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Show 18 Monday, Sept 12,2005 fc • RESCUERS From page 2 .,*> - including 25 to 30 elderlyneighbors, some in wheelchairs - vowed to stay. Residents don't realize that the floodwaters won't recede in some parts of the city for six to eight weeks, Gomillion said. If they remain in their homes* he said, they could die. Six other people who refused to be taken from a bridge "felt this thing was an act of God and it was OK to just sit there and die," Baker said. "They were in God's hands." Meanwhile, with a fresh supply of body bags, sterilized gloves and refrigerated trucks, recovery teams ratcheted up efforts to collect the dead. Capt. Michael Pfeiffer, with the operations bureau of the New Orleans Police Department, said agencies were concentrating their searches in the hardest-hit areas of New Orleans - the low-income neighborhood of the Ninth Ward, the upscale homes in Lake Front and Lake Shore, and in New Orleans East. "I've never seen anything like it in my life," said Bill Moore, a 30-year urban search-and-rescue expert from California, as he waited to board a search boat in the Ninth Ward. "This is a thousand times worse than I expected. "It's just disgusting." 5* .;£*: k •Jfr *> ^1 ^ A.*i.-' Ti VI.I. THIS YEAR PASSING YOUK MOSI MAY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH COLLEGE l7Ae ^DiamondGallery -15 NORM I MAIN I 753-1870 \ v K O S S I K O \ 1 1111 l \ h l K \ U l . l . N l \ ! I O l l l l I I K S I O N I'l V v.A k '30%OH I 0 K LISLI SFLIDCNTS Student Special Fail i r "$49~95"!!"i $49.95 jJFuii • Bntlcry • Flush Conlinq Sysicm set to antifreeze 4 0 ' • Slarter • Bells * Hoses • Wiper Dkides • [JeJnisl • Service 13;iiter\' • Tire 1'res.sLire • Drive Axles A C.V. 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(BehindWashingtonWeraiSavings) Please show Student ID • Mon- Fri 8am- 6pm • Sat 9 am- Noon LOU PUCCI TILDA SWINTON VINCENT D'ONOFRIO KEANU REEVES BENJAMIN BRATT KELLI GARNER VINCE VAUGHN LOVE YOU SO MUCH I JUST CANT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The first major airlift of dogs from the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast left Louisiana on Sunday, carrying about 80 pets to new temporary homes in California. The Continental Airlines flight from Baton Rouge, La., was chartered for about $50,000 by Texas oil tycoon Boone Pickens and his wife, Madeleine, in a movement dubbed "Operation Pet Lift." About half the dogs on Sundays flight were headed for San Diego, with the rest bound for San Francisco. Sunday's move was being organized by Pet Relocation, com, based in Austin, Texas. "The goal was to help rescue 200 dogs," Pickens' spokesman Jay Rosser said. "They're overjoyed that they were able to rescue 80, but clearly disappointed and dismayed at the bureaucracy, which prevented them from taking the full 200." Organizers complained that some legal requirements were impractical, such as waiting 30 days for owners to claim their pets before transporting the animals. Kelly Harrington, director of disaster response services for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said a makeshift shelter for up to several thousand dogs had been set up at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, La., about 45 miles northwest of New Orleans. She hoped additional dogs would be flown out in the coming days, but said the effort was taking time. "Every animal has to be vet checked, vaccinated and microchipped ... so we can track these animals in case an owner does find them," Harrington said. Petfinder.com was setting up a database of pet pictures to help reunite owners with lost animals. Andrew Rowan, executive vice president of operations for the Humane Society United States, said animals must be moved out of the Gonzales facility quickly to make room for "maybe 50,000 or more dogs and cats in New Orleans that need to be rescued." "There are vans and cars and trucks all over the place," he said. "Dogs are barking, cats are meowing. It's a tremendous logistical operation to provide the care that these animals need." The Humane Society's Dave Pauli, director of the Gonzales facility, said 200 animals were shipped out Sunday by truck to Houston, but rescue teams expected to bring in about 300 more in the afternoon. About 200 animals have been reunited with their owners at the facility. "That's what keeps us going," Pauli said. "Every one of them brings a tear to your eyes and makes these sleepless nights worth it." Israel ends Gaza Strip occupation, but leaves synagogues standing the last official act of the nation's military control of the Gaza Strip, a densely GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip populated area about twice - Israel lowered its national the size of Washington, D.C. flag in the Gaza Strip for the In the course of a month, last time Sunday as soldiers Israeli police and soldiers streamed out oi the former forcibly removed thousands Jewish settlements, officially of recalcitrant Gaza Strip ending 38 years of milisettlers, razed their houses tary rule over 1.3 million in all 21 settlements and disPalestinians in the narrow mantled the military infraMediterranean region. structure that protected the Hours later, thousands enclaves for decades. of Palestinians streamed Israeli Prime Minister into the long-fortified Israeli Ariel Sharon pushed the enclaves for the first time plan as a way to better proearly Monday. tect Israelis and preserve the Palestinian leaders staged country's hold over morea last-minute boycott of coveted settlements in the a ceremonial handover to occupied West Bank. protest Israel's continued During the pullout, control of the Gaza Strip Israeli and Palestinian borders. negotiators tried and failed The unresolved disto work out agreements'on pute over when and how reopening the Gaza Strip Palestinians can enter airport, linking the coastal and leave the Gaza Strip strip with the West Bank, threatens to become the and opening up the borders first major post-settlement so Palestinians could more shutdown crisis, said Diana freely enter and leave the Buttu, a legal adviser with area. the Palestinian Authority. Last week, Israel decided The handover was also to close the Gaza Strip's clouded when Israel's southern border crossing Cabinet put an eleventhwith Egypt for six months, hour halt to court-approved a move that prompted plans to demolish 26 synaPalestinian officials to boygogues in the Gaza Strip and cott Sunday's handover asked Palestinian officials to ceremony as a "superficial respect and preserve the for- celebration," Dahlan said. mer houses of worship. Despite the simmer"This is a trap," coming dispute, Dahlan called plained Mohammed Dahlan, Israel's withdrawal "revothe Palestinian Authority lutionary" and said the Cabinet minister who has Palestinian Authority is been overseeing negotiations preparing to transform the with Israel over the pullout. former settlements - which "They want to create a crisis occupied nearly one-fifth of in the Palestinian Authority the Gaza Strip land - into and create an excuse for new economic engines. extremists." In agreement with the Late Sunday, Toufiq Palestinians, Israel preAbu Khossa, spokesman served many of the public for Palestinian Interior buildings and the settleMinistry, said that the ment greenhouses that once Palestinian Authority now employed thousands of Gaza plans to demolish the synaStrip residents. gogues and all other public But Israel was expected buildings left behind by the to raze the settlement synaIsraelis. gogues, and the government The ceremonial lowering fought for the right to do so of the Israeli flag just before all the way to the high court, sunset Sunday marked which gave the military the BY D I O N NISSENBAUM KRT green light last week. However, Israeli officials faced emotional appeals from the religious community not to demolish the buildings, and the public pressure prompted the cabinet to vote Sunday, 14-2 not to destroy the structures. Although synagogues are stripped of their religious sanctity once the Torah scrolls and other religious relics are removed, Jewish leaders worried that the demolition of the buildings could set a dangerous precedent for other nations. "The symbolism of Israeli soldiers demolishing synagogues was something the Israeli public simply couldn't stomach," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Cabinet officials urged Palestinian leaders to protect the buildings, with some suggesting that they be turned into centers for peace or religious tolerance. But Dahlan said the synagogues would be treated just like other public buildings in the settlements, and criticized Israeli officials for putting the Palestinian Authority in the difficult position of having to protect them. Buttu said she wouldn't be shocked if Palestinians who flock to the settlements in the coming days took their decades of frustration and anger out on the structures. "I wouldn't be surprised if people want to loot the buildings," Buttu said. "These are the symbols of the military occupation." Buttu said the Palestinian Authority is making plans to use the rubble in the settlements to build new monuments to Palestinian martyrs killed during the Israeli military occupation and erect a new national museum. Some of it will be given to Palestinian artists for their own work. Toxic much threatens New Orleans BY THOMAS FITZGERALD KRT BUT ICTOB LOU PUCCI BERLIN rmBuJmnfinrfSTWi 'Hmjuwmimiziw LOU PUCCI SUHDANCEFHUFESTTW THUMBSUCKER WWW.THUMBSUCKERTHEM0VIE.COM - NEW ORLEANS - It all lies submerged in a toxic gumbo: grease and gas from up to 350,000 vehicles; raw sewage; bleach and cleansers from the pantries of 160,000 flood-damaged homes; and, authorities fear, contaminants from damaged chemical plants and refineries. Olive-colored like Army fatigues, the brew that covers New Orleans is brightened by rainbow petroleum slicks. It stinks of sulfur and rot. Only when the waters recede will scientists begin to get a taste of what may be one of the largest environmental disasters ever. Then they have to figure out how to clean it up. "You just cannoj under- stand the magnitude of what we're facing," said Jean Kelly, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. About 20 million tons of debris will be left behind, much of it coated with potentially toxic muck. State environmental officials are scrambling to find safe ways to burn the debris and to junk the vehicles. Some scientists caution that the receding floodwaters could leave polluted "hotspots" in the soil that would need to be cleaned up or capped before houses could be rebuilt. Nobody has yet offered an estimate of the staggering costs. The state DEQ and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took 100 samples of the flopdwaters last week. The agencies released test results showing dangerous levels of bacteria. They also detected the presence of heavy metals and toxic chemicals, but have not yet announced details of those findings. In a statement, Louisiana DEQ said, without elaborating, that "very low levels" of toxics were found in the samples tested Sept. 4-5. Water sampling is ongoing, and the state is drawing up plans for extensive soil tests to begin when the city is dry. Still, regulators and other scientists acknowledge that the full extent of the environmental devastation from Katrina is not yet known. > Toxic s^e page 19 |