Response to the effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans
I am ashamed by the outrageous lack of response by our federal government to the horrible consequences of Hurricane Katrina. I am in a cold rage from all the heartache I see on the anguished faces and hear in voices of families searching for loved ones or grieving for those they have lost. All I can say to the politicians, as they congratulate themselves for cutting short their month-long vacations, is that there will be a day of reckoning. I say to the oil companies and others who would profit from the misery and unfortunate circumstances of others that there will be a day of reckoning. I will put aside my anger for now to do what I can for the victims of this disaster. But the day is coming …
The anger that I feel cannot be mine alone.
Andy Cooley, Evergreen
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I was in Haiti 25 years ago. This week on television I again saw the same conditions, only this time it was in New Orleans. Starving, desperate people being held back by armed military. If the administration had not falsely created the war in Iraq, we would have sufficient National Guard units to immediately go in to assist people, not confront people.
Is no one in the administration using their heads? I just saw the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency accusing the starving thousands of failing to heed the mandatory evacuation order. How on earth were they supposed to leave? They have no transportation or money.
Did anyone think of loading up the empty buses headed for the Superdome with food and water? What about dropping supplies to those lost and wandering souls in Mississippi?
Richard A. Horwitz, Highlands Ranch
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Most of us are appalled at the conditions for those who either chose to (or had to) ride out the hurricane. Video and photos paint a grim picture of how delicate the fabric of our society really is, when pushed to the limit. In a major American city, people are roaming in packs, terrified, hungry and feral. Help is too slow in coming and the operations are disorganized and inept. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco is “just furious” at the lawlessness, and has tearfully asked people to pray.
When the first hint of lawlessness erupted during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley wasted no time instructing the police to shoot to kill. He was not about to lose control of a major city. And he didn’t. New Orleans needs a military operation, not a civilian one, with armed troops from Fort Bragg and Camp LeJeune on the streets, shooting anyone who is armed and not in uniform, anyone who is looting, anyone who interferes with an aid worker. Every person needs to be removed to a tent-city refugee camp outside the area, where they can be fed, given water, and given a bus ticket to join relatives in other states. This is a mess, and it is being handled improperly.
Mark Stewart, Castle Rock
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Re: “Some motorists paying $3 for regular at metro pumps,” Sept. 1 news story.
It is important to realize the current level of gas prices was not caused by Hurricane Katrina. Katrina was only the “straw that broke the camel’s back.” The real reason is that world oil supply can no longer meet world demand. I was amazed to see people like President Bush make a radical shift in attitude, suggesting that Americans curtail consumption and oil companies limit price increases, giving up on their long-pursued concept of letting free markets do the best job. Instead of suggesting something new, Bush should admit how stupid it was to oppose effective gas-guzzler legislation that would have benefited Americans. If such legislation with significant enough measures for achieving lower and decreasing consumption had been passed, there would be no crisis today.
Bolko von Roedern, Golden
