http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070901/D8RCVPCG0.html
Feds to Restrict Volunteers at Disasters
Sep 1, 7:56 PM (ET)
By DEVLIN BARRETT
*** begin quote ***
In an effort to provide better control and coordination, the federal government is launching an ambitious ID program for rescue workers to keep everyday people from swarming to a disaster scene. A prototype of the new first responder identification card is already being issued to fire and police personnel in the Washington, D.C., area.
Proponents say the system will get professionals on scene quicker and keep untrained volunteers from making tough work more difficult.
***AND***
The Federal Emergency Management Agency came up with the idea after the World Trade Center attack and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when countless Americans rushed to help – unasked, undirected, and sometimes unwanted.
Many of those volunteers angrily dispute the notion they were a burden. They insist that in many instances they were able to deliver respirators, hard hats, and protective boots to workers when no one else seemed able.
Ground zero volunteer Rhonda Shearer and her daughter launched a fast-moving supply system that bypassed regular channels, often infuriating city officials.
Even as she delivered box trucks packed with supplies over months of recovery work, she increasingly ended up in a cat-and-mouse game with New York City’s police and emergency management agency.
Shearer, 53, said the experience convinced her that agencies are ill-equipped to handle major disasters – but don’t want outsiders pointing out their failings.
Similar frustrations arose after Katrina, when people were shocked that the government struggled to take basic supplies such as water to the worst areas.
“They’re more worried about keeping volunteers out than doing an analysis of what really went wrong,” Shearer said. “Independent citizens need to be involved, where we have no ax to grind or cross to bear. But we will tell the truth, and we will tell what we see and bear witness to the incompetence.”
*** end quote ***
What a bunch of “barbara streisand”! Go tell it to anyone who will listen.
It’s all about control. And, looking good. And, the “authorities” did so well at Katrina, the WTC site, and the countless other disasters.
Wake up! It’s a police state. All for your own safety of course.
# # # # #
Reinke Faces Life 