Colonels can score, now they want to defend, too
January 3, 2018
Toll increases on Leeville Bridge
January 3, 2018
At the start of each year we look back at what our staff thinks were the biggest stories for the prior twelve months. It’s a way of marking where we have come and where we are going. The stories are not always good news. But they are in our opinion those which have impacted people. What follows are our picks for 2017. They will be posted on our Facebook page also, so feel free to give us your own opinions on the best — or worst — local stories of 2017.
1. ECONOMY STRUGGLES FORWARD
Officials in Terrebonne and Lafourche say that at the very least, the local economy has stopped getting worse. But there is still no clear way to measure whether and how it’s getting better. At the start of 2017 unemployment stats showed that by March 1,300 jobs had been lost in the Houma market. Low oil prices were cited as the villain, although as reports in The Times throughout the year indicated, things were a bit more complicated than that. Energy jobs were growing in some parts of the state, particularly in the River Parishes. But on the coast, where the money-maker for local companies is offshore oil and gas, things remained stagnant. More frustrating was that at the start of the year the state’s civilian workforce grew by 7.100 workers. The state’s civilian workforce also grew by 7,100 total workers in March – another strong sign of growth for Louisiana’s economy.
By October the unemployment rate in Houma was only 4.9 percent, however, just one tenth of one percent higher than for the state overall, and a tremendous improvement over the first quarter.
Economists caution that unemployment is not always the best way to measure. But it is a form of measure. That, coupled with a slow rise in sales taxes, are fueling hope that recovery is in progress, During the coming year we will be looking toward more concrete signs of recovery. Oil experts say there should be better news from the oilfield this new year, and more likely in the year that follows.
2. EXPOSE DAT SETTLED
For much of the year all eyes were on federal court in New Orleans, where Houma bloggr Jennifer Anderson filed a lawsuit against Tererbonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter, Parish President Gordon Dove and others, alleging that Terrebonne Parish officials violated her civil rights by seizing her family’s computers and cellular phones.
The suit against Dove settled for $50,000 in the late spring. In September Larpenter and Anderson reached terms, with a $150,000 settlement.
Anderson published on a web site and on a Facebook page under the fictitious name John Turner allegations of improper collusion between the various entities and others, particularly in regard to how insurance contracts were chosen by the Sheriff and the Parish Government through an agency with ties to Alford. Alford complained that the fictitious blogger committed criminal defamation. Larpenter’s deputies investigated, obtained search warrants that led them to Anderson and her husband Wayne, and the electronic equipment was seized. State District Judge Randall Bethancourt refused to vacate his warrant, which attorneys for the Andersons said was unlawful. But the 1st Circuit Louisiana Court of Appeal reversed him, and the equipment was returned.
“We think we did the right thing,” said Larpenter’s attorney, William F. Dodd. “This resolves a case and saves money in the long run, I don’t call it a bad settlement, and ultimately the Sheriff realized it.”
Louisiana’s criminal defamation statute has long been declared unconstitutional when applied to public officials. As president of the levee board Alford is a public official, and so a criminal complaint against Anderson’s blog should not have been acted on, decisions relating to the case indicate.
To be successful at trial Anderson’s lawyers would have been required to prove that Larpenter knew this, and took steps to seize the electronics nonetheless. His attorneys have argued that if anyone should have known that there was a problem it would have been Bethancourt. But the judge stated in open court during the hearing at which he refused to overturn the warrant that he did not know Alford was a public official.
Dodd said that at trial he would have had an opportunity to raise questions as to how these areas of law relate to bloggers, who often have no training such as that received by traditional, mainstream journalists, and who don’t necessarily set out to be fair when writing about a given issue or person, especially a public official.
“It is a settled area of the law but also unsettled,” Dodd said. “Bu the time had come. The sheriff was dealing with two hurricanes in the Atlantic last week, an epidemic of opiate problems in this community and this became a distraction from these daily things.”
3. Lafourche school tax fails, cuts begin
Lafourche Parish voters dug in their heels and rejected a school tax proposal, pacing the school district in the unenviable spot of trying to manage with a lot less money than they had hoped for, with cuts in several vital areas likely while officials regrouped and tried to figure a way to repackage their plan.
The April 29 election saw Lafourche voters narrowly voting against a one-cent sales tax for the school district. The measure, which lost a 19-vote margin, would have raised about $14 million, enough to cover a looming deficit and give raises to the teachers.
vote against a one-cent sales tax for the school district. The tax revenue, defeated by a 19- vote margin, would have raised about $14 million and paid to both cover the deficit and give raises to the district’s teachers.
Overall 11 general education teachers were cut. The district lost eight counselors. A big hit was suffered by music departments, as six music teachers were cut.
As the new year moves ahead there are more budget woes in store for Lafourche. Foundering sales tax collections, school board members have been told, could result in an even greater deficit. And with no new tax sources, painful cuts may still provide the only relief.
4. RECREATION DISTRICTS GET NEW OVERSIGHT
Long-standing issues between Terrebonne Parish’s recreation districts and its parish government, which appoints the members who serve on the local boards, came to a head this year. A new parish ordinance gives unprecedented oversight authority to council members. Additionally, boards are being required to submit their bids, contracts and even agenda to the Terrebonne Parish Council office of administration for review.
The war between the parish and at least three recreation districts stemmed in part from disappointment over how Recreation District 2 was handing the Field of Dreams project near La. 311, a regional-scale, multi-sport complex that is expected to bring in tourists for tournaments. The soccer fields for now are just a vision. The softball fields are already in the process of being changed to accommodate lot of people, and parking lots have yet to be built.
The Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, has put forward its own plan which appears to favor redistricting, with the idea being for the boards to work closer together.
The Council is still trying on its new sports-shoes, however, and it will be some time before we really know what direction these changes will most likely take.
5. HARVEY AND NATE SCRAPE BY
During a year that saw global devastation from tropical weather systems, Terrebonne and Lafourche got by with love taps from hurricanes Harvey and Nate.
Harvey fell to the west, crippling Houston and southern Texas. Nate traveled up the mouth of the Mississippi River, but remained primarily east of us.
Some houses in Dularge and in a small area of east Houma had encounters with water. Parish officials rendered assistance once they were able to, although there were lessons learned regarding communications between law enforcement in the field and executive administration.
Now as then, we send prayers and hope to Americans in Houston, Puerto Rico and the Florida Keys who took the brunt of this year’s season and are still rebuilding. We know what all that involves. While we are glad we were spared the worst of the 2017 season, we don’t wish that kind of hell on anyone else wither.
Continued success with flood water management thanks to the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District as well as Parish President Gordon Dove’s public works department are to be commended. We look forward to seeing how things develop this coming year.
6. CHANGES TO THE TOP AT NICHOLLS STATE UNIVERSITY
Just when we were getting used to Nicholls State University President Dr. Bruce Murphy’s droll smile and dedication to the community we learned along with everyone else that a new educator is in charge.
Murphy announced his Dec. 31 resignation in September.
“First, let me express my gratitude for the opportunity to serve as the fifth president of Nicholls State University. It is with mixed emotions that I write to inform you that I will be transitioning from the presidency of the University at the end of the 2017 calendar year to engage in other strategic initiatives in higher education,” Murphy told the Nicholls community in an e-mail.
The Louisiana University System went into immediate search mode, and chose Jay Clune, a Houma native and Nicholls alumnus who went on to further studies at the University of Alabama and then LSU.
For the past 13 years he has worked at the University of West Florida in Pensacola and says he is eager to return to the Bayou Region.
Clune took over the reins at Nicholls Jan. 1.
The Louisiana System’s board chose Clune over John Doucet, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Nicholls and Marcheta Evans, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio.
7. NAACP CASE RAISES RANCOR IN HOUMA
The Terrebonne Parish Branch of the NAACP scored a major victory in Baton Rouge this year, when U.S. District Judge James Brady ruled that the parish’s method of selecting judges violates the U.S. Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.
The onus is now on the Louisiana Legislature to create a system of choosing judges other than the current at-large election system, which Brady determined robs black voters of the ability to elect judicial candidates of their choice.
Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove has squarely placed himself in opposition to change, although change will likely come whether he wishes it or not. The Governor and the Attorney General of Louisiana are the named defendants, and they will have to help make the wheels of government turn to suit the judge’s request, barring an unlikely eventual overturn of the decision on appeal.
One appeal attempt, driven largely by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, was rejected by the 5h Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. So far Gov. John Bel Edwards and Landry have not submitted plans for correcting the situation although attorney for Edwards are speaking with members of the Terrebonne legislative delegation with hopes of having a new plan presented during the upcoming legislative session.
Even if the locals don’t present an alternative, members of the Black Legislative Caucus have expressed a willingness to do so.
The only proposal on the table currently is from the plaintiffs in the case which would require carving up Terrebonne into five sub-districts from which judges can be elected. Dove has called that proposal a “balkanization of Terrebonne Parish.”
Whatever remedy is found will not be presented to the judge who made the decision, but rather to some other judge in Baton Rouge who will be assigned his cases.
Judge Brady died after a brief illness last month.
8. THIBODAUX MASSACE RECOGNIZED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
The City Council of Thibodaux and the Parish Council of Lafourche have both taken action this year to recognize and acknowledge the Nov. 23, 1887 incident known as the Thibodaux Massacre. The post-Reconstruction atrocity was a matter of hidden history for more than a century, until The Times ran a story detailing the shooting spree by some of Thibodaux’s “finest” citizens, who pass down a story that they assaulted striking black sugar workers as a means of “defending” the town.
The number of dead black men and women is estimated at between 30 and 60. There were no known white fatalities.
Time Senior Staff Writer John DeSantis with the help of the Ellender Memorial Library Archives at Nicholls State University was able to identify eight of the known dead, He is now involved with a non-profit effort to verify and remove remains of victims believed to be in a mass grave on Narrow Street so that they can have proper burial. This effort has been done with the help of descendants of those killed and wounded in the attacks.
More information is available at www.LA1887.com
9. POLICE CHIEF AND BUSINESSMAN IN LOCKPORT INDICTED
The cases are still on-going but the arrests of the police chief in Lockport and a local businessman from there have turned some heads in the south Lafourche community.
Lockport Police Chief Warren A. Vedros Sr. is charged with one count of felony theft, three counts of malfeasance in office, three counts of filing false public records and one count of forgery.
Lockport resident Robert M. Barker Jr., in a separate action, faces two counts of forgery and one count of filing false public records.
Vedros was accused of pocketing money from civic and athletic events for which fees were charged. Barker is accused of falsifying pubic records concerning a civic organization he is involved with. Neither returned calls for comment at the time the charge were announced.
10. HOUSE WHIP STEVE SCALISE HAS CLOSE CALL WITH BULLETS IN VIRGINIA.
U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) speaks with Restore or Retreat Executive Director Simone Maloz at today’s South Central Industrial Association meeting. Scalise said the meeting was his first public address in his district since the June shooting that left him in critical condition.
Staff Writer
U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise R-Lafayette was shot and wounded by a lone gunman who was later felled by police, during a softball game practice in Alexandria, Va. June 14.
A lone gunman annoyed by President Donald Trump’s election was shot and killed .
He was identified as James T. Hodgkinson, 66, from Belleville, Ill., a suburb of St. Louis.Two members of Scalise’s Capitol Police security detail were wounded as they exchanged fire with Hodgkinson.
Fifteen weeks later Scalise returned to the House floor, and he continues working.
Despite the brush with near-death Scalise is adamant about his anti-gun control position.
