Posted on 09/10/2005 7:02:27 PM PDT by TERMINATTOR
NEW ORLEANS -- The Algiers Point militia put away its weapons Friday as Army soldiers patrolled the historic neighborhood across the Mississippi River from the French Quarter.
But the band of neighbors who survived Hurricane Katrina and then fought off looters has not disarmed.
"Pit Bull Will Attack. We Are Here and Have Gun and Will Shoot," said the sign on Alexandra Boza's front porch. Actually, said the woman behind the sign, "I have two pistols."
"I'm a part of the militia," Boza said. "We were taking the law into our own hands, but I didn't kill anyone."
She did quietly open her front door and fire a warning shot one night when she heard a loud group of young men approaching her house.
About a week later, she said, she finally saw a New Orleans police officer on her street and told him she had guns.
"He told me, 'Honey, I don't blame you,' " she said.
The several dozen people who did not evacuate from Algiers Point said that for days after the storm, they did not see any police officers or soldiers but did see gangs of intruders.
So they set up what might be the ultimate neighborhood watch.
At night, the balcony of a beautifully restored Victorian house built in 1871 served as a lookout point.
"I had the right flank," Vinnie Pervel said. Sitting in a white rocking chair on the balcony, his neighbor, Gareth Stubbs, protected the left flank.
They were armed with an arsenal gathered from the neighborhood: a shotgun, pistols, a flare gun and a Vietnam-era AK-47.
They were backed up by Gregg Harris, who lives in the house with Pervel, and Pervel's 74-year-old mother, Jennie, who lives across Pelican Street from her son and is known in Algiers Point as "Miss P."
Many nights, Miss P. had a .38-caliber pistol in one hand and rosary beads in the other.
"Mom was a trouper," Pervel said.
The threat was real.
On the day after Katrina blew through, Pervel was carjacked a couple of blocks from his house. A past president of the Algiers Point Association homeowners group, Pervel was going to houses that had been evacuated and turning off the gas to prevent fires.
A guy with a mallet "hit me in the back of the head," Pervel said. "He said, 'We want your keys.' I said, 'Here, take them.' "
Inside the white Ford van were a portable generator, tools and other hurricane supplies. A hurt and frustrated Pervel threw pliers at the van as it drove off and broke a back window.
Another afternoon, a gunfight broke out on the streets as armed neighbors and armed intruders exchanged fire.
"About 25 rounds were fired," Harris said.
Blood was later found on the street from a wounded intruder.
Not far away, Oakwood Center mall was seriously damaged in a fire caused by vandals.
"We were really afraid of fires. These old houses are so close together that if one was set afire, the whole street would all go up," Harris said. "We lived in terror for a week."
Their house is filled with antique furniture, and there's a well-kept garden and patio in back.
"We've been restoring this house for 20 years," Harris said.
There are gas lamps on the columned porch that stayed on during the storm and its aftermath. The militia rigged car headlights and a car battery on porches of nearby houses. Then they put empty cans beneath trees that had fallen across both ends of the block.
When someone approached in the darkness, "you could hear the cans rattle.
Then we would hit the switch at the battery and light up the street," Pervel said. "We would yell, 'We're going to count three, and if you don't identify yourself, we're going to start shooting.' "
They could hear people fleeing and never fired a shot.
During the days, the hurricane holdouts patrolled the streets protecting their houses and the ones of evacuees.
"I was packing," Robert Johns said. "A .22 magnum with hollow points and an 8 mm Mauser from World War II with armor-piercing shells."
Despite their efforts, some deserted houses in the neighborhood were broken into and looted, Pervel said.
Now the Algiers Point militia has defiantly declared it will not heed any orders for mandatory evacuation. The relatively elevated neighborhood area is across the Mississippi River from the city's worst flooded areas and has running water, gas and phone service.
"They say they're going to drag us kicking and screaming from our houses. For what? To take us to concentration camps where we'll be raped and killed," Ramona Parker said. "This is supposed to be America. We're honest citizens. We're not troublemakers. We pay our taxes."
"It would be cruel for the city to make us evacuate after what we've been through," Pervel said.
The roof was damaged on her house, and the rains left "water up to my ankles," Boza said. So she moved into her mother's home nearby.
She said she still has 42 bullets to expend before she'll be forcibly evacuated.
"Then I hope the men they send to pull me out are 6 feet 2 inches and really cute," she said. "I'll be struggling and flirting at the same time."
"About 25 rounds were fired," Harris said.
Blood was later found on the street from a wounded intruder.
Not far away, Oakwood Center mall was seriously damaged in a fire caused by vandals.
Can you imagine the outcome without the 2nd Amendment???
What a nice read right before I head to bed. Made me great.
Let's hear it for the 2nd amendment!
reference bump
Good on these people, and good on the Gov for reversing the orders to disarm them
8mm mauser bump
Indeed. That's why I have a 12-gauge shotgun and a medallion of St. Jude in close proximity to one another.
Won't be long before the Democrats demonize these people while they praise the "angry taxpayers" who raped, murdered and looted.
just a bump and bookmark.
The NRA had better use this as an example to beat back the gun-grabbers and control freaks.
It seems to me that blacks are very touchy about any mention of crime, and once they started objecting the coverage of the subject diminished. It is a little hard to understand this, as crime affects their communities a lot. I know, historically, the Bull Connor with dogs made them very leary of police, but that does not explain the reticence now.
Feel-good kind of read.
Imagine if the politicians had brains to USE CITIZENS as an ASSET!
Imagine how different it would be if the public at large KNEW citizens had emergency situation security?
I think it would be WISE to take steps to incorporate armed citizens in an emergency plan.
Might make ya feel all warm n fuzzy. Good read.
One of my favorite sayings for some time now has been, "Trust in the Lord. BUT keep your powder DRY!" :-)
In 1860, a band of soldiers from the army of Garibaldi entered the mountain village of Isola, Italy. They began to burn and pillage the town, terrorizing its inhabitants.
Possenti, with his seminary rector's permission, walked into the center of town, unarmed, to face the terrorists. One of the soldiers was dragging off a young woman he intended to rape when he saw Possenti and made a snickering remark about such a young monk being all alone.
Possenti quickly grabbed the soldier's revolver from his belt and ordered the marauder to release the woman. The startled soldier complied, as Possenti grabbed the revolver of another soldier who came by. Hearing the commotion, the rest of the soldiers came running in Possenti's direction, determined to overcome the rebellious monk.
At that moment a small lizard ran across the road between Possenti and the soldiers. When the lizard briefly paused, Possenti took careful aim and struck the lizard with one shot. Turning his two handguns on the approaching soldiers, Possenti commanded them to drop their weapons. Having seen his handiwork with a pistol, the soldiers complied. Possenti ordered them to put out the fires they had set, and upon finishing, marched the whole lot out of town, ordering them never to return. The grateful townspeople escorted Possenti in triumphant procession back to the seminary, thereafter referring to him as "the Savior of Isola".
Thought you might enjoy. A .38 in one hand and rosary beads in the other. LOL. Wonder how long before their guns are confiscated?
I suggested to the Sherriff in my communtiy that he should have citizens he could deputise in an emergency, he just smiled like I was a fool.
These people live across the river from the flooded portion of New Orleans. There is no reason for house to house searches and presumably the water and sewer systems are totally separate from flooded New Orleans. They will probably have electricity restored much earlier than in the flooded areas, so Algiers is semi-liveable provided the looters and arsonists can be kept away.
These vigilantes seem determined to stay until after the bad guys are rounded up and their homes are secured.
It really bothers me to see the cops going door to door prying open doors, marking walls, and then leaving the homes open and unguarded for the looters.
Many nights, Miss P. had a .38-caliber pistol in one hand and rosary beads in the other.
On the day after Katrina blew through, Pervel was carjacked a couple of blocks from his house. A past president of the Algiers Point Association homeowners group, Pervel was going to houses that had been evacuated and turning off the gas to prevent fires.
Another afternoon, a gunfight broke out on the streets as armed neighbors and armed intruders exchanged fire. "About 25 rounds were fired," Harris said.
Blood was later found on the street from a wounded intruder.]
Second Amendment bump.
I was thinking the very same thing as I watched TV today. At one house they left the window wide open! Unfreakin' believable.
My kinda Saint!
Far far too many in law enforcement nowdays are control freaks who think they are above and beyond the rest of us. Maybe this was true in the past, but I don't think it was ever this bad overall in the recent history of the US (wild west times maybe). They don't see that this degrades society's respect for them, and they can not do their job without the help of the public.
Sure wish these good folks had some good quality night vision scopes. We would be passing out fewer $2000.00 debit cards to buy $800.00 Louis Vitton handbags.
Arm yourself or harm yourself!
2nd Amendment Bump
Because the city fathers and other politicians are looking at a bonanza!
Imagine what they can now do with eminent domain when they condemn your house and then reimburse you for what they say it is worth. Then, they sell it (or rather go in partnership) with their casino buddies who develop these prime properties for pennies on the dollar and build the largest casino and adult entertainment park in the world!
Just think: a "new" Big Easy!! It will be worth billions - all paid for or subsidized by Uncle Sam under the guise of "rebuilding" New Orleans from Katrina.
I smell the worlds' biggest scam coming...
Have you guys seen this?
Explosive Residue Found On Failed Levee Debris
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/news/item.php?keyid=8932&category=1&scategory=0&PHPSESSID=ca7124f312df71aa2f7cc2b7cd960d50
Hal Turner Show
September 9, 2005
New Orleans, LA -- Divers inspecting the ruptured levee walls surrounding New Orleans found something that piqued their interest: Burn marks on underwater debris chunks from the broken levee wall! One diver, a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, saw the burn marks and knew immediately what caused them. He secreted a small chunk of the cement inside his diving suit and later arranged for it to be sent to trusted military friends at a The U.S. Army Forensic Laboratory at Fort Gillem, Georgia for testing. According to well placed sources, a military forensic specialist determined the burn marks on the cement chunks did, in fact, come from high explosives. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity said "We found traces of boron-enhanced fluoronitramino explosives as well as PBXN-111. This would indicate at least two separate types of explosive devices." The levee ruptures in New Orleans did not take place during Hurricane Katrina, but rather a day after the hurricane struck. Several residents of New Orleans and many Emergency Workers reported hearing what sounded like large, muffled explosions from the area of the levee, but those were initially discounted as gas explosions from homes with leaking gas lines.
What happens if they discover that the flood was the result of a levee break due to a bomb? Does the insurance company still consider it a flood since it is damage due to water?
Observed your user name. Want to be on my armed citizen ping list?
BTTT
Well, I would say this is impossible.
For one, the levees that broke have had major sections washed away as it eroded from the rushing water. By the time divers could get to inspect the broken sections, the blast areas would have been long washed away.
Not buying this story for a minute.
I realize that they must remove the dead but I'd sure be pi$$ed if I locked my house and it got looted because someone pried the door open and now it's unlocked for anyone to just walk in and steal my stuff!!!!!
What ?! Non police union folks doing police type work ?!
Oh the humanity !!!!
Folks around me don't even know how to get rid of skunks no more much less the two legged varmits......
It'd be a flood, but the exclusion for war or civil unrest would probably take precedence. Anyway you look at it, as far as the insurance underwriter is concerned, the homeowner is SOL. Which is pretty much SOP in the industry nowadays anyway.
Yes please. Thank you.
So if a Jihadist comes in and blows up a dam and the resulting water flow floods your house then you will be SOL with no flood insurance?
There is another story I heard somewhere. It was something about a barge hitting the levee and an eye witness was questioned about whether he saw someone move the barge . I can't remember the details or where I saw it.
She did ?
That brings up an interesting question. If an American criminal blows up a neighborhood just because he is insane - would that be covered Versus if a Muslim Jihadist goes in and blows it up.
I don't sell insurance, but I've been screwed by insurance companies enough times to have a pretty good idea.
I'd bet the farm that flood insurance would be invalid if the flooding was caused by a terrorist act. I could be wrong [I'd like to be wrong], but in the absence of expert opinion, that's where my money lies.
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