Posted on 09/06/2005 10:15:17 AM PDT by Abigail Adams
ROTFLOL -- that is the funniest thing I've read all day!
He is, isn't he. Hmmmm, maybe HE wants to run for governor! We HAVE to get rid of Napolitano.
news or general chat?
Yeppers, I did hear that...do you think that really happened..??? So very awful.
I guess I haven't been paying attention all of these years, because I was never aware that NO had such a crime problem. You cannot convince me that these people JUST started killing, and robbing, and raping, because of the hurricane...
Shoot, it seems like I have heard that DALLAS has the #1 crime problem in the USA...hate to see what would happen if WE had a flood.
Thanks, will do.
Rush read this about ten minutes before the end of his show in an email a friend who lives in one of the Parish's outside NOLA sent him. Said the friend owns a local business --hates the dems -- and had heard (on his car radio)part of Rush's show the day before and wanted to set the story straight about that particular death.
You know, I just struck me...I have been so caught up in the Katrina LIVE threads for two weeks,...
I just realized that Sunday is 9/11...jeez louise, any other year, and I would have been worrying for weeks...I just have a phobia now about that date...
I know that the Islamofascists have a "thing" about symbolic dates and such...(shiver)...
I know that was off topic...I just felt like sharing...sorry if I shouldn't have posted that here...
I would go with news.....but I'm not sure of the guidelines....
September 05, 2005
Our terrifying ordeal
By Sean O'Neil and Joanna Bale
TWO words on the boarding pass that secured Will Nelson a club-class seat on a flight from Dallas to Gatwick tell everything about the last week of his summer in America.
Alongside the flight details is stamped: “Hurricane Evacuee”.
Mr Nelson, and other Britons returning from New Orleans yesterday, will keep the boarding passes as souvenirs of the most frightening experience of their lives, being trapped in the city’s Superdome stadium.
As the first Britons caught by Hurricane Katrina returned home, the US authorities said that all 240,000 residents of New Orleans would have to leave before it could be rebuilt.
The death toll is likely to run into thousands and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that 131 Britons were still unaccounted for. However it emphasised that many are likely to be safe and could have left the disaster area days ago.
During seemingly endless days and sleepless nights, the British survivors’ fear of the hurricane’s destructive force was transformed into terror of the other survivors.
Mr Nelson, 21, and Jane Wheeldon, 20, told The Times how they and some 50 other foreigners — many of them British backpackers — were ordered by the US Army to gather together to protect themselves from resentful locals.
“The army told us to stick in a group and for the women to sit in the middle with the men around the outside and to be ready to defend ourselves,” Mr Nelson, from Epsom, Surrey, said. “Their urgency scared us. I sat on the outside, really scared by this point, sitting waiting for God knows what. We waited and waited, I didn’t sleep. A lot of the girls had been groped.”
Miss Wheeldon, from Carmarthen, South Wales, said that being inside the Superdome was terrifying and that she had been sexually harassed.
“The atmosphere was extremely intimidating,” the Lancaster University student said. “People stared at us all the time and men would come up to me and stroke my stomach and bottom. They would also say horrible, suggestive things. The worst time came when there was a rumour that a white man had raped a black woman. We were scared that we would be raped, robbed, or both. People were arguing, fighting and being arrested all the time.”
The “internationals”, as the army labelled the stranded tourists, were among the few white people in the stadium. Marked out by their skin colour and unfamiliar accents, they were verbally abused, while their luggage made them targets for robbery.
Mr Nelson said that local people also noticed that they received preferential treatment from the guards who gave them ration packs and water to help them to avoid food queues.
Mr Nelson, who graduated from Loughborough University in June, said: “The queues for the rations got more and more crazy. People were desperate.
“The physical conditions were horrible. It was stiflingly hot, you were sweating constantly. The smell was awful, a mix of sweat, faeces, urine — just a horrible, horrible smell.
“When the water stopped and the toilets packed up, it just got worse and worse. I can still smell it; it makes me gag.”
Miss Wheeldon said: “The sights we saw you wouldn’t want anyone to see. The filth and smell were unbelievable.” The threat came from a minor-ity — mainly young men. “The majority of the people of New Orleans are absolutely lovely,” she said. “Some families were ready to give us their food even though they had nothing.”
One of the most dangerous periods came on Wednesday when the military decided that the internationals should be removed for their own safety.
Officers told them to organise themselves in groups of five and make their way to an exit. The leaders were given a blue wristband and made accountable for the others. Mr Nelson’s was still on his arm yesterday.
He said: “The people around us were suspicious and resentful. They asked where we were going and we lied. We said that we were going to sit somewhere else. I walked off, head down, tunnel vision, I didn’t stop to think. I felt guilty but there was also a tremendous sense of relief that I was getting out of there.”
The tourists were taken to an emergency medical centre where many volunteered to help. “There were very few medics and we were able to help with feeding people, carrying stretchers and just talking to people who had lost their whole lives,” said Mr Nelson. “That night we saw a soldier brought in from the dome who had been shot in the leg.”
The Britons were taken on to Dallas the following day, seeing for the first time the full devastation caused by the hurricane.
Mr Nelson said: “I knew I was going home eventually, I knew I had a family home to go to and I knew where my family was and that they were safe. I realised just how lucky I was compared to many of the people we had left behind.”
Mr Nelson had been working as a lifeguard with Camp America, which organised his flight home. But during nine hours in the air, he could not sleep. “I couldn’t wait to get home, to see my parents, my sisters and my friends and be back somewhere I knew I would be safe.”
At Gatwick, Mr Nelson and Miss Wheeldon had tearful reunions with their families. Other survivors are expected back in Britain today.
FOUR DAYS INSIDE
Will Nelson’s journal
Sunday 28th
Entering the Superdome:
“I was in a bit of a state and rang home to tell them what was happening . . . the electricity was set to go off.”
Monday 29th
The storm hits:
“I began shaking as everyone around us was screaming and running up the stairs . . . I thought that the dome would flood and we would all die in it like a big fish bowl.”
Tuesday 30th:
“We heard stories of girls being raped and people getting stabbed . . . A few of us ventured up to the next level in desperate search of a toilet. It really was like walking through a neighbourhood, all the different camps. We kept our eyes to the ground.”
The Army advises ‘internationals’ to sit together:
“Their urgency scared us senseless.”
Wednesday 31st:
The ‘internationals’ are moved out of the dome:
“As we walked out the locals shouted insults at us and began causing trouble. I kept my eyes down.”
Katrina Evacuee Faces Charges For Allegedly Sexually Assaulting A Teen
Friday September 09, 2005
Hot Springs - A hurricane Katrina evacuee faces felony charges for allegedly raping a teenage girl in an Arkansas shelter.
18-year-old, Glenn Dorsett of Slidell, Louisiana is accused of sexually assaulting a developmentally disabled 13-year-old female at the Assembly of God Church Evacuee Shelter in Garland County.
Police say Dorsett has a long criminal history in Louisiana including aggravated criminal damage and various drug charges.
The victim was able to name Dorsett
Police Uncover Evacuees' Criminal Histories
September 8th, 2005
(KSL News Services) - CAMP WILLIAMS, UTAH -- A file obtained by KSL Newsradio reveals extensive criminal histories with some of the Hurricane Katrina evacuees flown to Utah.
Background checks run by Utah law enforcement reveal seven murders, six sexual crimes, numerous armed robberies, a few batteries of police officers, and one kidnapping. In all, the file, not intended to be made public, lists 40 evacuees and their felony convictions. The list was compiled by law enforcement working with Utah's Joint Terrorism Task Force.
“We have identified some folks through our screening process. We’re watching them,” said Utah Highway Patrol Captain Robert Anderson who is in charge of security at Camp Williams, where the evacuees are staying.
A Utah Department of Public Safety spokesman objected to broadcasts concerning the criminal backgrounds, insisting all of the convicted felons had already served their jail and prison sentences and moved on in their lives. But, the file obtained by KSL Newsradio shows law enforcement were concerned enough about the past crimes to assemble a spreadsheet with names and felony convictions next to room and bed number assignments at the evacuees’ temporary home at Camp Williams.
One officer at the base responded to questions about the background checks by stating that those with the most violent criminal pasts had left Utah when transportation options became available in recent days. Conversations with several law enforcement officials revealed that while they were publicly saying the criminal backgrounds were not news worthy, they were quietly paying special attention to and tracking those evacuees with previous felony convictions.
The spreadsheet was discussed at a meeting earlier this week of Utah’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, according to a source who was at the meeting. Information about the evacuees’ criminal records was distributed to several law enforcement agencies.
Thursday, Captain Anderson insisted the background checks were routine and that police have had no problems with any of the displaced Louisiana residents.
“We’ve not arrested one person since this all started. There hasn’t been one physical assault that we have investigated. It’s been absolutely great for law enforcement. It’s been quiet. That’s great,” said Anderson.
In response to KSL Newsradio’s initial reports on the evacuee background checks, the Utah Joint Information Center overseeing Camp Williams released a statement to all media. The statement defended the background checks and sought to reassure Utahns about conditions on the military installation.
“These routine background checks were conducted to ensure the safety of each evacuee, members of the surrounding community, volunteers, and law enforcement personnel,” the statement said.
Utah law enforcement were extremely concerned about the leak of the criminal history report to KSL Newsradio. “Law enforcement cannot discuss criminal histories. Misuse of criminal history information is a class B misdemeanor under Utah law,” the statement from the Joint Information Center said.
I read that if you took the NOLA crime stats and converted them to a major city -- such as Dallas -- the numbers would make Iraq look like nothing... something like 2,000 - 4,000 a year by comparison.
They have been saying for years the murder rate in NOLA was out of control. The avg, wage the police get paid is $300 a week -- $100 less than Walmart -- and the court tv book on NOLA said that things went downhill when they passed a law that ALL officers had to come from NOLA and all promotions from NOLA... said they started having to take convicted felons to meet the needs and after they got out of academy they exponged their records.
Several of their officers have been convicted of particularly violet crimes against women.
It's a very interesting read:
http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/cops_others/len_davis/index.html?sect=18
Wonder how many others? When you read the "Crime Library" you just know there is a lot of people these guys probably wanted to get back at.
I know someone who is a crisis counselor who was called in for the greeting. Didn't say much, only this was going to be a real challenge for the State.
I did not know that! Thanks
I was just on another thread that had some articles posted about the Sheriff getting people in to give "sensitivity training" to police officers, because the people were more afraid of the police than the murderers, rapists, etc..
He even went so far as to get someone from the Nation of Islam...which didn't go over very well..
Those posts pretty much says it all..the police cannot handle the criminals in NO...or where going about it the wrong way...
No wonder there are so many families that want to stay in Dallas, Houston, Lubbock..
OMG - the narrative was every bit as captivating as the photos were astonishing. I am so very glad you posted this.
Please see post 996 for items needed in Louisiana shelters.
I read on another site that the American Aethist Party is totally ticked off that religious groups is helping all these people. Amazed me that at a time like this they could be so crass and then I see these pictures of the huge oak trees totally surrounding the statue. On Yahoo there is a picture of two small statues of Mary sitting upright in the middle of the road.
I found the captions he wrote about Brian Williams interesting and fitting and this caption was very enlightening:
"I don't know her name, but she works for MSNBC. My apologies for my wordage, but this wench didn't know what the hell was going on. She made up 75% of what she was saying and exaggerated about 95% of everything that she did know. The message: do you want to be a reporter? All you need to do is have a pretty face and buy a Thesaurus!"
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