Galveston's Mayor ORDERED all city employees NOT to TALK to news reporters! MEDIA BLACKOUT! What are they hiding???

Wonder if it has anything to do with containing news about the Bio-Research Lab? Fascinating article.
[link to southernstudies.org]

From the A.C.'s link...

Ike Coverage: Galveston biolab researching killer viruses reportedly secured before hurricane hit

The Galveston area of Texas that took a direct hit from Hurricane Ike is home to a top-level biodefense laboratory that studies highly contagious and deadly diseases including bird flu, but lab officials are assuring the public that the pathogens were secured before the storm made landfall.

The Robert E. Shope Laboratory is located in the Keiller Building on the sprawling University of Texas Medical Branch campus in Galveston. The basement of the Keiller Building flooded during the storm, but UTMB reports there was no loss of biocontainment or biosecurity. All labs were decontaminated and secured prior to the storm, with all infectious agents stored in proper containers, according to UTMB.

However, UTMB's statement contradicts claims by state and federal officials that the lab's pathogens were destroyed before Ike hit. For example, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's spokesperson told CNN that the lab's pathogens were purposely destroyed before the staff evacuated the facility. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security also told the network dangerous materials were destroyed.

CNN reported on questions about the pathogen destruction claims raised by an unnamed former UTMB student who worked at the lab. She said she would be surprised if all of the pathogens had been destroyed, since some of them are rare and very valuable -- though she did note that the lab was designed to withstand hurricanes:

"I know that everyone at that facility, every single person at that facility, I'm certain has done everything they could possibly do to ensure that the community and the facility is absolutely safe, because all the people that work there, their livelihood and careers are dependent on the things that are held in that lab, and they would be destroyed -- just as much as the community would be destroyed -- if anything were to happen," she said.

But there have been security problems at the Shope lab before. In January of this year, for example, the lab was temporarily shut down after an internal security door failed twice. The door was in a lab holding mice that had been exposed to the deadly and highly contagious bird flu virus.

UTMB at Galveston is also the site of Galveston National Labs, a new top-level biosecurity facility. That lab, where construction is just wrapping up, suffered no readily apparent damage in the storm, according to UTMB.

Some observers question the wisdom of building top-level biolabs on a barrier island vulnerable to severe tropical storms and intense flooding. There are also questions about the cost to the public due to facility damage and canceled experiments.

Labels: biosecurity, galveston, Galveston National Laboratory, hurricane ike, Shope Lab, University of Texas

posted by Sue Sturgis at 1:14 PM | Email this post | Post a Comment

2 Comments:
Anonymous said...

This is a huge story that is not getting the dedicated press coverage. An even larger story is the shear proliferation of the Biosafety levl 4 labs (BLS-4) due to 9-11 / terrorism funding (and unpublished military funding). Our country went from having 2-3 BLS-4 to over 12 (and growing fast). Here in the Raleigh/Durham area we are scheduled to get one in the comming two years. Unlike common thought, there were actualy two BSL 4 on Galvestion Island.

9/16/2008 1:12 PM
Anonymous said...

The statement that the disease agents were destroyed is false. Active cultures were destroyed, hopefully; but all the bugs were surely kept in a frozen state in the lab (using emergency generators and/or dry ice).

The basement of one of UTMB's BSL-4s (the "Shope Lab") also flooded.

Isn't it funny that she's a big time Liberal?

Just what are your people covering up Polly?

Just like in "Andrew" when 10 thousand migrant were killed
and they had to cover it up to only a hand full!

I feel for the families of the deceased...but consider this...They were told that to stsy would be certain death. The sheriff even told them that if they stayed they should write their social security number on their arms for identifying their bodies after the storm. Yet, they still stayed. They were ultimately told they would die and they stayed anyway. This has nothing to do with FEMA. They took their owns lives in their hands by making the decision to stay!

Right from the EDITOR of the Galveston Daily News!

Editorial: Media blackout is bone-headed

By Dolph Tillotson
The Daily News
Published September 15, 2008

The city of Galveston made its first serious misstep in handling the Hurricane Ike crisis, but it’s a big enough mistake that it almost outweighs the many good things city leaders have done.

The misstep was clamping down on the flow of information out of Galveston Island. Now, by order of Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, the only city officials who may speak to the media are Thomas herself and City Manager Steve LeBlanc.

So, reporters who had been getting solid information from the police and firemen, from the police chief and fire chief and other city department heads no longer may do so.

Meanwhile, if Monday is any indication, Mayor Thomas and LeBlanc plan press conferences that are few in number, brief in duration and at which they answer few questions. Monday’s noon press conference lasted about half an hour, and the pair answered only five questions.

Why is this bad?

First, it castrates rather than empowers department heads who should be treated with more respect. Chief Charles Wiley of the city police department, for example, certainly is smart enough and wise enough to handle media questions. To silence him and other trusted department heads is stupid and degrading to trusted city leaders.

Second, the move will force reporters to go to other sources, and some of those may be less reliable and less knowledgeable than official city sources. Why the city would wish this to happen is beyond us. It will make the news media’s job more difficult, and it will make the information somewhat less reliable.

Last and most important, one of the major issues facing the city and facing the media trying to tell this story is the many thousands of evacuees spread across North America. They desperately seek information about their homes, their businesses and their loved ones.

A news blackout will cause those people, helpless evacuees, to suffer longer. Not knowing the full story is the worst pain they face, and the city has helped prolong and make that pain greater by blocking access to news.

The city has done some things very well. Debris has been cleared from most primary roads — almost amazingly so. The city is doing a phenomenal job of cleaning up. Police and fire employees have performed tirelessly and courageously, and they deserve thanks and praise.

But blacking out news at this time of extreme public anxiety is incredibly bone-headed.

Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas and City Manager Steve Le Blanc must re-think this disastrously bad decision.

Dolph Tillotson is president and publisher of The Daily News.


[link to galvestondailynews.com]

They do not have to be hiding anything. In the Incident Command System there is a Public Information Officer that is the Liason Officer between The Incident Commander and the Press. This keeps wild rumors from starting from people who do not know what is going on. SOP

But....they are.

It could be that they are. But. That is the Standard Operating procedure. Nothing strange about it.