Almost two years -- two years! -- after Hurricane Katrina, 100 unclaimed bodies, victims of the flood, lie in plastic-wrapped coffins in a seedy New Orleans warehouse. Thirty have never been identified.Why is this? Can New Orleans not even bury its dead?
CNN has a few answers (video is here):
The bodies are in the charge of Dr. Frank Minyard, the city's coroner. Minyard won't let anyone inside the warehouse because he says it would be undignified, but he did show us pictures of the inside. The caskets are wrapped in plastic and sit on a raised platform behind a chain link fence. He says the fence is there as an extra layer of security. Above each casket is a white plaque with a black number, one through 100. Minyard wouldn't give us the pictures to broadcast, but we got our own video from inside the warehouse.
Minyard is trying to raise $1.5 million to build a group of mausoleums for the bodies and a memorial in the swirling shape of a hurricane. But as the second anniversary approaches, it's unlikely those bodies will find a permanent resting place anytime soon. The coroner has raised $250,000 so far, and Charity Hospital has donated an old cemetery for the memorial. But Minyard says they won't be able to break ground until they raise another $150,000.
OH, HOW THE GOOD is derailed in people's quest for the glorious . . . and the glory.
The coroner needs to let those poor drowned souls rest in peace. I think it is possible to build a tasteful mausoleum, or group of small mausoleums, for $250,000. Do it. Then build a tasteful, understated memorial park around that as money becomes available.
AFTER ALL, the Savior of the world was buried in a small cave with a boulder rolled in front of the opening. Fortunately for all of us, He only needed it for a couple of days.
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