round is rock salt or #7 birdshot, then buckshot, slug, buckshot, slug.
And then there's the 'varmint gun.' A perfectly legal firearm designed for use against two-legged varmints.
Although at close range a 12 gauge slug has more knockdown power than a 7.62x39mm.
Now were are civil rights leaders, defending civil rights to property. If people feel they can defend their homes and live with what they have, it is their biz if they stay or not. I think we back to the property rights issue again.
Then we could sit back and watch those idiots self-destruct with their lame answers, for I'll bet money none of 'em would recant.
Good point about 00
Great story! They were prepared. It's saved them and possibly their neighbors from becoming victims of the looters.
And this, among others,I believe, is the primary lesson to be learned from this disaster.
The Boy Scout motto - Be Prepared - says it all.
I was waiting for just this kind of story to restore my faith in the American way.
"I wish some enterprising reporters would track down Sarah Brady, or any of her anti-gun sock puppets, and ask them if they would rethink their "You don't need a gun. The police will protect you" mantra."
I already know what she will say. "If the looters didn't have guns they homeowners wouldnt need them, and besides the looters got them from abandoned homes in the first place."
Get a REAL stock on your shotgun. A real shotgun stock points naturally and the pistol grip doesn't. Most hit far left of where they intend.
And now the authorities in NO are telling people returning to their parish that women should not return alone.
What more do you need to know.
NO is the last place on earth anyone wants to visit.
NO will be back partying before long. Count on it.
The call it The Big Easy for a reason.
Laughing at them, He showed them his gun..........
I don't belive he really owns a shot gun . A mossberg yes a mooberg no. Just some wanbe shooting his mouth off.
I was in NO for Camille and there was little damage after the storm. Small part of the airport flooding but most flights were leaving without problem. Electricity was restored pretty quickly too.
The canal has only recently been completed and perhaps the construction wasn't up to standards......I don't know.
I don't belive he really owns a shot gun . A mossberg yes a mooberg no. Just some wanbe shooting his mouth off.
Liberals, hypocracy is thy name. IGNORE THEM
True, the scum left the armed only to go seek out easier prey. If dead and left lay, (akin to draping coyotes over fences as warning to others of their ilk) they would have went nowhere and other innocents would have lived.
In such times, forewarned is forearmed, Kill them at the first threat, period.
Then why are you raising the issue? Black, white, green, or mauve, they seem to have their act together under the circumstances.
Hey Ronzo,
They should be crying like the spoiled government sugar tit assisted malcontents blaming President Bush/those Honkies.
You are correct liberals cry when they see stories like these of American people being self-sufficient.
NSNR
LMAO! Truely a Survivor!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.