Here Lies Vera

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A CITY IN SURVIVAL MODE
A DEATH IN NEW ORLEANS
Tired of waiting for authorities to help, citizens rescue the living, bury the dead

Anna Badkhen, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, September 4, 2005

(09-04) 04:00 PDT New Orleans -- Neighbors buried Vera Smith on top of the concrete sidewalk at the edge of the Garden District on Saturday in a crude grave they made of soil and bricks they had unearthed from a little park nearby.

Smith had been dead for four days. She was killed by a hit-and-run driver Tuesday night as panicked residents fled the flooded city and looters descended on her neighborhood. She became one of the hundreds, possibly thousands, who died in the mayhem unleashed by Hurricane Katrina.

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McCarthy, McEleney and two other neighbors, Janet Clouden and Kima Smith, picked up a square white plastic tarp and placed it on top of the grave, tucking it in under the bricks. Clouden placed two red hibiscus blossoms on either side of the grave.

On the tarp, Vera's neighbors had written a dedication of sorts in thick black letters, large enough for rescue helicopters roaring overhead to see the words.

It read:

"Here lies Vera. God help us."

link to the original story: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/04/MNG16EIE0K1.DTL

[NMDemDist2]

1. K&R

:cry: