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."
If there are two types of people I can't stand, they are looters and those fly-by-night con artists who move in and victimize the people twice.
Both should be "taken care of" properly.
You said what I was thinking. I realize that human life is LE's top priority, but something has got to be done to stop the looting and outbreaks of violence. They come off behaving like animals, and the sad thing is that they don't care.
They'll always be a segment of society, but let's always remember that they are just a small segment.
Why do you care what they take and who they take it from?
I am giving to LCMS world relief and Catholic Charities. Both have good track records, and I know that right now they are more focused on refuge and health issues.
I will never give any money the the Red Cross again. Got stung after 911, and won't happen again.
Yes, cross to the other side of the road, lest you stain yourself by contact with the unclean. Maybe a trashy Samaritan can step in instead.
These people should be eliminated. Given the state of martial law and their behavior, it's perfectly legal. These are not human beings, they are animals.
You forget: The liberals blamed Bush for that looting. I'm sure they'll blame him for this looting too.
IMO, all things start and end with HIM. God has done this for a reason and eventually we will know why, maybe something as simple as looking at how these folks are behaving in the aftermath, let that be a lesson to all, could be, going forward DO NOT build below sea level, could be about vices, etc. Pay attention class, there are lessons to be learned here.
BTW- I am a New Orleans property owned and had to evacuate myself. I don't care if my property is looted. Winn-Dixie does not care if their stores are looted. Why do you care so much?
Everything will be lost by loot or flood. What is the difference?
Exactly. It is like some of the keyboard fools are demanding that personnel be diverted from aiding lifeboat launches to stop the looting of the ship's safe.
Societies last gift to the "oppressed", a trash can full of beer. Celebrate your freedom from oppression of society! There will not be any more oppression in the form of food drugs or luxuries oppressing you any time soon!
Kill A Commie For Mommie
Seven Dead Monkeys Page O Tunes
Katarina took it easy on us in florida (at least for me THANK GOD)...but I believe a city that is full of looters, gamblers, drinkers and topless occasions is not a good place...and I hope they don't re-build in a place that is sinking and below sea level. Seems like a waste of money.
I ask you to reconsider. Most are good people. But the news always focuses on the bad. The msm probably wouldn't report this in a foreign country but they will here to make Americans look bad.
Bump your post.
I'm very skeptical of what giving aid to the Red Cross will accomplish. There are going to be countless charities set up through religious institutions that will go a long way to helping people in specific circumstances.
I'm thinking along the lines of orphaned children. Maybe your firm could find a way to provide financial assistance to groups that will assuredly be needed to help find homes and families for some of these kids. This would take several months to develop, but I think it's going to be a serious need....
Do you know what the penalties are for shooting a cop? ("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.")
Its the fact that stealing, LOOTING is wrong. If the locals have given the merchandise away its a different story. Either way I will see a jump in prices at the local store, Wally world, and the gas pump because of the simple demografics of this disaster and the way that the insurance machine works. I have tried to distance myself from it but 80% of the population lives within 50 miles of the ocean and I didnt want to live in that kind of population density and I just chose a place to live that would never be desroyed by the sea. (If it gets up here to KS we are all in deep!!)
You were smart to get out.
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