Chief Lawson
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."
Interesting how San Fransicko keeps popping up. Even the UPI story posted on this thread (post #208) is based on "An eyewitness account from two San Francisco paramedics".
Ah, you put your finger on it perfectly. There are many details but few ways to verify them.
The police chief seems to have bumbled his way into this story without being quite aware of what he was "confirming" or admittiing to, but I may be wrong about that point since I'm still not clear what he believed he was admitting to.
The satellite images don't show any of the details the authors cite, if I am viewing them correctly.
Finally, I noticed in the original piece the authors made sure to note they hadn't watched the news or read a single account since returning home.
(Well there you go! Their own say-so proves they weren't culling those stories, doesn't it?!?)
Well, I need to do some digging to find written records, but this is what I remember seeing on television coverage last week:
- Nagin told the people at the convention center (and others in the city) to seek food, water and shelter on the dry land of the west bank. This is exactly what the people in this story were trying to do, although I cannot verify the timelines match, because I am not exactly sure when I heard this on TV, but I think it was Thursday or Friday.
- A brief follow-up only said that the exodus across the Hwy 90 bridge had been turned back by police because of some sort of "riot" At the time, it struck me as a very odd report. First, because the "riot" was not described in any detail. Second, because i could not figure out why, even with a "riot" you'd force everybody back into the city. - Shepard Smith, on the bridge, went a little hysterical one night (Friday?) declaring that "they won't let these people leave the city!"
I'm not sure if this story is totally accurate, but I am sure of a few things:
- Shepard Smith is not a very good reporter if this story is true, because he should have told it live - HE WAS ON THE BRIDGE
- Something bad happened on that bridge, and it will come out.
In hopes of defusing the situation at the convention center, Mayor Ray Nagin gave the refugees permission to march across a bridge to the city's unflooded west bank for whatever relief they could find. But the bedlam made that difficult. - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050901/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_katrina
There have been other accounts that match this one (on other FR threads.) I'm not sure what to make of it, but there are a few details that seem to match across both the credible and not-so-credible stories:
- people tried to cross that bridge on foot
- they were turned back by police
- there were buses intended for tourists at hotels which were diverted/commandeered to go elsewhere
What a big mess New Orleans has always been (even in good times.) Throw in a natural diaster, and what do you expect? The only thing I am absolutely certain of is this: George W. Bush is not the Mayor of New Orleans, the Governor of Lousiana, nor the Police Chief of Gretna.
The history books are full of average men who were given responsibility and excelled. If the Left wasn't so desperate to win the next election or if he had been a Democrat dealing with a Blue state, he'd go down in history as a hero.
Snip-snip:
_________________
it seems the woman is the editor of a thing called gurney gazette that was formerly called "the word" and the email for that is: gurneygazette@aol.com
i have found that larry bradshaw is an SFFD paramedic and chief shop steward for SEIU Local 790
http://www.seiu790.org/
and he is talked about in a lot of articles, too, if you google him. make sure to include "ems" in your search to narrow it down to the right larry.
i called the SF chapter of SEIU, and found out that lorrie is his wife, from the woman on the phone. she fwd me to a voicemail (his?) i left a message for him to call me back. i hope he does because i want to get this story verified. and get this out to more media)
so these ARE real people and can be contacted!
http://ana.livejournal.com/
Louisiana has always been two separate states...you have NO by itself, which had the richest and the poorest of the state. And you had everything north and west of NO, which really was a decent area to live in. Crime split the same fashion...NO was the murder capita of the state...and up in Monroe, there is a one murder every two or three years. There are places in Natchitoches where you can leave your front door unlocked and you'd never be robbed. There are places in NO where you can be robbed five or six times a year.
Thanks for the information.
I wasn't a great fan of Fox before, but after Shep and Geraldo went toe-to-toe in the disastertainment arena, I have started watching more.
Ha!!! You need to copyright that one, FRiend!
They will surely want to provide details that will help confirm their story. I hope you are successful in tracking Mr. and Mrs. Slonsky-Bradshaw down.
If so, please send me a ping, thanks!
When did TP develop a concern for the truth? Or catch its breath from blaming Bush?
Chicago's is too. It will kick asses when necessary.
What exactly was Brown supervising on 9/11 as FEMA's general counsel?
Also of note is that by 9/1 Red Cross officials were instructed not to let any more refugees seek shelter at River Center facility. This quotes in this article are astounding.
What we still do not know is when was the RC told not to go into NOL, and where were the supplies they the RC had prepositioned.
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.