"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:1xtRe.320308$xm3.164023@attbi_s21...
JH Why the hell were they there?

Ah, finally we see an example of "conservative compassion."

???

Let's see, Jim Cantori (Sp?) on the Weather Channel told 'em...

Their State Governments told 'em....

CNN told 'em...

Fox News told 'em...

How many people have to tell these dumb asses to GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE
when there is a Level 5 hurricane bearing down on them, before they
actually
listen?

I said the same thing at first, but I've learned a bit since then.

1. It wasn't a category 5 until pretty much the last minute. It took even
the forecasters by surprise.

2. These folks have been through some serious storms in the past, including
Camille. Old timers there remember Camille and stayed put because they felt
nothing could be worse than that storm. They were very wrong, but they have
been on the winning side of this bet so many times since Camille.

3. NO is very very poor. This affects what and how folks do things. Really
poor folks don't hardly ever go ANYWHERE. They walk to the grocery store,
post office etc. Especially the elderly (who lived through Camille--see
point no. 2) It's not foremost in their mind to jump in their car and get
out. Hell, there's a good chance they don't have a car! If you don't believe
me, go to a grocery store in a poor section of town. You'll see shopping
carts all over the place from where people push their carts home.

4. Even if they could get somewhere, where would they go with little money?
Who would they stay with? When all your family lives in NO, and you don't
have much money, you have few options.

Even middle class folks are in serious trouble. They evacuated, but their
houses were leveled. I saw a family on TV who was living in their car in
front of a CVS pharmacy. There are countless stories like this playing out
all over the gulf coast right now. It is terrible.

Regardless of why people stayed in NO, they are there and we need to help
them. They have lost literally everything they have. Pointing our fingers at
the vicitms right now is not helping.

-Trent
PP-ASEL