After saving 7 from the flood, students call rescue efforts disgraceful

3 Duke students saw a story about Hurricane Katrina on CNN and decided to get in their car go. Using phony press passes to gain access to the city, they were able to save 7 people who were receiving no help from the authorities, and, in a two-wheel drive Hyundai, it took them only 20 minutes to get from a National Guard checkpoint to the convention center. How is it that 3 college students were able to get into New Orleans and get people out yet the National Guard has thus far not been able to accomplish the same feat? (for a full transcript of their CNN interveiw visit http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/07/ltm.03.html)

DURHAM — A trio of Duke University sophomores say they drove to New Orleans late last week, posed as journalists to slip inside the hurricane-soaked city twice, and evacuated seven people who weren’t receiving help from authorities.

The group, led by South Carolina native Sonny Byrd, say they also managed to drive all the way to the New Orleans Convention Center, where they encountered scenes early Saturday evening that they say were disgraceful.

“We found it absolutely incredible that the authorities had no way to get there for four or five days, that they didn’t go in and help these people, and we made it in a two-wheel-drive Hyundai,” said Hans Buder, who made the trip with his roommate Byrd and another student, David Hankla.

Buder’s account — told by cell phone Sunday evening as the trio neared Montgomery, Ala., on their way home — chronicled a three-day odyssey that began when the students, angered by the news reports they were seeing on CNN, loaded up their car with bottled water and headed for the Gulf coast to see if they could lend a hand.

The trio say they left Durham about 6 p.m. Thursday and reached Montgomery about 12 hours later. After catching…

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Haven't done anything interesting enough to warrant a biography.