Subject: Louisiana update----A MUST READ!!!! --

ABSOLUTELY read it !!!!!!!!!!!

Hi! Just wanted to pass this on as it is a first-hand account of the disaster in New Orleans from someone who lives in the area. It came to me from a church member who has known Shirley a long time. It gives some perspective to the national news coverage...

I hope you find this informative.
Jan Berg

From: "Bill & Shirley Dauer"


Louisiana update----A MUST READ!!!!

This is from a childhood and high school friend I've known 60 years.
She's in Louisiana and amid all the turmoil there. Here's her note:

** We have had a battery operated TV so we've been getting local channels focusing on the situation there and here. I'm just getting the "national perspective" and its *(&*&(*ing me off!

First, this is not a racial thing. I'm sorry if all the reporters are
seeing are black faces but if they would take their cameras to places like Slidell, Mandeville, Metairie and Chalmette, they would see several thousand white faces being affected by this. Most of the tip of the boot that is Louisiana south and east of Baton Rouge is under water. Those people are stuck too waiting for help, dying, but all the news people can focus on is the Superdome.

Another misconception. The violence going on there is not the reaction of desperate people. Its typical New Orleans on any given Tuesday!!! Its a dangerous, dirty, drug infested place where the city police and city government is corrupt and useless. Volunteers are getting shot at and their cars vandalized. Helicopters are being shot at. Just another day in the city.

Another misconception. These poor people couldn't get out because they don't have cars. If the cameras show the city once the waters recede, you'll notice all the flooded out cars littering the streets. They couldn't all have been broken down before the storm hit . Yes, there are always people who do not have transportation. Part of making the call for a MANDATORY evacuation is that the city has to provide for transportation and/or shelter in the city. People stayed for the same reasons they always stay. They think the storm will turn and go in another direction. They think they can "ride it out." Or, they're just too (*&( lazy to pack up and leave.

Another misconception. The federal government was slow to respond. The president issued a state of emergency BEFORE the storm ever hit,
unprecedented. This means that the full access of the federal government, be it military or civil, were at our governor's disposal. The levee broke early Monday afternoon. She did not call evacuation until Tuesday morning. You cannot call up National Guard units in 20 minutes. It takes time. The governor and mayor are in high CYA mode at the moment.

The situation is bad here. Crime is becoming a problem in Gonzales and Baton Rouge where the evacuees are being housed. We live between the two cities and there is pistol on my desk shelf as I type (yes, I know how to use it). Helicopters flying overhead all day, gas is running out, stores shelves becoming empty. Its like a war zone. Our kids are both here and are staying here until the crime situation gets in control and I fear it will get worse before it gets better. Pray for us. **

So, that's all I'm asking. Send this to your friends and right now say a
prayer for ALL the people going through this whole catastrophe. Thanks.

This is a whole new light on what was really happening! I think the whole world would be better knowing "the real story" - I was telling my DH the other day that they should of been evacutatd long before not after. But some people tell me the government wanted to do it after - on purpose. Go figure. I don't know how I feel except I was feeling this was the real story a long. Glad to know it. Thank you so much Phyllis for sharing your Dear Friends story and I will pray for all the good people to be safe. And sll the bad peole to start feeling more christian about things. This world would be a happier and safer place if we stood strong in beliefs of God and treated each other as brothers and sisters.

AMEN -- thank you Phyllis. I, too, had a feeling we were not getting the truth. I am so glad someone is speaking out about this. Can I forward this to family and friends so they too will know how things really are? I won't do so unless your friends says it is okay, because once this gets out this email is going to hit lots of people. Let me know.

Phyllis:

Thanks for sharing that. I will certaintly be praying a lot more specifically for the hurricane situation now that I have a better picture of what is really going on down there.

Thanks for this letter, Phyllis. I am forwarding it on to a bunch of people on my email list, if that is ok.

Yes, Please feel free to pass this along....we need to really try to understand what is going on and pass it along.....Phyllis

Phyllis-Thank you for the post...thank goodness someone is finally stepping up and telling people what is really going on. I have been seeing it too and having been saying the same thing..very well put. Thank you for sharing this. I will keep your friends in my prayers.

Hmmmm - I saw an awful lot of babies, children, and old people on my TV. Certainly not all people from New Orleans deserved what happened to them. Sounds awfully cold-hearted and mean-spirited to me.

Lynn

I might be missing something but I don't think that letter said that old people and babies were not affected. I see the letter as just saying there is more to it than the media is showing. Not just N.O. is affected.

Lynn, having been thru 2 hurricanes the news focus is on not the very WORST of the situation, it is whatever looks good on the news....if one tree is blown over, they show it, if one car is stalled in the water that is what they show for days.

I know, I've been there.....all is not what we see and of course depending on how fast you receive assisatance your view is slanted. New Orleans has such a bad reputation as did downtown NY city....I am sorry you feel that way.....as I said being in that situation where people will wait in line 3hrs. for a bag of ice and other try to steal it from you....maybe makes me predjudice. Everyone does not follow the rules!!!

Phyllis

I agree Phyllis...I went through the same hurricanes you did....the media has a way of making the worst out of a few seconds of film.