Rape threat to our women (more Terror Dome accounts)

Herald Sun (Australia) ^ | 04sep05 | CHRIS TINKLER and DARYL PASSMORE

[Lorianne]

AUSTRALIAN survivors of Hurricane Katrina told last night of their dramatic escape from New Orleans and the unfolding civil disaster in city.

The group, joyful at fleeing the nightmare of the Louisiana city, lauded one of its members as a hero. Bud Hopes, of Brisbane, was praised for saving dozens of tourists as the supposed safe haven of the city's Superdome became a hellhole.

"I would have to say that Bud is solely responsible for our evacuation," Vanessa Cullington, 22, of Sydney, told the Sunday Herald Sun by mobile phone from a bus carrying 10 Australians to safety in Dallas, Texas.

"I dread to think what would have happened if we hadn't got out. It's so great to be free."

News of the group's escape came as reports said as many as 10,000 people might have been killed by the hurricane and its aftermath, and President George Bush ordered more troops and an increased aid effort for the stricken Gulf of Mexico states.

As the Australians left the Superdome, food and water were almost non-existent and the stiflingly hot arena was filled with 25,000 people and the stench of human waste. Gangs stalked the tourists and women were threatened with rape.

"Bud took control. He was calm and kept it together the whole time," Ms Cullington said.

Mr Hopes, 32, said: "That was the worst place in the universe. Ninety-eight per cent of the people around the world are good. In that place, 98 per cent of the people were bad.

"Everyone brought their drugs, they brought guns, they brought knives. Soldiers were shot.

"It was like a refugee camp within a prison.

"It was full on. It was the worst thing I have seen in my life. I have never been so frightened."

Realising that foreigners were a target, Mr Hopes and the other Aussies gathered tourists from Europe, South America and elsewhere into one part of the building.

"There were 65 of us, so we were able to look after each other -- especially the girls who were being grabbed and threatened." Mr Hopes said.

He said they had organised escorts for the women when they had gone for food or to the toilet, and rosters to keep guard while others slept.

"We sat through the night just watching each other, not knowing if we would be alive in the morning."

John McNeil, 20, of Brisbane, said the worst point had come after two days when soldiers had told them the power in the dome was failing and there was only 10 minutes worth of gas left.

"I looked at Bud and said, 'That will be the end of us'," Mr McNeil said.

"The gangs . . . knew where we were. If the lights had gone out we would have been in deep trouble. We prayed for a miracle and the lights stayed on."

Mr Hopes said the Australians owed their lives to a National Guard Staff Sgt Garland Ogden, who had broken the rules to get the tourists out of the dome, with 60 people being evacuated to a medical centre.

"We did some shifts at the hospital to help nurse the sick to say thank you. It was a real Aussie thing," he said.

As the bus carrying the Australians crossed the Texan border, spirits were high.

"We've had hotdogs and chips and everyone is laughing," Mr Hopes said.

Later, the bus arrived at Dallas Convention Centre, where the Australians were processed.

Family and friends gathered at the Brisbane home of Mr McNeil's parents, Peter and Mary, where they were joined by Mr Hopes's sister, Debbie Browne.

Mrs McNeil broke down when she saw images of her son leaving New Orleans.

"There have been times during this past week when we didn't know if we would see him again," she said.

Mr McNeil said he could see a change in his son.

"They've been traumatised," he said. "I think they've witnessed several atrocities."

The other Australians on the bus were Emma Hardwick, of Sydney; Simon Wood, of Wyalkatchem, WA; Michael Ryan, of Lithgow, NSW; Yasmin Bright, of Newcastle; Michelle and Lisa van Grinsven, of Sydney; and Elise Sims, Tea Tree Gully, Adelaide.

Meanwhile, three Australian couples were safe in Los Angeles, awaiting flights home after being rescued from New Orleans by a Channel 7 news crew.

Tim and Joanne Miller, of Rockhampton, Garry and Cynthia Jones, of Brisbane, and Jack and Gloria Slinger, of Perth, crammed into a four-wheel-drive vehicle with reporter Mike Amor and two colleagues for the early morning dash.

The crew had arranged to pick up two couples from the building where they were holed up and found the Slingers on the streets.

"They were very wary about about coming out of the building. It was a pretty frightening scene -- bodies, shootings, looters," Amor said.

A phone call in the middle of the night gave hope to relatives of Brisbane's Fiona Seidel and her sister-in-law, Katie Maclean.

Mrs Maclean's husband, Andrew, was contacted by a New Orleans police officer who said he had seen the pair get on a bus.

[claudiustg]

Somewhere down the line there will have to be a commission formed to document exactly what happened here. What's happened in NO with the looting and lawlessness is actually pretty mild given the circumstances.

But, if it's true, the desertion of 2/3 of the police force is dumbfounding.

[doc]

Unless we have tougher laws to put away violent criminals this criminal element will flourish. Plea bargaining felonies down to a misdemeanor, rap sheets a mile long, courts that protect the defendants, and these thugs are still on the streets to create mayhem.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"If the Leftists should succeed with their lunatic agenda, the lights would go out all over the world, and everyone would be in deep trouble; the hellhole would be global. Throwing the Democrats out of office and reversing the Leftist/Marxist/Democrat agenda must be the single most important concern of the American people."

Hear Hear !!!!
Too many still sleep in the communist twilight, Joe Mc IS right! All the things he was warning us about HAVE taken place.
Publick Education-Government Leadership positions-Media Transmisions-even military officers.

Fortunately we still have the power to stop them one at a time.

ABC CBS NBC CNN its all the SAME, Propaganda.
Might as well call them all AmeriJazerra.
Show them how much Gravitas Hugh Bris has. Vote with your remote! Shut down the Alphabet channels.

Don't be a volunteer for Nagin's Navy

Kill A Commie For Mommie
Seven Dead Monkeys Page O Tunes

[Fred Nerks]

"Our" refers to the women who are Australians. The report is written by Australians and printed in an Australian newspaper...you sure are uptight!

[Kay]

save to send later

[Fred Nerks]

"Too bad for the Aussies that they are not to be trusted with such devices."

What are you suggesting? That our Department of Foreign Affairs issues instructions for female tourists to the US to carry a weapon? Stop slinging off at the Aussies, you've got plenty of problems of your own. Sniping at friends isn't productive.

[Maximilian]

oh, and Maximum Loon? your post #33 on the thread referenced above was removed by the moderators. You know the one where you first accused me and others of being dishonest? Yeah, that one. GONE.

It was there a short while ago. Apparently you're proud of having it pulled. Go ahead and revel in your self-congratulation over censoring posts you don't agree with. If it makes you happy.

[King Prout]

sorry, Max - I had nothing to do with it.

good bye.

[claudiustg]

I did find an article profiling the NOPD and here are some excerpts:

---It is in the dual interests of fairness and pragmatism that a law enforcement agency should reflect the community it serves. Aided by a federal consent decree, NOPD is almost there. New Orleans is now 70 percent nonwhite; NOPD is 54 percent black -- up from 40 percent in 1994, when Richard Pennington was sworn in as the city's fourth consecutive African-American police chief.---

Here is a particularly interesting observation about the forces new makeup:

---In the past, NOPD cops typically came from local neighborhoods with blue-collar backgrounds, often upon discharge from the military. Since 1997, however, the promise of higher pay has attracted recruits nationwide. The new recruits are arguably better educated than their predecessors and come from more middle-class backgrounds. But will that make them more effective than native cops in our unique neighborhoods? Moreover, today's young recruits bring a "willing-to-relocate" career ethic that has already proved unsettling to a department that seeks a stable workforce.---

I guess the new force was "willing to relocate".

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2001-07-17/commentary.html

[ccmay]

Title 10 troops are Federal, and they do not have law enforcement authority.

I assume they can shoot back if fired upon; is this correct?

-ccm

[buckleyfan]

Ooooooh, I'm on "maximillian"'s ping list! Funny, I even went to the original thread from which he must have harvested my name, and he had at least one post removed, so you can only piece together his intellectually-stunted observations of a city he has obviously never visited, and has no understanding of, with a bit of awe and a very large grain of salt.

And when he comes back with his refutations that he's been to NOLA "many times," he's lying. And/or prone to exaggeration as much as the Aussie tourists he's so willing to hang his entire perspective on. Nice try, bud.

[ccmay]

Soon the idle young bucks would stroll into the Quarter and act like they do all over the country.

While I share most of your sentiments, you must not phrase them like this. "Bucks" is a pretty offensive term to use and does not reflect well upon you or FR. Try "urban youths" instead.

-ccm

[zipper]

No insult intended, but I am thinking: It's a military thing, you wouldn't understand.

[Quinotto]

"Everyone brought their drugs, they brought guns, they brought knives. How about bringing some food and water?

Drugs, guns and knives is Mayor Nagin's recommended emergency care package.

[zipper]

This is also the first time the US taxpayers have seen the enormity of a population that is extremely dependent on government handouts. A population that has no skills, no education, and is growing rapidly....

Exactly. They're dependent on the government for everything-- is it any surprise that they are incapable of preparing for a disaster in advance? Now, the government is providing everything for them again-- after relocating them. They will never be weaned from government dependence, and will probably spawn a whole new set of Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons throughout the South where they are relocated; opportunists who exploit their dependence on government handouts.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

One of may comments was removed. I don't understand why. Goodbye, all!

You disparaged inner-city African-Americans. Even though one can distinguish between a statement regarding a group in the aggregate and a statement regarding individuals because of membership in a group, such fine points are lost in paranoia and histeria and truth is not a defense.

[af_vet_1981]

If we can't discuss, what's the point of having a forum?

Fundraising

Nonetheless, everyone knows what really went down in New Orleans. Denial is ugly when there are victims.

[HateBill]

You are very naive or you have decided to ignore reality.

Okay, I get it. The MSM is in this case, and only this case, absolutely, 100% accurate? If the majority in the Superdome were predators, the murders and rapes would have been in the thousands and almost no one would have walked out of the place alive but young men.

I bought the media sensationalism as well, but when I saw the thousands of exhausted women and children and men and old people coming out of the Superdome to be evacuated I saw very few young men. My theory is that most of the bad apples didn't enter the Superdome to begin with so they could be free to roam the City because *that* is where the loot was.

That is not to say that there were no predators in the Superdome. Just not a majority (as claimed in this thread by others).

And, hopefully, by the time the "occupation" is gone so will most of the criminal class of New Orleans be, picked off one by one if necessary, while they engage in (or attempt to engage in) their nefarious deeds.

[Alia]

Thank you for all that you are doing, SkyPilot. I have a couple of pals in the 82, en route and on way to NOLA. And I know what I'm about to say won't surprise you in the least -- but there are so many more who WANT TO GO TO NO, MISS, AND ALA to HELP. Two guys on leave, right now, already called in volunteering last week.

[Alia]

Patton was phenomenal. I'd a followed him anywhere, regardless of his language. He thought clearly, his focus was on the mission, not the "nuance" or how he'd appear to others in public.