Ritz Carlton New Orleans

[schmita]

Did you guys know that a bunch of tourists are trapped at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans?

And did you know that amongst those trapped is a huge group of Infectious Disease Docs there on a conference?

Hmm. I would rescue them, don't you think?

[therealashe]

Link for this story please?

[scostorms]

I've been hearing about it on CNN.

[Wainfleeter]

Yes, I heard that story on CNN as well.

[Terry]

The story has been on CNN for two days. There may be something on their Video file online.

A woman tourist who was at the hotel was on the phone with CNN yesterday pleading for help. They were almost out of food.

The hotel had hired private security, but no one was feeling safe. Since help hadn't come, some of the British tourists were trying to get the BBC's attention.

A number of the tourists at the hotel couldn't get out prior to Katrina's landfall since the airlines cancelled flights early on.

[soonertwister]

I don't know how that particular hotel might figure in, but I just recently found out that Mayor Nagin had a bus convoy go to a hotel full of tourists and dignitaries across the street from his headquarters with armed guards, and they were taken with armed guards over to the Superdome (where new arrivals are supposed to go the back of the queue), and those persons were placed upon buses and immediately taken out of New Orleans.

The people that remain at the dome are extremely upset at what happened. Apparently the mayor cares more about tourists that have been holed up in a good hotel than he does for his own citizens that have been living in hell for days. Mindboggling.

And the more I've heard about the governor of LA, the more I'm convinced that she's entirely unqualified for high public office.

[schmita]

Sooner,
I too agree with you that the Gov is not qualified.
My intention was to point out that there are experts in NO that can help deal with the potential ramifications of the situation. Not that the docs will stay there but that there is the fact that they know what the dangers are and will put the word out.

I still don't have an answer as to why Martial Law hasn't been requested by Gov. Blanco.

Maybe we will know some time in the future.

irina

[LSU2001]

According to Gov. Blanco tonight on WWL radio, she has requested that the military "ramp up their efforts" She actually said " I am not proud, I need people/soldiers anywhere I can get them. She said that there would be a "Dual Command The national guard will continue to answer to her and the active duty military will answer to the president."

[NFLnut]

Well, dadgum! What a horrible place to be locked up! The Ritz!! For free.

[LSU2001]

As far as the Gov. not being qualified she is an ex elementary school teacher and her only political clout was her husband and his connections. She ran for LT. Gov. which is a Tourism post basically and won that job based upon her husbands connections. This last election she ran against quite a few people but ended up in a runoff with Bobby Jindal, a second generation Indian (I think) immigrant. If I remember correctly it got pretty ugly with her questioning his experience and youth anyway she won in large part due to mistrust of Jindal and his ethnic heritage. I sure wish we had him in charge now with his intelligence and his way of getting things done. Oh Well we have what we have and for now anyway she is the boss.
Tim

I do believe that she has seen the end of her political career though.

[soonertwister]

I think the guv is trying to salvage whatever thoughts of control she once had. It's pretty clear that her lack of contigency planning for disrupted communications has contributed greatly to the magnitude of the disaster in New Orleans.

I take that back. I THINK that her lack of contigency planning contributed to a very large degree. Only time will give us the true answer.

But the stubborn insistence on state control of policing is a bit puzzling in a huge disaster. I see no evidence that she acted with due dilligence when she was cut off from communication with her most vital city. I see no evidence that her ER and PR people monitored the news coming from the national media. I see no evidence that she had advance resources placed in the event of a communications failure in time of great catastrophe.

I really don't have to paint her in a good light, I think she's already condemned her term, and might be recalled by her citizens. She could have given a provisional martial law request to the President, stating that is such and such a case the federal response could take charge, but instead she withdrew into her shell, and feared the result that she has seen.

She's made strong pronouncements about the power of her own national guardsmen when she had no assets in place. This woman has been out of tune with this calamity since it first started going downhill.

[sponger]

I couldnt agree more sooner twister. The additional suffering this has caused is uincredible.

[NFLnut]

.. and yet, it's "all President Bush's fault!"

[Shoshana]

I don't know how that particular hotel might figure in, but I just recently found out that Mayor Nagin had a bus convoy go to a hotel full of tourists and dignitaries across the street from his headquarters with armed guards, and they were taken with armed guards over to the Superdome (where new arrivals are supposed to go the back of the queue), and those persons were placed upon buses and immediately taken out of New Orleans.

The people that remain at the dome are extremely upset at what happened. Apparently the mayor cares more about tourists that have been holed up in a good hotel than he does for his own citizens that have been living in hell for days. Mindboggling.

And the more I've heard about the governor of LA, the more I'm convinced that she's entirely unqualified for high public office.

If it's the group i heard of, they WERE at the Superdome but had to leave in fear for their life.


http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16 ... 77,00.html

Aussies tell of murder and rape
From Kevin Meade and D.D. McNicoll and wires
03-09-2005
From: The Australian


AN Australian backpacker stranded in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has told his parents he witnessed horrific scenes while sheltering in the city's Superdome, including murders, rapes and stabbings.
John McNeil, a 20-year-old university graduate, rang his parents in Brisbane yesterday from a payphone in the foyer of the New Orleans Hilton, where about 60 foreign tourists, including 10 Australians, were sheltering under armed guard after they were rescued from the Superdome by US military personnel.

In a brief telephone call, John told his father, businessman Peter McNeil, of chaos and lawlessness in the Superdome, where more than 20,000 refugees sought shelter after the hurricane.

"He saw murders, stabbings and rapes in there," Mr McNeil said.

Mr McNeil said about 100 military personnel and police in the dome were struggling to cope with the huge crowd.

"It was just getting worse by the hour and there were gangs in there who were killing each other," he said.

Mr McNeil claimed African Americans in the Superdome had abused foreign tourists and demanded they be rescued ahead of them from the crowded football stadium, where conditions were stifling.

The 60 foreign tourists were escorted from the Superdome by military personnel. They spent one night at a medical aid post in a nearby building before they were moved to the Hilton.

Gold Coast entertainment agency owner Gary Hopes said yesterday his family had been extremely worried about his younger brother Anthony, 30, who had been missing for five days after the hurricane.

But the family was relieved to learn yesterday that Anthony was among the 60 foreigners sheltering in the Hilton.

While the Hopeses and McNeils had obtained information about their loved ones, other families across Australia were still hoping last night for up-to-date news.

With most telephone lines to the devastated city working only sporadically, and all mobile phone coverage wiped out, communications were chaotic.

Sydney woman Sharon Cullington flew to the US yesterday to find her 22-year-old daughter, Vanessa, who she had not heard from since Tuesday night.

Accompanied by her daughter's boyfriend, Toby Salmon, Ms Cullington was armed with photographs of her missing child.

"We've brought lots of photos and we're just basically going to see who's there and who we can hassle," she said.

Vanessa Cullington has been in the US since June working at a Camp Counsellors USA youth camp and was at the start of four weeks of travelling.

Ms Cullington said Vanessa had been on a train to New Orleans from Washington DC and hadn't heard about the approaching hurricane.

Tim and Joanne Miller of Rockhampton, on holiday in the US, contacted their daughter Tamara yesterday and told her that they were still awaiting evacuation after living under a bridge in the flooded city for four days.

Ms Miller said her parents had been threatened by a gun-wielding guard when they tried to board a bus.

A family spokesman for Brisbane sisters-in-law Fiona Seidel and Katie McLean, who were reported on Wednesday to be safe in a tourist hotel, said they were out of contact.

Sydney woman Denise Drake, 29, rang her mother Mercedes yesterday, saying she was trapped in one of the city's churches without food or drinkable water.

"Mum, I'm alive but I am trapped in this church. Get someone to come and rescue us. Report it, ring the embassy," Mrs Riviera said her daughter had told her.

[RichG]

If there is any good that come from the horrible storm maybe it will be that the people will start caring who is in office inform themselves of relevant issues and vote. However, I fear that may wishfull thinking.

[themusk]

According to Gov. Blanco tonight on WWL radio, she has requested that the military "ramp up their efforts" She actually said " I am not proud, I need people/soldiers anywhere I can get them. She said that there would be a "Dual Command The national guard will continue to answer to her and the active duty military will answer to the president."

Uh, basic principles of the incident command system is that of unified command.

Are there any trained emergency managers in that state??? And if so, has any politician ever sat down and talked with one of them???

[soonertwister]

If it's the group i heard of, they WERE at the Superdome but had to leave in fear for their life.

Shoshana, if you will re-read my original post, it started by me staying

I don't know how that particular hotel might figure in, but I just recently found out that Mayor Nagin had a bus convoy go to a hotel full of tourists and dignitaries across the street from his headquarters with armed guards, and they were taken with armed guards over to the Superdome (where new arrivals are supposed to go the back of the queue), and those persons were placed upon buses and immediately taken out of New Orleans.

We all know about horrific things that occurred at the Superdome, but they didn't not occurr to the "VIP" group of roughly 400 tourists that were brought to the Superdome and immediately evacuated on buses.

And that was just a few hours ago. Unless your Australian had super-powerful batteries on his cell phone, I doubt if he could have reported to the Australian by this time, whose article looks like a compilation of the worst observations that have generally been noted by the foreign press.

I would comment further on that particular Aussie newspaper, but what I might have to say about that particular tabloid might not be exactly what you want to hear.

[MBismyPlayground]

According to Gov. Blanco tonight on WWL radio, she has requested that the military "ramp up their efforts" She actually said " I am not proud, I need people/soldiers anywhere I can get them. She said that there would be a "Dual Command The national guard will continue to answer to her and the active duty military will answer to the president."

Uh, basic principles of the incident command system is that of unified command.

Are there any trained emergency managers in that state??? And if so, has any politician ever sat down and talked with one of them???

GEEZ, you are SO SO right.......Maybe from this tragedy, maybe they will require these government officials take some much needed classes on emergency management! Is there even such a thing as "DUAL COMMAND"??? If this is the way it is, then the active duty will only be there for humanitarian relief and NOT law enforcement, as the laws state.
Seems old girl is having a very hard time letting go of the reins of that horse, and handing them over to someone more qualified. Guess she still wants to be a chief and not an Indian.

[inotherwords]

.. and yet, it's "all President Bush's fault!"

Oh, please.

It wasn't "all" anybody's fault, but most objective people can see that Bush did some things right and some things wrong in this crisis, as did most of the involved parties.

Harry Truman had it right when he said "The Buck Stops Here."

[JQ Public]

Patience people. There were 5283947293 busses leaving NO for texas with residents of NO and then one bus full of tourists leaves and they get all ticked off? PATIENCE!