Prayers, hopes for new laws

Local government officials, spiritual leaders and mourners gathered Saturday on the steps of the Terrebonne Parish courthouse, praying for continued peace in the community in the wake of last month’s fatal police shooting of 14-year-old Cameron Tillman at an abandoned house in Village East.

The incident, which occurred while Terrebonne Parish Deputy Preston Norman investigated a report of youths with guns entering the house at 51 Kirkglen Loop, is deemed tragic on multiple levels, in large part because Norman allegedly fired because the teen was holding what turned out to be a pellet gun resembling a .45-caliber pistol.

Louisiana State Police are investigating the shooting and officials say they hope lingering questions – including divergent accounts of whether the teen was or was not holding the pellet gun – will be answered when their report is issued.

But officials say the tragedy points to problems that pose safety hazards because of the length of time it takes the local government to act on property that is abandoned and blighted.

“We have houses throughout my district and throughout the parish that pose a danger,” said Councilman John Navy, who voted in favor of a Council endorsement of Proposition 10, a constitutional amendment which would require parishes to shorten the redemption period for blighted or abandoned property sold at a tax sale.

Current law requires new owners to wait three years before redeeming property bought at a tax sale. The proposed amendment would shorten that to 18 months.

Supporters of the amendment, one of 14 voters will consider on Nov. 4., say it will go a long way toward easing problems of blight.

“Right now we sit with property for three years, and nothing can be done with it,” said Pat Gordon, Terrebonne Parish Planning Director. “If I was somebody picking up a property at a sheriff’s sale, I would rather be able to maintain the property. We would like to see that time shortened.”

“I support it whole-heartedly,” said Council member Arlanda Williams, one of the leaders of Saturday’s prayer service.

The Kirkglen Loop property, totally covered by Louisiana’s homestead exemption, was not in a delinquent status. 

Even so, it could be declared delinquent eventually due to its abandoned state.

Diane Williams, a niece of the property’s last owner, the late Roosevelt Lagarde, said she had stopped making mortgage payments years ago, but that the bank never reclaimed the property.

She said Lagarde’s survivors, herself included, knew that young people in Village East used the home, which has unlocked doors, as a “hangout” but had no objections.

Navy has, since the shooting, proposed that the house be added to the parish’s list of condemned properties.

The proposition would go a long way toward helping the parish clean up other condemned properties, Navy, Williams and other council members say. Abandoned, neglected properties increase vermin in a neighborhood, create unsafe conditions 

Opponents of the constitutional amendment say it would erode safeguards that protect property owners from unjust seizures.

At the house on Kirkglen Loop, meanwhile, a memorial of candles, stuffed toys and candles grows steadily, as Village East residents try to give perspective to the shooting. Saturday’s prayer, which included Parish President Michel Claudet and District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr., is seen by some as an act that can aid continued healing.

“Unity and coming together across race, gender and religious background in one accord for peace,” is how Arlanda Williams described Saturday’s prayer gathering. “We set an example in my opinion for the rest of the country that even in the midst of hurt, confusion and conflict the common ground to peace in our community is faith and prayer and with those two attributes we can conquer anything.”

Community leaders, mourners and officials gather Saturday at the Terrebonne Parish courthouse square to promote unity in response to the Sept. 23 shooting of 14-year-old Cameron Tillman by a deputy.

COURTESY