# Oh. Joy! Just What You Need! Another Katrina Outrage!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 10, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962 "2005-09-10T06:02:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/1 "2005-09-10T06:02:46Z")
(By way of _Washington Monthly_, [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/), which references the original UPI source…)
> [@](#):
>
> ```
> [Gretna police chief Arthur] Lawson said that once the storm itself had passed Monday, police from Gretna City, Jefferson Parrish and the Louisiana State Crescent City Connection Police Department closed to foot traffic the three access points to the bridge closest to the West Bank of the river.
>
> ....As [residents] made their way to the bridge in order to leave the city "armed Gretna sheriffs (sic) formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads." ...
>
> ```
Offered without comment for fear of screaming myself hoarse…
(Except a whispered prayer that the majority of the refugees weren’t black, and the cops brandishing weapons weren’t white…)
PS: The article at _Washington Monthly_ has maps that illuminate the situation. If “illuminate” is quite the word.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/2 "2005-09-10T06:44:59Z")
Why do they hate America?
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/3 "2005-09-10T07:00:14Z")
Police Chief Lawson explained:
"…“If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged.”
The account about the shooting came from paramedics who approached and tried to talk with them.
They were not about to let those desperate people out of that death trap.
My God.
Where is Lawson now?
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### Author:  [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/4 "2005-09-10T10:37:21Z")
When it was explained that tens of thousands of New Orleanians had no means to obey the evacuation order, it was suggested that they walk out. Now we see that that wasn’t an option.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/5 "2005-09-10T11:56:16Z")
In addition to the rescuing, recovery, and rebuilding, another thing that should be done is to find out exactly what happened throughout the area. I guess the media did their best to get in there and report, but so much was happening, I wonder if we’ll ever know about everything that happened–I mean, as a nation. The people who were there, of course saw it first hand.
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### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/6 "2005-09-10T13:17:18Z")
> [@Zoe](#):
>
> Where is Lawson now?
Running for his life, one hopes. Or better yet, running no more.
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### Author:  [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/7 "2005-09-10T13:28:24Z")
Why is it “another” outrage? It’s not exactly breaking news. People at the dome said on TV, 10 days ago, that cops had formed a barrier on the bridge out of town and wouldn’t let them leave.
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### Author:  [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/8 "2005-09-10T14:08:26Z")
> [@elucidator](#):
>
> (By way of _Washington Monthly_, [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/), which references the original UPI source…)
>
> Offered without comment for fear of screaming myself hoarse…
>
> (Except a whispered prayer that the majority of the refugees weren’t black, and the cops brandishing weapons weren’t white…)
>
> PS: The article at _Washington Monthly_ has maps that illuminate the situation. If “illuminate” is quite the word.
That isn’t all the Gretna “law” did. They were taking food and water way from people, dispersing small groups that were forming up to help each other, and knocking down makeshift shelters. The FBI needs to go in there and start arresting these “officers of the law”.
---
### Author:  [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/9 "2005-09-10T14:22:19Z")
Having met the Gretna cops at a particularly ridiculous speed trap they set up (a speed limit suddenly dropped 10 mph along three blocks of a street, with the only two speed limit signs being (a) 15 feet up on a pole behind a tree and (b) 2 feet off the ground behind a bush), I can testify to the fact that they are a nasty, cold, heartless bunch.
I can understand why Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee was concerned about keeping order on the ground – as soon as folks started moving across the bridge, a group tried to burn out the sheriff’s substation by torching that section of Oakwood Mall and then shooting at the firemen who came to fight the fire (but who were able to get back in a few hours later and prevent the whole mall from burning to the ground, as they at first feared would happen). There was obviously reason to be concerned. But as far as I know, all his guys did was keep the people who had made it across before the Gretna cops started doing their thing in the area by the elevated expressway, under the expressway where they had shade from the sun and where they were easily evacuated (since that expressway was at that point the only functioning road in and out of New Orleans).
Nowhere have I seen it reported that Jefferson Parish sheriff deputies were actively preventing people from crossing the bridge, so I’m perfectly happy to heap all my hatred on the heads of the Gretna cops. If someone knows something different, by all means let me know.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/10 "2005-09-10T14:27:40Z")
> [@SteveG1](#):
>
> That isn’t all the Gretna “law” did. They were taking food and water way from people, dispersing small groups that were forming up to help each other, and knocking down makeshift shelters. The FBI needs to go in there and start arresting these “officers of the law”.
I don’t remember where this took place, but it was in an area of New Orleans that had apparently escaped damage. A CNN crew were interviewing people who refused to evacuate. One resident (a Black man, FWIW) said (paraphrasing), ‘Look down the street. None of these houses are damaged. Why do they want us to leave? The mayor [or governor – JLA] doesn’t know what’s happening here. The police want us out so that they can come in and loot, and no one will know what they’re doing.’
:dubious: The NOPD _breaking the law?_ Who’d ever think of such a thing?\*
[sub]\*The NOPD was well-known for corruption in the 1980s and 1990s.[/sub]
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/11 "2005-09-10T14:31:41Z")
> [@cricetus](#):
>
> Why is it “another” outrage? It’s not exactly breaking news. People at the dome said on TV, 10 days ago, that cops had formed a barrier on the bridge out of town and wouldn’t let them leave.
Boy, imagine my embarassment! Friend **cricetus** is quite right, the events described happened almost two weeks ago! Hence, my description of its being “another” outrage is faulty, it is merely “an” outrage, not “another” outrage.
Good catch, **cricetus**! What would we do without you?
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### Author:  [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/12 "2005-09-10T14:34:02Z")
Well then it’s time for the FBI to do their thing. There was a local police department like these guys in Sansom Park TX (just outside of Fort Worth) at one time. The FBI went in and cleaned house on the bastards. That’s what is needed in Gretna right now.
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### Author:  [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/13 "2005-09-10T14:50:13Z")
> [@elucidator](#):
>
> Boy, imagine my embarassment! Friend **cricetus** is quite right, the events described happened almost two weeks ago! Hence, my description of its being “another” outrage is faulty, it is merely “an” outrage, not “another” outrage.
>
> Good catch, **cricetus**! What would we do without you?
Your sarcasm isn’t needed. I agree it’s an outrage, I just don’t understand the new thread and the word “another” as if it’s just come out that this shit happened.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/14 "2005-09-10T14:56:39Z")
There’s a backlog.
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### Author:  [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/15 "2005-09-10T15:08:11Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#):
>
> There’s a backlog.
Fuck, man. I’m not even done with the Reagan administration. I’ll be an old man before I even get to Bush.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/16 "2005-09-10T15:09:59Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#):
>
> There’s a backlog.
Brownie? Is that you?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/17 "2005-09-10T16:59:42Z")
CNN has replayed the clip I saw. The resident of an undamaged area said, ‘He don’t know nothin’ and the policemen are doin’ the lootin’.’ (‘He’ being the mayor.)
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### Author:  [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/18 "2005-09-10T17:19:15Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#):
>
> I can understand why Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee was concerned about keeping order on the ground – as soon as folks started moving across the bridge, a group tried to burn out the sheriff’s substation by torching that section of Oakwood Mall and then shooting at the firemen who came to fight the fire (but who were able to get back in a few hours later and prevent the whole mall from burning to the ground, as they at first feared would happen). There was obviously reason to be concerned. But as far as I know, all his guys did was keep the people who had made it across before the Gretna cops started doing their thing in the area by the elevated expressway, under the expressway where they had shade from the sun and where they were easily evacuated (since that expressway was at that point the only functioning road in and out of New Orleans).
Seems to me that good ole Sheriff Harry Lee’s boys were doing their job then, protecting life and property. The “people” shooting at firefighters are damn lucky the sheriff’s police didn’t shoot back, to kill, which they had every reason to do.
Harumph!
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/19 "2005-09-10T18:16:02Z")
> [@cricetus](#):
>
> Your sarcasm isn’t needed. I agree it’s an outrage, I just don’t understand the new thread and the word “another” as if it’s just come out that this shit happened.
Conversely, I don’t understand why you think it was worthy of mention. Point of fact, I did, indeed, just hear about this. Minutes before posting. I might have responded sooner, but I was still screaming.
If this shows some weakness or failing on my part, consider it freely admitted.
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### Author:  [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-just-what-you-need-another-katrina-outrage/320962/20 "2005-09-10T18:32:24Z")
> [@elucidator](#):
>
> Conversely, I don’t understand why you think it was worthy of mention. Point of fact, I did, indeed, just hear about this. Minutes before posting. I might have responded sooner, but I was still screaming.
>
> If this shows some weakness or failing on my part, consider it freely admitted.
Who said anything about weakness or failing? My stars. I’m sorry I said anything.
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