Category Archives: crime

New Orleans ca. January 2007

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I started Back Of Town.  So, I love Treme, but simultaneously harbor a small fear that New Orleans and its post-Katrina history will henceforth be viewed solely through the lens of the show. The story must be told. It’s just a television show. The story is told very well in this tv show for the most part. New Orleans is New Orleans, however; she was, is and will be long away from the Treme treatment. An important point, that I consider from time to time and warrants further discussion, but not why I came here today.

This last episode from early 2007 brought back a lot of happy and painful memories. In the Treme Time Scale, D and I were married between last week’s episode and tonight’s, honeymooned in New York City and returned to the news that Dinerral Shavers and Helen Hill had been murdered and were we going to participate in the march on City Hall?

Yes.

SOS

Early 2007 was such a blur. I remember blogging away furiously while switching assignments at work. And I remember this mask, because I made and wore it for Mardi Gras 2007. Its theme: Crime & Recovery a.k.a. Babies With Guns (and booze and women. Yeah, babes with babes. It wasn’t referred to as the Triple Entendre mask for nothing.). Also reminds me that I need to unpack it to make sure it made it across the country alright.

Mask 2007 Rests

A baby killed Dinerral Shavers while really out to get Dick’s step-baby. (Not only do these children shoot each other to settle beefs, they have no fraking aim. It’s gangster-movie-comical if not for the awful consequences.) And the city did nothing, NOTHING about it. This I will never forgive. I often think of an alternate history of New Orleans in which Ray Nagin lost the 2006 mayoral election. Apparently, so does James Gill.

For various reasons, I’ve been re-reading the posts from those days. I venture a guess that a number of us are.

And what about these days?

Day 45 More Connect The Dots Links

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Financial Times

The containment effort on the surface, [BP CEO Tony Hayward] said, had been “very successful” in keeping oil away from the coast. “Considering how big this has been, very little has got away from us.”

Washington Post | As the oil spill spreads, BP battles to contain the media

“There’s going to be, I think, a natural hesitancy to let journalists show images of the horrific scenes that are going to happen purely in the next few weeks,” [trial lawyer, Chip] Babcock said. “You’ll see these beaches clogged with oil, and animals suffering, and I think — human nature being what it is — there’s going to be some people who don’t want those images shown.”

WWL.com | Thick Oil On Grand Isle

“For the last three days, we reported every day that our helicopter was watching this oil off our shore, and nothing was done to stop it,” says [Jefferson Parish Emergency Management Director, Deano] Bonano.

Rick’s Blog | BP Ad: We Will Make It Right

BP is spending massive amounts of money on this, but where, for what and with whom? I visited Dauphin Island, Ala. yesterday. Their staging area had six security guards standing around guarding what? In a nearby restaurant out-of-town contractors were downing high balls, discussing their per diems and laughing about how this was a vacation for them.

Day 45 Links

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BP Chief: Company Never Had the Tools to Address Oil Leak

“What is undoubtedly true is that we did not have the tools you would want in your tool-kit,” [CEO Tony] Hayward told the Financial Times.

But didn’t BP tell feds it could handle oil spill 60 times larger than Deepwater Horizon?

In its 2009 exploration plan for the Deepwater Horizon well, BP PLC states that the company could handle a spill involving as much as 12.6 million gallons of oil per day, a number 60 times higher than its current estimate of the ongoing Gulf disaster.

Looks like it’s time for Gulf Coast communities to file civil and criminal lawsuits. Wait … Hello? Can Anyone Down There Handle The Oil-Spill Litigation?

the bulk of the litigation arising out of the spill might end up in front of a judge who doesn’t sit in New Orleans … six of the 12 active judges in the Eastern District of Louisiana have removed themselves from oil-spill cases. The judges are citing conflicts tied to the energy sector and personal relationships with lawyers or companies involved … Federal judges in southern Alabama also have stepped away from handling spill-damage cases, according to Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, BP program to hire cleanup boats has resulted in windfalls for rich pleasure-craft owners

… a Daily Beast investigation reveals that this much-touted program is far more effective as a PR stunt than a financial savior. Specifically, a large number of the 1,900 contracts BP has issued across the Gulf have gone to the owners of pleasure boats: doctors, lawyers, and the like, who use their vessels for Saturday fishing trips or family outings, rather than the decimated commercial fishermen.

and, 5000 feet below the sea, the plan now is cutting the riser above the BOP with large shears after the DSAW failed. I’m still watching.

Day 1248: This Has Gotten To Us

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NOLA.com | New Orleans breeds bold killers: half of murders occur in daytime

NOLA.com | As the murder scenes move ever closer to his front door, a father weighs love for the city against responsibility to family

I live on a beautiful, oak-lined avenue in Mid-City that my wife and I love. Neighbors are acquainted and keep watch. On pleasant evenings and weekends, people walk dogs, push baby strollers and jog along nearby Bayou St. John, the picture of urban tranquillity.

But as in much of New Orleans, the tone and tenor of the neighborhood changes drastically blocks away. Streets are dark. Houses are unkempt. Young men loiter. Drugs are sold. Gunshots within earshot are not infrequent.

I am not involved in the drug dealing and beefs that spark much of the shooting. But the boundaries of violence are porous, and stray bullets do not discriminate. Living in New Orleans requires a constant calculus of pros and cons. Crime is easily the most destructive, urgent con.

These exact words can be said about my neighborhood.

I live in a beautiful, historic house surrounded by a number of friendly people who are very talented at what they do – artists, doctors, professors, lawyers.  We were a peaceful neighborhood before and in the year immediately following the storm and flood.

Now, a nearby guest house, which I used to recommend to visiting friends, is a drug haven.  Crack-addicted prostitutes walk up and down my sidewalk, their johns in tow, while a pimp keeps watch on the proceedings from a block away.  We catch each other’s eyes, I look away and hurry into my car. 

I get off the bus and into my driveway to hear gunfire at the closest intersection.  I run into the house, call D to warn him in case he’s on his way home and then call 911.

Entering my car at 6pm, I hear seven shots.  One of them hits metal, another is sucked up by what sounds like flesh.  Half a block away, a man on his bicycle has been “taken out in a revenge killing.”  I drive by the dead body, not seeing it for the fading evening light.  Four squad cars rush to the scene, but it’s too late, the hitmen are long gone.  Where are the other five bullets lodged?  In the outer walls of people’s homes, one of which contains a good friend.

Sitting down to dinner, I hear the report of an AK or two coming from the direction of Liprap’s house.  D is near there picking up pizza.  I call Liprap to make sure she’s alright, we argue whether the sound is gunshots, a nail gun or firecrackers.  D returns home to confirm they are gunshots as does a tweet from a friend who was driving in that area.

We are mere blocks away from the corner of Dauphine and Gov. Nicholls when and where Wendy Byrne is killed by a teenager.  She was a close friend of close friends and about to be married.

On foot to make a deposit at a downtown bank, I sense someone following me.  I stagger my path to the bank, he follows, so I turn around and quickly walk back to work.  It’s not worth it.  I’ll make the deposit on Saturday from the safety of my car.

A geophysicist colleague is chased through beautiful, tree-lined, normally-dog-filled Coliseum Square Park by a couple of young thugs in broad daylight.  His neighbor sees him running up, and opens the window to yell at and scare off my friend’s assailants.

The gunshots are louder and louder, closer and closer, earlier in the day, bolder and bolder.  D and I refuse to live in fear, but we’re not stupid.  I refuse to become pregnant and raise a child under these circumstances.  D’s company is moving to Florida in the next few months.  A decision nears.

Day 1231: Police Shootings – What’s Going On Here?

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1. NOLA.com | Ministers demand justice in killing of Adolph Grimes III

Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard has said Grimes was hit 14 times, with twelve of the bullets striking him from behind.

2. Reason | Murder In Oakland

Oscar Grant, the 22-year-old butcher’s apprentice shot by Bay Area Rapid Transit Police (BART) on New Year’s day, was murdered. Face down on the ground, handcuffed, and unarmed, BART officer Johannes Mehserle unholsters his service weapon and fires a single shot into Grant’s back.

3. CNN.com | Questions surround shooting of baseballer’s son

As they walked up the driveway to their [Bellaire, TX] home, Anthony Cooper said an unidentified man emerged from the darkness with a flashlight and a gun pointed at them … Relatives say Tolan started to lean up from the ground to ask the officer what he was doing to his mother. That’s when the family says Tolan was shot in the chest, the bullet piercing his lung and then lodging in his liver.

Is this a new trend of “shoot first, ask questions later” on the part of police officers nationwide?  In all three cases mentioned above, the victim was black.  If you are aware of more incidents like this, please leave a comment.

Related: LAPD tried to reverse a coroner’s verdict in girl’s death, while, here in New Orleans, “[Police Chief Warren] Riley has challenged the claim that most of the shots [that hit Grimes] came from behind, although he has been vague in describing where Grimes was shot.”  To serve and to protect, indeed.

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Am I the only one who thinks a big enough deal is not being made in American media about New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley’s irresponsible words and actions and JEEZUS CHRIST CHENEY AND GONZALES HAVE BEEN INDICTED (and I just found out on a Daily Show rerun)??!?!  When I asked him if what our former leaders (into the Pit Of Doom) are accused of qualifies as RICO, D said, “No, it’s Suave.”  I know, I married the man.

Day 1186: Obviously The Chemicals They Add Upstream

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Reuters | New Orleans has highest U.S. city crime rate: report

Times-Picayune:

[Police Chief Warren] Riley repeatedly criticized the study as being a money-maker for CQ Press, which examined statistics for six major types of crime in nearly 400 cities and found that, with more than 19,000 incidents of crime last year, New Orleans ranked number one, ahead of Camden, New Jersey, and Detroit, Mich.

“In the 1870s, New Orleans was considered one of the most violent cities in the country,” Riley said. “Is it the water in the Mississippi? I don’t know what it is … We know right now that crime is down in this city.”

If the Dismiss Veronica White online petition will get something positive accomplished, as in the resignation/firing of Ms. White, I offer that someone start another one immediately for the dismissal of Warren Riley.  It cannot be me because, frankly, I am running out of gas.  What energy I can muster says that if you are to continue living in New Orleans three years after Katrina and beyond, you cannot do it with such denial heading up the PD.

Day 1137: The Mean Streets Of Madison

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University Of Wisconsin

While in Madison, Wisconsin a couple of weeks back, a female student at the geology department responsibly warned me to stay on main arteries while walking back to the hotel and to avoid side streets. “There have been a number of assaults on campus lately.”

My response: “Thanks for your concern, but I live in New Orleans. Sweetie, I am assault.”  This elicited a few laughs, but it’s not funny.  The prospect of assault is a lot more frightening than that of death.

Update: I heard this fatal gunfire while getting in my car last night.  Police say the victim was found on Coliseum but I heard the shots coming from the direction of Annunciation and Constance.  If it were an echo, why was an NOPD squad car also rushing with lights on to Annunciation Park?

Day 1092: Live From Rising Tide 3 – Politics Panel

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Adrastos moderates a politics panel that includes Greg Peters (*groan* oops, I mean *cheer*), Brian Denzer, Gordon Russell from the Times-Picayune, Ethan Brown and our very own “queen of the universe,” Dangerblond!

Who’s going to / whom do you want to run for Mayor? Boos for Jackie Clarkson and Rob Couhig. Yay for Karen Carter, Mitch Landrieu and our Eli Ackerman.

District Attorney race: Ethan Brown says that the blogosphere the law enforcement establishment in New Orleans (thanks for the correction, Ethan!) has a “zombie narrative” going that New Orleans entertains a very liberal/lax policy when it comes to incarceration. New Orleans has a high incarceration rate for drug-related crimes and Louisiana has a very high number of people in prisons. High rate of 701 releases, yet only 2% of NOPD arrests are for violent crimes. Dangerblond says we need a DA who does not spend the first term preparing for the second term. We need a DA who is not going to prosecute every low-level “jughead” with “resin and a crackpipe.” Any avenue for social restitution for these people is now squandered because now they have a criminal record in their background. Greg Peters wants our new DA to have good managerial skills, not just lawyer finesse. Schroeder reminds us that we don’t have good metrics – “making quantitative records available to the public is important.” violent offenders tend to be repeat offenders and need to be put behind bars, but crack-pipe criminals may be able to go to Drug Court, as proposed by Linda Bizzarro as well as Jason Williams, who is with us at RT3 today.

RT3 RT3

Jason Williams says we need to prosecute cases using a Quality of Life dynamic. 95% of arrests are small change offenders. “Repeat violent offenders are allowed to go back to the street very quickly. First there are the 701 releases, but the justice system here is ill-equipped to deal with all of the cases.” So violent offenders are thrown back out with the low-risk folks.  All was cool until the “Vote For Me” plug at the end – so unnecessary.

2nd District Congressional Race: Adrastos refers to William Jefferson as “a tragic figure, but, man, does he like money.” To help us understand the race better, Brian “The Nerd” Denzer gives us statistics, maps and visual aids. The thrust is that the 2nd District is majority black and this is going to be a major factor in this race. Based on a Southern Media poll, Brian says that Byron Lee, Dollar Bill and Kenya Smith together will garner about 16% of the vote. The poll shows Troy Carter, James Carter and Cedric Richmond going head to head, with Helena Moreno not making it to second primary.

(I don’t know who to vote for. *sigh*)

Gordon Russell is unsure how the voting is going to play out, but agrees that race is a factor. Helena Moreno is the only white candidate and could benefit from white votes in a sea of all black candidates. Greg states that Dollar Bill is not going down because of scandal but because he is no longer adept at bringing home federal money. Dangerblond is on the OPDEC and says James Carter (?) has national appeal and has OPDEC endorsement – yet states that people don’t know whom to believe. (My indecision is vindicated.) Ethan: “I’m from California where no one cares about the garbage contracts … We have a smaller pot of money so everyone is fighting over it.” Brian brings up coastal restoration and the Stafford Act: “They all lack the ability to speak to particular constituencies.”

Senate Race: Question is “Will Obama at the top of the ticket help or hurt Mary Landrieu’s chance for re-election?” Greg thinks it doesn’t matter because “John Kennedy is as useful as tits on a bishop.” Brian: “It helps because it increases black voter turnout.” Gordon: “It doesn’t matter.” Dangerblond brings up a $50 reward for anyone who can prove a credible story of corruption on the part of Moon Landrieu or anyone in his family. At this conference, Dangerblond raises the reward to $100.

Bobby Jindal:

Me: “Bobby Jindal exorcised me!” Adrastos points out that the exorcism obviously hasn’t taken and introduces me as his friend with lovely eyebrows. “I don’t get them waxed, either.”
Greg: “He’s a hydroponically-grown prototype,” “fake ideologue persona who will do what it takes.”
Brian: “He’s got a long way to go as an elected official.”
Gordon: “His ambition seems to have no limit and he will run for president.”
Dangerblond: “He’s a glib phony.”

Q&A Time a la Oyster:

* Are crime cameras and traffic cameras of any political relevance? Dangerblond says that we as a nation have turned into sheep allowing ourselves to be searched before flights, on trains, etc., so NOLA is not different. Brian wants crime cameras to be taken off streets and placed outside City Hall.

* Gary Wainwright gives a rambler of a sermon.  And then asks us to vote for him?!?!

* Jimmy Huck brings up shifting populations and demographics and the Latino vote. Brian is disappointed with Helena Moreno for running as a white candidate and not as an advocate of the growing Latino population. Gordon asks, “If we have more Asian and Latino voters, would we have more sophisticated politics instead of I Look Like You, Vote For Me?” Yes! Adrastos supports immigration and that we have more people identifying as other than White or Black. (Hello! Dedra jokes that they have me lumped in with the Vietnamese.)

* Cynthia wonders how to go about advertising New Orleans as a destination for living. (We need to keep crime down and grow better schools for that.)

* More Latino community discussion. It’s puzzling to me that there are people here named Hernandez and Juarez (historically Spanish folks) who don’t want Hispanic immigrants moving in here or don’t advocate for them.

Ok, I’m done with this panel. Time for the Awards Ceremony.