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Katrina victims blamed for Houston crime
Yahoo/AP ^ | 8/14/06 | Paul J. Weber, AP

Posted on 08/14/2006 12:03:17 PM PDT by My2Cents

Katrina victims blamed for Houston crime
By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press Writer

A letter to inmate No. 1352951 and a cell phone bill for $76.63, both found in a soggy New Orleans duplex ruined by Hurricane Katrina, led Louisiana bounty hunter James Martin to Texas.

Again.

It marked the seventh time since Katrina that Martin, whose pursuit of bail jumpers often begins with clues salvaged from abandoned New Orleans homes, has followed a trail to Texas.

"I don't think Texas really knows what they got," Martin said.

Katrina sent a lot of bad guys to Texas, as Houston is finding out.

Houston took in 150,000 evacuees — the most of any U.S. city — after Katrina struck on Aug. 29. Houston police believe the evacuees are partly responsible for a nearly 17.5 percent increase in homicides so far this year over the same period in 2005.

About 21 percent of Houston's 232 homicides through July 25 involved an evacuee as either a suspect or a victim, according to police, who attribute much of the bloodshed to fighting among rival New Orleans gang members.

"New Orleans allowed a lot of these guys to stay on the street for whatever reason or be picked up and released after 60 days," said Capt. Dale Brown, who oversees Houston's homicide division. "Texas law, I don't want to say it's tougher, but we take these offenses very seriously."

Judge Robert Eckels, chief executive of Harris County, which includes Houston, said Katrina evacuees arrested in the Houston have cost the county's criminal justice system more than $18 million. In June, Texas Gov. Rick Perry sent $19.5 million to Houston to help pay for additional officers and overtime to police the city after Katrina.

The police and the Harris County sheriff's department said they have no figures on how many Katrina evacuees have been arrested. Houston police said misdemeanor and felony arrests overall actually dropped last fall from the same period a year earlier. But the sheriff's department reported a 41 percent increase in felony arrests in November from the year before.

"I think some saw (Katrina) as an opportunity," Martin's bounty-hunting partner, Michael Wright, said of evacuees who fled New Orleans with criminal records. "No one knows who they are over here."

Katrina evacuees received fair warning when they arrived in Houston. Days after the storm, Mayor Bill White went on television, flanked by Houston police, and welcomed Katrina's bedraggled survivors with a stern warning that a jail cell was waiting for anyone who crossed the line.

Evacuee Vincent Wilson, a leader of the Katrina Survivors Association, was impressed. He said that in New Orleans before Katrina, "everyone knows that if the jail's crowded you get a slap on the hand and get released."

Eckels predicted the county's worst guests will go home once their federal assistance dries up. And if many choose to stick around, the county will be ready: "We don't put up with it here. If you break the law, you're going to be prosecuted."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: billwhite; corruption; crime; drugs; drugwar; feds; gangs; heznola; houston; katrina; katrinaaftermath; katrinastinians; lootie; mayorwhite; taxdollarsatwork; texas; violentcrime; youpayforthis
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To: battlegearboat

Are you my Baskin-Robbins friend? If not, disregard. If so, you'll know what I'm talking about. I couldn't remember which FReeper it was. Still too new to remember names very well.


101 posted on 08/15/2006 8:39:27 PM PDT by Rte66
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To: Rte66

You have mail.


102 posted on 08/16/2006 5:27:25 AM PDT by battlegearboat
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To: Vision

I also live on the west side of Houston (Kirkwood & Westheimer), and sadly our area has turned to total crap.. the teenage thugs are walking everywhere, all hours of the day and night, up to no good. We've made the decision to relocate to the Hill Country for peace of mind & quality of life,and to save our little boy from the gangs. Bill White ruined our city and I'm sure his legacy will be just that -- destroyed Houston for good. Houston will be the next New Orleans 9th ward.


103 posted on 08/30/2006 7:50:16 PM PDT by savehouston
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To: savehouston; CajunConservative
Houston has been F'd. Check this out from CajunConservative(a nice guy by the way)

I just watched the news where they were saying that the evacuees were part of a 25% crime spike and in the next breath said two evacuees were murdered. They didn't say by whom. We don't know if those two were killed by folks from NOLA or Houston. So you tell me is that accurate reporting to blame all crime in Houston on the evacuees?

I'm in SWLA and know that Houston was not exactly crime free prior to the guests arriving. I'm also aware of NOLA's crime too. I'm just saying that the reporting is not exactly objective because it's been stated that Houston is seeking FEMA aid.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1691969/posts
104 posted on 08/30/2006 7:57:45 PM PDT by Vision (God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love and self-discipline 2Timothy1)
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To: My2Cents

Oh my gosh, that President Bush! Look what he did to his own home state of Texas! /sarcasm

Yet we are supposed to be feeling so very sorry for these people to this day.


105 posted on 08/30/2006 7:59:50 PM PDT by ladyinred (Leftists, the enemy within.)
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To: My2Cents

Like I've said before, as long as those thugs OFF each other I have no problem. Alas, that has not been the case in all of the crimes. This ought to be a lesson to the politicians........be careful what and who you ask for.......you might get it.


106 posted on 08/30/2006 8:03:45 PM PDT by Dawgreg (Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.)
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To: Xenalyte

In the past year, not one single low income project has yet to be built and/or remodeled in New Orleans,(yeah, that's Nagin for you, I guess he wants to be the only thug in town) ... HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM: These people are not leaving as long as we keep them on govt assistance, they are not used to working... they don't beleive in matrimony, their kids don't have a father figure, they feel no shame taking freebies, mooching off the system. These women have no self respect or dignity (except for very few). I was at wal-mart the other day, and there SHE is with 3 brats, cart full of groceries, and paying with some lonestar voucher.. And trust me this woman had NO SHAME. Why aren't we paying them to get vasectomies and tubuligations -- FREE??? That would be a good investment for the tax payers of Houston.


107 posted on 08/30/2006 8:04:31 PM PDT by savehouston
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To: My2Cents

...no, good deed goes unpunished!


108 posted on 08/30/2006 8:08:07 PM PDT by danmar (Tomorrow's life is too late. Live today!)
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To: savehouston

Have you heard any audio of last night's town meeting at Grace Baptist? Pat Gray is playing some on 950 AM.

Mayor White asked the assembled Houstonians how they wanted to solve the problem, and one woman says, "We just want the New Orleans residents to go home."

Pat's characterizing this as a little mean-spirited, but what are we supposed to say?

Houston opened our homes, our hearts, and our checkbooks to New Orleans residents, and they thanked us with a 25% spike in murders and a better than 30% spike in other violent crimes.

Are all NoLa residents like that? No. But just about all NoLa residents consistently vote to keep in place a system that fosters the welfare lifestyle and overlooks violent crime. So yes, it may not be every New Orleanian's fault, but it is their problem.

And now it's our problem, and I resent the hell out of that.


109 posted on 08/31/2006 5:15:20 AM PDT by Xenalyte (No movie shall triumph over "Snakes on a Plane.")
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To: battlegearboat
Baseball has been very good to me!

Which comic did that bit? I can hear him in my head, but can't figure out the face!
110 posted on 08/31/2006 5:16:26 AM PDT by Xenalyte (No movie shall triumph over "Snakes on a Plane.")
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To: Xenalyte

I believe it was Garrett Morris, of Saturday Night Live fame, who recited that line as the only English he knew when being interviewed as a major league ballplayer character he portrayed.


111 posted on 08/31/2006 6:57:08 AM PDT by battlegearboat
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To: battlegearboat

It's all comin' back . . . the character was Chico Escuela!

Damn, but Morris was funny. Thinking about him singing "I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whiteys I see" has me cracking up!


112 posted on 08/31/2006 7:05:15 AM PDT by Xenalyte (No movie shall triumph over "Snakes on a Plane.")
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To: savehouston
I also live on the west side of Houston (Kirkwood & Westheimer), and sadly our area has turned to total crap.. the teenage thugs are walking everywhere, all hours of the day and night, up to no good.

A couple months ago I had the opportunity to transfer from HOU to OKC to a smaller office of the company I work for. I lived on the west side of Houston, too, and saw my neighborhood deteriorate in a major way due to the influx of Katrina "victims." All I can say is "What a breath of fresh air" up here in Oklahoma... for a variety of reasons.
113 posted on 09/02/2006 4:20:52 AM PDT by plsvn
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To: My2Cents
Another sad result from NO. Alleged the most corrupt city in the most corrupt state in the country. Many cities have clutched the asp to their breast with deadly results.

The good news is some have escaped the sink hole and have started productive lives.
114 posted on 09/02/2006 4:32:31 AM PDT by TUX
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To: Puppage

If he does he'll find some way to blame Bush for it.


115 posted on 09/02/2006 4:45:59 AM PDT by MissEdie (Liberalscostlives)
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To: savehouston

"HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM: These people are not leaving as long as we keep them on govt assistance, they are not used to working.."

Ah, I see you are a candidate for Political Correctness re-education camps.

Remember: Gubmint Welfare Macht Free


116 posted on 09/02/2006 4:55:29 AM PDT by Inge_CAV
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