Posted on 09/07/2005 10:34:01 AM PDT by wagglebee
Newsman Ted Koppel became a player in the story he was covering when he jumped into filthy waist-deep water to help rescue a woman stranded in flooded New Orleans.
Two officers with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, who joined with natural resources officers from other states to help in the rescue efforts, found three people trapped in their home in the stricken city’s 8th Ward on Tuesday.
Clarence Branch Jr., 73, his wife Rosa Lee, 72, and their 50-year-old daughter Viola Hill had refused to leave their home when Katrina struck.
Since Rosa is confined to a wheelchair, officers Mike Colvin and Robert Olds called for help and several boats arrived. Koppel, who was reporting in the area, arrived in one of the boats along with a cameraman, sound technician and producers, the Lexington (Ken.) Herald-Leader reports.
Rescuers loaded Rosa and her wheelchair into a 21-foot boat, and Koppel got on board to interview her.
But when the boat reached the entrance to the Fairground Race Course, which is being used as a rescue staging area, the water was too shallow for its propeller to operate.
So several officers and Koppel – who had no wading boots – jumped into the heavily polluted, nearly waist-deep water to pull the boat the last 50 yards to dry land.
Whorealdo is SO jealous right now.
... and he is used to swimming in his own slime and human waste ...
I've been watching Nightline. Koppel is in New Orleans all this week and he's actually been pretty good. He was with the 1st Cavalry on Monday. Last night, he was very compassionate and non-vulture-like with the woman who didn't want to leave her house.
If he has any sores or wounds, he better get checked out by a doctor. Really. Kudos to Koppel.
Are the DUers accusing him of stagging the rescue like they are with Geraldo?
Seriously, this was a good thing for him to do. My sniping aside, thanks Ted for doing something good, human, and real for a change!
I don't know why they keep referring to it as water.
Keep sniping Pancho. Turns out he thought he was rescuing Sean Penn.
;)
Not to give the DUmmies any credit, but with Geraldo, you never know!
This ought to be fun.
Kudo's to Koppel for helping but WHY do they waste valuable rescue boat space on an entire television camera crew? Just so they can interview the shaken survivors before they even get off the rescue boat? I think better use can be made of rescue boats than loading them with TV crews.
Admirable yes, but...he added the extra weight to the boat in the first place making it unable to function in shallwo waters? He helped pull the boat in but it was just as likely tha some 'ballast' had to be heaved overboard or the boat would have run aground.
I'm sorry, I have had enough of the 'reporting' from the affected area, especially N.O. I haven't seen enough of the good news stories. I'd love to hear how they manage to refuel helicopters in flight...that looks like an incredible feat (and an incredibly dangerous one), however, the military is far too busy reight now to give interviews.
At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.
Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, and shelter.
If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you.
Right now the site mostly covers Houston and Dallas but I will add various churches, schools, and other charities in San Antonio and Ft. Worth tonight. My wife is down at Reunion Arena in Dallas as we speak handing out care packages and otherwise ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer.
There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would be most appreciative if you would get the word out.
Many thanks,
Michael McCullough
Stingray blogsite
I see this as a big problem - they don't want to report on the story anymore, they want to BECOME the story.
Hilarious!
And I'm sure Koppel was saying to himself "threaten to cancel my show for David Letterman, huh?"
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