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as he watched a crew make repairs to his wind-shorn roof friday, roosevelt williams didn't need reminding about today's mayoral election. there's too much at stake in rebuilding his city to skip voting, he said.
almost eight months after hurricane katrina deconstructed nearly everything in this city, voters such as williams will head to the polls today to decide whether they should change mayors. and like most things connected with the city these days, the questions on election day are dramatic:
•will voters trade controversial incumbent c. ray nagin for the city's first white mayor in three decades?
• will white voters have a larger voice than usual in this election since so many black residents were driven from the city by flood damage?
•will large numbers of displaced residents make the trip back to the city from temporary homes in other cities to vote in person?
with 23 candidates on the primary ballot, analysts say it would be difficult for one candidate to get a majority of votes in today's balloting. if that's the case, the top two vote-getters will proceed to a runoff on may 20; nagin and challengers mitch landrieu and ron forman are given the best chances of making the final cut.
"i'm going to vote for nagin, myself," williams said. "if i vote for someone who doesn't know the system, they'll have to start all over."
there aren't many neighbors left on desire street for williams to talk city politics with, just the jumble of empty, flooded-out houses visible all across the 9th ward. he says it's hard to even guess at what turnout will be like because people are so scattered.
"i think the interest level is very high," louisiana secretary of state al ater said friday. "i think a lot of people are going to be surprised."
more than 20,000 voters had cast ballots by thursday afternoon — a combination of early votes cast at 10 satellite centers statewide and another 9,200 mail-in votes.
ater warned that because polls are open until 8 p.m., "louisiana voters have grown used to not knowing until sunday morning who won an election."
he says if the count follows the usual pattern, the results should be known by midnight.
because so many of the city's polling places were destroyed in the flooding, voters are being directed to much larger, consolidated polling places. that factor alone may put a damper on turnout, predicts political analyst greg rigamer of gcr & associates.
"now, a significant percentage of the population is gone, but just as importantly, you've gone from voting in your neighborhoods to voting in super polling places," rigamer said. "now there's a different location, maybe more of an ordeal for transportation and accessibility.
"sure, there's a lot of interest," rigamer said. "but the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
the rev. jesse jackson's rainbow/push organization and atlanta's historic ebenezer baptist church say they will send busloads of displaced voters to new orleans today.
those sections of the city with the least damage and the most traffic are blanketed with candidates billboards and posters as well as signs directing voters to a 1-800 voting information number.
ed renwick, director of the loyola institute of politics, said that though candidates have made campaign stops in surrounding states to reach evacuees, most of the nuts-and-bolts campaigning has been local.
"there are a lot of people not in new orleans, but still in the (local television) viewing audience," renwick said. "and some of them are advertising on baton rouge television stations, which is another source of displaced new orleans residents. if you're sitting in new orleans, it looks pretty much like other campaigns."
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4/22/2006- by qtnik
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three new orleans police officers are facing battery charges after investigators reviewed a videotape showing two patrolmen repeatedly punching a 64-year-old man accused of public intoxication and a third officer grabbing and shoving an associated press television news producer who helped capture the confrontation on tape.
after being questioned and arrested, the three officers were suspended without pay sunday, police spokesman marlon defillo said. the police promised a criminal investigation.
"it's a troubling tape, no doubt about it," defillo said.
the confrontations come as the department — long plagued by allegations of brutality and corruption — struggles with the aftermath of hurricane katrina and the resignation last month of police superintendent eddie compass.
the aptn tape shows an officer hitting the suspect, robert davis, at least four times in the head saturday night outside a french quarter bar. davis appeared to resist, twisting and flailing as he was dragged to the ground by four officers.
another of the officers then kneed davis and punched him twice. davis was face-down on the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into the gutter.
then a fifth officer ordered aptn producer rich matthews and the cameraman to stop recording. when matthews held up his credentials, the officer grabbed the producer, leaned him backward over a car, jabbed him in the stomach and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.
"i've been here for six weeks trying to keep ... alive. ... go home!" shouted the officer, who identified himself as s.m. smith.
in addition to smith, the other officers charged were identified as lance schilling and robert evangelist. smith is an eight-year veteran of the force, while evangelist and schilling have served three years each.
"the incidents taped by our cameraman are extremely troubling," said mike silverman, ap's managing editor. "we are heartened that the police department is taking them seriously and promising a thorough investigation."
police said davis, of new orleans, was booked on public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation. he was treated at a hospital and released into police custody.
a mug shot of davis, provided by a jailer, showed him with his right eye swollen shut, an apparent abrasion on the left side of his neck and a cut on his right temple.
davis, who is black, was subdued at the intersection of conti and bourbon streets. three of the officers appeared to be white, and the other is light skinned. the officer who hit matthews is white. defillo said race was not an issue.
two of the officers in the video appeared to be federal officers. numerous agencies have sent police to help with patrols in the aftermath of katrina, and defillo said it would be up to their commanders to decide if they would face charges.
under normal circumstances, it takes unusually offensive behavior to trigger an arrest on bourbon street. but new orleans police have been working under stressful conditions since the hurricane. about 300 officers apparently either died, abandoned their posts or disappeared for some other reason.
those who stayed slept in their cars and worked 24-hour shifts after the storm. three-quarters lost their homes and their families are scattered across the country.
"our police officers are working under some very trying times," defillo said. "so it's a difficult time, but it doesn't excuse what our jobs are supposed to be."
conditions have improved — officers now have beds on a cruise ship — but they don't have private rooms and are still working five, 12-hour days.
compass, the police superintendent, resigned sept. 27. despite more than 10 years of reform efforts dating to before he took office, police were dogged by allegations of brutality and corruption.
on friday, state authorities said they were investigating allegations that new orleans police broke into a dealership and made off with nearly 200 cars — including 41 new cadillacs — as the storm closed in.
news.yahoo.com
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three days after hurricane katrina battered new orleans, some doctors and nurses at the city's memorial medical center repeatedly discussed euthanizing patients they thought might not survive the ordeal, a cnn investigation has learned. dr. bryant king, who was working at memorial when conditions were at their worst, told cnn, "most people know something happened that shouldn't have happened."
the louisiana attorney general's office is investigating allegations that mercy killings occurred and has requested that autopsies be performed on all 45 bodies taken from the hospital after the storm.
orleans parish coroner frank minyard said investigators have told him they think euthanasia may have been committed.
"they thought someone was going around injecting people with some sort of lethal medication," minyard said.
food was running low, sanitation wasn't working, and temperatures inside soared to 110 degrees. floodwaters had isolated the hospital, where about 312 patients -- many of them critically ill -- were being treated when katrina hit.
hospital officials said as many as 11 patients had died before the hurricane, their bodies placed in the morgue. family members of patients and staff filled the hospital, taxing the dwindling resources.
"it was battle conditions," said fran butler, a nurse manager. "it was as bad as being out in the field."
butler said she did not see anyone perform a mercy killing, and she said because of her personal beliefs, she would never have participated.
she also said hospital staff "put their heart and souls into patients, whether that patient lived or died."
but king said he is convinced the discussion of euthanasia was more than talk. he said another doctor came to him at 9 a.m. thursday and recounted a conversation with a hospital administrator and a third doctor who suggested patients be put out of their misery.
king said that the second physician -- who opposed mercy killing -- told him that "this other [third] doctor said she'd be willing to do it."
about three hours later, king said, the second-floor triage area where he was working was cleared of everyone except patients, a second hospital administrator and two doctors, including the physician who had first raised the question of mercy killing.
king said the administrator asked those who remained if they wanted to join in prayer -- something he said had not occurred at the hospital since katrina ripped through the city.
one of the physicians then produced a handful of syringes, king said.
"i don't know what's in the syringes. ... the only thing i heard the physician say was, 'i'm going to give you something to make you feel better,' " king said.
"i don't know what the physician was going to give them, but we hadn't been given medications like that, to make people feel better, or any sort of palliative care," he said. "we hadn't been doing that up to this point."
king said he decided he would have no part of what he believed was about to happen. he grabbed his bag to leave. he said one of the doctors hugged him.
king said he doesn't know what happened next. he boarded a boat and left the hospital.
i'm not really sure how to feel about this.
cnn
