[StBernard] The looters and intruders

[Westley Annis]

Well said, Deborah.  One story homes are being hit, also.  As far as I can
tell, we have not personnally had anything taken, yet, but there has been
evidence numerous times that someone has gone into our back yard and a
separate garage. Neighbors have reported that they have had items stolen out
of their yards.  I see daytime patrols, but even then how do they know if
that person lives there ?  I don't know the solution, but something has to
be done.  
 
Sylvia Keller 
 
-----Original Message-----

  For those with two story homes, like me, every time I go back to the 
house, another set of would be looters have gone upstairs in the hopes 
of finding something to steal. This is happening every few days.  Like 
they are going to find jewelry, guns, and televisions four months after 
the storm. They are so brazen that they leave the attic doors open and 
leave the drawers open for the little furniture that is left.  
Fortunately, they don't take my cleaning supplies, which is all that I 
have left in the house. We now leave the drawers open so they can see 
we have nothing to take.

I feel fortunate though, because many who have left anything, including 
their children's toys, have had it stolen. There are reports that cars 
are riding around all hours of night and there is no police protection 
to stop it.  Until I have doors and windows, electricity, and a 
telephone for a burglar alarm, I hesitate to do anything but tear out 
the downstairs.  While we are concerned about levees, drainage, and 
debris removal, in my opinion, until we get the looting under control, 
how can we invest money to bring in construction materials and 
equipment to rebuild?  How do we bring in trailers and then leave the 
trailer unprotected while we do errands or go to work,  or worse  yet 
sleep there and worry about encountering these scumbags on one of their 
midnight home tours?

I don't think the message is going out that St. Bernard has a zero 
tolerance policy on trespassers.  Do we need to take up arms ourselves 
and start our own armed-citizen patrols to protect one another?   This 
problem may be with the two-story homes for now, but as the one-stories 
are rebuilding, it will affect them, too.

  Don't put anything, no matter how little value, in a box that used to 
hold electronics, liquor, etc. People who have done that come back to 
find that the scumbags have open these boxes and dumped the contents 
creating a mess. Do they really think people are storing cases of Jack 
Daniels and Sony TVs in garage? They can't figure out that the old 
boxes are just holding household items of no value.

If anyone from the Sheriff's Office or Council wants to advise us, 
please do. Maybe we need to do a "Spend a night in your house with a 
gun" to send our own message. Maybe it will take a resident or a looter 
being shot during a midnight encounter to bring this issue to the 
forefront.  I really hope not. This is not worth dying for. If we don't 
have the police resources, maybe we need military protection during a 
dusk to dawn curfew. I don't know the answers, just the problem.

Corinne is being hit hard by the looters, but I suspect so are other 
areas with two-story homes.

Deborah Keller
3608 Corinne Avenue (so the world knows there is nothing there to take)