State, local and federal authorities have become pretty fanatical about keeping everyone other than emergency vehicles and residents out of heavily damaged areas.
Trouble is, that’s where the best stories are
So each day we are posed with the same dilemma: Happily obey the wishes of law enforcement and be miles away from the best stories, or sneak into forbidden areas.
We are getting good at being sneaky.
Sometimes we go to a series of heavily guarded entry points chatting up local authorities until someone lets us through. This worked pretty well in Long Beach, Miss.
We struck out about six times with, of all people, Florida law enforcement officials who had come up to help the relief effort. We finally met a friendly Long Beach police officer who let us through.
Rejoice!
Tuesday in Gulfport, Miss., we had a run in with a soldier (though he barely seemed 18) who I will call Private Skippy.
Photographer Crystal Lauderdale and I are pretty savvy getting into off-limits places that need exploring. We have become good at selecting targets, sizing up the threat (out-of-state cops are usually a no-go) and charming our way in.
Private Skippy, who I am sure is excellent at warding off looters, was having none of our shenanigans.
We pulled up to his check point and I calmly said in my best I-am-not-a-looter sort of way that we are journalists from Tampa and wanted to be on the inside. In short: Back off Skippy, we have work to do.
“Can’t let you through, sir” he said.
Private Skippy had orders, and was adamant that we were not getting by without an escort from an official escort.
That could have taken hours, perhaps longer.
We bid farewell to Private Skippy and turned around, while hatching a plan.
Surely they couldn’t guard every street.
We drove down a few blocks to a tiny, side street that had no guard and we made our way to the epicenter of Gulfport’s destruction.
See ya, Skippy.
Once you are on the inside you get no guff because everyone assumes you have permission to be there. It’s great. Law enforcement and military authorities gestured to us like we were part of the cool-kids club all of the sudden.
We spent hours in the forbidden zone Tuesday, traversing destroyed roads and interviewing residents who were unfailingly eager to talk and share their stories.
Today we are off again to play with the cool kids.