Posted on 09/09/2005 6:06:57 PM PDT by Happy2BMe
NEW ORLEANS
Authorities said their sweep of this deluged city for the last voluntary evacuees was nearly complete, with officers ready to carry out the mayor's order to forcibly remove the thousands who remain in their homes.
"The ones who wanted to leave, I would say most of them are out," said Detective Sgt. James Imbrogglio.
Between 5,000 and 10,000 residents are believed left in the city, where toxic floodwaters have started to slowly recede but the task of collecting rotting corpses and clearing debris will likely take months.
Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Jason Rule said his crew pulled 18 people from their homes Thursday. He said some of the holdouts did not want to leave unless they could take their pets.
"It's getting to the point where they're delirious," Rule said. "A couple of them don't know who they were. They think the water will go down in a few days."
Police Chief Eddie Compass said officers would use the "minimum amount of force" necessary to persuade those who remain to evacuate. Although no one was forcibly removed Thursday, some residents said they left under extreme pressure.
"They were all insisting that I had to leave my home," said Shelia Dalferes, who said she had 15 minutes to pack before she and her husband were evacuated.
"The implication was there with their plastic handcuffs on their belt. Who wants to go out like that?"
As searches for the living continued, the grim task of retrieving corpses intensified under the broiling sun. Officials raised the death toll in Louisiana to 118 Thursday, though New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has said up to 10,000 could be dead in that city alone. State officials have ordered 25,000 body bags.
Authorities are now faced with the challenge of how to identify bodies that may be bloated and decayed beyond recognition. At two collection sites, federal mortuary teams were collecting information that may help identify the bodies, such as where they were found. Personal effects were also being logged.
At the temporary morgue set up in nearby St. Gabriel, where 67 bodies had been collected by Thursday, the remains were being photographed and forensic workers hope to use dental X-rays, fingerprints and DNA to identify them.
Dr. Bryan Patucci, coroner of St. Bernard Parish, said it may be impossible to identify all the victims until authorities compile a final list of missing people.
Decaying corpses in the floodwaters could pose problems for engineers who are desperately trying to pump the city dry. While 37 of the 174 pumps in the New Orleans area were working and 17 portable pumps were in place Thursday, officials said the mammoth undertaking could be complicated by corpses getting clogged in the pumps.
"It's got a huge focus of our attention right now," said John Rickey of the Army Corps of Engineers. "Those remains are people's loved ones."
Some 400,000 homes in the city were also still without power, with no immediate prospect of getting it back. And fires continued to be a problem. At least 11 blazes burned across the city Thursday, including at historically black Dillard University where three buildings were destroyed.
Also Thursday, Congress rushed through an additional $51.8 billion for relief and recovery efforts and President Bush pledged to make it "easy and simple as possible" for uprooted storm victims to collect food stamps and other government benefits.
In an attempt to stem the criticism of the slow federal response to the disaster, Vice President Dick Cheney also toured parts of the ravaged Gulf Coast, claiming significant progress but acknowledging immense obstacles remained to a full recovery.
Meanwhile, Democrats threatened to boycott the naming of a panel that Republican leaders are proposing to investigate the administration's readiness and response to the storm. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said it was like a baseball pitcher calling "his own balls and strikes."
Democrats have urged appointment of an independent panel like the Sept. 11 commission.
Confusion continued to be a problem in many areas:
_ Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said that radio equipment and portable generators she requested from the federal government a week ago had yet to arrive. Federal officials said they were tracking down the status of the items.
_ In Houston, hundreds of storm victims waited for hours to pick up debit cards for cash that had been promised by relief agencies. By noon Thursday, so many people had jammed the entrance to the sign-up area that some were overcome by the heat and police were summoned.
___
probably an outhouse in the back yard use one hole for a couple of days then fill in & dig a new one.
Who said anything about "funding?" These people are costing the government nothing, unlike those in the "shelters."
Sadly, you're spot-on.
Love that photo!
It doesn't appear to be a clear cut and dried violation of the Constitution. I'm sorry I can't remember the guy on Fox's name (I recognise him, he's on alot, and maybe he's an idiot). But he disagreed that it was against the law.
And maybe you're right, maybe this is just the beginning of the new Third Reich. I just don't see that. I see a small number of people who are probably going to hinder cleanup efforts, are going to expect someone to provide them with food, water and services at some point, in addition to possibly getting sick and needing help. And, how many of them are gangbangers unwilling to go as well? I'm sure we won't see them on the news channels, but why would we imagine they're not there?
And for that I'm told I'm urinating on the Constitution. It's sad that so often here at FR we cannot have an adult discussion about things we disagree on (and in fact, I may be convincable that you're right and I'm wrong since as I said, I can see both sides of this) without people resorting to calling others idiots etc.
I don't always think that people who disagree with me are stupid or uninformed or even worse, democrats! Altho I have to admit that FR is the only place I have EVER been accused of being liberal.
susie
I think that if we just left the people that want to stay the Hell alone they would surprise those that insist they won't survive without a nanny. They might even do something that some Big Brother types would really fear: rebuild the city themselves.
"Female mosquitoes imbibe blood so that their eggs can mature prior to laying. It serves no nourishment function. Males do not take blood meals at all. In order to obtain energy, both male and female mosquitoes feed upon plant nectars – much in the same manner as honeybees."
"A mosquito's principal food is nectar or similar sugar source."
Source: American Mosquito Control Association
My point is simple -- don't believe every random press release some bureaucrat puts out. Mosquitos are present in Louisiana and every other state in the Union where there is water. Their larvae hatch in water, as long as it is clean enough. They are particularly common in wetlands, like those all around New Orleans. They have been and will be in New Orleans and the surrounding areas forever. They are no more of a risk now as a disease vector than they were a month ago.
I wish we could enforce that. I don't think it will happen tho.
susie
Oh, don't ruin his lovely theory with actual facts. ;)
Let me add context to my 'leaps'.
Remember CFR? The unconstitutional bill that no Senator would be dumb enough to vote for? ANd, even if they did, we had a Republican President, right? He'd veto it right? And, even if he didn't, SCOTUS will overturn it, after all it unconstitutional.
ANd, who can forget the right to own property without fear of the Government siezing it willy-nilly. At least we have THAT protection. After all the right ot own property is one of the key underpinnings of a democracy. So SCOTUS will honor the supreme sacrifices of those millions of brave Americans who gave ther lives to protect the Constitution.
Thank God for all thos government officals who are looking out for us.
I'll turn off my sarcasm now.
Sorry for all the typos. I'm going for a walk. While I still can. Haven't seen any government types coveting my place yet.
Let me add context to my 'leaps'.
Remember CFR? The unconstitutional bill that no Senator would be dumb enough to vote for? ANd, even if they did, we had a Republican President, right? He'd veto it right? And, even if he didn't, SCOTUS will overturn it, after all it unconstitutional.
ANd, who can forget the right to own property without fear of the Government siezing it willy-nilly. At least we have THAT protection. After all the right ot own property is one of the key underpinnings of a democracy. So SCOTUS will honor the supreme sacrifices of those millions of brave Americans who gave ther lives to protect the Constitution.
Thank God for all thos government officals who are looking out for us.
I'll turn off my sarcasm now.
Sorry for all the typos. I'm going for a walk. While I still can. Haven't seen any government types coveting my place yet.
I would say that this goes to show the deliberate lies and disinformation that the government worshippers such as _Jim and some of the other usual suspects continue to regurgitate.WHATANIDIOT.
ActionNewsBill denies the usefulness, appropriateness and need for sanitary sewer systems.
www.sewerhistory.org/articles/misc/disease.htm
DON'T forget to wash those hand, Bill, unless you feel lucky ...Diseases and disease control
Even without an understanding of germs, many ancient civilizations had a good understanding of the need for careful sewage disposal, but this knowledge was lost or ignored in the Middle Ages in Europe. The result was terrible sanitary conditions, polluted waterways, and periodic outbreaks of disease.
One of the greatest advances of the modern era was the recognition that disease could be caused by pathogens, and that poor sanitary conditions were a prime culprit in the spread of disease. Sanitary engineers in the nineteenth century were in the forefront of developing sanitary sewer systems that protected the public from epidemics of cholera and other water-borne illness.
So, you don't think someone has to pay to drop them supplies?
susie
>>>They may be irate that you jerked them out of a conversation with their shoe, but the alternative is worse.>>>
I'm sorry, but that line was funny. And TRUE.
"And maybe you're right, maybe this is just the beginning of the new Third Reich. I just don't see that."
See that's the fun part. You don't get to see it coming.
I don't really see how people living on their private property is going to hinder clean up efforts. Are they going to give each home a good scrubbing? More likely they are going to bulldoze the majority of them because of "blight" or to set up some sort of "useful" public structure. You don't want those pesky home owners getting uppity while that happens.
I think if you take a look at the video posted in #94, you would have to agree that not everyone remaining in NO is a drain on the social services.
You have only to see that man's residence with his big Mercedes sitting in front of it, all high and dry, to know that he and others in his neighborhood and other neighborhoods like that are more than able to care for themselves.
In some of these areas of town, they can actually drive out. Some grocery stores and drug stores are actually open. If they don't have what is needed, they can drive to a nearby town.
Not all areas are underwater. Got it?
You can say that again.
>>>"So they are allowed to say "No thanks, I'll stay, but be sure to drop me some supplies by every few days"?
That sounds alot cheaper than what they've been doing.>>>
So true, but still not a good option.
We'll see.
susie
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