Has anyone been keeping up with him? It's been kind of interesting. The blog can be found at http://mgno.com
This was his latest as of this morning...
This was his latest as of this morning...
Ok, so Shane and I took to the streets today to see who exactly was out there and why. Obviously, I was most interested in the guys carrying assault rifles and patrolling around all the major buildings. That's who we started with.
We went by Hibernia Bank where water was being pumped out what looked to be a basement into the street -- a lot of water - steady pumping. The security guys were armed to the nines (whatever that means) and while very very friendly and apologetic, insisted they could not be interviewed. Understandable, since it is a major bank.
We talked to some guys splicing the submerged fiber cable at the corner of Camp and Poydras on the south side of the intersection. The were trying to get expedia and telcove patched up. The guys said that most of the rest of the city and the surrounding suburbs would have to wait for weeks -- wait for the water to drain and then for Entergy to come in and do their thing first.
Then we walked down Poydras toward the Dome. When we got near Le Pavillion, we noticed an enormous security presence on both sides of the street. I talked to two guys in US Marshall outfits, and they told us that everyone in the area was private security, themselves included. I asked what possible reason could a hotel have for needing 8 armed guards wielding AR-15s a sniper rifle, shotguns, etc. now that most of the civilians were gone.
He said there was a shooting there just 3 days ago, and one man was beaten to death right on the neutral ground (median) of Poydras. He said there are still snipers in the area, and they've had unconfirmed reports of them on the roofs of several buildings. Sounded a little far fetched to me (why wouldn't the 82nd be clearing all suspected buildings...), but he insisted that they were still taking intermittent fire. Some of them (security personnel) actually suspect that there is a terrorist element in the city trying to cause trouble.
Anyway, when I tell you that these guys are armed, I mean they're carrying stuff that I didn't even know the US had in its arsenal as far as small arms go. And full body armor too. The two Marshalls reported that the high end physical security guys were making $500+ per day while he and his buddies were making about $300 per day.
Almost everyone on the street except for us were armed. I asked them about civilians carrying weapons and he said there's no point in carrying here (which is what we had already decided several days ago), but that if we went to anywhere outside the CBD, we'd be silly not to be packing. Direct opposition to the confiscation of weapons we've seen on the news.
He also said that we could expect private security to be in place for 4 MONTHS! 4 months they will be rotating guys in. That's how long they expect it to take before the first businesses are operational at all.
Also, we saw a bunch of Georgia State Troopers deployed down here escorting convoys of fuel. Several of the firetruck we've been seeing come from as far away as Chicago.
Oh, and as always, the fireman have their hands full. Busy busy busy. Those guys deserve more money than they're gonna earn and a vacation we know they'll never get.
