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Classmate Cosma Holds the Fort in New Orleans! Paul also makes it in Newsweek, Sept. 12th issue ->

Real

Excerpted from NY Times, 9/1/2005

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 31 - Paul Cosma, 47, who owns a nearby auto shop, stood outside it along with a reporter and photographer he was taking around the neighborhood. He had pistols on both hips. Suddenly, he stepped forward toward a trio of young men and grabbed a pair of rusty bolt cutters out of the hands of one of them. The young man pulled back, glaring. Mr. Cosma, never claiming any official status, eventually jerked the bolt cutters away, saying, "You don't need these." The young man and his friends left, continuing the glare. A few minutes later, they returned and mouthed quiet oaths at Mr. Cosma, and his friend Art DePodesta, an Army veteran, who was carrying a shotgun and a pistol. Mr. Cosma stared back, saying nothing. Between the two sides, a steady trickle of looters came and went, barely giving any of them a look.

Read original article here...

Thanks to Suzy Fisher for the news lead!

Paul Cosma and Jennifer Schmidt stood, armed, at the entrance to Mr. Cosma's auto repair shop in New Orleans, on the lookout for looters. (Jim Wilson/NY Times)