Grim discovery as Lower 9th reopens

[UpInArms]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/10/12/katrina.nola/

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- As residents of New Orleans' hardest-hit district lined up for miles to see what was left of their homes Wednesday, one man made a grim discovery.

His grandmother's body was still inside her home in the Lower 9th Ward more than six weeks after Hurricane Katrina.

"I'm never going to forget this the rest of my life, man. That's all I can say," Paul Murphy said.

<snip>

Under Mayor Ray Nagin's "look and leave" plan, some Lower 9th Ward residents were allowed to return to their homes Wednesday to inspect damage and collect their valuables. They had to leave by 6 p.m. because curfews remain in effect for much of the city.

Murphy, a 22-year-old restaurant cook, said his family had been told Mary Beth Hawkins died in the storm and that her body had been removed from her home on Lizardi Street.

...more...

[etherealtruth]

1. Unconscionable n/t

[Liberal Dose]

2. Proving that the homes were not searched, yet spray painted in colors

indicating that they were. Proving that the death count is a lie. We won't see every story like this one in print, but we can bet there are hundreds more. :cry:

[MaineDem]

4. And families were notified and lied to

What a horrible thing to discover.

[Nickster]

3. Good Lord that is just so wrong on so many levels. WTF?

[Tesla]

5. I wonder how many stories won't be told because they will be

SILENCED!!!

[Child_Of_Isis]

6. I knew that was going to happen.

Folks going home will find the bodies because the search was half assed. There will be plenty of these stories. We won't hear them all, of course.

[raccoon]

7. No, we won't. DU folks from N-O and the general area, please

pass the word along when you hear stories like this.


Well, at least this isn't a lie:

"As for New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward, Allen said, "It will be a long time before the recovery work is done there."

edited to add 2nd paragraph

[Skittles]

8. the disrespect for the people of New Orleans continues

this is downright inhumane

[NorthernSpy]

9. callous treatment of the dead by the authorities

Remember that at the World Trade Center, the search for human remains continued for nearly a year.

In New Orleans, the authorities searched for a few weeks, and then threw in the towel. But not because they weren't finding bodies.

Bodies continue to be found -- by citizens who have returned to examine family property and search for their relatives.

It's pretty hard to overlook this difference in the demonstrated level of official concern for the victims and their families.

[intheflow]

13. Well you can be sure if the financial district on NOLA

was hit, they'd be combing the area for a year looking for human remains. :cry:

[endarkenment]

10. Well that is one way to keep the official body count down. nt.

[TexasLawyer]

26. Yup, that's how we keep the count under 1,000!

[damntexdem]

11. FEMA's contractors really did a 'heck of a job'!

At least he knows where his grandmother's body is -- unlike some others trying to deal with the contractors.

[Historic NY]

12. How many more of the missing will turn up this way...............

"Brownie your doing a heck of a job?" :nuke:

[wanpete]

14. This is evidence of the 2% approval rating from African-Americans.

To think that the WTC was searched for a year for minuscule particles of DNA and juxtapose that to the blatant disrespect for these souls whose bodies should have been removed in a dignified manner just exposes the racial divide that trickles down from this administration.

It's truly and totally sickening!

[AllegroRondo]

15. This is why we need a memorial listing every person that died

[AnneD]

20. We need

a list of the missing too. That will equal a more accurate death toll. Why haven't we heard about the number of missing.

[EuroObserver]

22. DU (IndyOp) tuesday: Over 9,400 children and adults

are STILL MISSING post-Katrina

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5035823&mesg_id=5035823

[phusion]

16. I can't imagine what that poor guy went through

finding his Grandmother like that, 6 weeks after her death.

:(

[currents]

17. p______ ______u _______ _________k________ _____e

And I was just about to have lunch.

[EuroObserver]

18. Grokked and nominated.

Feel like crying again.

[lovuian]

19. OMG!!! How sad!!!

What were they thinking!!!

[AzDar]

21. That poor, poor man.....horrible...I'm speechless. n/t

[gorekerrydreamticket]

23. Great job, Brownie! n/t

[Imagevision]

24. They said that when they knocked on the door and no response they

marked the house and moved on -- a systematic block by block hopuse search never happened -- they didn't go inside the houses or the attics, unfortunately these news tidbits will never make headlines because we've moved on? more bullshit!

[lonestarnot]

25. And this in the United States.