SaraDay
Disco's
Bitch
Registered: May
2002
Location: LITTER
BABY
|
a friend of mine posted
this story on myspace
story from
baton rouge
Body: This is an email from a friend of mine
at LSU. He is a student SID in their office and is telling the
story he is currently going through....For everyone's
information, the "PMAC" is the Pete Maravich Assembly Center
where the basketball teams and other sports play. The
"Dungeon" is the practice court which is below the main
basketball floor.
I don't have any words except that
this is a very, very sad situation......
-----Original
Message-----
From: William Martin [
mailto:wmarti4@lsu.edu]
Sent: Wed 8/31/2005 3:51 AM
To: Bill Martin
Cc:
Subject: The PMAC will never
host an important event like it did tonight
Little did I
know what I would be doing following Hurricane Katrina's
aftermath but as I type right now, there won't be a more
gratifying or more surreal experience I went through tonight.
We went up to the office today and held a press conference
regarding the postponement of the game and it was the right
decision. As the PMAC and Field House are being used as
shelters we decided as an office to do everything we could to
help the situation.
At first, we were just supposed to
make copies of this disaster relief form for all of the
people. The copiers will never print a document more important
than that. It's weird. Nearly 12 hours ago we were running off
copies of game notes for a football game that is now
meaningless. We printed the copies and carried them over to
the Field House at 6:30 p.m. I wouldn't leave the area for
another 8 hours.
On the way back to the PMAC in a cart, it
looked like the scene in the movie Outbreak. FEMA officials,
U.S. Marshalls, National Guard, and of course the survivors.
Black Hawks were carrying in victims who were stranded on
roofs. Buses rolled in from N.O. with other survivors. As
Michael and I rode back to the PMAC, a lady fell out of her
wheelchair and we scrambled to help her up.
We met Coach
Miles and Coach Moffiit in the PMAC to see all the survivors
and it was the view of a hospital. Stretchers rolled in
constantly and for the first time in my life I saw someone die
right in front of me. A man rolled in from New Orleans and was
badly injured on his head. 5 minutes later he was dead. And
that was the scene all night. What did we do, we started
hauling in supplies. And thousands of boxes of supplies. The
CDC from Atlanta arrived directing us what to do.
One of
the U.S. Marshalls was on hand so the supplies could not
become loot. I asked him what his primary job was. He serves
on the committee of counter terrorism, but once he saw of the
disaster, he donated his forces to come help. He said the
death toll could be nearing 10,000. It was sickening to hear
that.
After unloading supplies, I started putting
together baby cribs and then IV poles. Several of our fball
players and Big Baby and Tasmin Mitchell helped us. At the
same time, families and people strolled in. Mothers were
giving berth in the locker rooms. The auxiliary gym "Dungeon"
was being used as a morgue. I couldn't take myself down there
to see it.
I worked from 8 pm until 2:45 am. Before I left
three more buses rolled in and they were almost out of room.
People were standing outside, the lowest of the low from NO.
The smells, the sights were hard to take.
A man lying down
on a cot asked me to come see him. He said,"I just need
someone to talk to, to tell my story because I have nobody and
nothing left. He turned out to be a retired military veteran.
His story was what everybody was saying. He thought he
survived the worst, woke up this morning and the levees broke.
Within minutes water rushed into his house. He climbed to the
attic, smashed his way through the roof and sat there for
hours. He was completely sunburned and exhausted. Nearly 12
hours later a chopper rescued him and here he was.
We
finished the night hauling boxes of body bags and more were on
the way. As we left, a man was strolled in on a stretcher and
scarily enough he suffered gunshots. The paramedic said he was
shot several times because a looter or a convict needed his
boat and he wouldn't give it to him. Another man with him said
it was "an uncivilized society no better than Iraq down there
right now." A few minutes later he was unconcious and later
pronounced dead. I then left as they were strolling a 3 year
old kid in on a stretcher. I couldn't take it anymore.
That was the scene at the PMAC and it gives me a new
perspective on things. For those of you who I haven't been
able to get in touch with because of phone service, I pray you
are safe. Send me an email to let me know. God bless.
Bill
Martin
LSU Sports Information
225.578.8226 Main
225.578.4758 Direct
225.578.1861 Fax
http://www.lsusports.net/
IP:
68.229.150.232 |
09-01-2005 08:17
AM
