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View Full Version : Winn-Dixie, Danish Journalist "S" &Example of Info Gathering/Sharing in Gulf Coast To


sparkie
10-10-2005, 03:10 PM
***BEWARE***Link leads to VERY Graphic & Disturbing Photos of Murdered Pets at St. Bernard Parish Schools******** Link, : http://www.snowballschance.org/forums/showthread.php?t=505


I spent time at the Winn-Dixie Animal Shelter w/ a Danish freelance journalist. She flew home last week. She witnessed the slaughtered animals in the St. Bernard schools. She took photos and is writing a story about it. As well as filed a police report and worked w/ some federal law enforcement about these horrible deeds.

She actually slipped in the large pool(s) of blood, fell & sprained her wrist.

I expect to get full details soon. She, as I were refraining from full discussion/disclosure until we felt we were safe in our home state/country. I'm gonna refer to her as "S" until I know it is safe to use her U.S. name. In confusion & being busy, I failed to get her contact info b4 she flew out. But, I have spoken w/ her stateside contact.

She is also active at 1 or more websites so imagine is easily available to us in the U.S. She is a true animal lover, owner of many and even returned to Denmark w/ a wonderful dog named Buddy. Buddy & I became close during our week together as "next door neighbors" at that parking lot...maybe I should say next tent neighbors to be accurate.

I liked "S" immediately. When I met her I said "I got married in Denmark once", she replied "I got married in Vegas once".

I quickly saw that she needed help because she was also bottle feeding, EVERY 2 hours, 5 pit bull puppies that were less than a week old and investigative writing and caring for a sprained wrist/torn tendons and caring for that wonderful Buddy and living in a windblown tent. So, I guess I was her personal assistant for several days, i.e. puppies, walked Buddy, did some laundry & dishes in tin foil roaster pans, driver, etc. (Drivers licenses in Denmark are expensive & time consuming to acquire).

Sorry if this is a rambling or disjointed post, like some of my others of the last 2 weeks. But, it also may give you a good sense of what it was like thoruoghout ALL of the gulf coast area. Small chunks of info were gathered & passed on verbally among all....from volunteer to law enforcement to military to victims, etc. And much of this info originated from local radio stations.

Clear example: I am driving in my car spending a few rare minutes listening to a radio station while looking at destruction, dodging debris in road, looking for stray animals, heading to the only operational tire repair center which is open (had remained open during Katrina) to fix the flat tire I got 500 miles before in Lake Charles, LA...probably blown glass from bldgs blown onto "roadway" or maybe from that rough chunk of metal that I did not fully dodge or nails...only god knows. (Sorry..long sentence but long days too). This tire repair center was privately owned, near the outside perimeter of St. Bernard in the lower 9th ward. It may not of been an area that during NORMAL times that I would of felt comfortable going to by myself. But, there, I didn't hesitate.

I realized that the radio might of just said change in Orleans parish curfew to 8 pm...you know, you are not conscious you heard something on radio until after...so I needed to confirm because curfews are very IMPORTANT...I learned that in Beaumont, Tx (one of my 4 threats of arrest I rec'd...Oops!)

I pulled up to this privately owned, let's saw old style tire joint. All the employees were african americans. I hopped out of the car and asked if they could repair the rental tire that got trashed by Lake Charles glass. The young man quietly said yes & began working. I started chatting to him, telling him some of what I had been doing, asked if they were all ok & did they need anything as a rebel red cross volunteer/animal rescuer/electrician, etc. He seemed to relax & started chatting back.

"Yes, they were the only tire joint open" & I could see that they were doing a booming, as well as greatly needed service for ALL vehicles in NOLA. I was only there for 15 minutes while he patched & reinstalled my permanent rental tire. I saw law enforcement & military vehicles as customers. I asked the K-9 unit officer if I had heard correctly if the Orleans parish curfew was lengthened from 6 to 8 pm, he said "I don't know". I asked if there was a tel # I could call for basic info like that & he rattled off a tel but of course it being an official tel #=no working or no answer or busy signal.

The now relaxed & friendly young tire man said the repair was $6....NORMAL price, no gouging! I happily gave him 10 bucks & keep the change. Tire center, corner of St.Claude & Louisa, Orleans Parish.

I continued to drive to downtown NOLA & French Quarter to spend a couple hours pretending to be a tourist...really, I just wanted a friggin' cup of brewed coffee...rare luxury. I was nearly to Canal street when I heard the complete announcements of newest news from the WWL local station. YES....Yippy, curfew was indeed changed to 8 pm. I can stay out PAST when the street lights come on like my mom used to tell me, or in this case past after the lights NORMALLY WOULD of come on.

I stopped downtown, near the Mississippi river-convention center-Harrah's casino and saw an outpost HQ for NOPD under the front entry awning for Harrah's. I walked up to them slowly & in a friendly manner because all the while in the gulf I was legally carrying a concealed, loaded pistol in a fanny pack on my stomach. This fanny pack is larger than normal so is obvious to people in the know that it is for a pistol. (The only time I did not have it on me was when I walked in police stations, then I locked it in the trunk of car).

I asked them how they were doing & if they needed anything, as rebel red cross/animal rescuer/concerned citizen, etc. They, like many I talked to wanted to know if red cross was set up yet to give financial aid. Unfortunately, I had no new info to give them on the official aiding organizations such as red cross, fema, etc cause they usually were not in the area YET or not ready YET to effectively assist.

I asked if they knew the new curfew hours & they said "No". I told them what the change was & also that Mayor Naigin (sp?) announced 3,ooo non-essential layoffs of city employees BUT NOT police or fire. I asked them how do they, 5 weeks after Katrina, get their info as police officers, they simply said "From the Radio Stations".

That was an example of the style of communication/info that curently exists and one of many times that I asked for info and instead became the info giver.

Maybe this should be posted elsewhere also. What I saw & did those 2 weeks is still coming out of me in chunks...like I lived it. Also, I noticed that no one had the time to do any full research on any given subject because you were too busy flexing and adjusting/adapting to what was happening right in front of you. You meet & greet fast, grab the tiny bits of info and work w/ it.

I suppose if I had stayed in one area on one subject I could of been more thorough and then been able to give more complete info but I would of missed many of necessary or important things, such as where to get gas, not of met & entered the NOLA EOC, not given that hammer & nail punch to the 2 women cleaning out their mothers destroyed & mold covered home in St. Bernard parish or gotten the 2 hour personal tour of the VERY IMPORTANT pump stations # 1 & #6 that was the REAL reason for drying out of New Orleans (not Army Corp of Enginerrs). Or received all those threats of arrest!

Moderators: If this needs editing for spelling or clarity, if it should also be crossposted at Livewire.fm or other sites, feel free. My heads too jammed up right now. Just try not to get me arrested or something. Probably I shouldn't notify red cross that I "borrowed" one of their rental cars for 10 day & 1500 miles and freelanced across Tx & LA. Nor do I want any official or unofficial Animal Control employees to know where I live....seriously.

Bye,
Pam

sparkie
10-12-2005, 07:49 PM
I wanted to slightly edit my info/comments given about animal rescuers in New Orleans: (Keep in mind that if I asked 50 different people I would get 50 differnt answers)

After talking to a representative for NOPD at the EOC about animal rescuing, I located the rep. for LASPCA at the EOC. She said w/in Orleans Parish which includes the city of New Orleans (NOT any other parish), that as of 1 Oct 2005 only officially endorsed, accredited animal control workers can rescue & take to appropriate shelters. I said that wasn't being enforced yet and she seemed to agree.

Several reasons for this:

1. They are trying to return animal controlling to more normal procedures that are practiced during normal times. (I don't think they are quite ready for this yet)

2. "Someone is going to get shot!", accidently by a homeowner/pet owner. Example: Last week several volunteer animal rescuers broke thru a front door to rescue animals but were greeted by the family eating dinner. Oops!
This could of been easily prevented if they repeatedly knocked on doors/windows, identified themselves as animal rescuers & try to confirm info w/ any neighbors, etc.

***St. Bernard Parish****....Very DIFFERENT Situation:

From my personal experience, on friday, 7 Oct 2005, approximately 5:50 pm central, I was clearly told by 3 supposedly endorsed by St Bernard animal control, to GET OUT & STAY OUT! "If I see you in St. Bernard again I will have you arrested by the sheriff!". They approached me in an aggressive & rude manner, 1 man in his late 50's w/ salt & pepper hair and 2 masculine looking younger women. They were in a new unmarked white extended pickup, maybe F150.

Coincidentially, I was directly in front of one of the St Bernard public schools. and they had been driving into the school property until they spotted me & turned around to "chat" w/ me. Hmmmmmm....

I clearly told them that I was not in their parish as animal rescue but as Red Cross, licensed electrician & concerned american. (I wore many hats while down in the gulf. I am also former MP Sgt). I did not have rescueing equipment in my vehicle either which they immediately discovered as the 2 masculine females confirmed w/ their thorough visual inspection as they surrounded by car.

They said they had an agreement w/ local animal control & only there group was allowed in St. Bernard parish. (I was not as observant as usual so I did not remember all the details.....BUT, by pure chance, they were accidently recorded on a voice mail message I had just left as they were approaching me. Even tho I attempted to end call it did not & continued to record most of what took place via my cell headset. Oops! And the person I had been calling is an animal rights activist. Douple Oops for them!)

That was the FOURTH time I was threatened w/ arrest in the gulf coast. Twice by "official" animal control.

I'll crosspost this & w/ more details later. Have limited time now. I ran into these same 3 people about 5 minutes later and they were even more aggressive. Fortunately, 3 military personal w/ M-16's were between us.

More to tell about St Bernard, now that I am safely home in the midwest.

Bye, Sparkie Pam

statepalace
10-15-2005, 07:55 PM
That's the same shop that took care of my tires! I busted my tire, then the spare within 20 minutes on the road by the shipyard. We (another Winn Dixie volunteer) were looking for a dog. The rest of the roads were ok, but that one was horrible. So glad this shop was open. The second picture is of the sign on the far left of the shop front. Mr. Samuel himself, in a giant leather blacksmith's apron, asked if I knew what kind of cats the sign was referring to. At that point I realized it was NOT the kind we were looking for, and told him that. I had been a little confused, at first, but that cleared things right up ;)

Rachael

NicoMoon
10-15-2005, 08:28 PM
Thanks for the photos, SP!

And there's that Samuel again!!:p

sparkie
10-18-2005, 10:50 AM
Sammy & Tim, Winn-Dixie, did change my flat tire on I10 between Lake Charles & NOLA.

Rita
10-19-2005, 08:24 PM
Pam,
I am one of the rescuers who brought in the 5 puppies that "S" was feeding. We brought them in the day after she injured her hand, and she was so happy to feed them so she could feel useful again (her words). Do you know whether she took them back to Denmark? She mentioned that she might if we could not locate the mama. The dog we think was papa was rescued the day after I left NOLA, but I don't think mama was ever found. Any info would be appreciated!

Also, to anyone still there, the tire guys also appreciate packs/cartons of Kools and bottles of liquor!

Much love,
Rita

sparkie
10-19-2005, 09:16 PM
Hi Rita,

The puppies are safe, happy & healthy in the US. They were not taken to Denmark. "S" Susen, left them in great care w/ a wonderful young woman & her dad. Both of them had been at Winn-Dixie several times. They have made a makeshift temporrary shelter in their house but want to set up a permanent one in a 2nd house in backyard.

They are great.

Thanks for saving the puppies. I was able to help alittle w/ them.

sparkie
10-27-2005, 12:01 PM
Any new info about St Bernard Parish. They had a large parish meeting last week but I have not had the time to look at the details.