Speaking of Stone Walls

A friend sent me this story about Renaissance Village, a FEMA trailer park in Baker (north Red Stick burbs). Two things:

1) That this story--and others like it--aren't plastered across the front pages of EVERY goddamned newspaper in the country, aren't featured on the national television news, cable news, etc., speaks volumes about the level to which BOTH the government AND the nation's citizens are willing to abandon the people of New Orleans. Talk about shameful.

2) In Bushmerica, "freedom" really IS just another word...

FEMA's Baker trailer park is a mysterious sanctuary, as 225 found out when we asked freelance writer Chuck Hustmyre to write about life in B.R.'s instant subdivision. The quest to simply enter the park became a story in itself as FEMA has surrounded the place in a baffling veil of secrecy and red tape. But once inside, Hustmyre met frustrated, angry people eager to tell the world about their troubled daily lives.

Do you know what life is like at the FEMA trailer park in Baker?

No? Don't feel badly. Hardly anyone does.

Much within Renaissance Village--the grandiosely named smudge of dirt and limestone on the outskirts of Baker that's home to 565 travel trailers---remains largely concealed from the outside world, as does the plight of the 1,600 displaced New Orleanians who now call the place home. Their trailer park is protected by a veil of inexplicable procedures that not even government workers agree on.

I thought, rather naively, I could simply stroll the grounds of Renaissance Village, talk to the residents, maybe take some pictures and generally get a feel for how the residents were faring as they prepared for their first Christmas away from home, family and friends.

But the Federal Emergency Management Agency carefully manages and monitors information coming out of the Groom Road trailer park. Not even local law enforcement officials can get all the information they believe they need to ensure the public safety.

The first hint things weren't going to be easy came from an old salt at The Advocate who told me FEMA assigns handlers to reporters, at least they did whenever the newspaper covered a staged visit by a dignitary looking for a photo op.

Still, how much trouble could it be? I wondered. After all, I was just trying to write a story about people who are trying to put their lives back together.

If you've got the time, please take a look at the entire report. And, and one more thing:

Reporters requiring "handlers?" WTF? The last time I recall ANY non-embedded reporter talking about handlers was...in Iraq, during the run up to Operation Enduring Clusterfuck (on the other hand, NO reporter was murdered PRIOR to the onset of hostilities).

What's become of this country?