Some Katrina Victims Refuse Forced Evacuations

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- Police are making progress in getting people out of their homes in New Orleans. While many have given up, others have been forced to evacuate. One woman refused to leave her pets. She armed herself with a handgun and a switchblade.

It's estimated there are still five to ten thousand residents in New Orleans despite all the calls for them to get out. Police say most of the voluntary evacuations are over and that they will soon begin using minimal force to remove the rest.

Emotions are raw.

One New Orleans homeowner refused to leave his home. Ashton O'Dwyer said, "This is America - has your neighborhood ever been invaded by state troopers from another state - sent here by god knows whom!"

Many of the people continuing to stay in New Orleans were told time was running out. Ashton O'Dwyer is an attorney, but says he'll defy any order requiring him to evacuate.

"I will leave when I'm dead. Let them be warned they come to my house to evict me - try to take my guns, there will be gunfire," said O'Dwyer.

With his house intact and with plenty of food and water O'Dwyer can't understand why folks like him are being forced to leave. He said, "Treat me with benign neglect. Get out of my neighborhood. Get of out my life. Get out of my (bleeping) city!!"

And there were and there were plenty of other fireworks as officers went door-to-door looking for holdouts. The situation got extremely tense when an armed man barricaded himself threatening to shoot. He was eventually arrested without incident. Officers also arrested the occupants of a suspected stolen truck. They searched it and found a stash of drugs and a handgun.

At one neighborhood bar thing appeared to be calm, but the sentiment remains the same as folks try to figure out how to avoid the mandatory order.

Owner of the bar Joanne Guides said that people can come in the bar and get away from insanity and get a little more normality.

Guides has managed to keep the bar open with generators. Folks were socializing ordering drinks pretending everything was normal. Larry Stamm says for now this is about good as life gets. He said, "Where am I going to go, can't get to no bank, can't use an ATM - if I leave here I'll be in worse shape. I'm in here watching TV and have food.

In the streets of New Orleans you could see police and soldiers on just about every corner trying to talk sense into the remaining holdouts, but in almost every case they encountered residents who refuse to back down.

Michelle Laranger asked why she stayed when there's no electricity and no running water.. Laranger said, "Didn't you ever camp in life - didn't you go wilderness camping - that's what we're doing right now."

Some people don't want to leave because they don't want to leave their pets behind. Paramedics tried to convince Bill Stenson to leave, but he told them to take a hike. He was worried about being separated form his dogs. He said, "My dogs are not going to shelter - not going away from me."

Meanwhile, the woman that refused to leave her pets and armed herself with a handgun and a switchblade had to be subdued by officers. They did not shoot her, but they did tackle her and taker weapon. The woman did not appear to be injured and she was not arrested. Instead, officers loaded her and her two dogs onto the truck, to be take to an evacuation center.

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