Safety at the Astrodome

[JQ Public]

I was wondering what the conditions are at the Astrodome. I've heard rumors of already 15 rapes of both residents and volunteers. I'm not really sure how valid they are. Could anyone fill me in?

[Eye10TX]

I posted earlier that HPD said only one sexual assault had been reported, resulting in an arrest. No further details were given. There had been 10 drug arrests, er, "substance" arrests.

I did hear the rumor about a 15-yo male being sexually assaulted and it's possible that is the *one* that HPD told about on TV.

As of tonight, the three main Reliant Park shelters have been named "Dome City," "Arena City" and "Center City." There is also GRB City downtown at the Geo R. Brown Convention Center.

Houston's Unified Command today announced that there's a "zoning plan" for what they're calling "Reliant City," which consists of four locations:

. Dome City 17,500 residents
. Center City 3,800 residents
. Arena City 2,300 residents
. George R. Brown City 1,300 residents

They say that with 24,900 total residents, the Reliant Park Complex is now the largest evacuation shelter in U.S. history.

Dome City, Center City and Arena City now have "house rules" that went into effect tonight. (They are not allowed to call it a "curfew.")

There will be no exit or entry between 11PM and 5:30AM.

The main reason given was that the kids are back in school and need their sleep and have to get up on time in the morning. (Gee, I wonder how long it takes to get breakfast. There are 23,000 in Dome City itself. It takes 750 people to serve them a meal. I *assume* they can get up and have a buffet/cafeteria type line for food selections.)

Of course, the TV reporter picked out one punk who was complaining about the restrictions and how it's a "free country" and people should be allowed to come and go as they please, any time of the day or night. "We's all growned-upples," he said. (Just a cut above the very sincere woman they kept replaying who said she loves *everyone* here "in the great City of Texas!")

Oprah was here today and will be live from Dome City for her show tomorrow (4PM CDT in Houston on CBS). They showed her using the PA mic to talk to the residents and tell them, very forcefully, they are NOT refugees, they are NOT evacuees, they ARE survivors.

(Wish I could figure out why so many people think "refugee" is a bad term and ONLY means someone from a foreign country! Do they ever think maybe they have it wrong?)

Anyway, Oprah also brought Dr. Phil. ::rolling eyes:: He, of course, will be counseling everyone on PTSD and depression or something. I don't know if he is also taping a show or doing his live, but I'm sure there's *something* in it for him. There always is.

Jada Pinkett-Smith was also seen in the crowd, but I don't know if Will was along. Who knew? "Dome City, where the elite meet ... to see and be seen." Paris H. would say it's "so hot," but that would be reminiscent of the OtherDome, so we'll leave her out of it. (Besides, "Paris H" looks like "parish," which reminds them of LA, so that's out, too.)

Oh, almost forgot, besides Bush41 and BillyJeff making their kick-off appearance this morning -- rock stars that they are (signing T-shirts, no less!) -- they also brought along the mother of one US President and the wife of another one as their roadie/groupies. Bush41 told them they'll have to answer to Barbara if they keep up the bashing of Dubya. I don't remember exactly what Hillary said.

*Those two* have already raised $31 million for Katrina survivors. Good for them!

~~~~~~~~~

ETA: Population figures of the Reliant City "neighborhoods"

[Canebo]

So far it has not been as bad as I thought it would. Most of the drug arrests have come from the locals selling/trading drugs to the evacuees outside the parking area of the dome. A couple have been arrested inside, but most were outside. One man did want to file a report because his wife went to another location yesterday to pick up food stamps and a gas voucher. She didn't return until today and had traded all the state aid and gas card for drugs.
I have not heard the specifics about the sexual assault yet, so I cannot comment on that. There have been officers posted outside the women's showers since the first night when some males were sneaking inside for a peep show. Everything else has been relatively minor. A few thefts of donated goods that had been left on the cots while the owners wandered around or left. A few disturbances between evacuees as well.
A 2300 - 0700 hour curfew went into place last night and it has helped. A few would go out and come in at all hours disturbing the ones (especially kids and elderly) who were trying to sleep.

[Houstonia]

Anyway, Oprah also brought Dr. Phil. ::rolling eyes:: He, of course, will be counseling everyone on PTSD and depression or something. I don't know if he is also taping a show or doing his live, but I'm sure there's *something* in it for him. There always is.

Jada Pinkett-Smith was also seen in the crowd, but I don't know if Will was along. Who knew? "Dome City, where the elite meet ... to see and be seen." Paris H. would say it's "so hot," but that would be reminiscent of the OtherDome, so we'll leave her out of it. (Besides, "Paris H" looks like "parish," which reminds them of LA, so that's out, too.)

Oh, almost forgot, besides Bush41 and BillyJeff making their kick-off appearance this morning -- rock stars that they are (signing T-shirts, no less!) -- they also brought along the mother of one US President and the wife of another one as their roadie/groupies. Bush41 told them they'll have to answer to Barbara if they keep up the bashing of Dubya. I don't remember exactly what Hillary said.

The evacuees, in my opinion, should be left in peace. They need to get things taken care of, they need to find relatives, they need to figure out what to do, they need counseling and job assistance. What they do NOT need is to be 1) made to feel like life is better now than it EVER has been before 2) made to feel like superstars 3) made to feel like animals in the zoo, with a constant parade of people looking at them and using them for photo-ops.
And my 1st reason may sound cold and harsh, but what I mean is - as time ticks away, for some of them - especially if they haven't dealt with things like PTSD, they may be more and more reluctant to leave the security of having a safe place to sleep, easy access to care, the support of those around them. Because with all of those good things comes lack of self-determination, ultimately lack of an even better life outside the "dome city" - a yard for the kids, their own homes, jobs where they can make their own money.

[Cookiely]

What is the sense of searching these people when they enter shelters if there going to be able to go out and buy drugs or get drunk.

[Praxus]

Yeah I don't understand the negative connotation with 'refugee'. Jackson
said its rascist ? What a frigging idiot. A refugee is simply someone
fleeing something. Be it war, disaster,whatever. Anyone of us could end
up in that situation under the right circumstances. I have NEVER heard
the word refugee associated with any specific racial group.

[cancunkid]

One entry found for refugee.
Main Entry: ref·u·gee
Pronunciation: "re-fyu-'jE, 're-fyu-"
Function: noun
Etymology: French réfugié, past participle of (se) réfugier to take refuge, from Latin refugium
: one that flees; especially : a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution
- ref·u·gee·ism /-"i-z&m/ noun

[Praxus]

Ah yes, thats true...fleeing to another country is often associated with that word. Still don't get the rascist bit though...I mean there's been lots of cases of european refugees (ww2, balkan conflict etc.)
When black leaders cry rascism for something thats so obviously NOT, they just undermine whatever credibility they have. I don't know enough about jackson to comment more.

[huricanwatcher]

One entry found for refugee.
Main Entry: ref·u·gee
Pronunciation: "re-fyu-'jE, 're-fyu-"
Function: noun
Etymology: French réfugié, past participle of (se) réfugier to take refuge, from Latin refugium
: one that flees; especially : a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution
- ref·u·gee·ism /-"i-z&m/ noun

what difference does it make what they are called...... they are displaced, have probably only the shirt on their back, and more than likely nothing or next to nothing to go back to....

white, black, asian, spanish, etc..... all in the same boat....... get over the technicallity of it all

[huricanwatcher]

Yeah I don't understand the negative connotation with 'refugee'. Jackson
said its rascist ? What a frigging idiot. A refugee is simply someone
fleeing something. Be it war, disaster,whatever. Anyone of us could end
up in that situation under the right circumstances. I have NEVER heard
the word refugee associated with any specific racial group.

Jackson is a racist in his own way, against anyone other than that of the black race..... wish someone would smack him and make him shutup

[Roxy]

What is the sense of searching these people when they enter shelters if there going to be able to go out and buy drugs or get drunk.

...and are they being searched everytime they go in and out?

[vbhoutex]

Ok folks, we have had the refugee discussion once on the site. We don't need it again, so please stop it. Also the comments about Mr. Jackson, warranted or not must stop. We do not want to have to pull any more threads or suspend any more members, but we will not hesitate to if these types of comments continue.

No Cookiely, as far as I know they are not being searched each time they come back in, but I could be mistaken. Obviously, there will be some problems when you are dealing with a small city in such a small area, but mostly things have gone really really well from all the reports we are getting here in Houston.

[Miss Mary]

Local firefighters went to help. Mason is a community just north of Cincinnati. This is what they had to say:


http://www.cincynow.com/news/2005/local ... mason.html

Mason Crews Share Horrific Stories From New Orleans

Reported by: Deborah Haas
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
Photographed by: 9News
Last updated: 9/6/2005 5:28:42 PM

As the water rose in New Orleans, three firefighters from Mason found themselves inside the Superdome, trying to care for an endless line of patients.

The three were in the city for a conference. Now, they're home and sharing their experiences.

You get the sense they're telling only the parts they can handle talking about, Channel 9's Deborah Haas said.

The three set up shop in a first-aid station at the Superdome and relied on their training to help the people they could.

"We were treating probably 200 people per hour, with very little resources," said Vicki Koch, who along with Mark Guinn and Mark Gerano, all of the Mason Fire Department, tried to help the 30,000 people inside the Superdome.

They say there was not time to comfort anyone, there was only time to work.

"The most frustrating part is knowing what we've been trained to do, we've never had to send people away knowing if they're not treated, they're very possibly going to die," said Koch.

It was hot, dark, crowded and dangerous.

"We had people guarding us with automatic weapons. It was very hostile," said Gerano.

"There were a lot of people who were hungry, thirsty and hot. They knew we had a little food and they wanted it. We didn't have some of the medications they wanted. We didn't have stuff for high blood pressure, we only had stuff for life threatening emergencies," he said.

The three were inside the Superdome from Sunday until Wednesday, never really sure when or whether they'd get out.

"The word 'horrific' doesn't do it justice. There was blood all over, human waste. It was terrible. It was disgusting," Gerano said.

Sunday, as the helicopter lifted them out, someone had a message for them.

"This guy named Steve came up and said 'make sure you go home and tell people what you saw here.' We talked about it, we don't ever want to tell people. It was horrific, there's no training, no words, no part of the the human mind that could imagine what it was like down there," Gerano told 9News.

Things were so dangerous inside the Superdome that the trio couldn't leave the first aid area to go to patients. Pateints had to come to them.

They have so many stories, telling 9News about one woman who insisted on being disconnected from an IV so she could die at home.

Their parting thought for us was to emphasize that other cities and states need to look into their own disaster plans.