Posted on 09/09/2005 11:06:37 AM PDT by hipaatwo
Think local officials are less to blame for deaths in New Orleans than federal officials? In the most jaw-dropping story of the week, UPI has the police chief of Gretna, Louisiana, admitting that he closed off one of the major arteries out of New Orleans on Monday, before the storm hit:
"We shut down the bridge," Arthur Lawson, chief of the City of Gretna Police Department, confirmed to United Press International, adding that his jurisdiction had been "a closed and secure location" since before the storm hit.
"All our people had evacuated and we locked the city down," he said. The bridge in question -- the Crescent City Connection -- is the major artery heading west out of New Orleans across the Mississippi River.
He added that the small town, which he called "a bedroom community" for the city of New Orleans, would have been overwhelmed by the influx. "There was no food, water or shelter" in Gretna City, Lawson said. "We did not have the wherewithal to deal with these people. If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged."
Truth hurts.
With a Cat 5 hurricane bearing down, nothing like locking your people directly in the path. Idiots!!!!
As they made their way to the bridge in order to leave the city "armed Gretna sheriffs (sic) formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads."
Members of the group nonetheless approached the police lines, and "questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge ... They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City.
"These were code words," the paramedics wrote, "for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans."
The authors say that during the course of that day, they saw "other families, individuals and groups make the same trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the bridge, only to be turned away. Some chased away with gunfire, others simply told no, others to be verbally berated and humiliated."
I sent this to Drudge about 20 minutes ago. It probably wouldn't hurt if everyone sent it to him.
This should be FRONT PAGE on Drudge!!
So be skeptical of the race angle on this story.
That's one way to protect your city.
Holy Moly!
This is turning into the FUBAR of the century.
Tough call there.
I can imagine his legitimate concern for how his city would have looked now. But still, if that city was more accesible to relief workers, etc...
Tough call.
Paging Governor Blank-O, Paging Governor Blank-O...wasn't that YOUR bridge a local cop shut down on his own?
BTTT
I thought I read on here the other day though that the people who wrote this account were a couple of lefty union leaders in town for some convention or something.
Consider the source.
Pathetic editing job on this story. The issue is not that they closed the bridge during the hurricane on Monday (which they always do) but they kept it closed after the hurricane. That's the story but you couldn't tell it from reading this.
Of course, this WASN'T the only path out of New Orleans.
And if I recall, there weren't TOO many people who tried to cross it.
Gretna, it appears, is still standing..
So, what. Was someone trying to get out of N.O.?
So where were all of those buses that the city had suppose to go even if they used them? I rather have another city pillaged than thousands dead.
or, escort groups through
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