Actions have consequences:
Fifty-one members of the New Orleans Police Department — 45 officers and six civilian employees — were fired Friday for abandoning their posts before or after Hurricane Katrina.
“They were terminated due to them abandoning the department prior to the storm,” acting superintendent Warren Riley said. “They either left before the hurricane or 10 to 12 days after the storm and we have never heard from them.”
Police were unable to account for 240 officers on the 1,450-member force following Katrina. The force has been investigating them to see if they left their posts during the storm.
The mass firing was the first action taken against the missing officers. Another 15 officers resigned when placed under investigation for abandonment.
I remember a police officer once telling me that the New Orleans Police Department was the most corrupt “big city” law enforcement agency in the United States due in large part to its ridiculous low pay ($18k, I think he said, starting rate for patrol-officers). Hopefully, as the city is rebuilt, the local government will take steps to build a stronger, honest police department. I think the officers who stayed to help their city through the disaster of Katrina have demonstrated at least the basic requirements of a police officer, and those who fled should never be permitted to serve in a capacity where their unwillingness to serve could hurt those who depend on them the most, ever again.
State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.
“They thought it was a Halloween decoration,” Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William Glanden, told The (Wilmington) News Journal.
I wonder if she hanged herself because she felt ignored? Because if so, clearly, that trend continued to, uh, “haunt” her.
The Pardoner’s Tale — a Lego Vignette, found in the Brickshelf Gallery of Dillon.
You know you love it. Love. It.
(And from the same gallery, something for ACW).
Yesterday I was sick but I worked both jobs. I felt bad for all the people I was probably getting sick, but when I looked at how much they were tipping me, I felt considerably less bad. Except for the few people who tipped me well. I felt very bad for them, but did my best to minimize contact, as I’ve delivered to them before and sort of had a feeling they’d treat me okay. Sorry if I got you sick!
Also: had a conversation last night with the lady at the gun/cat house. They’re into black powder firearms. They’ve also got a dozen kittens running around the property. I was there late, the wife told me a) her son had cleaned his black-powder rifle inside that night and the place stunk so all the windows were open and b) she’d locked the cats in the garage for the night — what a difference country living makes, seems the local foxes come all the way up to the porch and are quite the danger for felines. And I’d always wondered why everytime I went to my grandfather’s farm there were fewer and fewer cats.
When Emily the cat went missing a month ago, her owners looked for their wandering pet where she had ended up before — the local animal shelter.
But this week they learned Emily sailed to France.
This is the story of one dedicated cheese loving, mouse hunting cat.
