Posted on 09/06/2005 10:27:35 AM PDT by 2nd amendment mama
Kristi Richie
Press-Herald Staff
The nine school buses Webster Parish sent to New Orleans Friday to assist with evacuation efforts returned only with their drivers.
The buses stopped at a checkpoint in LaPlace and sat for several hours.
“Somebody came and told them they didn’t have a mission for them, so we loaded up and came home,” Webster Parish Schools Superintendent Butch Williams said.
Webster wasn’t the only group of buses turned away, though. Several hundred school buses, which were sent by order of Gov. Kathleen Blanco, were also turned away with no evacuees — possibly because the buses are not air conditioned and have no bathrooms, and officials did not know how far the buses would have to travel with evacuees.
“We have no idea what happened or went on. It wasn’t the evacuees that didn’t want to get on — I don’t really know what it was,” Williams said. “We’re pretty upset. It took a long time to get down there, and they had to sit there so long.”
The order from the governor was handed down Thursday night, stating all school superintendents are to provide an inventory of all buses and drivers and they are to be made available “to be used as necessary for the mass evacuation of Hurricane Katrina evacuees...”
First Baptist Church also took two buses to South Louisiana and were turned away.
Drivers Bob Chandler and Tommy Davis were to take the two air conditioned buses to just outside the French Quarter and evacuate 70 residents and 10 staff members of Maison Hospital.
However, the buses made it only as far as Baton Rouge before being turned around.
The Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office did utilize two parish school buses to transport prisoners to high ground.
Ten deputies were sent to assist and arrived just after daylight Thursday morning. One bus took prisoners to Monroe, and the second load was taken to Union Parish.
WTOP reported TODAY that the buses came back with a total of ONE person. They were also bitching that Williams wasn't there to great them when they arrived at 3AM!!!!
I also "heard" they were subjected to speeches by the local politicians the moment they got to the armory. As if they hadn't been through enough!
It's beginning to look like a vast left wing conspiracy.
Every levee in Louisiana is controlled by a "Levee Board". There are about two dozen "Levee Boards". They are a main source of political power - i.e. they are fiefdoms. And they are corrupt. Yes, some have bought casinos, some have bought aircraft, boats, etc.. You won't change it because it is enshrined in the Louisiana Constitution.
If I had my way, and if I were president, I would not give one damned dollar to Louisiana before I used emminent domain to take over all of the levees and give control of them to the Corps of Engineers.
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