paper levees
For those of you who may have thought I was being a little hard on the Army Corps of Engineers in a recent post, I thought you might like to know our fun-loving Corps, those mischievous little scamps, have officially learned nothing from their past criminal behavior and are indeed up to their old tricks again. You know, that thing they like to do: making levees look all shiny and good on the outside while making the parts you can’t see (ie.. the important parts) complete garbage. And this time I mean that literally.
Garbage. As in old newspapers. That kind of garbage. The kind you throw away or use to line the hamster cage. The kind that turns to shit if you get a little water on it.
Check. Check. One-two. Is this thing on?
I thought I just heard someone say they’re making levees out of old newspaper. Can this be right? I’m all for recycling, but this may be a little too eco-friendly.
Thanks to my friend jdquintette for posting this link on his blog:
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl042408tpleveepaper.98095b74.html
Here are a few highlights:
“The whole length of the wall was stuffed with newspaper.”
And when he confronted the contractor, the contractor blamed Washington for the substandard work.
“He basically told me when Congress sent down the money, it would be repaired the proper way.”
But during a recent trip to the area, two years later, it was apparent that didn't happen. Much of the newspaper had deteriorated or been eaten by bugs, but some still remained. In fact WWL cameras even captured the date May 21, 2006, on a page of the Parade magazine from the Times-Picayune.
So there’s that. And what did our lovely Army Corps of Engineers have to say about all this?
“If you look at the repairs we made to the joints, there's not really a safety issue with the joints at all,” said Kevin Wagner with the Army Corps of Engineers.
Well, ok then. I feel so much safer now.
I hope this helps to illustrate why it’s so important there’s an investigation into why there was a catastrophic failure of the federal levee systems in New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish, and surrounding areas on 8/29/2005.
If you’re wondering why the national news media is not covering something this horrendous, be assured that they simply have more pressing issues to tend. Here are a few headlines I found on the front page of CNN.com just now:
- British radio game show host dead at 86
- “It’s fun to do bad things,” says joyrider, 7
- Katja! Baby giraffe takes first steps
- Raw Politics: Candidates and the space race.
No mention of paper levees just yet, but hopefully some of these other more critical matters will clear up shortly and they will be able to squeeze us in.
Meanwhile, hurricane season is just around the corner.
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The Sound of Building Coffins by Louis Maistros is due for publication from The Toby Press in Spring 2009