Hurricane Katrina

[Tulsa]

"It must be legal," she said. "The police are here taking stuff, too."

This simply has to be the saddest thing I've read. I hope someone caught some of this on video. Somehow, I'm having a difficult time with the fact that people who are stealing jewlery and flat screen tv's are doing this to survive.

Sandra Smith of Baton Rouge walked through the parking lot with a 12-pack of Bud Light under each arm. "I came down here to get my daughters," she said, "but I can’t find them."

So she grabbed some beer instead of looking for her daughters. Does it get more pathetic than this?

[slotter]

Absolutely incredible video here. The devastation is astounding. Casinos dumped on top of hotels. Mile after mile after mile of just nothing there any more. Highways literally gone. View the longer 22 minute video made yesterday first before viewing the follow up video:


http://www.wlbt.com/

[napster]

This simply has to be the saddest thing I've read. I hope someone caught some of this on video. Somehow, I'm having a difficult time with the fact that people who are stealing jewlery and flat screen tv's are doing this to survive.



So she grabbed some beer instead of looking for her daughters. Does it get more pathetic than this?

You all are absolutely right, this is so sad and pathetic. But as far as survival goes, we tend to think mainly food, water, shelter. One of the things I do is run a payphone route. Yes, the payphone route had vanished on main street USA due to cell phones. But it is alive and well in the inner city. It is here that this behavior takes place everyday in citys all across the nation. (Just on a much smaller scale) Not only is this happening on a grand scale, its also being televised. I have phones in Phila.,Trenton, Wilminton, Camden etc., and its the same story in every city. Now when the word "Survival" is used, it also means their next bottle of booze, their next "fix", their next cigerette, as well as their food to get through the day. When you have a addiction you will do "anything" to satisfy that craving. They spend the day just looking for something to steal. We have to travel in pairs to just to go into these places so that we can watch each others back. Let your guard down and you will lose anything that they can get their hands on. My cousin Bill drives a booze truck for a living. He had to fill in for another driver one day and they sent him to Camden. A bunch of them got up on both running boards of the truck, and pulled him out through the window. And off they went. And the cops view it this way, "They have bigger things to worry about in the city of Camden" The cops don't care that they break into the phones. Its petty to them, no one got hurt. When they loot jewelry ,TVs, etc., its not for them to keep...its for them to sell so that they can survive another day. You won't believe the stuff they try to sell us when we go in their. (and at rock bottom prices) They just want than next line to snort up their nose. As you drive around it is common to see them strip apart a stolen car, or emptying out a truck.

I see that some of you posted that they should take pride in themselfs (They have none) Some state they should go to a job program. (Most are not trainable, they can't even read and write) And finally...Most don't care to ever change their life. This is the way it is, this is the way it will always be. Proverty breeds poverty! What kind a message does that mother send to her kids when she reaches for the booze first? Kids never come first in the ghetto. They just grow up mimicking their parents. Once in a while I would buy them a ice cream just to see them smile. They always look so troubled.

We also make it a habit to get in as early as possible, due to the fact that most are still passed out from the night before. After 18 years of this, it still makes me shake my head in disbelief.
This is just a fact of life that most people don't see. That is why I refered to them as the forgotten souls. We are just seeing this on a much larger scale due to a disaster. And no I am not condoning their behavior on any level. Even if it was just for food. Stealing is Stealing

[luckydog]

Officials Helpless Against Looters
By KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS - With law officers and National Guardsmen focused on saving lives, looters around the city spent another day Wednesday brazenly ransacking stores for food, beer, clothing, appliances - and guns.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco said she has asked the White House to send more people to help with evacuations and rescues, thereby freeing up National Guardsmen to stop looters.

"Once we get the 3,000 National Guardsmen here, we're locking this place down," Mayor Ray Nagin said. "It's really difficult because my opinion of the looting is it started with people running out of food, and you can't really argue with that too much. Then it escalated to this kind of mass chaos where people are taking electronic stuff and all that."

Amid the chaos Wednesday, thieves commandeered a forklift and used it to push up the storm shutters and break the glass of a pharmacy. The crowd stormed the store, carrying out so much ice, water and food that it dropped from their arms as they ran. The street was littered with packages of ramen noodles and other items.

Looters also chased down a state police truck full of food. The New Orleans police chief ran off looters while city officials themselves were commandeering equipment from a looted Office Depot. During a state of emergency, authorities have broad powers to take private supplies and buildings for their use.

Managers at a nursing home were prepared to cope with the power outages and had enough food for days, but then the looting began. The Covenant Home's bus driver surrendered the vehicle to carjackers after being threatened.

Bands of people drove by the nursing home, shouting to residents, "Get out!" On Wednesday, 80 residents, most of them in wheelchairs, were being evacuated to other nursing homes in the state.

"We had enough food for 10 days," said Peggy Hoffman, the home's executive director. "Now we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot."

At one store, hordes of people from all ages, races and walks of life grabbed food and water. Some drove away with trunkloads of beer.

At one point, two officers drew their guns on the looters, but the thieves left without incident. One of the officers said he is not going to arrest anyone for snatching up food and water.

One young man was seen wading through chest-deep floodwater, carrying a case of soda, after looting a grocery store.

"We will restore law and order," Blanco said. "What angers me the most is that disasters like this often bring out the worst in people. I will not tolerate this kind of behavior."

John Matessino, president of the Louisiana Hospital Association, said he had not heard of anyone breaking into the hospitals, but he added that thieves got into the parking garage at one hospital and were stealing car batteries and stereos.

Officials tried to balance security needs with saving lives.

"We're multitasking right now," said New Orleans Police Capt. Marlon Defillo. "Rescue, recovery, stabilization of looting, we're trying to feed the hungry."

New Orleans' homeland security chief, Terry Ebbert, said looters were breaking into stores all over town and stealing guns. He said there are gangs of armed men moving around the city. At one point, officers stranded on the roof of a hotel were fired at by criminals on the street.

The Times-Picayune newspaper reported that the gun section at a new Wal-Mart had been cleaned out by looters.

Authorities said an officer was shot in the head and a looter was wounded in a shootout. The officer and looter were expected to survive.

___

Associated Press Writer Robert Tanner contributed to this report.

[AkaReaper]

Well. In the forum I run, for party rentals we have a lot of operators down there, and we have heard from a few, and have not heard from some others yet. One guy lost everything, he is in TN with family. I'm hoping they all come through ok, forums are like extended families.

On a side note, a lot of us up here in Michigan are planning a benefit to raise money for those folks down there. We plan to set up around 6 moonwalks, 2 obstacle courses, 3 giant slides, some more various inflatables, and a ton of games and concessions.

Once we get it all together, hopefully in the next few weeks (its a big undertaking) we hope to raise some coin to make a difference for at least a few folks. I'll let you all know how it goes. If you folks plan to help, money for the red cross is the best way in my opinion.

[slotter]

Disgusting human lowlifes.

Looters: shoot to kill. Once the word gets out and after a couple looters are shot at, looting will quickly subside.

[Tulsa]

"Once we get the 3,000 National Guardsmen here, we're locking this place down," Mayor Ray Nagin said. "It's really difficult because my opinion of the looting is it started with people running out of food, and you can't really argue with that too much. Then it escalated to this kind of mass chaos where people are taking electronic stuff and all that."

Welcome to shutting the barn door after the horse got out.

[dattia]

I am heartbroken over this whole sad situation. Of course I do not condone looting, and that which is done in context of a riot or a World Series victory or loss...is despicable. However, if I were faced with the hard reality of what these people are faced with, I am not sure if I would be so different. I would like to think I would act in an appropriate manner, but given the utter devastation there and the fact that these people have lost everything and I do mean everything...I really don't know what an appropriate manner is.

You all can beat me up for saying this...but I already forgive them for their actions. No homes, no food, no jobs, no transportation, no water, no electricity, dead, missing or unaccounted for loved ones, little or no money or no access to what they may have in the banks...and the list goes on. I think I can forgive.

[compirate]

That's a big barn door though. Need a few more thousand to shut it (and a few amphibious tanks!)

[Bilko44]

Finally, I am able to rejoin the forum.

Power went off at 9pm Monday night as Katrina came through. The wind was gusting up to 75mph in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Power was restored today at 6pm by a Georgia Power crew which came to Alabama to lend a helping hand.

Fortunately we had a generator to run so we were able to save the food in our freezer and refrigerator. Many trees were blown down in our area (which had already lost trees to two tornados that came through earlier this year).

One large oak came down on the backside of our property. Out comes my chain saw tomorrow. I have been working on debris removal for two days and have finally got the yard mowed and cleared.

I am 250 miles inland from the coast and we still felt the storm's effect. Leaves blowing in the wind were shredded into penny sized particles.

My heart goes out to the victims of this storm. I have to contain my anger as I see the wholesale looting. Scavenging for food until help arrives is one thing: stealing TVs, mugging nurses, torching businesses is absolutely criminal and martial law should be declared.

Carolyn and I know we are fortunate to escaped Katrina's wrath. We had reservations at the Imperial Palace Biloxi for Sept 13-15. Katrina canceled them.

[RKnarr01]

Bilko good to hear you and your family is safe and unharmed.

[dattia]

Yes, Bilko. Very glad to hear that.

[MrGneiss]

[Bilko44]

Katrina's aftermath is a test of our resolve as a nation.

Disaster and tragedy are interlopers which bring chaos into our comfortable world and way of life. As we sit in our home and poke messages into our computer, it is easy to judge the actions of others as deplorable. Indeed, looting and other lawlessness offends us all.

All of us have dealt with some form of crisis in our lives, but very few of us have experienced first hand the scope and magnitude of the events unfolding along the gulf coast and New Orleans.

Think back to a personal tragedy in your life. Now, remove from your life all of your personal belongings, your home, your car, everything but what you can put into a plastic bag. Look at every person you meet today and try to imagine that they are experiencing the same horrific misfortune.

Into this miserable descent into Hell on earth, you are hungry, filthy, dehydrated, without medication and have only the clothes on your back. You are trapped in a giant fishbowl with no immediate way out.

There are 100,000 people just like you in this bowl. What are the odds that all of them are honest, generous, helpful and caring?

Instead of condemning all of these survivors, I suggest we do everything we can to help the victims. At this point we must not be deterred from rescuing the greatest number of people as quickly as possible.

Martial law should be declared and our victims and survivors removed to shelter and hope with great haste. We should pursue the looters, killers and thugs with great vigor and dispatch them as necessary.

Stand together America!

Help with your donations to appropriate charities which can provide aid.

Talk with your checkbook. Every bit will help.

Complaining about all that is bad doesn't help at this point. That comes later after the survivors are safe.

[dattia]

I totally agree with you. That is the point I had tried to make earlier. I don't think any of us can really imagine the horror of what these people are going through. I have no sympathy for any violent behavior in this matter. It has already proven to be hampering the rescue operation. For the people who are taking shoes because they are barefoot, and car batteries and stereos because it may give them their first source of information in days, air mattresses to float down their streets or to sleep in their streets, never mind those that are looking for fresh water or ANY type of food, so what, take it. With this devastation, these people have instinctually gone into a "survival" mode and will do anything necessary. I agree, lets help them and pray that we are never faced with anything even a fraction of this magnitude.

[doodude]

I find it a bit insulting that someone with views other than my own would take out my comments tho' I never suggested we shoot them in the head.
Seems open opinions are for the few...

[napster]

I find it a bit insulting that someone with views other than my own would take out my comments tho' I never suggested we shoot them in the head.
Seems open opinions are for the few...

I am not exactly sure what you are directing this to, but these words sure apply to something that I experienced in another thread.

[doodude]

I am not exactly sure what you are directing this to, but these words sure apply to something that I experienced in another thread.

I am refering to a comment that I posted regarding the subject at hand & which was, I believe, on the money in my opinionated sort of way.
However, someone removed it. In its place appeared a plea of sorts that to me suggest that the select group of animals who have perpetrated the murdering, raping, stealing & other ghastly acts upon the innocent victims of this tragedy be given a pass because they are going thru' hard times.

[dattia]

Gee, I didn't read anything like that. I read that there are a lot of innocent victims that are taking things that they precieve as being needed to survive when they have lost everything. Of course, those that are commiting ghastly acts should be treated accordingly. I guess this is what happens when the criminal element is released back into society in the wake of a disaster.

Sorry your opinion got censored...but it wasn't me...I've got NO power around here. I'm just an emotional bleeding heart female happy that I still have all my stuff and my family safe and sound beside me.

[arbycoffee]

The red cross can't get in to help some, because of being fired upon by snipers (PER FOX NEWS).
Why do this ?
The NAACP said "if it were white people, they would have had help by now". under sniper fire I think not.
Where are all the northern black churches and jesse jackson and his group. Those helping are mostly white and those being helped are mostly black, that is the only "black & white thing going on", but no man is going to walk into gun fire no matter their color.