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 Gulf Coast Blog: Mail call in the bureauEditor's note: The Gulf Coast Blog, compiled by the reporters and producers in CNN's Gulf Coast Bureau, tracks the post-Katrina recovery effort as residents rebuild their lives. Tell us what you think. Send e-mail to the Gulf Coast Blog. RELATEDBLOG ARCHIVESPECIAL REPORT
• Rebuilding: Vital signs
• Gallery: Landmarks over time
• Storm & Flood: Making history
• I-Report: Share your photos
Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005; Posted: 3:12 p.m. ET The videotaped beating of Robert Davis by New Orleans police has prompted some viewers and users to voice their opinion on the matter. Below are a few e-mails we've received: I thought the police beating of Robert Davis in New Orleans was disgusting. It definitely exhibits poor judgment on the police officers' part if not an indication that they all have some mental problems. I think they should be fired, no pay, no retirement, no benefits. Nothing!! Unless you are rich, or lucky enough to have a CNN camera crew right there, the cops can do whatever they want, usually do, and when it's your word against theirs, even with other witnesses, they will always win, because the judges and prosecutors are their buddies. Disasters, civil unrest and just plain daily law enforcement can cause intolerable stress. This is where quality training becomes invaluable not only for the officer but everybody involved. Everyone is accountable and the ends don't necessarily justify the means. Training can overcome the stress, but without quality training stress wins and everybody else looses. Thoughts on rebuildingAlso, many readers have been writing in response to the Gulf Coast Blog about about Katrina recovery and rebuilding efforts. Here's what some of you had to say: Sometimes in life you have to be realistic and do the RIGHT thing. The history of New Orleans and the good times had there will never be lost. We just need to move on and be wise in our choices, bearing in mind the costs and risks involved for future generations. DisNOLAnd ... the idea of turning the French Quarter into an adults only playground protected by super levees is sad ... the Quarter becomes just a caricature of its former self. It may preserve the buildings, but it doesn't protect its essence. It will become yet another homogenized tourist destination with little resemblance to what was so unique about it in the first place. I believe that enough lives have already been lost and to rebuild a city the way it [was] is psychotic, why would we endeanger more innocent people. Make a New, New Orleans, save lives and tax payer's money and build a new city in a new area. How about a "new" New Orleans that looks, feels, tastes, sounds and smells much like the old one did. But build it over a skeleton of the latest technology. Make it safer, more durable and more environmentally friendly than any other city in the world. Make it the benchmark by all future urban construction is measured. I fear that the New Orleans I love cannot be rebuilt as it was. It was the accumulated effort, love, failures and lives of 300 years that made New Orleans the unique place it was -- there is no place like it on earth. What I fear more is that someone will come in and federalize or commercialize the city and ultimately de-humanize it. The idea of a drunk Mickey Mouse careening down Bourbon [Street] to a strip joint is just more than we care to contemplate. Will Daisy Duck be doing table dances? New Orleans is our heart, it is soul. We want our children to experience and love New Orleans as much as we do. If the federal government won't belly up to the bar and do the right thing, then we will do it alone! New Orleans will rise again. She may be a tattered tart, but she's our tart. Send your thoughtsThanks for your response. Keep your e-mail coming. 
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