Posted on 09/08/2005 11:35:48 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said in an obscenity-laced tirade on WWL radio last Thursday that the federal government should have sent “Greyhound buses” to evacuate his city. He said school buses were inadequate because they lack bathrooms.
There was an Evacuation Plan, written in 2000 and updated since. It states that New Orleans should be evacuated at the Mayor’s order. He should declare that “48 hours in advance.” It also states he should use “public buses” including transit and school buses.
One of the duties of any Mayor of New Orleans is to know his obligations under this Plan, based on state and federal law. Plus that, Mayor who can walk and chew gum HAD to be aware that massive hurricanes have previously hit New Orleans, and that another such strike was inevitable, sometime
No, I’m not going to give a cite for that Plan. You’re on the Internet as you read this. You’ll believe that fact better if you find an independent source. Look in the Houston Chronicle, a liberal newspaper. Or, in the Washington Times, a conservative newspaper. Or, dozens of other sources. I’ll wait.
Okay, you’re back. You now know the duties Mayor Nagin had as Hurricane Katrina crossed the Gulf of Mexico, growing in strength and eventually heading for New Orleans.
Also, he knew that New Orleans is built below sea level. If the water ever started coming in through a major breach in the levees or canals, the City was finished. Any Mayor too dumb to know that would have been too dumb to raise his hand and take the oath of office.
What did Mayor Nagin do, faced with these facts? First, he was 24 hours late in ordering the evacuation of New Orleans. Second, he did not order local officials to get the buses rolling from parking lots around the City. Third, he took off for Baton Rouge, to give angry press conferences blaming others after the City drowned.
What was the result of Mayor Nagin’s not following the laws and Plan he was obligated to obey as Mayor?
The buses were flooded in their lots. The closest buses were a mere 1.2 miles from the Superdome, as shown by aerial photographs. And all the way through this creeping disaster, one highway connection from the Superdome to the West Bank of the Mississippi, remained open. It was not until 24 hours AFTER Katrina had passed that the nearest buses to the Superdome were flooded and became useless.
What happened to the citizens of New Orleans from the failure to use the available transportation? Many of the bodies of the dead have not been recovered, but Mayor Nagin has said that he expects “about 10,000 dead.”
Of course, more people will die in the future of diseases acquired from the polluted waters. Some of these will be self-inflicted, people who refuse to recognize the continuing danger and stay in their homes. But some will be people who could and would have gotten out, if given a choice. But they didn’t have that choice because they were poor, and the buses didn’t roll.
What are the criteria for a charge of manslaughter?
Anyone who deliberately or through gross negligence causes the death of another human being can be charged with manslaughter. Normally, someone cannot be charged with manslaughter for the failure to do something. If you are driving down the highway and see a car on fire and people in it, you are not obligated to stop and try to get the people out before the gas tank explodes. I know most of you would do that, but you don't have to.)
But anyone who is a public official has assigned duties in a given situation. He/she can be responsible for failure to act. We are talking about Mayor Ray Nagin, who sought his position with certain duties attached. We are not talking about Ray Nagin, private citizen, who is responsible only for saving his own hide (though he certainly did to that).
In my opinion, Mayor Ray Nagin should be charged with 10,000 counts of manslaughter. Any New Orleans prosecutor who seeks justice in his City should bring the charges now for the known dead, and amend the charges later as the list of dead grows, and grows, and grows, and grows.
Is there an honest prosecutor left in New Orleans?
About the Author: John Armor is a First Amendment attorney and author who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
I have a feeling that before this is over we're going to see some Louisiana officeholders cuffed up and sitting in a courtroom.
This bathroom argument is nonsense. All they had to do was get them a couple of hours north to shelters.
How much aviation fuel have we burned up rescuing people so far?
But ride a freaking school bus? Oh, the humanity.
En fuego, BillyBob!
A very well-written post.
Personally, Mayor Nagin's body count will be the closer figure. A lot of bodies will be found in flooded houses. Besides his "radio rant" where has Nagin been all this time. He's a far cry from the leadership that Guilliani showed in New York in the wake of 9/11.
Yes,
our elected SHOULD be held personally responsible.
I think they should be personally liable for wasteful spending too.
Im sure the little girl who was raped and killed at the convention center could have delt without a bathroom for the few hour drive to BRLA
bttt
BFLR!
Besides the criminal charges you suggest, I would suspect there would be a "class action" civil suit against the mayor and governor for the same charges of gross negligence causing death for 1,000's. Get a jury of their peers who went thru this and it will detroy mayor Nagin and governor Blanco.
Yea. The superdome had bathrooms too. And a lot of good they did. Nagin's a moron.
Ummm. Mayor? How would the busses get there? The contra-flow system was in place. No busses could come into N.O.
The Louisiana criminal code, courtesy of the good people in Baton Rouge:
http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?folder=146
Check this out.
New Orleans Public Schools just admitted they put their employees ahead of NO citizens
email response from Alvarez and Marsal | Sept 08, 2005 | Taxrelief
Posted on 09/08/2005 11:36:07 AM PDT by TaxRelief
I sent an email to Alvarez and Marsal (business managers of New Orleans Public Schools) and asked them why they did not make the school buses available to evacuate the citizens of New Orleans.
Their answer:
Thank you for your question. School buses were not used as all the NOPS transportation employees were also individuals who evacuated the city. Thanks.
The answer is cryptic, but to the point.
None of the private cars used for the evacuation had bathrooms in them either but I didn't see Nagin calling for limos with portapotties to replace those....
Nagin is a corrupt fool who is at least guilty of criminally negligent homicide.
LQ
Signed up today, and already you're nipping at my favorite freeper.
Hiss....
Most excellent point. Especially when you consider the fact that the Governor's incompetence left many of those evacuating in private cars stuck in gridlock for as much as 17 hours.
Stop helping him with suggestions!
And if charges are brought, the punishment will be no different for 2,439 deaths as for 10,000 deaths. John / Billybob
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