The Chronicle editorial board wrote the following today:
No good disaster plot is complete without a triumph of individual initiative over unfeeling bureaucracy, and this one’s no exception. At the gates to the Astrodome, Red Cross officials initially tried to turn away the bus because it was not part of the officially sanctioned evacuation of the New Orleans Superdome. Earlier, that rationale had led authorities to refuse to help a young mother with five children and a 95-year-old woman passenger in the car when they sought entrance to the relief center.
Luckily, someone with a heart eventually got involved. After a half-hour delay, Jabbar and his plucky band were granted sanctuary inside the Dome.
Chronicle metro/state editorialist Rick Casey sounded a similar theme:
When he arrived at the Astrodome about 10 p.m. Wednesday, 20-year-old Jabbar Gibson modestly confessed that he had commandeered a school bus in New Orleans, then picked up about 70 passengers before heading out for the 13-hour trek to Houston.
[snip]
When they arrived at the Astrodome, Gibson and his passengers raised another moral question. Should they be let in?
It was reminiscent of the Cold War debates over whether a family with a backyard bomb shelter should, in a nuclear attack, let neighbors in knowing that the food and water supply wouldn’t support them all.
Officials believe the practical limit for shelter in the Astrodome is 25,000, and they had made a commitment to house refugees from the Superdome who could reach that number.
At first, unidentified officials told the bus refugees no. But about half an hour later, Red Cross officials who are running the shelter operation let them in to sleep on the former playing field, where the Oilers once slept.
Earlier, however, a desperate woman driving a van filled with five children and a crated dog was turned away. A dramatic photo on the Chronicle’s front page yesterday led to phone calls to the newspaper, volunteering shelter.
Certainly, some mistakes have been made, but for the most part, the operation has gone pretty smoothly considering the sheer logistical problem and hardly any advance warning that Houston would be hosting thousands of refugees.
One point is worth clarifying, however. According to a media personality present at the Astrodome for the Red Cross press briefings Thursday, the Red Cross fairly quickly came to the conclusion that they would not refuse service to refugees in need, whether they were on the “official” caravan or not, although they would try to redirect the “unofficial” refugees to other existing shelters. Furthermore, according to our correspondent, the Red Cross announced as much to the press at the Astrodome, although they did ask the media not to publicize the fact since the Red Cross feared an announcement might lead to more “unofficial” refugees than could be handled.
Perhaps it’s debatable whether the Red Cross made the right call in asking the press to keep quiet about the policy, but the decision was made under pressure and had a certain logic. In any case, media outlets that were informed of the unofficial policy ought to report the entire story before simply accusing Red Cross officials of being heartless and unfeeling.
