It happened after Katrina with the town of Gretna. I think most of us probably saw news clips of it when it happened. I still remember it. I can sympathize with the Gretna mayor's perspective and the extreme situation everyone was in, but it's a very sad incident to recall.

Gretna reminds me of 9/11 when my wife worked at a major Manhattan hotel. Large corporations immediately reserved massive blocks of rooms so the hotel staff had to turn away--many times tearfully--tired and traumatized folks who were covered in ash and were trapped in Manhattan because the whole island was on lock-down. She said only a fraction of those reserved rooms even ended up being used at all. The staff tried hard to call around and find rooms at other hotels, but everywhere was booked, too. Of course, if the staff had let people into rooms blocked out for, say, JP Morgan staff, and JP Morgan found out there weren't enough rooms for them, someone would probably get fired. That incident also saddens me to remember it.