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<DIV>The Last Boat
Out
Story Editor:<BR>by Robert
LeBlanc
Clayton Bennett<BR>Louisiana, USA<BR><BR>On Wednesday, August 31, my friend Jeff
Rau and I wove a motorboat<BR>through New Orleans, pulling people out of the
water. We ferried people<BR>all day between Carrolton Avenue and the Causeway
overpass, about a mile<BR>and a half each way.<BR><BR>Early on, we saw a black
man in a boat with no motor. He rescued people<BR>and paddled them a mile and a
half to safety -- with nothing but a piece<BR>of two by four lumber for a
paddle. He then turned around and went back<BR>for more people. He refused our
help, saying he didn't want to slow us<BR>down. At 5 p.m. he headed on another
trip, knowing he would finish after<BR>dark.<BR><BR>One group of 50 people we
rescued that Wednesday afternoon was on the<BR>bridge that crosses over Airline
Highway near Carrolton Avenue. Most had<BR>been there with no food, water, or
anywhere to go since Monday morning,<BR>with 10 feet of water all around
them.<BR><BR>One man had been there since the beginning, helping people reach
the<BR>bridge and caring for them afterward. He didn't leave the bridge
until<BR>everyone got off safely, even deferring to people who'd just
arrived.<BR>This man waited on the bridge until dusk, leaving on one of the
last<BR>boats out that night. He risked not making it at all.<BR><BR>In a really
rough neighborhood, we came across five seemingly unsavory<BR>characters, one
with gunshot wound scars. We found them at a<BR>recreational center, one of the
few two-story buildings around. They<BR>broke into the center, then gathered as
many people as possible from the<BR>neighborhood.<BR><BR>They stayed outside in
the center all day, helping people into rescue<BR>boats. We approached them at
6:30 p.m., obviously one of the last trips<BR>of the day. Yet instead of getting
in our boat, they sent us further<BR>into the neighborhood to get more people
out of homes and off rooftops.<BR><BR>These five were on the last boat out at
sundown. They were incredibly<BR>grateful, repeating "God is going to bless
y'all for this". One even<BR>offered us his Allen Iverson jersey, perhaps the
most valuable<BR>possession among them. We declined, but understood the depth of
his<BR>gesture.<BR><BR>The looting and shooting you saw on television tells but
a small part of<BR>the story. By showing the worst effects of Hurricane Katrina
and the<BR>flooding that followed, news reports discouraged volunteers
from<BR>helping. But help was still needed, and will be for a long
time.<BR><BR>In case it matters, I'm politically conservative. I was impressed
to see<BR>young and seemingly poor black people caring for sickly and
seemingly<BR>well-to-do white people. We can sort out political issues later;
anyone<BR>with a sense of compassion will agree that New Orleans needs
help,<BR>people's lives need to be saved and families need to be put
back<BR>together. They now need all of our help.<BR><BR>I want everyone to know
how gracious these people were, despite being<BR>stranded and panicked. This
transcends politics. It's about humanity.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.heroicstories.com/backissue1.html">http://www.heroicstories.com/backissue1.html</A><BR></DIV><FONT
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