"It's a Louisiana Cluster F___ Sir!
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."
I'm laughing at your silliness, not the facts on the ground.
Clearly you've never had to deal with a crowd.
Very good question. Someone should ask the moron why they didn't do this.
I'd like to know if Katherine Blanco was aware that he was doing this. I'm sure she was and she had the power to stop it as that was a state road, so I'd say chalk one more up against Blanco.
"I urge caution before conclusions."
Are you urging us not to believe the words of the people who closed the bridge? They didn't say anything at all (at least not in the story) about high winds.
Hey you might be right -- Our bridges stay closed long after the hurricane is gone, with police standing guard. Sometimes they stop the vehicles, sometimes only foot traffic, sometimes both.
With the yahoos in LA who knows what was really going on. Taking some persons word for it, official or otherwise is risky. The Mayor and the Governor can't even get their stories to match,
Apparently I work in the only major city in the US with a competent police force.
You'r right about that!
I can only echo your words, "unbelieveable." Another local official with blood on his hands.
We have evidence now that the Red Cross was kept out of NOL. They wouldn't have been, per chance, on the other side of the bridge to Gretna, would they have been?
You should have registered a few days ago to post that. Much to the media's disappointment, the death toll in New Orleans is turning out to be far lower than they hoped.
The key phrase here is "limited resources".
A handful of cops can control 100,000 easily if they control the choke point.
Controlling that many along even a one mile stretch would require 100 times the manpower.
Easier to turn them away than try to round them up after they get across the bridge and then decide they need to bust into deserted houses.
That's BS and you know it. You've tried every other spin on this one.
Had to say it twice to see if someone was going to ask what FUBAR means?
You're right! I remember Shep saying they were stranded there.
Silliness?
It's silly to be aghast that people were frigging DYING of dehydration and they weren't let over a bridge to get away?
I'm not saying any more, lest I violate the posting guidelines.
I'll leave it at saying that my opinion of you is as low as any freeper in memory.
No, his people evacuated. He simply shut the door to NO evacuees.
I am amazed at some of the cavalier responses by some on this site about this subject. Clearly people were in dire need on that bridge. It's unbelievable that the bridge was blocked.
Master planned by Karl Rove, I'm sure. sarc>
Yes, let's make sure property is protected even if it means people are dying of dehydration.
I do recall reading earlier about the folks at the hotel who hired the busses, only for them to be seized by govt folks. The hotel hord then went to the superdome, and caused some major problems because they wanted to be boarded on the next available bus out, but were told they had to wait just like everybody else. If I recall correctly, they pooled their money to pay the $25000. TP had some info on this, as did WLTV.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.