Posted on 09/02/2005 9:15:38 AM PDT by Jalapeno
The first busload of New Orleans refugees to reach the Reliant Astrodome overnight was a group of people who commandeered a school bus in the city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and drove to Houston looking for shelter.
Jabbar Gibson, 20, said police in New Orleans told him and others to take the school bus and try to get out of the flooded city.
Gibson drove the bus from the flooded Crescent City, picking up stranded people, some of them infants, along the way. Some of those on board had been in the Superdome, among those who were supposed to be evacuated to Houston on more than 400 buses Wednesday and today. They couldn't wait.
The group of mostly teenagers and young adults pooled what little money they had to buy diapers for the babies and fuel for the bus.
After arriving at the Astrodome at about 10:30 p.m., however, they initially were refused entry by Reliant officials who said the aging landmark was reserved for the 23,000 people being evacuated from the Louisiana Superdome.
"Now, we don't have nowhere to go," Gibson said. "We heard the Astrodome was open for people from New Orleans. We ain't ate right, we ain't slept right. They don't want to give us no help. They don't want to let us in."
Milling about the Reliant entrance, Sheila Nathan, 38, told her teary-eyed toddler that she was too tired to hold him.
"I'm trying to make it a fairy tale so they won't panic," said Nathan, who had four grandchildren in tow. "I have to be strong for them."
After about 20 minutes of confusion and consternation, Red Cross officials announced that the group of about 50 to 70 evacuees would be allowed into the Astrodome.
All were grateful to be out of the devastation and misery that had overtaken their hometown.
"I feel good to get out of New Orleans," said Demetrius Henderson, who got off the bus with his wife and three children. Many of those around him alternated between excited, cranky and nervous, clutching suitcases or plastic garbage bags of clothes.
They looked as bedraggled as their grueling ride would suggest: 13 hours on the commandeered bus driven by a 20-year-old man. Watching bodies float by as they tried to escape the drowning city. Picking up people along the way. Three stops for fuel. Chugging into Reliant Park, only to be told initially that they could not spend the night.
Every bit worth it.
"We took the bus and got out of the city. We were trying to get out of the city," James Hickerson said.
Several passengers on the bus said they took the matter into their own hands earlier Wednesday because they felt rescuers and New Orleans authorities were too slow in offering help.
"They are not worried about us," said Makivia Horton, 22, who is five months pregnant.
I don't like the way you think
I truly love the South but I HATE Southern English!
Same thing for Alabama!
I guess you prefer the "deese, dems and doese" of nuyawkas, or the "you knows" of air head Californians? How about "ya kaint git thare from heeaa" in New Engalund? How about "doancha know" from the great white north of the US? Or (God forbid) "nucular" as a certain Texan pronounces it? I've lived in most of those regions and actually cherish they way they talk because it's different.
Get over your bigotry and just deal with it. They don't talk like you do. Well you don't talk like they do. The regional differences are disappearing in this country because of the pervasiveness of television and we're all beginning to sound like we're from some useless place like Washington DC, and that's a crying shame.
No they didn't. It is still owned by the school district and functional. They didn't steal it and keep it, it was rightfully commandeered.
In actually they kept it from being a useless flooded wreck. The hundreds of other buses (shown in the photo posted on numerous threads) should've been put to the same worthy use and would still be in good shape.
These SOB's are criminal anarchists, not heroes- The ero they are begins with a "Z" not a "H".
I agree!! This is a refreshing display of self reliance. He should be awarded.
For taking a bus that the police GAVE them? Did you even read the article?
These people live in the city but are country folk... They have huge families... Last night i was checking in entire familes of 15 to 20 people. I heard of one that had 43 members.
The group of mostly teenagers and young adults pooled what little money they had to buy diapers for the babies and fuel for the bus.
** yeah I guess that makes them SOBs in YOUR mind.
We all are americans first. They are free and I am sure you wouldn't feel the same way if you were in their shoes...
I haven't read all the thread responses yet, but how do you "commandeer" a bus that the police told you to take??
Maybe they are the children of more than one of the grandma's children. They could all be born to 4 different mothers in the last year. It's impossible to know.
"How do you feel about Texas being inundated with these folks?
Frankly it's scaring the heck out of my friends family and myself. "
I understand where you are coming from, but these are really your neighbors. Every state in the country better get used to a new concept - the American Citizen as Refugee.
Many of these people all had jobs and homes last week. Many have skills. Many have families they don't yet know about. Many are taking care of children.
These neighbors are all going to become Texans pretty soon. They'll be looking for jobs - starting over. They'll be looking for help in getting back on their feet, taking care of their kids, enrolling them in schools.
A refugee has nothing - forced from their city with almost nothing. Even those that evacuated - what do they have? They have a car, their important papers, and themselves.
Their jobs, cities, everything they left behind are gone. They aren't criminals, they are just citizens in a bad place. Each state, every state, will have to come up with a plan for these people.
This could have just as easily been the aftermath of a massive terrorist attack that made NO uninhabitable. The situation would be no different than it is right now.
Every state better be making two plans:
1. What happens if a major metropolitan area becomes uninhabitable overnight?
2. What do we do to accommodate refugees from such an event.
That Louisiana had no plan for either is criminally negligent, as that is the ENTIRE purpose of government.
Hey, hey! They went to the same gub'mint scuuls as you and I. Or, at least they had the opportunity to.
I wrote the two authors of this piece and told them what horrible titles. To think people were getting upset about the finding vs.looting pictures. This is a blatant misrepresentation of what happened.
"I don't care about who gets pissed....THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED."
From article: Jabbar Gibson, 20, said police in New Orleans told him and others to take the school bus and try to get out of the flooded city.
What should not have happened? Police helping people help themselves? Sounds about right to me.
Thank you for your work!
The feeling is mutual.
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