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.
___
Well, Hillary is sure cozy with Blank-o. Sleazy minds think alike, I wonder?
I think it would be appropriate to call these people the militia. They fit the proper definition perfectly. As such the "official" types should respect their status as militia and allow them to continue the job they have accepted: providing security to their neighborhood or town. This activity such that the feds are disarming law abiding people, that is foreign to the United States. It is wrong at so many levels I am reeling. What happened to my country?
I'm not talking about criminals bearing arms here - I'm talking about law-abiding American citizens bearing arms to protect their legal property.
Now, you do have to separate the protection of life from the protection of property with the protection of life of course taking precedence.
IMHO, those citizens with the resources available to them to both protect their property *and* survive without harming any other citizens should have readily been asked if they were all right then left alone.
FEMA is a paper government.
I heard a woman on the radio say that she and her neighbors were high and dry and didn't understand why they were being forced to leave their homes.
New Orleans Gun Confiscation is Blatantly Illegal
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1481673/posts
It is illegal to confiscate weapons from Americans who are using those weapons to protect their lives and property from criminals.
bump
Old Dog Saves Owner From Katrina
George Mitchell's dog may be one of the most unlikely heroes to emerge in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Mitchell, 80, tells CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers that Frisky saved his life as Katrina was devastating the landscape.
The mutt, who's nearly blind now, is a schnauzer-poodle mix and, at 19, is the equivalent of 133 in human years.
He showed up on Mitchell's doorstep in Biloxi, Miss., as a pup and has been a member of the family ever since.
Bowers met Mitchell in a Biloxi hospital, and found Frisky in Mitchell's bed with him.
more at link
September 9th, 2005
Transcript of an interview with Michael Baden, renowned Forensic Pathologist.
Van Susteren / Baden
Officials say the grim job of collecting and identifying the dead could take months. Are the dead bodies dangerous to those now collecting them? And how do you give the person dignity in death under these circumstances? And what about disease or even mosquitoes? Joining us live in New York is Forensic Pathologist Doctor Michael Badden.
Hi Gretta. Doc...
Good evening Doctor Badden.
Doctor Badden, earlier in the show Trace Gallager my colleague talked about the mosquitoes that have now descended upon New Orleans once again having been swept away by the storm. What's the problem with mosquitoes pose?
The mosquitoes can carry West Nile Virus and some of the encephalitis diseases, but that's the reason they should have been spraying for mosquitoes days ago. I think it's an outrage that they haven't started aerial spraying for mosquitoes, which is something that is commonly done even when there aren't hurricanes in New Orleans because of the breading grounds there.
I think that the the focus on toxic water is is misinformed. That water isn't toxic unless you drink it. People walking through water, the worst they can get is a rash or something, and dragging people out of their homes because of toxic water ah I think is is wrong and squandering manpower. I have a number of doctor friends, ah including the former Health Commissioner in a New Orleans, who moved back into their homes in a New Orleans. Ah so ah getting people out is just a waste of time and it's based on misinformation.
Unintelligible word you say that the mosquitoes can carry West Nile, ah can meaning like one in a billion or common, I mean like how serious a problem is this?
Oh it can... remember they sprayed New York city a couple of years ago for West... the whole city of New York was sprayed because of ah ah ah the mosquitoes carrying West Nile. What has to happen is it has to be a conjunction between the mosquitoes and birds and the viruses ah can cause a serious problem ah in ah ah ah...
When you say serious, ten being the most serious like Oh my God we've got to got to do something right now and one being like do ya know well it's not that important unintelligible...
Oh no, the easiest thing now is have the Army go out, they have helicopters and they can very rapidly spray the city at very ah ah little cost and a it's an ideal time to spray. There's nobody there even though the sprays themselves don't harm people and I think they they can be dozens or ah you know ah hundreds of cases depending on the circumstances. It won't be thousands of cases. But ah, it's a serious condition, other cities have been sprayed with less of ah a ah ah potential for danger.
Alright, we only have thirty seconds left Doctor Badden. If ah people are going down to New Orleans they need shots?
No, they don't... they don't have Tetanus in New Orleans. Tetanus ah and Hepatitis if they don't treat the water... ah I've been advised by my colleagues in New Orleans that ah ah at this time Tetanus and Hepatitis ah immunizations are unnecessary even though they're being given out and all that ah... and Typhoid is unnecessary also. It gives you a sore arm.
Alright Doctor Badden, thank you sir.
Thank you. Transcript developed by D1
Was your relatives house damaged at all? To be sure, the areas affected by the flooding is most likely unhealthful right now. If your neighborhood was not affected, what is the logic of forced removal?
Logic. We're dealing with corrupt politicians, who have no problem bilking the Federal Government for all they can grab. Now, if LA government can condemn all these houses, who picks up the tab? Where would that money go? The homeowners who lost a perfectly sound structure...or the local government?
I'm trying to avoid grabbing my trusty roll of Reynold's Wrap here, but something smells, and it isn't Lake Pontchartrain.
I totally agree with that statement.
Slight water damage, enough to require new carpeting, but not enough to condemn the house. Others had NO water damage, and little to no wind damage. These people wisely boarded up their windows and didn't leave items outside to blow about (and become missiles). They live in a different neighborhood than some of the ones the news is taping as they're being forced out, so there are actually several areas of high ground where there was little or no damage. Remember, they always said only 60-80% (depending on who was reporting) was under water. That means 20-40% wasn't.
As corrupt as the politicians are down there, it wouldn't surprise me if it does turn out to be a land grab--but Baby Doc Nagin seems capable of throwing his weight around just because he can, too.
Oh, thank you for this! In fact, I wish it could have a thread of its own, since it's so important.
Either way, after the events of the last couple of weeks who in their right mind would now abandon their property to the care of the local officials?
You don't live in the United States of America anymore, you live in the United Commune of AmeriKa
Ever crap in a bucket, _Jim?
Replacing the carpet is nothing. Homeowners here in the desert must purchase flood insurance riders for the mortgage. Out in the boondocks, we get flash flooding, and if the storm drains haven't been cleaned, then the streets can get flooded, but it's not that big of a deal.
I've been reading the posts since my last reply, and if someone wanted to turn NO into a tourist attraction, it would account for a land grab. Baby Doc(love it!)Nagin knows he screwed up, and is acting in desperation to try and retain some sort of authority. Of course if you dragged a dollar bill through the French Quarter, Nagin and Blanco would be killing each other to grab it.
Great find. Thank you for taking the time to transcribe the interview. Soooo, why haven't they sprayed for mosquitoes? That would eliminate one of their reasons for the forced evacuation, wouldn't it?
I wasted my time watching Baba Wawa interview Colin Powell, last night.
(Thanks, DoughtyOne.)
=============================
I think that the the focus on toxic water is is misinformed.That water isn't toxic unless you drink it.
People walking through water, the worst they can get is a rash or something, and dragging people out of their homes because of toxic water ah I think is is wrong and squandering manpower.
I have a number of doctor friends, including the former Health Commissioner in a New Orleans, who moved back into their homes in a New Orleans.
Ah so ah getting people out is just a waste of time and it's based on misinformation.
"A lot of the people who say they want government out of their lives are sure wishing a lot of it on other people's lives. Go figure. This all has me very upset."
Alot of people on this board only want the guvmint to gore YOUR ox, not theirs.
So Conservatism around here seems to be based on "me me me", pretty much no different than it is at DU with alot of folks.
I think the people should get out personally, but that's my personal opinion.
Should they be forced out?
Hell no!
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