Replies to '08/28 Hurricane Katrina: One Year Later'

I just returned from New Orleans on a mission trip with my church.  We stayed in the French Quarter which was not affected by Katrina.  We did tour the area of devastation which was awful but we had to look hard to find it. 

It seems half the people of NO are removed and have no desire to return. The people who are there are dealing as best they can.  We had many people tell us that as bad as the worst area tooked, Mississippi had it a lot worse. These are the people in the French Quarter who now have rajor wire around their homes.

It really frustrates me that everyone focuses on New Orleans when Mississippi had the worst part of Katrina.  New Orleans was spared except for the levees breaking. and the people with their hands out waiting for the government to bail them out. 

Apparently Houston has twice the crime rate it had before Katrina (murders are up 18% which Houston police have atrtributed to evacuees from NO) while New Orleans has half the crime rate it had.  Although the night our church group pulled out from Vieux Carre Baptist Church,  there were  eight people murdered no more than 2 blocks away.  The National Guard had been obvious everywhere we went.  Apparently they had been called out the week before we arrived because of previous murders. 

So...if half the people have left and now live in elsewhere and are committing crime there - what does that tell you?  Of course. with a mayor like they have - who can't even see the difference between September 11th and the levees breaking in New Orleans and doesn't know how to MAKE the people leave, what could we expect?

Those people are accustomed to staying in bars and partying whenever a hurricane hits so they disregard what anyone says.  Then when their rental property is flooded they expect someone to bail them out.

 I had never been to New Orleans before the last week of July (although I voluneered with the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross after Katrina hit) the architecturet impressed me,  and  I saw the areas of devastation, I still see no reason for the hoopla especially when here are people in Mississippi who have not received the attention and help they deserved althogh they were more devastated than NO.  They helped themselves and didn't beg. That's the differemce betweem the mentalities of the two states and  the people who run them..

Thanks!

Cathy Pritchett

I just returned from New Orleans on a mission trip with my church.  We stayed in the French Quarter which was not affected by Katrina.  We did tour the area of devastation which was awful but we had to look hard to find it. 

It seems half the people of NO are removed and have no desire to return. The people who are there are dealing as best they can.  We had many people tell us that as bad as the worst area tooked, Mississippi had it a lot worse. These are the people in the French Quarter who now have rajor wire around their homes.

It really frustrates me that everyone focuses on New Orleans when Mississippi had the worst part of Katrina.  New Orleans was spared except for the levees breaking. and the people with their hands out waiting for the government to bail them out. 

Apparently Houston has twice the crime rate it had before Katrina (murders are up 18% which Houston police have atrtributed to evacuees from NO) while New Orleans has half the crime rate it had.  Although the night our church group pulled out from Vieux Carre Baptist Church,  there were  eight people murdered no more than 2 blocks away.  The National Guard had been obvious everywhere we went.  Apparently they had been called out the week before we arrived because of previous murders. 

So...if half the people have left and now live in elsewhere and are committing crime there - what does that tell you?  Of course. with a mayor like they have - who can't even see the difference between September 11th and the levees breaking in New Orleans and doesn't know how to MAKE the people leave, what could we expect?

Those people are accustomed to staying in bars and partying whenever a hurricane hits so they disregard what anyone says.  Then when their rental property is flooded they expect someone to bail them out.

 I had never been to New Orleans before the last week of July (although I voluneered with the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross after Katrina hit) the architecturet impressed me,  and  I saw the areas of devastation, I still see no reason for the hoopla especially when here are people in Mississippi who have not received the attention and help they deserved althogh they were more devastated than NO.  They helped themselves and didn't beg. That's the differemce betweem the mentalities of the two states and  the people who run them..

Thanks!

Cathy Pritchett

I just returned from New Orleans on a mission trip with my church.  We stayed in the French Quarter which was not affected by Katrina.  We did tour the area of devastation which was awful but we had to look hard to find it. 

It seems half the people of NO are removed and have no desire to return. The people who are there are dealing as best they can.  We had many people tell us that as bad as the worst area tooked, Mississippi had it a lot worse. These are the people in the French Quarter who now have rajor wire around their homes.

It really frustrates me that everyone focuses on New Orleans when Mississippi had the worst part of Katrina.  New Orleans was spared except for the levees breaking. and the people with their hands out waiting for the government to bail them out. 

Apparently Houston has twice the crime rate it had before Katrina (murders are up 18% which Houston police have atrtributed to evacuees from NO) while New Orleans has half the crime rate it had.  Although the night our church group pulled out from Vieux Carre Baptist Church,  there were  eight people murdered no more than 2 blocks away.  The National Guard had been obvious everywhere we went.  Apparently they had been called out the week before we arrived because of previous murders. 

So...if half the people have left and now live in elsewhere and are committing crime there - what does that tell you?  Of course. with a mayor like they have - who can't even see the difference between September 11th and the levees breaking in New Orleans and doesn't know how to MAKE the people leave, what could we expect?

Those people are accustomed to staying in bars and partying whenever a hurricane hits so they disregard what anyone says.  Then when their rental property is flooded they expect someone to bail them out.

 I had never been to New Orleans before the last week of July (although I voluneered with the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross after Katrina hit) the architecturet impressed me,  and  I saw the areas of devastation, I still see no reason for the hoopla especially when here are people in Mississippi who have not received the attention and help they deserved althogh they were more devastated than NO.  They helped themselves and didn't beg. That's the differemce betweem the mentalities of the two states and  the people who run them..

Thanks!

Cathy Pritchett