If final # in NOLA is 972, how do they explain this?

[babylonsister]

St. Gabriel, LA: 02 October: 8,000 bodies taken to morgue:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/REPOSITORY/510020403/1037/NEWS04

snip
Cataldie, a former medical examiner, acknowledged that identifying and releasing bodies has been painfully slow. Of the nearly 8,000 bodies taken to the morgue, he said, just 32 have been identified positively and another 340 have been identified tentatively.

Because many bodies decomposed in heat and floodwaters after being left uncollected, Cataldie said, some victims never will be identified and their cause of death never known.

Forensic specialists supervised by the Federal Emergency Management Agency are taking X-rays and fingerprints of the corpses, but identifying bodies and notifying next-of-kin is being handled by state officials. Their greatest fear is misidentifying a corpse in the deluge of bodies. snip

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/REPOSITORY/510020403/1037/NEWS04

Edit to update links

[Dora]

1. Excellent catch! n/t

[whopis01]

46. We need more of this... we need more bodies found

We need more of these catches!

We need a large body count here. We need to have as many dead as possible and we need to get the word out about it. This is what will bring down the GOP. DeLay will get away with it.. Rove will get away with it... but with enough bodies, we can bring them down.

We can turn this so called "natural" disaster into our greatest victory ever.

[Dora]

47. Welcome to DU!

While I think I understand what you're saying...

I would never hope to depend on needing "as many dead as possible." As well, I and countless others think that the crimes and treasons this administration has committed are gravitas enough to bring these criminals down without our needing to rely on "enough bodies."

The disaster that was the response to Katrina is not a victory for anybody, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Dead is dead, and good Democrats do not on the dead rejoice or depend.

[Dorian Gray]

49. Disgusting.

I'm just going to assume this is ironic.

[RandomKoolzip]

52. Far out, man!

We need more of these catches!
We need a large body count here. We need to have as many dead as possible and we need to get the word out about it. This is what will bring down the GOP. DeLay will get away with it.. Rove will get away with it... but with enough bodies, we can bring them down.
We can turn this so called "natural" disaster into our greatest victory ever.

Nice one! You can't do opacity, can you.

Okay, so which rightist site did you send the screenshot to? Or did you call Rush about it? Liddy?

"Look mommy! If I smear MY poop on Johnny's face, it makes it look like JOHNNY pooped himself, not me!"

[mattclearing]

2. Nice one. n/t

[StellaBlue]

3. I heard on TV yesterday

That there are still 10,000 'officially missing', too.

[KyndCulture]

4. Did they take the article down?

I can't get to it now.

[babylonsister]

5. That was weird; try here:

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/REPOSITORY/510020403/1037/NEWS04

[TomInTib]

8. Wow

This is just unbelievable that this is happening in the Good Old USA. We have devolved past the Third World in the blink of an eye.
How will we ever get back to where we were?

[punpirate]

6. This may be a better link

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/REPOSITORY/510020403/1037/NEWS04

[tx_dem41]

7. Has anyone stated that 972 is the FINAL number?

Your whole post is based on such a statement. Can you point me to that statement?..Just wondering.

[htuttle]

9. It's currently the 'official' number

They say they are ending the search for bodies, and the official toll stands at 972 for New Orleans:

Here:
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/10/04/neworleans.bodies.ap/

...

The search for Katrina victims ended in Louisiana with a death toll substantially less than the 10,000 victims some officials feared.

The toll Tuesday stood at 972, eight more than Monday, the state health department said.

A private company has been hired by the state and will remove any other
bodies that are found.

...

[fooj]

12. That's what they reported last night on the local news, as well...

How can they explain away the 7-9 semi convoy (refrigeration trucks) lined up outside a huge warehouse in Mississippi 3-4 days after Katrina? They interviewed the woman working at the temp. morgue and she assured the journalist that every body would be treated with the utmost respect. Others have seen the same broadcast...so I know that info is floating around out there. This is an outrage!

peace

[babylonsister]

17. Thanks for the link; I knew it was out there. nt

[tx_dem41]

24. Which doesn't mean its the final number. n/t

[AllegroRondo]

30. Official = found and identified

who knows how many others are not yet identified, or will never be found.

[halobeam]

10. IMO, what's happening is the media is mis leading the viewers

confusing them. SURPRISE!.. (sorry, sarcasm absolutely Not directed at you)...

The media reports the recovery effort has concluded. Then they mention the number dead (which they don't clarify is only the "confirmed" dead), they don't mention the "other bodies" not identified, therefore not in the count.

That's what leads people to misunderstand this is not a "final" count. It's the finality of the recovery effort. The way they throw the number of dead in their report can lead some to conclude it's the final number, and they'll never be held responsible for "saying"/reporting that, because they didn't actually say it.

It's what they leave out and how they place the info they do provide, in the report. Not to mention, once there really is a final number, it will be on page 47 in two sentences in a small local paper somewhere in, I don't know, find a place you never heard of, that should about where.

[Marie26]

28. They've stopped searches

Here's a news story from today. The death toll is now 972 in LA. They've stopped searching in New Orleans, but the number could still change if people call with reports.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-13447055,00.html

[wiggs]

11. Perhaps

...do you remember a story that came out about a week after Katrina hit that someone saw that body counters were attributing only about 20% of the deaths to Katrina...the rest were from "natural" causes.

If someone died from diabetic shock, or dehydration, or from an illness they had been managing successfully pre-Katrina, it may be that they are not being counted in the Katrina totals.

This story appeared briefly then disappeared without a trace since.

Using those percentages, the death total from all direct and indirect Katrina causes might be closer to 5000.

[intheflow]

26. Yep. 900 dead from Katrina, 9,000 dead from levee break.

Obviously, NOLA missed the bullet where Katrina was concerned! :sarcasm:

[mom cat]

38. Its simple..they don't count the Black bodies. Hell, they never counted

them when they were alive, why should they start now! :sarcasm:

[lateo]

42. Bingo!

I was just about to say that.

[mom cat]

53. It is sad just how true that it is.

[back2basics909]

13. Typo...

Same article, same reporters stright to the LA Timaes and it says 800.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/latimests/20050929/ts_latimes/katrinascorpsesaremanyidsarefew

[readmoreoften]

16. Ah, good catch!

I still believe that the real count is MUCH higher. Thousands of children were missing. Two year olds named "Megan" and "Emily" and "Aisha" with no surviving photos of them. So have they all been accounted for? It's insane.

[spuddonna]

14. Yeah, I read that yesterday... It doesn't make sense...

How can they say the death toll is only 900 some, when they have 8000 bodies at the morgue?! Insane...

I think this needs to go to KO and CNN...

[Im with Rosey]

31. I sent article to KO

[helderheid]

15. Great find - recommended

[Poiuyt]

18. How many more were killed in Mississippi and Alabama?

and the rest of LA?

[chalky]

19. Kicked, nommed and bookmarked!

n/t

[buzzsaw_23]

20. nominated-kick

[riverwalker]

21. edited to 800 in this copy of same story

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/NEWS06/510020487/1012/NEWS06

"By DAVID ZUCCHINO and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
Los Angeles Times" These guys need to clarify this.

[halobeam]

22. Yeah, I don't get it... the OP link says 8000,

These two other links, yahoo/indy edit number to 800??

[riverwalker]

25. very weird n/t

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

48. That's what generally happens in the event of a typo...

...on a web article. It's annoying that they don't issue proper corrections for mistakes like that.

OTOH, you could check the print additions (I believe it's LA Times) to see if a print correction was issued for the print version of the article.

[onenote]

29. frankly, 800 makes more sense

(i) Hard to hide 8000 bodies -- someone would've noticed
(ii)Unlikely that after all this time they would have only identified 340 of 8000 bodies

onenote

[bunny planet]

23. Just sent this to Keith Olbermann

Now I'll send it to AAR.

[bloom]

27. it's weird to me that with the Tsunami

there were death tolls that kept rising over the first few days, and yet the Gulf/NOLA didn't have similar estimates over a similar time frame.

Plus when you know they are gagging the press - you have to be suspicious.

[Taverner]

32. Of course this might include bodies that were released from graveyards

during the storm....but good point

[Window]

33. How can they be allowed to get away with this???

This is ridiculous.

Peace

[jarnocan]

34. glad you posted this as a thread.

we have a right and need to know the truth.

[babylonsister]

35. Me, too. I knew I had read otherwise, and once I

googled St. Gabriel in BR, I found it!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

36. The number of MISSING seems to never get discussed though.

One would think many or most of those still missing after a month are likely dead.

[babylonsister]

37. And where's a master list,

like there was for 9/11? It's infuriating that this isn't being done and advertised widely.

[ThoughtCriminal]

39. LA Times - 800 not 8000

I really think 8000 IS a mis-print.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bodies2oct02,0,5171979.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[preciousdove]

40. I know 800 is the misprint..

[Nothing Without Hope]

41. Morticians had been told to expect up to 40,000 bodies:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4674804

See also these two articles, one from the LA Times and one from the NY Times, on how even IDENTIFIED bodies are not being released to the families.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4949027
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1827484&mesg_id=1827484

From the start, FEMA has tried to suppress all witnessing of body numbers and collection:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4949027&mesg_id=4952713

[wrathofkahn]

43. One other thing to remember in this...

There will be a significant number of bodies found that were long dead before this hurricane hit. Remember, they have to bury their dead above ground there, and when there is significant flooding in other bayou areas outside of New Orleans, it's not uncommon for some bodies to float out of the mausoleums. When my wife was growing up in Freshwater City Bayou, LA (go ahead, try to find it on map; good luck), this was basically expected.

In a city the size of New Orleans, and with the level of flooding that occurred there, I wouldn't be surprised if there were lots and lots of bodies that came out of those impressive cemeteries.

[DoYouEverWonder]

44. There a big difference between skeletal remains

which most of the bodies in the graveyards are at this point and dead bodies.

Besides from the reports that I've read most of the cemeteries survived the storm and the flood pretty much in tact. They did not ended up with remains all over the place.

[wrathofkahn]

45. Interesting

I hadn't heard anything specific about the New Orleans cemeteries, but when my wife went to her home on the AL/MS border, where they bury in the same way, there was quite a bit of loss of bodies there.

Agreed about the skeletal remains, but people certainly would have been people "buried" recently before the storm, as well. My wife says that the most recently "buried" are always the ones to "float" out first, presumably because they're more buoyant than just a bunch of bones.

[The Magistrate]

50. It Is A Mis-Print, Ma'am

By a small-town paper. The original L.A. Times article, copied by the Concord paper, states "800 bodies", not eight thousand.

[markus]

51. Ms babylongsister is not guilty of inflating it

A bad editor is.

A beer for anybody who can tell me what's wrong with the Subject line from an editorial point of view.

(Hint: drop one word to change the meeting, and suggest an alternate construction).