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We Shut Down the Bridge
Washington Times & UPI via NRO ^ | Sep. 9, 2005 | Shaun Waterman

Posted on 09/09/2005 11:06:37 AM PDT by hipaatwo

Think local officials are less to blame for deaths in New Orleans than federal officials? In the most jaw-dropping story of the week, UPI has the police chief of Gretna, Louisiana, admitting that he closed off one of the major arteries out of New Orleans on Monday, before the storm hit:

"We shut down the bridge," Arthur Lawson, chief of the City of Gretna Police Department, confirmed to United Press International, adding that his jurisdiction had been "a closed and secure location" since before the storm hit.

"All our people had evacuated and we locked the city down," he said. The bridge in question -- the Crescent City Connection -- is the major artery heading west out of New Orleans across the Mississippi River.


He added that the small town, which he called "a bedroom community" for the city of New Orleans, would have been overwhelmed by the influx. "There was no food, water or shelter" in Gretna City, Lawson said. "We did not have the wherewithal to deal with these people. If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged."


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: donutwatch; govwatch; gretna; hurricanekatrina; incompetence; katrina; katrinafailures; leftistcrap; neworleans; nimby; selfdefense; suburbanvictims; urbanbarbarians; yellowsnowdog
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To: hipaatwo; jwalsh07; mhking
He added that the small town, which he called "a bedroom community" for the city of New Orleans, would have been overwhelmed by the influx

Translation: We wanted to keep the blacks out.

That is why there needs to be a centralized authority. Snob zoning might be OK to allow the local authorities to do, but preventing driving or walking or peddling while black when trying to evacuate before what might have been a killer storm is not.

You just can't make this stuff up can you?

241 posted on 09/09/2005 12:50:07 PM PDT by Torie
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To: hipaatwo

I get this ...

First the Feds throw FEMA boss Brown to the gators...that takes care of the Feds sacrifice..

Next LA has to sacrfice someone...so it aint gonna be the
minority criminal mayor or the female criminal Gov...

So they done found theyselves a POE'leese chief to draw and quarter...

imo


242 posted on 09/09/2005 12:50:09 PM PDT by joesnuffy
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To: Ronzo
I am well aware of the nature of a lot of people in Philly, thank you.

I appreciate your compassion for the dying Dirtboy, but the best thing the residents of NO could have done was get out when they told everyone to leave.

They DIDN'T HAVE FRIGGIN' CARS. The City did NOT FOLLOW IT'S OWN PLAN for using buses to get them out. And when they tried to leave on foot to get away from Hell, THE GRETNA POLICE FORCE BLOCKED AN OFFICIAL EVACUATION ROUTE!

How much MORE BASIC does that get? This was an extreme humanitarian situation!

243 posted on 09/09/2005 12:50:39 PM PDT by dirtboy (Drool overflowed my buffer...)
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To: joesnuffy
So they done found theyselves a POE'leese chief to draw and quarter...

If the mayor is in play for criticism, so is this guy. That was an OFFICIAL evacuation route - and he blocked it when the city was flooded.

244 posted on 09/09/2005 12:51:32 PM PDT by dirtboy (Drool overflowed my buffer...)
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To: wideawake

The man was an uncaring cruel paranoid racist pig. And there you have it. Period.


245 posted on 09/09/2005 12:51:43 PM PDT by Torie
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To: rit

Not the same overpass.

Anyone who made it over the bridge was put on a bus and taken back across the bridge into jefferson parish near the causeway.


246 posted on 09/09/2005 12:52:10 PM PDT by Kirkwood
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To: dirtboy

How many people were stopped? I would like an exact or close to an exact number.


247 posted on 09/09/2005 12:52:16 PM PDT by BushCountry (They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.)
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To: Kirkwood
There was NOTHING for the evacuees on the westbank

Try water for starters - what they needed most. Even if it was out of a garden hose - that area didn't suffer that much damage.

248 posted on 09/09/2005 12:52:24 PM PDT by dirtboy (Drool overflowed my buffer...)
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To: BushCountry

The bridge your graphic shows as a "dry route to safety or needed supplies" is the one that the Gretna police sealed off.


249 posted on 09/09/2005 12:52:35 PM PDT by Heyworth
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To: dirtboy
All because of concerns about PROPERTY CRIME?

Are you absolutely certain that the police chief wasn't concerned about the murders and rapes being committed in and around the Superdome and Convention Center?

It was only the property crime - you're certain?

"Lawson just doesn't care about black people!"

- Dirtboy West.

250 posted on 09/09/2005 12:52:40 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: BushCountry
I would like an exact or close to an exact number.

I sincerely doubt anyone was keeping a count.

251 posted on 09/09/2005 12:53:28 PM PDT by dirtboy (Drool overflowed my buffer...)
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To: wideawake

Nice try. But we're seeing what you're all about.


252 posted on 09/09/2005 12:54:06 PM PDT by dirtboy (Drool overflowed my buffer...)
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To: BushCountry

RE: The bottom left "Unused Buses At Dome With Access to Highway..."


WTF? When was that photo taken? Was it during the height of the crisis? If so, Nagin belongs in prison. At the very least, he needs to be forced to publicly answer for this.


253 posted on 09/09/2005 12:54:48 PM PDT by Petronski (Cyborg is the greatest blessing I have ever known.)
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To: wideawake
Oh, and I LOVE this approach:

Are you absolutely certain

Now I have to be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN.

His city had been evacuated, in case you didn't read the story.

People friggin' needed HELP, not EXCUSES.

254 posted on 09/09/2005 12:55:19 PM PDT by dirtboy (Drool overflowed my buffer...)
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To: Petronski

The pictures were taken on August 31st @ 10:00am.


255 posted on 09/09/2005 12:56:14 PM PDT by BushCountry (They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.)
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To: BushCountry

Dear God, that makes me so angry!


256 posted on 09/09/2005 12:56:27 PM PDT by Petronski (Cyborg is the greatest blessing I have ever known.)
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To: dirtboy
Now I have to be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN.

You seem to be able to read his mind and discern his every motivation.

257 posted on 09/09/2005 12:56:51 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: wideawake
Are you absolutely certain that the police chief wasn't concerned about the murders and rapes being committed in and around the Superdome and Convention Center?

But he says in the same article that "all our people" had evacuated. There were no citizens in Gretna to be raped and murdered. He only talks about burning and looting

258 posted on 09/09/2005 12:58:01 PM PDT by Heyworth
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To: dirtboy

"Ah, so now you think people should be prevented from freedom of movement because of something they MIGHT do?"

Yep. I don't want to travel on an airplane with a small group of young men of Middle-Eastern descent, would you? As a matter of fact, on my return from Orlando this past week, a bunch of irate passengers did exactly that --- they refused to get on a plane with 7 young, middle-eastern men, and they let the airline know about it. Would you blame them?

Having walked out of One World Trade center myself on September 11, 2001, I wouldn't.

Bottom line: the storm was tracked from the time it formed off the coast of Africa until it hit the Gulf Coast, 24 hours a day for the better part of two weeks. All you had to do was turn on the television and you would have had all the storm information you needed. The fact that many people did not heed the warnings and the city of NO and the state of Louisiana are run by complete idiots merely made a seriously dangerous situation that much more dangerous.

I hate to say it, but after living here in the Carolinas for a bit (and having lived in Florida, too)if you don't have the brains to skedaddle when Mother Nature comes visiting with 145 mph winds, then you deserve what you get. These folks had a minimum of 36 hours to get the hell out and instead they took to looting televisions and jewelry.

The Crescent City bridge is not the only route out of New Orleans, I'm sure. had there been better co-ordination of transportation resources under a competent regime, and people willing to take responsibility for their own safety, lives would have been saved and we would not be having this discussion.

Having said that, I've already written a $100 check to the United Way, gave a pint of blood to the Red Cross and emptied my closets of old clothing and blankets and sent them off to my local church for relief efforts elsewhere, so please don't try to paint me as being a heartless S.O.B.


259 posted on 09/09/2005 12:58:24 PM PDT by Wombat101 (Sanitized for YOUR protection...)
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To: Petronski
WTF? When was that photo taken? Was it during the height of the crisis? If so, Nagin belongs in prison. At the very least, he needs to be forced to publicly answer for this.

The very top of the photo says 10:00 am August 31 which was wednesday.

260 posted on 09/09/2005 12:59:31 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (France is an example of retrograde chordate evolution.)
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