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Tuesday, April 11, 2006

and let's not forget this is STILL happening to us

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times
August Blanchard and an aunt, Shirley, looking into the living room where the decomposed remains of his mother, Charlene, were found in February on Reynes Street in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
In Attics and Rubble, More Bodies and Questions
By SHAILA DEWAN
NEW ORLEANS, April 5 — When August Blanchard returned to New Orleans from Pennsylvania in late December, his mother was still missing. Family members, scattered across the country, had been calling hospitals, the Red Cross and missing persons hot lines, hoping she had been rescued.
But Mr. Blanchard, 26, had a bad feeling. Twice, he drove past the pale green house on Reynes Street in the Lower Ninth Ward, where he and his mother, Charlene Blanchard, 45, had lived, yet he could not bring himself to enter.
It was not until Feb. 25 that one of Mr. Blanchard's uncles nudged the front door open with his foot and spied Ms. Blanchard's hand. Dressed in her nightgown and robe, she lay under a moldering sofa. With her was a red velvet bedspread that her daughter had given her and a huge teddy bear.
The bodies of storm victims are still being discovered in New Orleans — in March alone there were nine, along with one skull. Skeletonized or half-eaten by animals, with leathery, hardened skin or missing limbs, the bodies are lodged in piles of rubble, dangling from rafters or lying face down, arms outstretched on parlor floors. Many of them, like Ms. Blanchard, were overlooked in initial searches.
A landlord in the Lakeview section put a "for sale" sign outside a house, unaware that his tenant's body was in the attic. Two weeks ago, searchers in the Lower Ninth Ward found a girl, believed to be about 6, wearing a blue backpack. Nearby, they found part of a man who the authorities believe might have been trying to save her.............

6 comments:

michael the tubthumper said...

the neglect is just absolutley shocking.

speaking of neglect (but by no means as severe - i apologise for not adding you as a link when i was doing it this morning.

doing it now..

Anonymous said...

You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie.

a heck of a job . . .

I hear that we're exporting our democracy around the world . . . and that Baghdad is now the worst city on the planet in which to live. I'll be New Orleans gave it a run for it's money.

Anonymous said...

I'll bet . . . I meant I'll bet.

I need more sleep.

Rory Shock said...

pathetic ... the little girl with the backpack ... another child left behind

Graeme said...

if this was a white area of the country, the whole fucking thing would be rebuilt by now.

Unknown said...

it IS shocking. more and more so every day. the stories are now sort of burried but they are STILL there. you KNOW if this was a WHITE affluent suburb especially up north or in california (well anywhere) the city WOULD be rebuilt. the people would have been fed and sheltered and schooled and given money without anyone complaining. THIS is what i want my tax dollars to go to. NOT 272 BILLION to iraq. can you imagine what we COULD (and SHOULD) have done HERE?

and michael, not to worry. i wasn't offended and it wasn't necessary BUT i thank you!