Posted on 08/31/2005 7:09:41 AM PDT by End Times Sentinel
NEW ORLEANS - At first it just seemed that the Wal-Mart in New Orleans' Lower Garden District was doing a very brisk post-hurricane business yesterday: The parking lot was full, people were leaving with brimming baskets, and city police and firefighters were there as if to oversee it all.
But people weren't going through the front door. They were squeezing between boards meant to protect the now-shattered glass from Hurricane Katrina's winds. One man was packing his van so full of computers, televisions and DVD players that he had trouble closing the rear doors. One woman was carrying three jugs of laundry detergent in a city with no power to run a washer.
As in so many past disasters elsewhere when crisis and chaos have replaced order and normalcy, a beleaguered New Orleans was beset by looters.
The widespread plundering started before Katrina had finished its onslaught Monday. That afternoon, looters broke into an emptied sporting-goods warehouse in Mid-City, a grocery in Treme, and the hardware center Uptown. In one instance, witnesses said, police were called but did nothing until one man shot another.
People said they had heard Wal-Mart had opened its doors to provide supplies for law-enforcement agencies sheltering the 10,000- plus people in the Louisiana Superdome. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Sharon Weber, said law enforcement, emergency-management teams, and relief agencies had "unwritten permission" to help themselves to whatever they need from Wal-Mart stores in times of crisis, but that standard procedure was for the police or aid officials to "leave us a list of what they take so they can pay us later."
At the Lower Garden District Wal-Mart, among the items seen being loaded into police cars were dozens of T-shirts, DVDs, and dog food.
But when law-enforcement officials went to get their goods, others - people of all ages and races - followed.
"They just came and no one could stop them," said David Brown, 38, a Port of New Orleans employee.
Brown and a coworker were filling their vehicle with dozens and dozens of canned goods - stews and chilis and Spaghetti-O's. Brown said the food would be used to feed the port's police and its employees, many of whom, like him, had worked nonstop since Saturday.
They were only taking essentials, he said, though a copy of Queen Latifah's Beauty Shop movie had apparently made that list.
Brown said the work showed no sign of easing.
"It's pretty bad," he said. "They've been calling for body bags all day."
Most streets in New Orleans were empty yesterday except for the hub around the Wal-Mart, in a section of the city that remained dry. People were everywhere: in cars and trucks, pushing goods in carts and baby carriages, dragging full trash cans and laundry baskets. The steady stream of cars caused a traffic jam on the streets near the store - the type of traffic jam last seen here when people tried to evacuate.
"Is everything free?" asked a woman who pulled up in a red car. Hearing "yes," she started to chant: "TV! TV! TV!"
Inside, a teenage boy held up a pair of blue lacy panties and snickered, "I want to see somebody in these so bad," before tossing them in his basket.
Another man used a table to break into one of the last unscathed jewelry cases.
A rumor that the National Guard had arrived sent people running toward the store's exit, shouting: "Come on! Come on!" But no one put down any merchandise, and the Guard rumor turned out to be false.
Some shoppers were oddly selective. One woman said she was taking only facial-care products. Another was pushing a cart filled with silk roses and baby's breath. In the pharmacy aisle, she leaned over the handle, pushing it slowly as she read labels the way a paying customer would.
But the overwhelming feeling was one of chaos - angry shouting, carts ramming, fast grabbing. When a teenage girl passed out face down between the baby clothes and a women's-sock display, people pushed past or stepped on her.
Joseph LoCascio of Picayune, Miss., stopped to try to help the girl. He rolled her over, and she vomited pink liquid all over her face and hair. He then rolled her back.
"People just walking around like they don't care," he said.
He and his friend Sandi Nolan, 21, of Baton Rouge, tried to revive the girl by pouring water, Gatorade and soda over her face and neck. It only left her shirt and hair soaked.
LoCascio tried to get a man in a firefighter T-shirt to treat the girl, but the man hesitated, saying: "She's breathing. If I took her, where would I take her?"
About 15 minutes later, a firefighter medic arrived and began checking the girl. Still, LoCascio and Nolan were furious at their fellow looters.
Both have infants being treated at Children's Hospital, New Orleans, and had come to get baby food and supplies.
"I've never seen people like this. I have drinks and chips, things I need," Nolan said. "They're getting chain saws and fishing poles, anything they can get for free."
As she and LoCascio left, she noticed he had at least a dozen DVDs in his basket, as well as baby formula and baby food. She laughed and pointed it out to him.
"They're for the kids, so they can watch them," he said. "Things like Finding Nemo."
Nolan laughed. "Don't worry," she said. "I got a few too."
Sickening!
"Thou shalt not steal."
Of for gosh sakes... GOD had nothing to do with this storm.
Yes, I saw another that works in conjunction with the Salvation Army.
Operation Blessing, Affiliated with CBN.
They already have semi's in the area suppling food to the Salvation Army.
I saw the Red Cross 'Urgent Message' commercial on TV this morning.
They as much as said that donations wouldn't necessarily go to NO. They said (paraphrased) that the donations would be used for disasters around the Country.
After the 9/11 debacle I wouldn't trust the Red Cross to spend my donations for disaster relief.
What do you wanna bet Wal-Mart had the security cameras running?
>> What happens when the welfare state meets a power vaccuum.
Gawd is that the most solidly truthful statement I've seen yet.
Bottom line is the politicos are completely out of their depth (no pun intended) - we have senators speaking from parts unknown talking about how bad it is - NO KIDDING!!! The NO officials are in a bunker somewhere, outside the city, or otherwise ducking their duties. Speaking to the warm and comfortable watching FNC at home achieves nothing. The NO officials and the LA governor need to drop the platitudes and take some action.
Excellent post and I wholeheartedly agree, these people are taking it upon themselves to steal, why should we send them our hard earned money on top of it, I'm with you, when things settle down a bit and become more organized then I'll consider sending monetary aid or maybe water and blankets.
The bottom line is that I am happy, I got out, my family got out and my friends got out.
NOTE TO ALL: Please go loot my house right now so that I do not have to clean it up when I go back. I also have a dozen relatives with me here in Texas that have given permission for their homes to be looted. The houses are gone the city is gone. We really don't care about our TV's at this point.
I could have picked any place in the US to live. Why do you think I am in Kansas? Looks like another 100% increase in my homeowners insurance because of people who want to build 20 feet below sea level or in a beach house that gets washed away every other year. I feel no mercy for anyone who chooses to live within 100 miles of the ocean. 22 years on the sea was plenty for me.
Statistics do not bear that out. In North York, a suburb of Toronto, police statistics indicated that blacks made up 20% of the population, but were committing 80% of the crime in that neighborhood (known as a pretty rough neighborhood back then). The response of the government was swift: they banned the compiling of police statistics.
Reagarding Houston, I just heard people will be sent to the astrodome, right now they are trying to organize a means of transportation, it's just a matter of time.
And when a tornado destroys your Kansas home I do not expect you to have your hand out to the Feds.
Very well said, and I agree with everything you said.
Not all people are bad Black or White.
You and me both
The person who made that statement lives in Florida!
"Of course not, but it's man's nature to blame someone or something right after a disaster like this. I'm just trying to understand people's actions and I'm saying that none of us know exactly how we would react."
Yes I do. I would not act like a savage.
Quit making excuses. People like you are pathetic in trying to find ways to excuse the worst behavior of mankind.
As one morning talk show host said today--"Friends, with what we are seeing in New Orleans, it is clear to me that we are barely a stumble or two away from going back into the Dark Ages."
Sadly he might be correct.
I won't forget Mississippi. One can't help but notice the contrast between the situation there and NO.
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