New York Times: Police in Suburbs Blocked Evacuees, Witnesses Report:

Police agencies to the south of New Orleans were so fearful of the crowds trying to leave the city after Hurricane Katrina that they sealed a crucial bridge over the Mississippi River and turned back hundreds of desperate evacuees, two paramedics who were in the crowd said.

The paramedics and two other witnesses said officers sometimes shot guns over the heads of fleeing people, who, instead of complying immediately with orders to leave the bridge, pleaded to be let through, the paramedics and two other witnesses said. The witnesses said they had been told by the New Orleans police to cross that same bridge because buses were waiting for them there.

Instead, a suburban police officer angrily ordered about 200 people to abandon an encampment between the highways near the bridge. The officer then confiscated their food and water, the four witnesses said. The incidents took place in the first days after the storm last week, they said.

“The police kept saying, ‘We don’t want another Superdome,’ and ‘This isn’t New Orleans,’ ” said Larry Bradshaw, a San Francisco paramedic who was among those fleeing.

Arthur Lawson, chief of the Gretna, La., Police Department, confirmed that his officers, along with those from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Crescent City Connection Police, sealed the bridge.

“There was no place for them to come on our side,” Mr. Lawson said.

Daily News blogger Will Bunch (one of the greatest blogs in Philly IMHO) had the following to say at Attytood: There’s an old sheriff in town: The legacy of racism in the parish that blocked N.O. from fleeing Hell

…it could be said that Jefferson Parish is in some ways like a lot of American suburbs — comprised of white-flight refugees from a decaying city, and overly anxious to keep out what they left behind.

And sadly, in a time of chaos, they just did what came naturally. With a few warning shots, for good measure.

Meanwhile Bush cronies are are getting rebuilding contracts – including Haliburton. Who coulda guessed?

Must reads are articles in the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Lots of blame to go around. Complete failure of leadership from top to bottom. And saddly it looks like those nearest the horror had the fewest resources to deal with it – and when they asked for help – it was slow in responding.

Duncan Black issues a call to keep light on NOLA’s reconstruction:

It’s going to be boring, monotonous, dreary work, mostly leading to a bunch of boring, monotonous stories that no one cares much about. It’s going to involve maps and city council meetings and minutes and documents and building permits and construction contracts and titles. But, it will, if done right, also involve people.

Please, press, both local and national, do your job following the saga of the reconstruction of New Orleans. There are going to be land grabs and corruption and bribery and efforts by the NO elite to keep the poor from returning.

Please, follow the story. You’ll be the only watchdog for this.