THIS IS A MUST READ !!!!

snipervictim

Expert Expediter
This is a first person account of the situation in New Orleans. It's
long but is CRUCIAL reading. The more information that comes out about
this horrible situation, the more that my suspicions about the
complete disregard for human life by the American government are
validated, the more that the blatant lies and smear campaigns are
being exposed and overturned the more angry and disheartened I get
about it. Spread the truth. Don't let HIStory be recorded
incorrectly. Make them accountable for this :censoredsign:.

"This is a first hand account as told by the niece of one of the women
who was at the convention center in New Orleans. It tells a different
(realistic) side to what is being portrayed on the news.

You have got to read this. It's kind of long but well worth the read.

i heard from my aunt last night that my cousin Denise
made it out of New Orleans; she's at her brother's in
Baton Rouge. from what she told me:

her mother, a licensed practical nurse, was called in
to work on Sunday night at Memorial Hospital
(historically known as Baptist Hospital to those of us
from N.O.). Denise decided to stay with her mother,
her niece and grandniece (who is 2 years old); she
figured they'd be safe at the hospital. they went to
Baptist, and had to wait hours to be assigned a room
to sleep in; after they were finally assigned a room,
two white nurses suddenly arrived after the cut-off
time (time to be assigned a room), and Denise and her
family were booted out; their room was given up to the
new nurses. Denise was furious, and rather than stay
at Baptist, decided to walk home (several blocks away)
to ride out the storm at her mother's apartment. her
mother stayed at the hospital.

she described it as the scariest time in her life. 3
of the rooms in the apartment (there are only 4) caved
in. ceilings caved in, walls caved in. she huddled
under! a mattress in the hall. she thought she would
die from either the storm or a heart attack. after the
storm passed, she went back to Baptist to seek shelter
(this was Monday). it was also scary at Baptist; the
electricity was out, they were running on generators,
there was no air conditioning. Tuesday the levees
broke, and water began rising. they moved patients
upstairs, saw boats pass by on what used to be
streets. they were told that they would be evacuated,
that buses were coming. then they were told they would
have to walk to the nearest intersection, Napoleon and
S. Claiborne, to await the buses. they waded out in
hip-deep water, only to stand at the intersection, on
the neutral ground (what y'all call the median) for 3
1/2 hours. the buses came and took them to the Ernest
Morial Convention Center. (yes, the convention center
you've all seen on TV.)

Denise said she thought she was in hell. they were
there for 2 days, with no water, no food. no shelter.
Denise, her mother (63 years old), her niece (21 years
old), and 2-year-old grandniece. when they arrived,
there were already thousands of people there. they
were told that buses were coming. police drove by,
windows rolled up, thumbs up signs. national guard
trucks rolled by, completely empty, soldiers with guns
cocked and aimed at them. nobody stopped to drop off
water. a helicopter dropped a load of water, but all
the bottles exploded on impact due to the height of
the helicopter.

the first day (Wednesday) 4 people died next to her.
the second day (Thursday) 6 people died n! ext to her.
Denise told me the people around her all thought they
had been sent there to die. again, nobody stopped. the
only buses that came were full; they dropped off more
and more people, but nobody was being picked up and
taken away. they found out that those being dropped
off had been rescued from rooftops and attics; they
got off the buses delirious from lack of water and
food. completely dehydrated. the crowd tried to keep
them all in one area; Denise said the new arrivals had
mostly lost their minds. they had gone crazy.

inside the convention center, the place was one huge
bathroom. in order to #####, you had to stand in other
people's #####. the floors were black and slick with
#####. most people stayed outside because the smell was
so bad. but outside wasn't much better: between the
heat, the humidity, the lack of water, the old and
very young dying from dehydration... and there was no
place to lay down, not even room on the sidewalk. they
slept outside Wednesday night, under an overpass.

Denise said yes, there were young men with guns there.
but they organized the crowd. they went to Canal
Street and "looted," and brought back food and water
for the old people and the babies, because nobody had
eaten in days. when the police rolled down windows and
yelled out "the buses are coming," the young men with
guns organized the crowd in order: old people in
front, women and children next, men in the back. just
so that when the buses came, there would be priorities
of who got out first.

Denise said the fights she saw between the young men
with guns were fist fights. she saw them p! ut their
guns down and fight rather than shoot up the crowd.
but she said that there were a handful of people shot
in the convention center; their bodies were left
inside, along with other dead babies and old people.

Denise said the people thought there were being sent
there to die. lots of people being dropped off, nobody
being picked up. cops passing by, speeding off.
national guard rolling by with guns aimed at them. and
yes, a few men shot at the police, because at a
certain point all the people thought the cops were
coming to hurt them, to kill them all. she saw a young
man who had stolen a car speed past, cops in pursuit;
he crashed the car, got out and ran, and the cops shot
him in the back. in front of the whole crowd. she saw
many groups of people decide that they were going to
walk across the bridge to the west bank, and those
same groups would return, saying that they were met at
the top of the bridge by armed police ordering them to
turn around, that they weren't allowed to leave.

so they all believed they were sent there to die.

Denise's niece found a pay phone, and kept trying to
call her mother's boyfriend in Baton Rouge, and
finally got through and told him where they were. the
boyfriend, and Denise's brother, drove down from Baton
Rouge and came and got them. they had to bribe a few
cops, and talk a few into letting them into the city
("come on, man, my 2-year-old niece is at the
Convention Center!"), then they took back roads to get
to them.

after arriving at my other cousin's apartment in Baton
Rouge, they saw the images on TV, and couldn't believe
how the media was portraying the people of New
Orleans. she kept repeating to me on the phone last
night: make sure you tell everybody that they left us
there to die. nobody came. those young men with guns
were protecting us. if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't
have had the little water and food they had found."


Truth is stranger then fiction sometimes:-(
 

hondaking38

Veteran Expediter
wow how do you reply to statements such as these...theres only one point i can say that might not be totally acurrate...that would be the national gaurd being cocked aimed and loaded..the m-16 has 3 positions. safe, single shot and burst(3 shots) a soldier would never ever have it on anything but safe.thats the law..unless engaging a target..with danger being emminent. as far as pointing in a general direction, totally believable, they were there expecting civil unrest,( and there was civil unrest) they are a military unit, trained to take action when called..i personally dont no any soldiers who have defended themselves with a weapon slung over there shoulder with no ammunition available.. might as well be carrying a slingshot... but yes i believe your statement is probably very accurate, and yes its a sad sad story..
 

Crazynuff

Veteran Expediter
The truth is coming out about who dropped the ball on evacuations and emergency response . Rush Limbaugh was reading parts of an evacuation plan New Orleans had but never activated . City busses sat idle while the mayor called for Greyhounds . The Red Cross had food , water , and hygiene kits they were ready to bring to the Superdome right away but they were ordered by the governor's office to not bring them because there were too many people at the Superdome already and food and water would act as a magnet and draw more people . While response workers from around the country rushed to New Orleans to relieve city firemen and police the mayor decided he should take the firemen and police to Las Vegas for a break .
 

redytrk

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
This story just leeves me limp. To think this kind of thing could happen in THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

We are supposed to be the smartest people on earth,yet a disorganized mess like this happens.

We were down there and whitnessed first hand the officals running around like chickens with their heads cut-off.Orders were given,then countermanded because no one was clearly in charge.The Gov. and Mayor must be held accountable for their inneptness.

Right now Mike Brown is being held up as the scape goat.It is clear he should never been appointed to the job in the first place,but he should not take the entire blame. It was the Gov. and mayor who stood in everybodys way.
 

mvbn1

Expert Expediter
Here's one for you...

I heard a story, from a guy who saw something on the internet, posted by a man who heard a story, from a guy at a shelter in Houston, who talked to a lady from N.O who stayed in her home durning the hurricane. She told him that it rained and the wind blew!

When things get posted in forums like this, and the information is third party AND not verified, it just hurts all the efforts that are being put forth by those who need help, and those who are trying to help.

The finger pointing needs to stop, so that the people of N.O. can be helped in their time of need. We've got another 100 years to figure out who DIDN'T do what.

I strongly suggest, that the moderator of this forum, remove this topic to help prevent the spread of unverified "stories" about the hurricane.
 

highway star

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I guess the Mayor thought that no one would get on a school bus. Do you think he just MIGHT have a problem in the next election? That is, if there is still a city of New Orleans.
 

Crazynuff

Veteran Expediter
No , we don't have another 100 years . Another hurricane could strike in another week . Fault finding is necessary . Why should organizations like the Red Cross lose support for failure to respond when they were forbidden to respond by elected officials ? Unless you actually witness an event , even media coverage is " third party " and often biased . I have evn heard the media was partially blamed for some people choosing not to evacuate because some people figured if it was going to be that bad the reporters wouldn't all hang around that long .
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
My frustration is going to come out on my reply, no apologies.

Look a bit of advice, don’t believe anything you hear from the media, the right wing radio or Air America and especially the main stream media other than we had a disaster and help is on the ground. Each has their own agenda and wants to destroy the other at any cost with the innocent people caught in between.

I have a real problem with the media in general and want to give you all something to think about. Why is it that some of the media people are complaining about the lack of rescue efforts as they fly over people filming the misery that is going on the ground. How many of them actually pitched in and helped? When you see pictures from the helicopters did you see where the news crew was dropping water and food to the stranded people? Of course you won’t, they are filming the National Guard’s mistakes when they were dropping water or their all exclusive following Oprah. Journalist first, everything else last. There is even a case where some college kids drove down to Louisiana to help and could not get through until they lied and said they were journalist. It shows how twisted everything is in our country. Every country has it’s disasters and we are no different or special that it cant happen here but there is a difference among us and everyone else, we respond quickly. The news media has been a problem, not a solution in this and other disasters, so next time you hear how come it happened here in the US, think about what I just wrote.

Anyway, I digress.

It is true that we don’t have 100 years to find out what happened, but don’t think for a moment that there is no one already looking at this mess and especially the logistics of it and stating to gather facts properly, there are and they are hidden from others to do their job.

With each disaster event there are lessons learned, so to speak, that is documented and discussed at all levels of agencies from this time on. This information helps with the logistics of the agencies and the coordination between them. It also helps to shorten the time that help gets to the areas that are in need of it.

It is easy for a lot of people to point the finger and blame someone else for the problem, the governor blames the president, right wing radio blames the governor, Air America can only accuse the President of impeachable offenses, but no one really knows what happened in each of their camps that could have helped or actually did hurt until the professionals get done gathering facts and compile the information.

Crazynuff, don’t worry the Red Cross won’t loss their support. They have been around for a long time and they know how to handle a lot worst things.

Well back on the road
 

trhoades

Expert Expediter
I think the main problem with the media is that there is too much media! When you have 3 and 4 news stations filming 24/7, you are going to see mistakes, period. And of course they are nt going to report all the good stories, because the ratings would fall to low. This was the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, and just look at the Iraq war. Why do 99% of all returnng soldiers come back PO'ed at the media? Because they are printing all the bad stuff. IT'S WAR there are going to horrible stories!!!! People die in war for pete's sake.

Had there been the media and cable and video there is today during WWI and WWII, Europe would be owned by Germany. There were more lives lost on D-Day than vietnam, both Iraq wars and Korea put together.

On the subject of George W., Democrats can blame themselves for that. I am an Independant, meaning I vote for the best candidate. I voted for Clinton both elections and I voted for Gore in 2000, because Bush didn't seem to bright to me. But I'll be damned if I am going to vote for an ##### kissing back and forth candidate like Kerry. Is that the best the Democrats had to offer? Bush was ripe for the pickin' in 2004. But don't just throw up anyone. And keep Michael Moore off the T.V., he just scares the hell out of me. I think he made alot of people vote for Bush. I think they felt that if he was a Democrat they would vote exact opposite. So if you all are angry for Bush being re-elected blame the fine voters in New Hampshire and all the other primaries who elected Kerry as your candidate. And keep the super left wing extremists like Moore, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Susan Surandon off the tube. They just get under the skin of most Americans. Just because your an actor or actress, it doesn't make you knowledgable. And it doesn't give you the right to degrade and put down people who don't share the same opinion. And if you don't think they go nuts when someone voices a different opinion, take a look at the Bill Maher show on HBO.
 

hdl

Expert Expediter
(snip)
>i heard from my aunt last night that my cousin Denise
>made it out of New Orleans; she's at her brother's in
>Baton Rouge. from what she told me:
>
>her mother, a licensed practical nurse, was called in
>to work on Sunday night at Memorial Hospital
>(historically known as Baptist Hospital to those of us
>from N.O.). Denise decided to stay with her mother,
>her niece and grandniece (who is 2 years old); she
>figured they'd be safe at the hospital. they went to
>Baptist, and had to wait hours to be assigned a room
>to sleep in; after they were finally assigned a room,
>two white nurses suddenly arrived after the cut-off
>time (time to be assigned a room), and Denise and her
>family were booted out; their room was given up to the
>new nurses. Denise was furious, and rather than stay
>at Baptist, decided to walk home (several blocks away)
>to ride out the storm at her mother's apartment. her
>mother stayed at the hospital.

Based on your statements here your cousin's mother, an LPN, was not booted out. While you attempt to make this some kind of racist situation your own statement would back up the point that nurses were given preference over those who weren't staff members, regardless of skin color.

Also, your other comments regarding the situation in the convention center (i.e. the kids with guns) directly contradicts those of every single black person that was there and had the opportunity to publicly describe it.

In fact based on what I've heard to date the Superdome was relatively tame compared to the convention center.
 

BigBusBob

Veteran Expediter
Driver
What? Do some of you think that only expediters that run primarily auto freight come onto great web sites like ExpeditersOnline.com??

Think again. Why I bet there's probably people that view this site that live in other countries... besides Canada and Mexico.
Imagine that?

You want truth... Our bus Co. sent 2 busses down there
(Weds. to Sat.)...
They moved people from Various points in New Orleans...
They (the drivers) informed us that there was unrest throughout the city. Police were by their doors in some cases fending off people wanting on the busses...
Do you all know WHY those bus drivers did not pick up people anywhere else other than directed???
Because they feared for their OWN lives.
Both of the men that went down there served in the US Army.
Is that saying something?
Drivers down there, truck and bus alike, go where they were directed. Anywhere else and it was "at your own risk".

Those busses came back to South Carolina a week ago Saturday evening,
from Texas.

They busses were dirty inside and out. There was mud in the wheel wells, caked all over in different spots, from running off road in some cases. The rest rooms, of both busses - were beyond filthy.
That is not 3rd party news, that is 2nd party news.
The drivers were dirty, tired, and hungry themselves.

They worked. They got the job done. They came home.

Threads like this need to be put online, so that others in the world know what has happened.

Hear from a grown man that has been thru 2 wars, that is loading his rig with a human chain holding back crowds of people wanting on his machine, that's real. Thats not reported. Drivers running over photo albums, over roofs, around damaged cars.
Thats not reported on the news is it?

Look at the big picture.
Threads like this need to be posted.
People need to and should know.
So maybe when it happens to you,
you yourselves might be better prepared.

Sincerely BigBusBob
 
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