Arthur Porche, Sr.
September 17, 2007
Law enforcement makes arrest in 15-year-old priest murder case
September 19, 2007
Marie Legenvre returned from Jacksonville, Fla., last May to find a note on her door informing her that the parish contractor blacktopping the road had ruptured her gas line. Legenvre lives in Chackbay and cleans houses and offices for a living. Nearly all her appliances use gas, from her stove to her hot water heater to her clothes dryer.
She went a week without gas before Lafourche Parish Councilman Michael Delatte learned of the incident.
Delatte spent a little more than a couple hundred dollars of his money to buy materials to repair the line. With the help of a couple of his buddies and four hours of his time, he repaired the line.
But the repaired gas line only survived for 14 more days before the same parish contractor, Huey Stockstill, broke it, again.
So for a second time, Delatte went out and purchased more material with more of his own money. Except this time, he had the contractor attempt to repair the line with the materials.
The contractor made the repairs, but there was no gas, indicating more severe damage elsewhere in the line, which runs underneath the $83,000 new road.
Since this second break, Legenvre has not had gas for about four months and has resorted to heating up water in her microwave in Tupperware to bathe and wash her hair.
“I’m so tired when I get back home [from work], I don’t feel like taking a shower. So, I just bathe like the old times,” she said.
Legenvre’s friend has offered use of her bathroom. However, her friend only has a bathtub and no shower.
Legenvre explained she has terrible arthritis, which the cold showers at her home irritate, and has a lot of difficulty leaving a tub once she gets into one.
“If I were to sit in the tub, I could not get out,” she said.
Her other friends and family also help by offering showers and non-microwave cooked meals.
“I don’t think straight because my nerves have been very, very bad – very depressed,” said Legenvre.
Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph informed the council warnings about the road construction and the parish’s right of way had been mailed out.
Residents with utilities in the parish’s right of way were told they needed to move their private utilities or risk damage to them.
Legenvre said she never got the warning in the mail and didn’t know the road work would be coming her way.
Delatte explained to the council Legenvre’s gas line had been there for 30 to 40 years and the parish servitude came well after the gas line had been laid.
And adding a moral wrinkle to the situation is the fact Legenvre’s deceased father-in-law actually donated the 50-foot by 700-foot right of way used for the road and a pump station to the parish back in 1975.
“I just think we’re wrong,” said Delatte. “I felt bad enough about it where I went and tried to do something myself.”
But, the parish government’s hands are pretty much tied in this situation. It cannot legally expend public finds to make repairs on private land, even if a contractor working for it causes damage.
“They broke it the first time. Mr. Delatte went out on his own and fixed it. And then they got somebody else who dug the damn thing up again,” said Councilman Mark Atzenhoffer at the recent Lafourche Parish Council meeting. “Obviously, we have a contractor issue on top of another issue, which is the utilities being on parish rights of way from years ago.”
Delatte personally has experienced his own version of “When Parish Contractors Go Wild.”
A contractor digging about a quarter-mile from one of Delatte’s rental properties snagged a telephone pole guideline and caused a chain reaction leading to the ripping of a meter from the property.
It cost the councilman $800 to repair the meter so his tenants could move back into their home. He was then told to turn the bill into the parish for reimbursement.
That happened close to a year ago and Delatte has yet to see his $800 returned.
At last Tuesday’s meeting, the council approved sending a letter to the contractor requesting it repair Legenvre’s gas line within the next 10 days.
If the contractor refuses the request, little can be done. At the meeting, council members, Phillip Gouaux and Lindel Toups spoke about pooling their own resources and time to fix the line for Legenvre.
But, as Delatte discovered from Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph, council members attempting to take a hands-on approach to fixing the problem create a liability issue for the parish.
Liability has been the only thing keeping Delatte from going out a third time and repairing the line himself.
“We’re talking a minimal cost [to repair the line] for a contractor (Huey Stockstill) that made millions,” said Delatte. “They made millions. It’s not like they couldn’t afford to do it.”
A Huey Stockstill, Inc., representative refused to comment on the issue and when asked for his name, said he was “Nobody.”
Atzenhoffer estimated at the meeting it would cost less than $1,000 to repair the line.
Delatte also explained a possible quick fix solution of installing electric appliances in Legenvre’s home probably would not work because the older meter and electric wiring in the house would not be able to handle the load.
