Just when I was starting to get some sleep again (except for worrying about Cass and her family riding out Ophelia) I read this diary: AMERICAN SHAME The Edgar Hollingsworth Story: Feds not permitting home searches.

Now if you think its just the rant of your average Bush hating liberal...its a story from The Orange County Register  (not exactly a liberal oasis)

Exerpt here with disturbing picture, but full story pasted in the post continuation since the OC Register requires registration (free!)

In the past few days, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has
ordered searchers not to break into homes. They are supposed to look in
through a window and knock on the door. If no one cries out for help,
they are supposed to move on. If they see a body, they are supposed to
log the address and move on.

The morticians will remove the deceased later.

But
Fell broke the rules and ordered his men to bash open the door,
launching a series of events that would save a man's life and
revitalize California Task Force 5 from Orange County. In the past two
days, the 80-member task force had identified seven dead bodies in the
same neighborhood, and they had rescued no one.

But Tuesday, 16
days after Hurricane Katrina smacked this aging community in the face,
an unconscious and emaciated man identified as Edgar Hollingsworth, 74,
was rescued. The man is expected to survive.
<snip>
They were frustrated further when they were given the FEMA order that
they weren't allowed to force their way into houses to search them.
They hope Hollingsworth's rescue will coax FEMA to rethink its
directive.

Survivor rescued 16 days after the hurricane

By KEITH SHARON

The Orange County Register

NEW ORLEANS – This was just another body in the growing number of bodies that they encounter every day.

A human foot arching at an odd angle was visible through the front window of a locked and dark home.

The
National Guard team of searchers was about to call in a "DB," or dead
body, at 1927 Lopez St. in the Broadmoor district when Lt. Frederick
Fell decided to investigate.

In the past few days, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency has ordered searchers not to break into
homes. They are supposed to look in through a window and knock on the
door. If no one cries out for help, they are supposed to move on. If
they see a body, they are supposed to log the address and move on.

The morticians will remove the deceased later.

But
Fell broke the rules and ordered his men to bash open the door,
launching a series of events that would save a man's life and
revitalize California Task Force 5 from Orange County. In the past two
days, the 80-member task force had identified seven dead bodies in the
same neighborhood, and they had rescued no one.

But Tuesday, 16
days after Hurricane Katrina smacked this aging community in the face,
an unconscious and emaciated man identified as Edgar Hollingsworth, 74,
was rescued. The man is expected to survive.

"I'm on cloud nine," said Task Force leader Marc Hawkins. "It was awesome to be a part of that."

Richard
Ventura, a Task Force 5 logistics specialist who works as a paramedic
for the Orange County Fire Authority, was on the scene trying to get an
IV into Hollingsworth.

"I feel like my battery got recharged," Ventura said. "That's why we're here."

Medics
from California Task Force 5, which had been searching in the same
neighborhood, were eventually able to get intravenous fluids through a
vein under the man's clavicle in an intricate curbside medical
procedure that may have saved the man's life.

The man had been
lying on the couch in his locked and sweltering home. Fell and Sgt.
Jeremy Ridgeway, who also had been searching the neighborhood for
survivors, peered through the front window at 1927 Lopez St. and saw
Hollingsworth's foot extending over the edge of his couch.

When they crashed through the door, Hollingsworth didn't move. But he was breathing.

National
Guard medics draped an IV bag over his ceiling fan, but his veins were
too weak to support the needle. They pulled him out of the house and
laid him on the sidewalk. He looked as if he weighed less than 80
pounds.

Task Force 5 sent a team that included Dr. Peter
Czuleger, an emergency-room doctor at Mission Hospital in Mission
Viejo, to the scene. Czuleger didn't have the proper equipment, so he
improvised, using a short needle to pierce the vein under
Hollingsworth's clavicle.

"It's like trying to climb into a third-story window with a stepladder," Czuleger said.

Once the IV was in place, medics were able to pump 2 liters of saline solution into the man.

The hospital attendants hadn't expected to see a survivor 16 days after the storm.

"They
were surprised at the hospital that anyone in his condition would still
be alive," Czuleger said. "In 24 hours, he would have been dead.

"I think the young Army guy that found him saved his life."

Afterward, the Guardsmen, like the members of Task Force 5, were excited to have finally saved someone.

"Everyone's
adrenaline was pumping, but they were professional about it," said
National Guard officer-in- charge Bruce Gaffney said. "We're just happy
we got this guy out. He needed to be saved yesterday."

Hollingsworth
had been lying naked on his blue-green couch. It was unclear if he had
eaten or drunk anything for several days. He was not surrounded by food
or water containers. His house was still in disarray from the storm. A
chair had landed on top of the kitchen table. Medical vials with the
name Lillian Hollingsworth were lying on an easy chair on the other
side of the room.

A pit-bull puppy was also pulled from the
house. It appeared to be healthy and was transported to the hospital
along with Edgar Hollingsworth.

The rescue pumped up the
spirits of Task Force 5, which has been mostly marking the locations of
bodies for the last week. Earlier, they had been frustrated when FEMA
delayed their deployment for four days, housing them in the Hyatt
Regency in Dallas.

They were frustrated further when they were
given the FEMA order that they weren't allowed to force their way into
houses to search them. They hope Hollingsworth's rescue will coax FEMA
to rethink its directive.

On Tuesday, they were congratulating each other.   

They celebrated that night by eating pizza in their base camp, ordered from a recently re-opened Domino's.

"You can feel the electricity around here," Ventura said.

Around a year ago on this day..

• And The Winner Is.. - 2007
• One more hour.. - 2007
• Packed weekend - 2007
• Friday Craft Club - 2007