Nice Pic.......
Hope you don't mind me posting it..........
Posted on 10/16/2005 2:26:18 PM PDT by abb
To some he is a thug, but to the 60 people on the school bus he commandeered as Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters rose, Jabar Gibson is nothing short of a hero.
HOUSTON -- Across the street from the Astrodome, in the alcove of a motel where the night manager sits behind bulletproof glass, a young man leaned against a faded stucco wall.
A grin crept beneath his wispy mustache when a stranger approached.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked.
His name is Jabar Gibson.
The first bus to arrive in Houston loaded with Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans was not operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency or any other government authority. It was an Orleans Parish school bus, its driver too young to drink but already a convicted car thief. His cargo: 60 of New Orleans' poorest residents, the youngest a week-old infant and the oldest 59.
It was known as the "renegade bus." Gibson, 20, was its renegade driver.
Gibson acknowledges he stole the bus, although in what has become Katrina lingo, he "commandeered" it to rescue himself and his neighbors. While the storm's floodwaters ultimately did not advance into Algiers, there was no way of knowing that in the chaotic Tuesday morning after the storm. Water was filling up the east bank, Mayor Ray Nagin was on the radio that afternoon predicting several feet on St. Charles Avenue, and panicked residents crossed the bridge to the West Bank, telling tales of impending doom.
"The police was leaving people behind. I had to pick up people on the bus. The police didn't want to do nothing. We stepped up and did what we had to do," said Gibson, who declined to say more because he since has agreed to a movie deal that prohibits interviews.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Bus ping!
They had security with them too.
Must have been a second amendment sister. LOL!!
It may be the only roadworthy bus in the parish. All of the flooded buses must be replaced.
I like this kid. I really hope that this experience will lead him into a more productive life. He's got the capability, and this sounds like his first real opportunity.
Great story, thanks for posting! I hope this young man has indeed turned his life around.
Well, he damn sure could be a school bus driver, lol!!
I am so glad he has a movie deal so he can make some cash....this kid is a hero.....
Gibson rose to the occasion at a time when the elected leadership was sinking.
Sounds to me like this kid is trying to head down the right road in life given half a chance..........
He did the right thing. He tried to save people when nobody else was doing much of anything........
My hat's off to him........
Mr. King You might want to ping the Just Damn list for this one.
The moral of this story seems to be that when you need help the most, don't count on very many public officials or police to be interested in helping you.
thanks for the ping, kj.
Obviously these people are better off trusting their young car-stealing crack-smoking high-school-dropout neighbor, than trusting the mayor or city police or governor. Pathetic, but indisputably true. To be kingpin of a chunk of ghetto turf requires a respectable IQ. To be mayor or police chief in New Orleans, or governor of Louisiana, does not, as we have clearly seen.
I would have taken the bus.
A lot of people in these hellhole ghettos just need an opportunity to be left to their own devices. Self-sufficiency quickly evolves naturally, when the government doesn't step in to prevent it.
At least SOMEBODY on the N.O. police force is capable of making an executive decision.
Meanwhile, someone alerted Texas state troopers about the "renegade" school buses headed their way. Their orders were to stop the vehicles on sight. . . . The bus somehow went unnoticed by Texas state troopers
My guess is that this was a case of more executive decisions, not a case of "unnoticed". These troopers had been watching TV or at least hearing second-hand reports of the coverage, and quickly realized that there was absolutely no reason to stop any buses with Louisiana plates that were heading in the direction of Houston, loaded with men, women, and children of all ages.
Hope you don't mind me posting it..........
Well Said!
&
Ditto!
"...The police didn't want to do nothing..."
This is a simple breach of contract. The contract is, you and I pay taxes, in return for services.
Since the services were not provided, the employees were not working.
Their indemnification should be voided and the police should be sued as individuals. Take their houses.
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