# People Magazine? Katrina? Police? Flashlights? Myself For Reading It? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 21, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-magazine-katrina-police-flashlights-myself-for-reading-it/322750 "2005-09-21T18:18:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-magazine-katrina-police-flashlights-myself-for-reading-it/322750/1 "2005-09-21T18:18:48Z")
Not sure who to pit here - it could certainly be argued that I brought this upon myself with my dirty People Magazine habit (the shame, the shame). One of the stories they related (“Special Double Issue! Courage In Chaos! Plus - Annual Best & Worst Dressed”) comes from young Billy Rhodes, a high school student who took a week off from school to join fellow volunteer firefighters heading for New Orleans. When his group arrived on August 30, they could hear people screaming “help me, help me”. But it was “too dark”, so “the police” (not sure who) refused to let them go in. The next morning, as they boated around the city, he found dead children, heads sticking out of their attics. It was their screams he’d heard the night before. Now, I know they couldn’t possibly save everyone. It’s a miracle that the death toll hasn’t already risen much higher. But for crying out loud - DON’T THESE PEOPLE HAVE FLASHLIGHTS?? Why on earth wouldn’t they have at least tried to help these kids? Dead children, that’s just wrong. I tried googling this story and couldn’t find any more details. Sure, if tons of water was rushing in, it might be impossible to carry out a rescue. But…dark? Too dark? I thought a lot of emergencies happened after the sun went down. Obviously we’ve all had enough of this issue. But this story has been haunting me, so I thought I’d open a thread. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-magazine-katrina-police-flashlights-myself-for-reading-it/322750/2 "2005-09-21T18:55:16Z")
> [@](#): > > It was their screams he’d heard the night before. He knows this how? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-magazine-katrina-police-flashlights-myself-for-reading-it/322750/3 "2005-09-21T18:58:12Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > He knows this how? They left a note. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-magazine-katrina-police-flashlights-myself-for-reading-it/322750/4 "2005-09-21T19:15:51Z")
I would guess it’s because of their proximity, but the (brief) article doesn’t make it clear. Just states that he’s having a hard timing returning to his former life. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-magazine-katrina-police-flashlights-myself-for-reading-it/322750/5 "2005-09-22T22:07:58Z")
I thought this was a pitting of _People_ magazine for having a Double Issue, with the national disaster known as Katrina on one end and “Best Dressed Celebrities” on the other. What an odd, and unfortunate, juxtaposition. Carry on.