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We Shut Down the Bridge
Washington Times & UPI via NRO ^ | Sep. 9, 2005 | Shaun Waterman

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."


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: donutwatch; govwatch; gretna; hurricanekatrina; incompetence; katrina; katrinafailures; leftistcrap; neworleans; nimby; selfdefense; suburbanvictims; urbanbarbarians; yellowsnowdog
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To: Tarpon

I'm talking about foot traffic only.


61 posted on 09/09/2005 11:29:38 AM PDT by mosquitobite
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To: mewzilla

The cannot even get the Direction of the Bridge traffic out of New Orleans correct!


62 posted on 09/09/2005 11:29:43 AM PDT by IronMan04
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To: moasicwolf

It runs in the family in NO politics.


63 posted on 09/09/2005 11:30:12 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Troubled by NOLA looting ? You ain't seen nothing yet.)
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To: IronMan04

Well, the question's been raised and it needs an answer.


64 posted on 09/09/2005 11:30:28 AM PDT by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: birddog

"They sure did let the media in and out, didn't they....."

Actually, I though I read they'd let vehicle traffic in and out, just not pedestrian traffic. I suppose the rationale was that if you were on foot, you were just going to end up hanging out in Gretna rather than passing through.


65 posted on 09/09/2005 11:31:05 AM PDT by Pessimist
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To: hipaatwo

I am not that familiar with the layout of New Orleans, so someone help me here, but does anyone remember the night that Shep Smith was going crazy because the people on the bridge where he had been reporting were not getting food or water? He said several times that the people could not get out via the bridge because if they went one way it was under water and if they tried they other direction it was blocked off. Is this bridge in the same general location? If so, Fox should know a little about it. We need to research this.


66 posted on 09/09/2005 11:31:43 AM PDT by TX Conservative
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To: Tarpon
Well they send inspectors to reopen the bridges here

The people were attempting to cross on foot.

Buses were coming and going.

Quit trying to spin this. I agree there might be more to this story. But your attempts to explain this don't fit the facts so far.

67 posted on 09/09/2005 11:31:43 AM PDT by dirtboy (Drool overflowed my buffer...)
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To: mewzilla

What is the Question?

The Direction of the Bridge?


68 posted on 09/09/2005 11:32:05 AM PDT by IronMan04
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To: dirtboy; Tarpon

They don't fit Lawson's quote, either.


69 posted on 09/09/2005 11:32:42 AM PDT by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: mewzilla
If the NOPD had been conducting a convoy of buses across the bridge, there would have been no issue.

However, the NOPD were nowhere to be found and and the buses were left to sink in their lots.

70 posted on 09/09/2005 11:33:09 AM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: Pessimist
The two are abject socialists and everything they wrote reads like a laundry list of DU and leftist/liberal talking points.

I did not buy their swill.

71 posted on 09/09/2005 11:33:09 AM PDT by Jeff Head (www.dragonsfuryseries.com)
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To: IronMan04

Of when and why the bridge was closed.


72 posted on 09/09/2005 11:33:22 AM PDT by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: IronMan04
Nothing like nitpicking the direction of the bridge to distract from the larger story.

I thought only liberals pulled that kind of crap.

73 posted on 09/09/2005 11:33:43 AM PDT by dirtboy (Drool overflowed my buffer...)
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To: All
If the bridges were over water, then the storm surge from a hurricane can disastrously damage the bridge footings with dire consequences for traffic, people, may be OK, but the police stop all crossings in our area until the bridge inspectors clear the bridges for use. If you saw the pictures of the causeways that were down over Lake Pontchartrain, you can tell some of the road sections could have become dislodged and at first inspection may have looked OK -- but weren't.

So to this hurricane vet, at first glance this sounds normal.

I just don't want us to turn into right wing moonbats, we need more data than we currently have.
74 posted on 09/09/2005 11:34:32 AM PDT by Tarpon
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To: wideawake

Now let me get this straignt. A seasoned law enforcement officer and his staff were unable to detect a slight difference between A. A family with children, and B. Elderly people, and C. Young thugs. Surely they could have at least made some judgement calls about letting some people over the bridge? Wonder how he handles the day to day 'law enforcement' in his fair city. Morons one and all.


75 posted on 09/09/2005 11:34:40 AM PDT by hardworking
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To: Jeff Head
Word. Their "testimony" seems tailormade for San Francisco outrage.

How did they pool together $25,000?

76 posted on 09/09/2005 11:34:49 AM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: dirtboy
Cops trapped survivors in New Orleans
77 posted on 09/09/2005 11:35:49 AM PDT by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: NavySEAL F-16; hipaatwo

Check out #58


78 posted on 09/09/2005 11:35:53 AM PDT by Mo1
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To: Tarpon
I just don't want us to turn into right wing moonbats, we need more data than we currently have

Works for me :)

79 posted on 09/09/2005 11:36:34 AM PDT by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: hardworking
Clearly you've never had to deal with a crowd.

The Gretna police chief probably had no idea that the NOPD would never get the situation under control.

He was trying to keep the lawlessness from spreading and he probably saved lives.

80 posted on 09/09/2005 11:36:57 AM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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