KY Dept Fish & Wildlife COs

[GSP]

As most know, Kentucky has around 25 COs in the New Orleans area. I have noticed that they are getting some much deserved credit for what they are doing.
I want to say, "Thank You" for stepping up guys.
Rick Allen

I have seen 2 newspaper articles already, heard 1 national news clip on them and I'm posting an AP photo that is on the wire.

Today's Lex paper story:
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/12569411.htm


AP Photo:
http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/afp/20050906/capt.sge.fbg40.060905072816.photo01.photo.default-380x384.jpg?x=341&y=345&sig=AgQO.t_ynzV1akIJ7XxS.g--

[turk2di]

Same here;)

[LoweBow]

Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources Release

KDFWR Officers Rescue Nearly 150

Stranded New Orleans Residents

September 6, 2005 Contact: Mark Marraccini
IMMEDIATE RELEASE (800) 852-0942
Frankfort, KY - Twenty-three Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources law enforcement officers detailed to assist Louisiana officials with Hurricane Katrina rescue and relief efforts may soon be returning home.

Louisiana Fish and Game Lt. Col. Keith LaCaze says the water is finally flowing out of the flooded city and the mission will be shifting from water rescue to recovery.

"I can't begin to say how much we appreciate all the help," said LaCaze. "Your officers have been tremendous. We now have a large military and National Guard presence. In another day or so their big trucks will be able to drive most of the streets."

The Kentucky officers began working flooded areas of New Orleans Sunday after answering a call from Louisiana officials for law enforcement officers skilled in operating and working from boats. They immediately began the painstaking task of rescuing New Orleans residents stranded in their homes and on rooftops when levies protecting low-lying areas breeched under Katrina's torrential rains.

"Our guys were able to get 75 out the first day," said detail commander Captain Clark Boggs. "We rescued 31 and a horse the next day."

"We've taken well over a hundred people to safety and dry land," said the 30-year KDFWR veteran via cell phone from his boat amidst flooded homes. "There are usually a whole crowd of people waiting there to help - EMS, military, and others - and then we go back in for more.

"We carried out one 90-year-old lady on a stretcher, and another man who weighed more than 500 pounds, " he said.
Boggs said the rescues included one mandatory evacuation because "the whole block was on fire. There were hot embers falling on us, down our backs, getting inside our vests."

He says the officers sympathize with the residents, many who still refuse to leave.
"They don't want to leave," he said. "A lot of them have lived here 60 years or more and they don't believe the levy will break. They think it has held for all these years and it will hold now.

"They filled their bathtubs with water and laid in some food," he said. "They knew the electricity would go out and that doesn't bother them.

"But even they are beginning to think it is different this time. Most are realizing the gravity of the situation," he said.

"They've lived here their whole lives and leaving for Texas or someplace else is a big step."
He also sympathized with the Louisiana officers and emergency personnel he's worked alongside. "The guys from Louisiana Fish and Game are wore out," he said. "They're frazzled.

"We're still energetic. But we get to go home in a few days. It's not going to end for them."
"These 23 officers volunteered for one of the most difficult missions this agency has ever undertaken," said KDFWR Commissioner Dr. Jon Gassett. "They are some of the finest officers in Kentucky and they have performed superbly. I could not be more proud of each and every one of them."




-30-

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) manages, regulates, enforces and promotes responsible use of all fish and wildlife species, their habitats, public wildlife areas and waterways for the benefit of those resources and for public enjoyment. KDFWR, an agency of the Commerce Cabinet, has an economic impact to the state of $4.8 billion annually. For more information on KDFWR, visit our web site at fw.ky.gov

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[Skipper]

One of the boats down there is a Poacher donation. :D

They have a 20' jon in Williamsburg at the fisheries office that is down there working that they confiscated a few years ago from a guy harvesting mussles out of the Kentucky River.

Skipper