During lunch, we drove to the Ninth Ward to take a look at the most devastated part of New Orleans. The land sits below sea level, and prior to the hurricane, served as government low-income housing. The pictures cannot compare with seeing the damage. Entire houses were devastated and unrecognizable. After six months, no significant progress was made on the debris and garbage. Even the few brick houses that were intact were fulled, with rubble and uninhabitable to the former occupants.\r\n\r\nAfter viewing the damage, we observed the fate of several defendants in court. The room was a zoo, cell phones going off, many people coming and going, the microphone functioning as well as Professor Schneider\'s microphone during Civ Pro. One lawyer forgot some important documents in his basement! The adversial process was in full swing...the charge was a sex offense against a teenager. The prosecutor, unhappy with the court\'s decision, demanded that the defendant be remanded, and became very huffy like a smoke stack ready to blow. In contrast, the defense attorney was more calm and collected despite the long delay for the next status hearing.\r\nAnother defense attorney was appealing charges against him for his numerous failures to appear in court. Apparently, the contempt notice from Alaska arrived sooner than the other contempt notice from New Orleans filed three months ago that he only received yesterday.\r\n\r\nI glanced over at the defendants -- all in the orange prison suits. Of the ten, one was a black woman, one was a white man, and the rest were young, black males. Even under the best circumstances, they will never lead a normal life. Employers want to know about felony charges of prospective employees, and no financial aid will ever be given if they choose to return to school. It\'s almost as if their lives are over and they have no say in the matter.\r\n\r\nOriginally posted: http://bls-shn.blogspot.com/2006/03/ninth-ward-and-zoo.html\r\n