Galveston Press Dispels 'Mass Floating Bodies' and other wild rumours -

[jannyk]

Galveston Daily News Editor Commentary on Mayor Thomas' information blackout and how it is leading to added distress and sensational rumors:

>>As of now, these problems, coupled with the current mandate that reporters cannot talk to anyone "official" other than the mayor and city manager, and then only for short times in controlled environments, gives rise to more uncertainty and more anxiety. And it gives rise to rumors.

We've heard the following:

• There's a secret morgue containing dozens of unidentified bodies. Not true.

• Air traffic was being controlled to avoid film of dozens of bodies floating offshore. Not true.

• Policemen working rescue duty were literally wading through the dead in knee-high water. Not true.

• Ball High School burned down Monday. Not true.

• Water won't be back on for a month. Probably not true.

These kinds of rumors are the price city and Federal Emergency Management Administration officials pay for alienating and ignoring the public and media personnel who are trying to tell the story.<<<


http://galvestondailynews.com/blog.lasso?blog=2b5d928529496f4a


Of course there will, unfortunately, be more dead than we currently know about, but those that were hysterically hyping 900 floaters on Bolivar alone need to get a grip on reality.

[lapfog_1]

1. Then let the media go where they want and fly where they want.

What's the big concern?

[EFerrari]

4. The Feds took over the scene. They withhold information on principle

neverming that it just worries people more. They're idiots.

[jannyk]

5. Here's the problem!

Headline from GDN "Who's In Charge"

Apparently, in Galveston, the Mayor (Thomas), in whose hands now is total power, is a part-time, unpaid official. The city is run daily by the City Manager!

http://www.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=fb34167c7ceca609

"A part of the current problems with recovery from the ravages of Hurricane Ike is that the city of Galveston’s part-time, unpaid mayor has virtually all the power in the city.

The person who runs the city every other day, the city manager, is secondary.

That’s backwards, and it gets in the way of effective government in the face of dangerous community crisis."

I just think she 'choked'.

[EFerrari]

2. I'm so glad GDN is on line again.

:)

[JDPriestly]

3. They should widely publicize the death figures in order to discourage

people from ignoring warnings in the future. Thanks for the update. It is so important for the government to inform people and tell the truth. That is the best way to get public cooperation, to make people trust warnings, in the future.

[tammywammy]

6. Good to see they're online

And helping to dispel these rumors.

[readmoreoften]

7. Yes how absurd to imagine that those who stayed encountered "certain death" like the gov't said...

More people died in Ohio and Kentucky from falling tree limbs after the storm than the "three" people in Galveston. More people died in Houston from monoxide poisoning and electrocution than those on Galveston Island. The authorities were wrong. It was not certain death. The fact that little remains of many eras on the island except dirt, some sticks, water, snakes, alligators, and apparently a hungry tiger...this gives us no indication as to the fate of anyone who stayed behind. The fact that there was a deluge of 911 calls from Galveston Island during the storm, does in fact, prove that there was no one there. And yes, the idea that bodies would wash out to sea is utterly preposterous. It is rational to assume that more people will die from getting hit by tree limbs while mowing the lawn after a storm, then die in a deluge of water and wind that wiped communities off the map. Simply preposterous. 900 people cannot die because it seems like a lot of people and brings up images that we only see in horror movies.

So this proves that those people who stayed behind weren't "stupid" after all, since no one died. Those who stayed didn't rack up hundreds of dollars in gas bills and motel bills. Those who evacuated are fretting over the state of their homes. Those who stayed know their fate. Sure they might be without running water, sleeping in a haze of mosquitos, but they're not sleeping on the floor of a gymnasium without a blanket or pillow accruing debt.

Those who believe that large numbers of people perished--as the government predicted-- need to "get a grip on reality."

[Junkdrawer]

8. Yes. When common sense is made to sound like a conspiracy theory...

Common sense must give way.