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."
The Wash Times isn't saying that people were dying of starvation after 48 hours in the Superdome.
Now you've gone to the absurd.
I know the Ben Frank like the back of my hand. Wouldn't want it.
The Bettsy Ross is a lot smoother.
Is the bridge private property?
If not, if belongs to the people of Louisiana and the guy had no right shutting it down, I don't care what he thinks the people might do to his town.
Until they did it, they were innocents...we do still believe that don't we...innocent until proven guilty?
True. He seized it by conquest under color of authority.
I hope the Fraternal Brotherhood has a legal defense benefit for him.
They're not airconditioned.
"You guys don't get it. "
Oh, we get it, all right. This guy didn't want the riff-raff from NO in his town. So, he took it upon himself to close a public roadway in the midst of a disaster, preventing people from escaping the disaster.
I think we have it just about right. Either the citizens of the USA have freedom of movement on the public roadways or they do not. He far exceeded his authority. The wonder of it is that it was allowed to continue.
A cop was saying they were dying of dehydration in the Convention Center.
But you'd rather quibble rather than confront the main story.
Do you have a stat on how many people died on the Crescent City Connection that day?
Hint: it's probably zero.
And this claim was made on Wednesday? Can you verify that?
Do we know have authenticated reports of people who died of dehydration at the Convention Center?
Now we hear this story where people in NOL are not allowed across the overpass/bridge.
My question is, "is this the same overpass/bridge?" From what the Major said, I believe it may be.
I guess by your standards, someone should have been just about dead of dehyrdration before allowing to walk over the bridge.
Lyrical image, db. But highly unlikely. Had the small groups been allowed into Gretna, larger groups would have followed. If the town were completely evacuated, there was no one there to assist those in need. It would not have been the Opie-at-the-garden-hose-in-Mayberry scene you suggest.
Do you have a stat on how many people died on the Crescent City Connection that day?
Hint: it's probably zero.
I don't doubt that, but then again why would anyone have died there if they had been turned away?
Right. The authorities wouldn't let people in to help nor out to get their own and then those authorities screamed for help in dealing with the chaos that ensued. And they blamed Bush. Anyone who can justify this, Republican or Democrat is appaling.
There were 100s of square miles untouched in New Orleans. 1000s of stores, trucks full of supplies, warehouses, everything in the world needed to supply the everyone at the Dome and Convention center a 100 times over. In fact, there where tons upon tons of needed supplies within miles. Check the Katrina pictures on maps.google.com.
You will be surprised at the large land mass relatively untouched. They could have provided for the people left behind without breaking a sweat, if they had a leader.
So protect private property even if people are dying, eh? That's what it all comes down to. Make sure the Circle K doesn't get broken into. After all, it's just that trash in NOLA that's dying.
Amazing. Shall we tell them that the cop in charge of this is a Democrat? Do you think that would change their tune?
My standard is this: if you're going to accuse someone of effectively murdering people by not letting them cross a bridge, you should have proof that people actually died at the scene as a direct result of his actions.
Otehrwise, you're slandering someone.
An accusation like this should require a pretty high standard of proof.
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