FEMA and the Galveston West End Cover up

Sorry for the dbl post but I need to add:

For anyone still waiting for word on loved ones:
Don't give up hope yet. Quite a few people were evacuated and were dropped off in various small towns where the shelter is far away from anything else and there is no phone or internet. Take advantage of the FEMA registry - they may be entering messages for evacuees at shelters who do not have internet access.

A friend in the military sent me the briefing docs and I can confirm the air bases being used are very spread out and drop offs are being made in very small towns around College Station and elsewhere.

Cell service is still almost non existent depending on location. The networks are saturated and priority is being given to FEMA. We had to drive all the way to Waco before our cell phones would work and most of the small towns along the way had no power.

There were quite a few injuries, some are in hospitals and may be unable to make contact.

Fish and Game made quite a few last minute rescues via boat and 4x4. Search teams used dogs and FLIR scopes - most notifications have been made where bodies were found. If you are still searching for someone use the FEMA registry and contact every state agency you can. They need to know if people are still missing so they can allocate resources.

I sincerely hope as many of you as possible are given good news.

We went to a funeral tonight for a 4 yr old boy who died when his dad ran a generator in the living room. He thought the ventilation was adequate apparently. They were members of my father in laws church, we didn't know them personally but it really sucks. I don't think most of us are wired for survival outside the govt provided structure.

I've been reading everyone's postings here for a couple of days, just trying to find out information about what may be going on in Galveston.
I'm from another state but have an interest in what's going on there because a family member is on one of the search and rescue teams on the island. His team was deployed to begin its search of the West End of the island on Sunday but were not permitted to enter the area, due to the high mortality / health threat in the area. They were told that there were a "number" of deceased in the water that still covered the area at that time, and as a result a no -fly zone had been mandated for that area, and that NO ONE except certain personel would be permitted into that area....that everyone else was to be kept out. Members of his team were told later Monday / Tuesday that "officially" "most" of the deceased had been washed out to sea by the surge.

He finaly was able to contact me via phone on Tues and Wed. and asked what I was hearing on the news. I told him that we were hearing that the death toll was really low and that damage was moderate to heavy depending on location. He replied that that was not right....that there were "a lot" more deceased than what was officially being reported, that only certain teams were permitted to enter the west end area due to the water and loss of life, that nothing living had been found in the area.

I asked how they knew how many were missing, he said by the number of phone calls recieved from various locations during the peak of the surge, and later the hurricane itself. He repeatedly stressed that NO ONE was being allowed into the west end area, unless they had specific clearance to be there, due to the water and loss of life.

I've seen the video posted on this thread that was supposedly shot on Sept 15th. I have questions about the date because my relative was specific about the no fly zone not being lifted until Wed. / early Thursday.
Its not so much what the video shows as what it doesn't show....almost as if its "too" clean. But what do I know? I know I trust my relative, he's not prone to exageration.

It appears that a lot of homes/property may forfeit to the state of Texas under the Open Beach law because the low/high tide line will have now encroached on those properties making them public lands. This is a terrible situation because it appears it will take a year or more for the state to decide what properties are now public open beach and will be taken by the state WITHOUT compensation. So people with homes that are intact may lose them, and people with damaged homes will not know if the funds they use to restore them are being thrown away.

www.cnn.com...

"No one has ever succesfully ever beaten the state when the state comes after you under the Open Beaches Act," said Charles Irvine, a Houston coastal law attorney. "But everyone still tries to think up innovative arguments."

I understand the intention of this law, but this is very sad news for a lot of families who will lose their homes and property. This basically equates to RIP for hundreds of homes on Galveston.

I've missed a day or two in this thread, so my apologies if this has already been posted:

Media Obstruction in Galveston: Press denied access in the wake of Hurricane Ike

I'll repeat this again. Here are flyovers of the West End done on Monday:

www.khou.com...

(click on "Aerial: West End" under "Frank's Tours" on the right)

www.click2houston.com...

There are no bodies.

Here's an overlay for Google Earth that covers all of Galveston, showing the damage:

mw2.google.com...

Look for yourself.

reply to post by nataylor


We are not disputing whether or not there are bodies. We are dicussing whether or not the media has the right to give visual and written reports of the area. Does the media have a right to report on conditions that they have witnessed first hand? Do they have a right to gather this first hand information? Do we as citizens have a right to know what is going on?

I stated earlier that maybe the no-fly zone could be due to the enourmous amount of SAR missions being conducted in this area. We saw bodies with Katrina coverage and I doubt that 'floaters' is the reason for the no-fly zone.

I have read reports of looters coming in by boats. Why can't reporters do the same?

reply to post by nataylor


Stupid double post.

[edit on 9/19/2008 by darkelf]

reply to post by darkelf


I haven't seen any evidence they're keeping reporters away. They're not allowing news choppers over the area due to the large number of relief flights; but, as this article points out:

The Chronicle had a photographer over Bolivar on Sunday about the same time as the televised confrontation. I flew with a photographer from High Island to Galveston’s west end to Surfside Beach in a Cessna yesterday, and one of our columnists and a photographer got a closer view of the same area from a helicopter. … I think the difference is the television guys wanted to take their helicopters, and we hitched rides. On my flight, I was able to see what I needed and even double back to take second looks. I can’t complain.

Can anyone find a reporter who is actually claiming they're being prohibited from going to the West End? All there appears to be is a claim by ABC 13's Wayne Dolcefino that they're not allowing fly-overs in the news choppers.

reply to post by Valhall

YOU CAN BE SURE THAT PARTS OF THE WEST END ARE UNREPAIRABLE AND POSSIBLY SO ERODED THAT THEY ARE VIRTUALLY GONE. VERY LITTLE MEDIA COVERAGE HAS EVEN BEEN AUTHORIZED IN GALVESTON BY MAYOR THOMAS. I KNOW THE WEST END OF GALVESTON IS LUCKIER THAN PORT BOLIVAR/CRYSTAL BEACH/GILCHRIST. I SERIOUSLY DOUBT THERE IS SOMETHING "TOP-SECRET". THE ONLY CONSPIRACY TO QUESTION IS WHETHER THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO CLAIM WHAT USED TO BE YOUR LAND BECAUSE OF SERIOUS EROSIAN. I AM BEGINNING TO THINK THAT THEY WILL BE CLAIMING THE PENINSULA. HAVE YOU SEEN FOOTAGE OF BOLIVAR? TAKE A DOSE OF THAT! REBUILDING I DON'T THINK IS AN OPTION FOR THEM.
NO AREA IN TEXAS WAS AS HARD HIT AS BOLIVAR PENINSULA I CAN ASSURE YOU. THAT IS ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN. ON THE PENINSULA THE MILITARY HAS TOTAL CONTROL AND THEY ARE TRYING TO RECOVER BODIES AND THERE ARE MANY DEAD. MY FRIEND WENT TO HIGH ISLAND YESTERDAY AND MET A MAN WHO HUNTS ALLIGATORS. HE IS NOW IN CHARGE OF FINDING DEAD BODIES IN THE MARSH IN AND AROUND THE INTRACOASTAL CANAL AND FLAGGING THEM FOR RECOVERY. ALLIGATORS ARE NOW AT THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN ON THE PENINSULA I WOULD SAY.

Originally posted by nataylor

Can anyone find a reporter who is actually claiming they're being prohibited from going to the West End? All there appears to be is a claim by ABC 13's Wayne Dolcefino that they're not allowing fly-overs in the news choppers.

As far as I know the media restriction has been lifted.

reply to post by Valhall


I can't find any evidence that there were media restrictions keeping reporters off the West End to begin with.

Originally posted by nataylor
reply to post by Valhall

 

I can't find any evidence that there were media restrictions keeping reporters off the West End to begin with.

Wow! I guess you didn't bother reading the multiple news articles that stated the Galveston authorities were imposing a media black-out and restricting reporters from going to the West End.

I'm sorry - I don't know what to tell you. I'm not going to go find them again for you....especially considering most of them have already been linked in this very thread.

reply to post by Valhall


I've looked through this whole thread and not found anything other than Wayne Dolcefino's claim that they were not allowed to fly their news chopped over Galveston. All the other articles merely reference this claim. If there really was a media "blackout," there ought to be at least one other reporter claiming such.

A Google News search for "media blackout Galveston" only returns a few articles and in those cases, the "blackout" is referencing the mayor's order that city employees not talk to the media. There is nothing about a blackout of coverage of the West End.

[edit on 19-9-2008 by nataylor]

I watched several youtube videos today about Galveston Island, Crystal Beach etc. I just clicked back to youtube and now NONE of those videos are available. All removed. I think this SMACKS of cover-up of SOME sort! WTF?????

galvestondailynews.com...

That very link has already been posted in this thread.

galvestondailynews.com...

So has that one.

www.khou.com...

khou also covers it

reply to post by Valhall


yea i agree wholeheartedly, valhall.. when i woke up this morning and read that article i knew i had to put it on ATS

if anyone's interested about the "Texas Open Beaches Act"..

www.abovetopsecret.com...

btw it's my first news thread!

Originally posted by Valhall
galvestondailynews.com...

This is a story about the mayor telling city employees not to talk to the media. As I pointed about above, this is about the as close to a "blackout" as there can be any evidence found for. Nothing in this story about reporters not being allowed to the West End to report.

Originally posted by Valhall
galvestondailynews.com...

Again, a report about city employees not being allowed to talk tot he media. Nothing about not allowing reporters to travel to or photograph the West End.

Originally posted by Valhall
www.khou.com...

Same thing here.

In other words, there's no evidence there's any kind of government ordered "blackout" or restriction of the media; in what they can report or where they can travel. All it shows is that they want official spokespeople disseminating the information rather than random employees giving out information. Absolutely no restrictions on reporters themselves.

So where's the cover up again?

I was a real time event, mainly TV coverage. It concerned the first 36 to 48 hours after the storm. Much of the objection was voiced in news casts at the time.

reply to post by roadgravel


I live in Houston. I watched the coverage. I don't recall anything about restrictions on reporters. And if there were such complaining, shouldn't it be documents somewhere?

reply to post by nataylor


Not sure how you missed it. The news has moved on to others things about the storm.

I will agree somewhat in that if after things calm down with recovery and no more is made of the this issue then the media was just pushing to have a better, more complete product. If it is felt that the news media was really treated unfairly, editorials and such will be written. The true colors will be seen.