When a senior editor at the New York Times, told a flood victim – who lost everything when the levees failed in New Orleans – that he thinks the Times is correct to say “Katrina” devastated New Orleans, we sprang to action.

We sprang to action because this defense, while superficially correct, is fundamentally misleading. It dismisses what really happened on August 29, 2005 when a major American city went underwater and over 1,600 people died.

First we wrote personally to the senior editor, Don Hecker, offering him an opportunity to ameliorate the situation quietly. He did not respond. So, we launched a petition urging the Times to be more specific in passages that reference the horrific flooding during Katrina 5 years ago.

Over 1,566 citizens, all over the country, during the holiday, signed Levees.org’s petition.

Today, by sundown, Elite Couriers will hand deliver the signatures, the accompanying comments, our cover letter, and a cover letter from our lawyer at Adams and Reese to Mr. Hecker at the New York Times.

Our cover letter, politely states why we feel it’s important for the New York Times to be accurate when making statements about the New Orleans flooding. It also kindly requests a response to the 1,566 petition signers and for our nearly 25,000 supporters nationwide.

Click here for NYTimes article which started the petition campaign.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/science/earth/15delta.html?_r=2

Click here for Mr. Hecker’s letter to the flood victim.
https://levees.org010/12/21/sign-petition-to-new-york-times/

Click here for our personal letter to Mr. Hecker before petition launch.
https://levees.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/SeniorEditor.pdf