[Cincinatus' Wife]

ST. BERNARD PARISH....State officials acknowledged that in the desperate push to save thousands of people in New Orleans, nearby parishes have been overlooked.

The officials' accounts of the deaths could not be independently confirmed, and journalists were not allowed to visit the nursing home or subdivision.

St. Bernard, a marshy area, appears to have been particularly hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina, but local officials said that scores of lives were lost because of the slow official response. They said they felt all but forsaken by the federal government.

"If anybody should have been prepared for this, it should have been the federal government," said Henry J. Rodriguez Jr., the president of the parish government.

The bulk of assistance has come from a hodgepodge of sources: neighboring parishes, state police, boat-owning volunteers and other officials.

Several residents who were still in the parish — or had just made it to the other side of the Mississippi River— described harrowing conditions.

Al Kuchler III, 51, of Chalmette, spent five nights on the second floor of a neighbor's house with 19 other people. He said the group tried to keep alive an elderly woman who was paralyzed with multiple sclerosis. They were almost successful. "Airboats came and rescued us, and by the time they took us to the levee, she died 15 minutes later," Kuchler said.

Mark Melancon, a firefighter who has been living with his colleagues in a BellSouth building, said they had begun shaving their heads at night — in an act of mourning and despair. "The number of bodies we're finding is unbelievable," he said.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3338871

[GeronL]

Apparently two guys interviewed by Fox News (for a few seconds) complained the relief efforts in NO were ignoring the suburbs where "white people" were dying on the rooftops totally ignored.

As uncouth as they were, getting themselves cut off quickly, they apparently were -racial thing aside- correct about the suburbs.

[america-rules]

Where did this idea that the feds will save you in a city during a disaster?

I keep reading this and it's not reality !

I'm starting to think it's because the welfare state has replaced the city and state welfare state ?

[GeronL]

,,, shaving their heads in that atmpsophere is unhealthy, germs could get in

[An.American.Expatriate]

"If anybody should have been prepared for this, it should have been the federal government," said Henry J. Rodriguez Jr., the president of the parish government.

Prepardness starts at home you idiot. As Parish President it is YOUR responsiblity to ensure that disaster plans for your constituents are in place and, if not, to either prepare such plans yourself or force the city to do so - maybe even by owrking together with the other parishes.

To carry that further, city governments are just as repsonsible for ensuring the same thing - By working with other cities and the state.

Finally, the States have the same responsibility and should work with other states to prpare for such things.

Federally, the government has "master plans", but these are large scale and are designed to ensure that the states themselves recieve the assistence they need to conduct disaster recovery operations.

It is the hight of idiocy to expect the federal government to have a plan in place to react to every possible emergency at a local level.

If you really want that Mr. Rodriguez, then may I suggest that your job, the job of the parish government, city government, state government etc... is unnecessary. We can expand federal authority (and the size of thre federal government) to extend to EVERYTHING. Somehow, I don't think that this would work very well...

Oh, and one last thought. One of the traits that truely defines a leader is that, when faced with a situation where "everything" has gone wrong - instead of wasting time and energy looking for someone to blame - he reacts to the "new" situation and gets the job done. The Blame Game is left to the children.

[zipp_city]

There is no doubt that the storm showed no favorites and hit everyone a heavy blow but it does seem that the news had their favorite subjects to report about which in this case they were in the cities. It seems stories outside of NO and those people was of little interest and still are. In a situation like this the news getting to decide who lives are dies is scary.

[mewzilla]

"If anybody should have been prepared for this, it should have been the federal government," said Henry J. Rodriguez Jr., the president of the parish government.

What the heck about the local government?!

Where the heck does the tax money you folks get go?!

[Republican Red]

The media, all of it, have acted quite unprofessionally and is at the heart of many problems associated with this hurricane.

Reporting rumor and innuendo decided the fate of hundred of people. I have read on a media blog that because of cable reporting that shots were fired at a Chinook helicopter rescue were halted. It turned out to be false. How many people could have been helped earlier but for the poor reporting.

Geraldo last night was breathless in his reporting that he saw two dead bodies at the convention center but he's heard that there were 20 more. Unless you know facts don;t report it.

[RGSpincich]

If anybody should have been prepared for this, it should have been the federal government," said Henry J. Rodriguez Jr., the president of the parish government.

What about the UN? Sheez, the hurricane did come out of international waters.

[Just mythoughts]

"If anybody should have been prepared for this, it should have been the federal government," said Henry J. Rodriguez Jr., the president of the parish government.



So if it is a federal thing, what has Mary Mary quite Contrary, been doing all this time.