first hand account of urban warfare and the NOLA situation

[nashville_brook]

(my best friends here in Nashville had family in New Orleans for a bachelor party. this is the email of how they got out.)

start email:
________________________

Hi Everyone

Matt is home safe and sound. Larry, Matt and Michael were flown home by Jay this evening. What they told me is so much worse than we are all imagining.

The reason that the boys left the hotel this morning to try to walk to safety instead of waiting to be rescued is because they were told they had to leave the hotel by the afternoon and head toward the Dome (they said that they were NOT going to do that) and their lives were at stake as the looters were in their hotel.

They decided that if they didn't try to make it to the highway (knowing Larry was trying to reach them there) they would not survive where they were. They heard gunshots every 30 minutes. They packed their suitcases with essentials (all of the food and water that they had collected and saved) and used sheets to tie around them to form a backpack. They walked in the water, trying to avoid all of the debris and dead things (they were told not to look at dead people) for several blocks until they got to the highway.

They managed to get over the bridge where the police told them they had to go back. When the boys tried to stay, the police pulled their shotguns on them. Finally, a utility truck pulled up and took them back over the bridge where they proceeded to walk toward Baton Rouge. They tried to flag down anyone who passed them in a vehicle begging for a ride but nobody would stop. Finally, a man in a pickup truck stopped and agreed to take them to BR. All 9 of them crammed into the bed of the pickup with their bags.

They got to BR where Matt filled the man's truck up with gas for him and they paid the man money for the ride. They were able to call and tell us where they were and I called Larry...his phone would not always work and the boys had a difficult time getting in touch with him so we would have to wait until Larry called me for the update.

If it hadn't been for Michael's phone having the ability to text message (his was the only one) and them knowing that Larry was there trying to reach them, they would not have known what to do or where to go. They felt they had to try to reach Larry and if it weren't for Jim finding out the roads and directions they needed to head for, they would not have made it.

Now that I have said all of this, Larry and Matt have said that if they did not get out today like they did, they probably would not have made it out. People were looting the hospitals for the drugs and food. They were killing people for the clothes, food, water or anything else that they could use to barter. People were getting their throats slit for their cars.
_________________________________________________

[moc]

1. Sweet Mother of Jesus

:cry:

[ohio_liberal]

2. Thanks for posting

I don't understand the significance of text messages though. I always thought if you could send a text, you could use the phone? :shrug:

[ender]

6. text takes up much less bandwidth...

[nashville_brook]

7. yeah -- but now we know fwiw, that they are a good thing

to have in an emergency!

[gorekerrydreamticket]

16. I've been in a situation where you couldn't make a cell

call because the the facilities were overwhelmed. A call wouldn't go through but you could browse the internet and send/receive text.

[King Coal]

3. My God, they have to escape to be rescued. What is going on there?

Why are the police making them go back? Why in hell are they not allowed to walk out of a disaster zone?

[nashville_brook]

11. that seems really wrong to me -- shouldn't they be evacuating?

i have really bad vibes about the situation down there. it doesn't add up. the "response" if we can call it that, isn't doing what you would imagine they should be doing to help the stranded.

[Silverhair]

13. Too many people walking would block the road for vehicles.

Then things would get even worse. The freeways have to be kept clear so that supplies/busses can get in and out.

Sometimes reality bites.

[happyslug]

19. Pedestrians rarely block traffic in America

Most roads in America can accommodate both Pedestrians and Vehicular traffic (They were designed that way, now the Pedestrians generally are second class but the law in the US is quite clear, if you have to choose between Pedestrian or Vehicular Traffic, it is Cars that must be banned. To do this, some, generally not great, but some, accommodation is made for pedestrian traffic).

Now the accommodation for pedestrian Traffic may also be the break down lane, it may be a narrow curb, but it does exist. Thus it is RARE for pedestrian traffic to block traffic. Now a lot of Auto traffic do NOT like passing pedestrians (And slow down when they do) but that is NOT prevent the traffic from moving.

My point here is people WALKING OUT OF NEW ORLEANS pose no threat to block any aid from coming in. Thus why did the Police point their guns? The police are hearing the same reports we are hearing and decided that the best way to keep the "Gangs" away from the areas they are in is to block them from leaving. This was reinforced by them having make shift packs, in the eyes of the Police they were looting and did not want the looters in their neighborhood. Now the police are people and go by the best available information to them, thus they are as capable of being stupid as the next person. Sometime you have to remind them of their job (For example say you are NOT going back as this person did BUT also don't argue with them and don't fight them, that generally frustrates them and they leave you go on your way, if you fight them they may shoot you).

Now before someone says I know of a road pedestrians can NOT walk on, I have the following comments:

1. Is it a limited access or Interstate Highway? If yes, such roads are rarely design for pedestrian travel, but almost always follow an older state road THAT DOES ACCOMMODATE PEDESTRIANS.

2. Is is a state road that has no sidewalks? Does it have curb? Yes you can walk on a curb (I have done so on many a road) it is a narrow (six inch wide) path but passable. Does it have a break down land? If yes, you can walk on the Break down lane (Most state highways have break down lanes that not only provide people a place to park their cars if it breaks down, but permit water to roll off the road surface onto the surrounding land). Again, you have to deal with a high volume of traffic but it is still walkable.

It is rare to have a road that does NOT have some sort of edge to it (and many have grass edges). It is hard for pedestrians to block traffic on today's roads (The same CAN NOT BE SAID OD CARS, cars can block roads for emergency supplies, and thus should be stopped from using the highway system).

3. Yes I have seen roads blocked by a large number of Pedestrians, especially after they leave some sort of "event" (Football game, Concert, etc) but that is rare and quickly spreads out. Thus after 5-10 minutes the "mob" is a long line that emergency vehicles can easily get around (Unlike cars in a similar situation that block by their size the use of the roads to emergency vehicles). Thus pedestrians rarely, if ever, block traffic FOR EMERGENCY VEHICLES OR SUPPLIES. The same can NOT BE SAID OF CARS.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Oh God!

-----------------------------------------------------
Save New Orleans, then save this country!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[killbotfactory]

5. Apocalypse Now

This is insane....

[Swamp Rat]

8. My mom went through this too. n/t

[satya]

9. OMG! Rec'd. Send it to Amy Goodman at Democracy NOW and AAR. nt

[nashville_brook]

12. thanks -- we needs to get the first hand stories out there

the people who sent this to me are my best friends here in nashville -- i've known them for 20 years. they moved from the mountains with us. i've been privvy to many stories from this side of their family for years, as the elders were engineer in Saudi Arabia and send dispatches as to the situation there. it's a family of engineers. they are reasonable, gentle people.

[crispini]

10. Holy crap.

It just gets worse.

[BlueEyedSon]

14. I guess Bush likes the lifestyle he created in Iraq so much, he wanted to

to recreate it here in the US.

[PeacePal]

15. Please post for me - How do we find out what roads are passable?

Some of us locally are talking about driving supplies down there. If the reporters can get in, and some people are getting out, we would like to get close enough WITH A BUS to do several things:

Take water and food down - "they" say 'just send cash', but all the leaders with heart (political, local, religious, whatever) are saying just GET US BUSES, FOOD, FUEL.

Bring some people back with us, probably to live for months.

Create at least ONE highly visible stand-in, Camp Casey style.

Document what's really happening.

I don't have enough posts to ask this question, but I'm not trusting the official sites and am not finding answers here or on craigslist to this question:

How close can a bus REALLY get?

[ima_sinnic]

18. kick

[faithnotgreed]

20. ill start the thread for you

[faithnotgreed]

21. go here for response:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4601816

seems no one can really go in or out without military/police permission

[Rabrrrrrr]

17. Ah, good ol' republican family values government at work again

I'm so glad we're the most civilized and Christian nation EVER.


God bless America!!