[bzrk180]

from Rhiannon Myers of the Galveston Daily News comes
> this dispatch:

GALVESTON - Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas on Monday ordered all
> city employees not to talk to news reporters. She did not say when that
> order would be lifted. Thomas and City Manager Steve LeBlanc will be the
> only officials allowed to talk to reporters. City spokeswoman Mary Jo
> Naschke vehemently denied the city was trying to clamp down on coverage.
> ...... Reporters would be allowed on the island only if they had proper
> identification, Thomas said. She didn't clarify what that meant.
> Reporters were also forbidden from visiting areas on the far West End,
> Thomas said. She did not explain why. I'm not normally one to be
> alarmist and I don't want to upset people, but this has me very worried.
> I know some folks who stayed down there to ride it out, as does the guy
> who sent me the email above - he has yet to hear from one of his friends
> and fears the worst. His report of the damage in Nacogdoches was not
> pretty either, and if this storm tore apart towns that far inland it's
> certainly not unreasonable to think that Galveston and the Triangle have
> experienced unprecedented devastation. There could be arguably sound
> reasons for media blackouts, and the specter of hundreds of bodies among
> the wreckage may be one of them. It's not always easy in situations like
> this to know where to draw the line between respect for the deceased and
> their families, and the public's right to know about what has happened.

 

[troy merrill]

I have heard no stories of ANY bodies on the west end at all. Even know some folks that rode it out there. Not saying there are none, but it seems very unlikely at this point. And certainly not hundreds of them.

 

[notthatdeep]

What does 'the public right to know' mean? I looked in the Constitution of the United States and didn't see it. Thats some junk that the press has been throwin around for a long time without substance.

It worked for CBS and NYT in Vietnam and other places to the detriment of our nation, but c'mon...word eventually gets out about important stuff. But the press's 'right' to sensationalize very personal things seems to me to be greatly exaggerated.

Maybe some non-ambulance chasing lawyers here can help educate me.

ntd

 

[BALZTOWAL]

HOW COME WHENEVER WE SUFFER A NATURAL DISASTER THE DUMBEST AND DRUNKEST MAYORS COME OUT.

 

[CAPSIZED]

Same here. I have a friend that rode it out on the west end and he made it to point west 2 days ago and didnt see any bodies other than cows. He didnt go door to door though.

I have heard no stories of ANY bodies on the west end at all. Even know some folks that rode it out there. Not saying there are none, but it seems very unlikely at this point. And certainly not hundreds of them.

 

[boom!]

Not to be a drag but, how long does it take for a body to surface in saltwater? It is possible that some leaders are trying to do right by notifying family members of lost ones before the media blast it on the tube.
Personally, I think that it is funny that the media is being kept in check. They too have lost their way.

 

[Stumpgrinder]

Lyda Ann Thomas is not a drunk. She is a 70 something warhorse that is trying to deal with a catastrophe of biblical proportions. I cant function on normal days with 2 hours of sleep and I'm in my 40's. She's trying to manage the unmanagable doing it in her 70's.

Hey, I'm not saying we need to build a monument to her but how about backing up about 17 steps and rethinking your statement.

My parents home is sitting down ther rotting by the second right now and I would really , really like to get on that island but it aint the mayors fault .

I'm gonna shut up now before I tell you what I really think.

HOW COME WHENEVER WE SUFFER A NATURAL DISASTER THE DUMBEST AND DRUNKEST MAYORS COME OUT.

 

[Hotrod]

A co-worker of my wifes is a HPD officer. Says he has reports that their are many, many corpses in certain parts of the county. Don't know whether to believe it or not. But the officials down there are real suspicious. Specially when brought up at Wednesdays noon conference. I know the mayor has alot to deal with but thats part of the job, she wasn't real friendly to the media Wednesday. There are alot of unanswered questions.

 

[Buck1986]

West end of Island

A co-worker of my wifes is a HPD officer. Says he has reports that their are many, many corpses in certain parts of the county. Don't know whether to believe it or not. But the officials down there are real suspicious. Specially when brought up at Wednesdays noon conference. I know the mayor has alot to deal with but thats part of the job, she wasn't real friendly to the media Wednesday. There are alot of unanswered questions.

Co worker of mine said the same. A HPD officer flew over the west end and saw bodies floating

 

[lapesca67]

I have known Lyda Ann most of my life and she is the toughest woman I have ever met. That city will take years to recover based on what I have seen and she has to manage across local, state and federal agencies to execute a plan of action to begin the process of rebuilding, starting with recovering the living, accounting for the departed and restoring of basic municiple functions.......So, if you are going to hammer her for what she does or does not do, make sure you get out the chair you are sitting in when you criticize her and sign up to make a difference in one of the communities affected by this distaster. Otherwise, zip it and enjoy your A/C and hot meals........

 

[twitch-twitch-reel]

If there are dead bodies everywhere, the city is going to need to go in and clean it up before people, including press go in. I don't think there is any "cover up". I believe that the managers are just trying to minimize the people they have to go rescue, over and over again. We need to remember that the Mayor of Galveston is only human. She is doing the best she can to handle the situation. Rather than waste our time, trying to find scandals. Focus our time on helping. Find generators, food, water, ice, Deep woods off! And take it to the people down there that are trying to rebuild. It will be some time before we, the general public are allowed down there but, when we are we should be ready to help…… Not point fingers!

 

[Mrschasintail]

They said on the news, the reason they have ordered those workers to stop talking to the press is because it is distracting them from what they are doing. Geez.

How can they do what needs to be done, when there is constantly a camera in their face?

 

[texas32]

Same here. I have a friend that rode it out on the west end and he made it to point west 2 days ago and didnt see any bodies other than cows. He didnt go door to door though.

While we were at GYB yesterday a really nice gentleman from the State Health Dept asked if we had seen any cows, which we didn't. IMO health issues are most likely going to be a real factor down the road for the Islands.

 

[TexSpec]

I would think that if there were more fatalities that it would have leaked out by now. On the other hand I have 2 seperate people who have personally been to bolivar and flown over galveston that both reported many more bodies than they are reporting. I pray they are mistaken. They were fairly persistant that there was however. I did find it strange that CNN reported on Sunday or Monday that they were bringing a large refrigerated morgue to the island. At the time they were only reporting a few that did not make it. God bless the families of those who have felt the affects of the storm and to those who are still missing.

 

[Fish-a-mon]

First on Lyda, she will be replaced on the next election. Has nothing to do with Ike. The writing is on the wall after the city counsel changes from earlier this year. You may know her personally and she might be the nicest lady, but I'll bet you a case of beer she will be voted out. It really is needed as she has been part of the problem since 1998. What is her stance on the TOBA again? Did she agree that the WEST end could block traffic access to the beach? See she fell into the money grab. TOBA is just one example. Wonder what kick back Tillman has given to her.

Now for the media, these folks only want to show death and destruction. Why are they asking people how they feel about loosing everything or is anything recoverable? DA's, have you looked around, very little is recoverable. I think Bob Allen has been the best with showing compassion for these folks.

Now as far as dead people I think the mayor gov fed's are right in keeping the media out, especially if there are dead people floating. Do we really need to another Spike Lee Requin film?

dead animals in the water makes the water a bio hazzard, nothing has changed other than it's different bio's. I'm not even talking about the chemicals from the wash out of many homes cars boats.

 

[LDS]

Why start a post like this?

 

[Hotrod]

Did you guys see the Navy show up today. You know what the Navy does. That ship is a floating morgue. The Navy is in charge of corpses fyi. The only way to keep this quite is to get the Navy involved and take them out by sea. So many people that can't get in touch with so many people. Don't care what some of you none believers think, but there is a cover up going on. Thats why they need a week, thats why the Navy is there, thats why they don't want anyone talking to media, and its been confirmed by 2 HPD officers here.

 

[FLAT FISHY]

he said ,she said .why don't we all back off and let officials take care of the business at hand? Its not like they planned the storm and are now trying to cover it up. I just got back home after helping my family in Santa Fe clean up . I was shocked by the number of people out ridin their Harleys instead of helping neighbors all the while lines at the stations wrapped around the block. my vote leave em alone they will let us know how bad it was when they complete the job .

 

[Scott]

Come on people. They can't "cover up" people who died. I would bet a lot of the "dead bodies" are livestock. There were a lot of livestock on the island that I am sure didn't make it. Lets not jump to conclusions. The true facts will come out in the end. The reality of it is there is no water, no sewer system and having folks running around all over the place that aren't in the process of repairing the infrastructure makes no sense. Lets be respectful of those who might have died and a town that is trying to get back up on its feet (or even its knees) after getting clobbered!!! Gilcrest and Bolivar are even worse.

 

[Hotrod]

Here you go.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_us/ike_the_missing