It is LIKELY a rumor, like the repeated sightings (never verified) of large metal signs marked "Martial Law". Still, every now and then you see something odd. I work in downtown New Orleans and there is a new sports arena under construction adjacent to the Superdome. Both buildings are very near elevated traffic expressways that link to Interstate 10, and many areas underneath the concrete expressways is being fenced in with chain link fencing, at least 10 feet tall, topped by barbed wire. All of the new fencing is dipped in a green plastic-like paint.
Here's the strange part: I figure this work is to provide secure parking areas for the anticipated employees, and possibly some of the patrons of the new sports arena. Makes sense, right? A downtown area, known for the typical assortment of urban crime, you'd have to put barbed wire around the parking lots. Hmmm. Then why is the barbed wire positioned to keep someone on the INSIDE of the fence from climbing OUT, rather than the obvious reverse? Probably just a case of someone reading the blueprints upside down, hell, half the Interstate bridge guardrails in the State of Louisiana are installed backward, so they help the cars roll smoothly into the drink rather than bouncing them back onto the roadway. D'oh! You can actually see, at the LA/MS border, where the two states had differing opinions about which way the guardrails should face. As you pass the center of the Pearl River, the railings "flip"!
So, since such jobs go to the lowest bidder, what I've noticed was probably a mistake. But I'll still keep an eye on it.