FEMA and the Galveston West End Cover up

reply to post by JohnnyCanuck


Dude, the fact remains Wayne Dolcefino is the only guy claiming there were "restrictions." And, as I posted earlier, a reporter from the Houston Chronicle claimed he didn't know what Dolcefino was talking about because at the very moment Dolcefino was confronting Governor Perry about these "restrictions," the reporter was flying over Bolivar in a relief helicopter, able to look at and take pictures of whatever he wanted.

reply to post by JustMike


I agree with your assessment on the no-flight restriction. This is disturbing because it clearly shows that it occurred before the storm, so there must have been something that the government anticipated before-hand that they needed the flight restrictions for the media and curiosity seekers.

Perhaps there is more going on at Galveston Island that just the disturbing biolab on the east end. Maybe some type of operation was going on there before the hurricane and they needed the clear airspace to move out equipment, personnel, etc before people got a look.

Just my two cents worth, but this is how we get to the root of the problem and the truth; "Discusssion."

I found a site where someone has collected pictures of the aftermath of Ike.
Not pretty sights.

Link

Site keeping tally of missing (majority from Galveston, not Houston) - #346 and rising. Site seems legit, sure number will rise as more people hear about it. Lack of central reporting facility to list/report missing has led to misconception regarding presumed death toll. I may be incorrect, but isn't there almost always a central location either online or in-person setup for missing person reports after a disaster (natural or other)? Why not in this situation?

Also, video footage from "average joes" of island post-ike. Not sure how many days after storm and how far down into West End they got, but if you can go to the second page and watch the start of their trip going down I-45 (main road into Galveston) through Pirate's Beach (+ Tiki Island and some others). On one of the vids I think the guy says he's going to cry - these are Texan anglers, not the types prone to making that sort of statement. Devastation obviously intense.

KHOU reports body found buried in washed up debris. Cause of death: drowning. More expected (44 sections for recovery to dig through and the zoned debris fields are apparently huge).

Finally, even Houston Chronicle reporters basically assert a FEMA cover-up regarding FEMA's incompetence in delivering ice to Ike victims. (Apparently having 125 trucks waiting with thousands of pounds of ice for 4 days and then deciding to unload the trucks, send them home and have ice melt on an AFB runway is the norm even when there's still hundreds of thousands without power in Houston/Galveston. My parents are still without power and can't find ice, and we all seriously debate FEMA's assertions that they could provide ASAP if asked.)

"Residents of the island's most severely damaged area, on the west end, were allowed to visit their homes but not permitted to stay."

Link to the whole article www.courant.com...

reply to post by nataylor



In reference to the video of Galveston's West End you have posted, you mention there are no bodies visible. I would draw your attention to the four refridgerated trailers marked Galveston Emergency Response being pulled by trucks, and also to the military units visible in the area. I suppose one could presume that the search teams that these vehicles are associated with just like to keep their gear cool.....but that of course would beg the question of "Why?" There are no casualties visible because they are not visible anymore at the time this video was taken.

This is why the NO-FLY / NO-MEDIA directive was given. So these people could do their work and honor the privacy of any casualties they found.
Simple as that. No conspiracy, no cover - up, no "hidden agenda". Just
SOP in the aftermath of what could have turned out to be another KATRINA FIASCO.

Cell phone communications in the area of operations was limited to Energency Traffic only while SAR OPS were being carried out. Why?
So the SAR Teams could communicate unhindered with their respective controllers. Government and SAR cell phones worked perfectly fine.

Media and unnecessary personel were kept out of the areas of operations so they didn't get injured and so they didn't interfere with those operations. In a Disaster / Emergency situation such as this, the media has no reason to be in those areas hindering these people in the performance of their tasks.

What kind of military units do you think were in that area? seals? green berets?

What kind of security level would these soldiers need to live by (top secret etc.) to be able to pull off this kind of operation without it leaking?

We had to have a certain level of security clearance to work in GTMO (sorry I cannot tell you what level it is). But, I can tell you that the soldiers that were actually tasked to working with the detainees were National Guard troops... Not spies or other "covert" type people and it was the National Guard that was in Galveston.

So, you are telling me that people who are soldiers for one weekend a month and two weeks a year would have the capacity or the integrity to do this kind of cover up and then keep it a secret? some of these National Guard soldiers probably had beach houses and knew some of the people who lived there personally...

So, think rationally, would the government have the resources in the area to cover something like this up?

Reports of tragedy filtering out of Galveston and Bolivar

www.burntorangereport.com...;jsessionid=03B4317B91268A5B852478CA3BDBED1F?diaryId=6804

This story is purely anecdotal at this point, but interesting nonetheless.

edit to fix link

[edit on 1-10-2008 by resistor]

[edit on 1-10-2008 by resistor]

Reports of tragedy filtering out of Galveston and Bolivar


by: Robert Ryland
Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 03:44 PM CDT

The following is from an email sent to me by a good friend in Nacogdoches whose buddy has been over Galveston - names have been edited out to protect the folks those who relayed the report. Also relayed from this guy and others: persons going into the restricted area are apparently being patted down and cameras are being confiscated, by Army and Coast Guard personnel.

Okay...I've got some news on this front. Take it for what it's worth, but the guy I got it from is someone I trust to raise my children... He's never once lied to me...ever. And we're close.
He's in a pretty high-up supervisory position for a refinery down on the coast.
His refinery has some equipment and lines in and around Galveston county, and before they were to bring them back on line he and his crew had to inspect the place for damage and potential hazards. So they were given permission....after a background check....to helicopter in and inspect, which meant coming in over Galveston.

I kid you not when I say that he told me they saw AT LEAST 1500 bodies in trees scattered about Galveston. They also saw a lot in various ditches and marshes, esp. on the north side of East Galv. Bay, east side of Trinity Bay, and in the marshes between I-45 and Seabrook/Clear Lake/Deer Park.

It explains why they're not letting the media anywhere close to the Island except in limited sectors nd we're not hearing anything from or about the people who survived and those who stayed behind. It's like 20,000 people never
existed....where are they? Where'd they go? What are their names? Nothing....

Same thing in Orange county.

Take it for what it's worth....I believe him, though his count may be wrong given the shock of the sight. But like I said, I'd trust him to raise my kids.

I'd be more surprised if he were wrong than if he were right.



And 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.

Perhaps the best thing we can all do now is pitch in and help:

Donate to Red Cross Disaster Relief

or jump in locally in Austin - see Matt's post below to Donate to and Volunteer at the Capitol Area Food Bank

-------------------------------------------------------

Extra post to avoid censorship.

FEMA did not commandeer the cell phone network on Galveston Island. I led one of the first strike teams onto High Island as well as Galveston Island to restore cell phone service to the people there. I'm not sure why the media is reporting cell service was hijacked. There are no less than 5 or 6 cell phone providers in the areas affected and they were all affected by the same two things (utility power outtages and T1 outtages) Every cell phone provider needs those two things to operate. Very, very few cell towers had emergency backup generators installed on Galveston Island so when the island lost power so did the cell phone equipment. Nextel deployed the ERT Team (Emergency Response Team) to set up a microwave tower in the area to allow communications for the first responders. Fema may have coordinated that effort but they did not in any way keep people from using the cell phone network. If people were unable to make a call due to network busy or other errors it was solely due to the lack of available cell phone service.

news from today on body search:
www.khou.com...

and from yesterday's news: www.foxnews.com...

reply to post by Ron Paul Girl


Thanks, RPG. I found this part interesting:

All three have been missing since the morning of Sept. 12, just as Ike began to come ashore.

"My sister said 'I'm walking out the door in a hurry. Everything's taken care of, I'll see you in a few hours.' That was it," said son Raul Arrambide, describing a 6:15 a.m. phone call.

Since then, Arrambide has had little luck getting help or information. Instead, Arrambide said, he's been passed from one agency to another.

"They send you back and forth until you're worn out," said Arrambide, his voice showing the strain of the last weeks.

After five days with no word and no answers, Arrambide borrowed a boat to search the area himself, but sheriff's deputies turned people away. He finally found a local contractor who is helping search for missing residents. That man found his relatives' vehicles, which had been washed off the road into a tree grove.

So 5 days afterwards they weren't running people out who came in boats to look for their family, BUT they were allowing paid contractors to do the same. I guess if you couldn't find or afford a contractor you were SOL???

I live on Tiki island & the ducks all turned up dead in our canal last week-6 of them.This may sound gross but my dogs poop gets this white moldy stuff covering it w/in 24 hrs of being on the grass.
Something is not right.


i]reply to post by Ocelot