The Gulf Coast Marching Sharks of Naples, Florida are donating their band uniforms to Bogalusa High School, to replace those destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Dillard's donated the shipping boxes, and Champion Cleaners of Naples donated the cleaning. The band kids spent hours of their own time boxing them up for shipment.
Many thanks to all of you! Link
And my water bill is through the roof.
Yesterday, maybe ten drops fell, just enough to dampen the grass.
Make up your mind.
Grade-school graduation ceremony, with nearly all the music religious. The commencement speaker a minister, and his speech resembling a sermon more than anything. Prayers led by the principal. The superintendent of the city schools was there, too, and didn't say a word against it.
Everybody knows this stuff is against the law. Everybody.
Thanks a bunch, Bogalusa School Board. We can probably look forward to a big fat lawsuit which will bankrupt the city or the schools.
You are putting your personal beliefs above my children's education. If you're gonna break the law like this, what other laws have you broken?
Looks like Barber's is moving into their new store, in Salle's former spot on Avenue F. They did a handsome renovation of the storefront.
Lookin' good! May you prosper, Barber's.
I saw a sign for this at a Bogalusa business. I don't even own a horse, and I've heard of the man.
Saturday June 3, 2006 - Southern Farrier's Association Shoe-In for Leo's Parkinson surgery.
Page with all the details here. If you can't attend, give.
Isolated thunderstorms predicted today, with a 10% chance of precipitation.
Hope one of them forms and storms over my house.
I daresay anyone who lives in and around Bogalusa remembers the Baptist Emergency Kitchen set up on Avenue F following Hurricane Katrina.
I didn't know they were doing all this:
Area residents gathered at Larkin Avenue Baptist Church on Friday and Saturday to receive disaster-relief training from Southern Baptist Convention and Illinois Baptist State Association representatives.
The groups provide food, child care and cleanup and recovery services in the wake of catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina and the pair of tornadoes that struck Springfield in March.[...]
Thurman Stewart, an association coordinator from downstate Woodson, near Jacksonville, was among the relief veterans who had made the trip to Elgin for what he said was the first such training event held in the city. He and other volunteers spent weeks assisting with recovery efforts in Bogalusa, La., a town of roughly 13,000 north of New Orleans.
"Huge trees were everywhere," Stewart recalled. "We cleared over 1,200 yards."
Excerpt from the Biloxi Sun Herald:
The blood-alcohol levels of victims in the Jan. 12 crash that killed six college students in Wiggins are not a matter of public record at this time, said District Attorney Cono Caranna.
"If charges are brought against someone, the blood-alcohol content would come out only after an indictment, as a discovery matter, if an indictment is returned," Caranna said.
The Daily News reported sometime after Katrina that the parish had between 8,000 and 10,000 new residents.
Wow. Means the population grew around 25%.
It appears that property values are rising here - maybe a reflection of a sort of "shortage," as new residents are purchasing places to live? I dunno.
At the moment, there's a one bedroom, one bath house on nine and a half acres, a bit south of town, on the market for $160,000. The News doesn't print real estate transactions very often, but I'm gonna try to keep an eye on this one. In my completely inexpert opinion, a few years ago that property would've sold for half of that, or less.
Listing is here, MLS # 633030. No picture showing the house, which is said to be 1,136 square feet.
According to the National Weather Service, hot days, cool nights (so far), and no rain expected through Tuesday.
Blech.
Get out the sunblock and the DEET. I notice the mosquitoes are out in force, too.
Artist Alvin Carter, a resident of Bogalusa, painted "sunshine on a wall for everyone in Petal to enjoy."
Also here in the Hattiesburg American.
Washington Parish message board screenshot:
[IP redacted - B]
Somebody claiming to be Bill Arata has announced he will run for Council at Large.
Announced it on an online message board.
Does that tell you anything about The Daily News?
Oh, and no offense meant to Mr. Arata, or whoever made the announcement. I can't tell if you are who you say you are - one drawback the Web has over printed media.
Stick around, people who post there will ask you questions, and hopefully you'll answer 'em, and we'll learn something about you and what you hope to accomplish. Better than a 60-second sound bite on some news show, or a newspaper article, or paid-for advertising.
Good luck to you, sir.
I traveled out of state and bought a used car. That state issued a temporary registration on the basis of the seller's signature on the back of the title. No notary required.
I drove the car home and tried to get it insured, but my agent said I needed a notarized bill of sale. I had that document, but not notarized, as it wasn't required by the issuing state.
I thought I was in a catch-22 for a while. Can't get the registration changed here or title issued until the vehicle is insured. Can't get it insured until the title's changed unless I had a notarized bill of sale. Time was running out. What to do?
The agent said there was a notary nearby. I don't see why they would've been able to help; they have to witness signatures they notarize. Don't they?
The seller's over 500 miles north. I could have called him. He's a good guy and would've redone the bill of sale up there* and expressed it to me, but what a p.i.t.a. and additional expense.
Fortunately, the Louisiana Department of Motor Vehicles passed the paperwork, because they don't require a notary if the issuing state doesn't require it.
Lesson: Don't get title change advice from your insurance agent.
Notice: There might be a notary in Bogalusa who will affix his or her seal to signatures s/he doesn't actually witness. I am not a lawyer, but that doesn't sound legal to me.
-----------------
* Just about everywhere in the country is "up there" from here.
Excerpt:
A memorial for Earnest "Chilly Willy" Thomas, one of the founders of the Deacons For Defense and Justice, will be held Saturday, June 3, 2006 at the St. Rest Missionary Baptist Church in Quitman, Louisiana. Thomas passed away on February 21, 2006 in Pomona, California where he had resided for a number of years. Friends and family members have organized the June 3rd memorial to honor Thomas in his birthplace, Jonesboro, Louisiana.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- A state Senate committee unanimously approved a ban on cockfighting on Tuesday, a surprising vote from a panel that has killed many such bills in past years.
The vote came after Sen. Art Lentini, the bill's sponsor, pushed for its passage by arguing that cockfighting is a "barbaric embarrassment" to Louisiana, a form of entertainment that fuels illegal gambling. Lentini attributed the bill's easy passage to senators' awareness that the Legislature is the focus of newfound attention, from around the world, since Hurricane Katrina.
"I think a lot of public officials are concerned about portraying a good image now," said Lentini, R-Metairie.
New Orleans dominated the national news after Hurricane Katrina. Sometimes, seems like it still does.
Over on Nola, there's a link to a great interactive graphic of New Orleans flooding - where the water came from, what time, how fast, how deep.
Fascinating stuff.
A couple days ago, it looked like some wet weather might be on its way.
Nope. Dry as a bone, no precip predicted until Friday, and then only a 10% chance.
Cool at night, though - 50s and 60s.
Update: Corrected spelling.
Go to Yahoo, click on "Groups," and search Bogalusa.
Update: More Bogalusa-area message boards:
I don't know, myself, what happened at the latest Bogalusa city council meeting. I've been away for several days.
Some info at the message board.
As of this time, The Daily News online is still showing the edition from Friday, May 12, 2006.
Note to The Daily News: Wake up, idiots! People from out of town like to know what's happening here! Get off your butts and update!
There are a number of news articles on the web, findable through Google, that say there were no storm-related deaths in Washington Parish. Search the archives at The Daily News using the phrase "died Monday, Aug. 29" and you'll get ten hits. All but one were residents of nursing homes.
Word-of-mouth suggests that these folks died as a result of the intense heat after the storm, when the power was off. Apparently nursing homes didn't have enough generator capacity to run their air conditioners. I hope they've fixed that, for the upcoming storm season.
This article seems to count those nine people's deaths as storm-related. I thnk that's realistic:
Nine parish residents and one evacuee have been confirmed dead as a result of the storm or its aftereffects.
Daily News story linked on The Dead Pelican, Louisiana's own "Drudge Report."
Top story in left-hand column:
Defense-dot-mil article here, complete article:
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of seven U.S. servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
The are Ensign Leland L. Davis, Jackson, Miss.; Ensign Robert F. Keller, Wichita, Kan.; Seaman 2nd Class Elwin Alford, Bogalusa, La.; Seaman 2nd Class Dee Hall, Syria, Okla.; Aviation Machinist Mate John H. Hathaway, Lafayette, Ind.; Aviation Radioman 2nd Class Robert A. Smith, Glen Dive, Mont.; and Aviation Pilot 3rd Class Albert J. Gyorfi, Wilbur, Wash.; all Navy.
The group remains of all seven are to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, as are the individually identified remains of Davis, Alford and Hathaway. Hall has already been buried in Oklahoma, and the families are setting individual burials for the others.
The seven-man crew was aboard a U.S. Navy PBY-5 Catalina that took off from Kodiak Island, Alaska, on June 14, 1942, to attack Japanese targets in Kiska Harbor.
They encountered inclement weather near the target, as well as heavy Japanese anti-aircraft fire. Their plane crashed on the Japanese-held island of Kiska with all seven aboard.
In August 1943, the U.S. retook Kiska Island from the Japanese. Wreckage of the PBY-5 was found on the side of Kiska Volcano. The remains of the crew were buried in a common grave marked “Seven U.S.N. Airmen” with a wooden marker. Following the war, attempts to locate the common grave were unsuccessful and the remains of all seven were declared to be non-recoverable.
In 2002, a wildlife biologist notified DPMO that he had found the wreckage of a World War II aircraft on the slope of Kiska Volcano. Using that information, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) excavated the crash site in August 2003 where they found debris from the PBY-5 as well as crew-related items. The JPAC team also located the wooden marker as well as the remains buried nearby. Subsequent JPAC laboratory analysis led to the individual identifications of all seven crewmembers.
Approximately 78,000 servicemembers are unaccounted-for from World War II War. For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web Site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/ or call (703) 699-1169.
Prosecutors to review report from fatal accident:
Friends and family have said the students were together earlier at a nightclub in Bogalusa, La.[...]
Police identified the dead as Brittany Jordan, 18, and her sister, Carley Jordan, 20, both of Ocean Springs; and William Thompson, Richard O'Barr, and Candace Newman, all 20, and Joshua Scott Bozeman, 21, all of Biloxi.
Lee has several good posts up on the Washington Parish Message Board about where to report fraud and corruption.
The links bear repeating. I've never seen so much fraud, so many people taking advantage of a tragedy as with Hurricane Katrina.
FBI online crime tips
Or you can get specific:
Katrina Fraud: (800) CALL FBI
Internet crime
Don't let the bad guys get away with it.
Lots of precip over the weekend, which was sorely needed. Louisiana has been experiencing a drought.
To the previous post.
There is an article in The Daily News today about what actions Bogalusa Mayor Mack McGehee took after Hurricane Katrina. I hadn't seen it at the time of my post - not that it matters. As far as I'm concerned, the message bears repeating all over the internet. I'm that disgusted with him.
Normally, The Daily Snooze doesn't update their website until after the paper hits the newsstands.
Posted on the Washington Parish message board by its owner, Lee Kelley, a former resident who has long endeavored to keep the local politicians honest. Long, but I think the first half, about the Bogalusa city charter, is important for context. In other words, it helps explain just how bad a thief he is:
At the May 2, 2006 Bogalusa City Council meeting, Councilwoman, Oneita Graham read the following onto the official record:
Report on Audit Questions – May 2, 2006
At a prior meeting you were told that we would let you know about the problems with out audit for 2005. I will try to be as factual as I can with the information that I have received. Then you can decide for yourself how you feel about the information. Should more problems come out, you will be informed of those too.
Some laws that govern the things I’m about to tell you:
In 1978, the City of Bogalusa became a city that operated under its own charter which was approved by the citizens of our community. The following are quotes from that City Charter:
Section 2-9, council meetings: To meet a public emergency affecting life, health, property, or public safety, the council may meet upon call of the mayor, the presiding officer of the council or the majority of the council membership at whatever notice it shall be convenient to give. (Page 6).
Section 2-10: An act requiring an ordinance shall include (10) authorize any contract on behalf of the city. (Page 7).
Section 2-13: Emergency ordinances shall be effective for no longer than 60 days. The council, however, upon a favorable vote of at least 2/3 of its authorized membership may extend the life of an emergency ordinance for an additional 30 days, but no such ordinance may be extended beyond that period. (Page 10).
Section 3-06: Compensation – No ordinance changing the salary or granting any other monetary compensation shall be adopted during the last year of a term of office, and no such ordinance shall become effective during the term of the council adopting the ordinance. (Page 14).
Section 3-07: Duties of the Mayor – (3) Attend all council meetings with the right to take part in discussion but not vote. (6) Submit to the council and make available to the public, within 60 days after the fiscal year, a complete report on the finances and administrative activities of the city as of the end of each fiscal year. (This would be March 1st). (8) Keep the council fully advised as to the financial condition and future needs of the city and make recommendations to the council concerning the affairs of the city as deemed desirable. (Page 15).
Section 4-01: The salary of the city attorney and directors of departments appointed by the mayor shall be set by the mayor subject to approval by the council. (Page 15/16).
Section 4-04 – Duties of Director of Administration: (4) Ascertain that funds are available for payment of all contracts, purchase orders and any other documents which incur financial obligation to the city and that such documents are in accordance with established procedures. (7) Prepare a monthly statement of revenues and expenditures to show the financial condition of the city. (Page 18).
Section 4-07: Public Works Director shall direct and be responsible for (2) supervision of all contract construction work, (3) maintenance of the city property. (Page 20).
Section 5-04 – Administration of Budget: No payment shall be made or obligation incurred against any allotment or appropriation except in accordance with appropriations duly made and unless the mayor or the mayor’s designee first certifies that there is a sufficient unencumbered balance in such allotment or appropriation and that sufficient funds there from are or will be available to cover the claim or meet the obligation when it becomes due and payable. However, this provision shall not limit the authority of the city to borrow funds in anticipation of revenues as provided in the general laws of the state. Any authorization of payment or incurring of obligation in violation of the provisions in this charter shall be void and any payment so made illegal; such action shall be cause for removal of any official, officer, or employee who knowingly authorizes or makes such payment or incurs such obligation or who causes such payment to be authorized or made or obligation to be incurred. Such persons shall also be liable to the city for any amount so paid. (Page 23).
Section 5-05: (B) Emergency Appropriations: To meet a public emergency affecting life, health, property, or the public peace, the council may make emergency appropriations. Such appropriations may be made by emergency ordinance in accordance with the provisions of section 2-13 (emergency ordinances). To the extent that there are no available unappropriated revenues to meet such appropriations, the council may by such emergency ordinance borrow money in sums necessary to meet the emergency. The repayment of such sums shall be a fixed charge upon the revenues of the year next following the year in which the sums are borrowed and shall be shown in the operating budget for that year. (Page 24).
Louisiana Revised Statutes 38:2221 – Public Contracts, Works and Improvements: No contract shall be let on a cost plus basis.
Facts previously unknown by the council and presented to the council by auditor on March 27, 2006 that occurred from September 2005 through February 2006.
Problem 1: The City retirement system is continued to be under funded. Notice was given the council with the 2004 audit in which the auditor stated the city should develop a corrective action plan to generate additional revenue to ensure proper funding of the retirement system. Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:3034(A) states: The city shall make contributions to the system each year on an actuarially funded basis, towards the annuities and benefits herein provided.
Our Bogalusa City Retirement has been under funded for quite some time. The city must begin to fund this system so that it is financially sound. This system covers all city workers. By the time the amounts are paid to the state for the fire and police retirement, not enough remains to cover all the other employees in an amount that is considered proper funding.
Problem 2: The city has collected too much money in a General Obligation Bond Debt Service Fund. We must stop collecting this millage until the excess amounts have been used to pay the bond. The millage on this is 10.45 mils.
State law requires that we not collect more than enough to satisfy the debt each year. Right now we have enough built up to cover a period of time.
Problem 3: The Mayor signed a contract with a local construction company without being properly notarized or witnessed. There was no information presented to the city council of this action; therefore, there was no ordinance permitting it. There is no evidence of the proper bidding process on most of these. Upon receiving our agenda for this meeting we have been provided copies for the bids for the work at VeeCor, Model Crafts, and the ball parks and the North Royal Street bridge. The city has produced a contract signed January 5, 2005. No emergency was foreseen at that time. As of the end of March the city has been billed by this contractor over $800,000 for work through February 16th. As of now, I don’t know what has been billed and paid since that time. Some of this work has been reimbursed by insurance to the city, including a check for $244,000. I have rounded off all dollar amounts. The work include repairs from September through February 16, 2006 to buildings in the industrial park – Model Craft $11,000; VeeCor $8,000; American Fabrics $122,000; Cabinet World $123,000; Client Logic $2,800; fire stations $36,000; Senior Citizens Center $55,000; city dump $21,000; city hall roof $38,000; city hall $39,000; Mayor’s office $33,000; assorted water tower sites $8,000; Lake Vista $15,000; city sheds and storage buildings $30,000; ball park $700; animal shelter $400; and Deli in the Park $67,000. Some work temporary, some work was permanent, and work has been continuing even today.
This contract was a cost plus contract with an additional 15% of the total amount of the materials being added to the bill. The minimum labor bill per hour has been $31.45 for an apprentice; the maximum has been for the supervisor at $89.85. There has also been overtime paid on these amounts. Wages probably included some overhead for workers’ benefits, Social Security, etc. Equipment per day included $10 for a pickup truck, scaffolding $15, concrete saw $60, and skid steer bobcat $65. I noticed we were billed $18,060 total for the pickup truck. Invoices were submitted for the supplies purchased. In the supplies were a wheel barrow, extension cord, several staple guns, hammers, chisel, saw horse bracket, tool belts, sprayer, buckets, caulk guns, tin snips, etc., in addition was the 15%.
There were two projects, Model Crafts and VeeCor buildings in the industrial park for which bids were obtained and did not involve the cost plus problem. I cannot tell you whether contracts were signed on these. I can tell you that the council has not passed an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter these contracts, but the ordinance has been introduced tonight. These amounts - $183,000 for VeeCor and $378,000 for Model Crafts, were not included in the above cost plus jobs. An architect oversaw these projects and issued the substantial completion certificate last Friday, April 28th. This means they were complete except for a few touch up items. These were the only two buildings in which he was involved, other than to do a damage assessment.
It is against state law for a government body to enter into a cost plus contract. The council must pass an ordinance in order for the mayor to have authority to sign any contract. The first knowledge the council had of this was when it was brought to our attention by the auditor. The council has not been asked to authorize the mayor to sign these contracts until this week.
Problem 4: The mayor signed an emergency contract with a local ambulance company, without the knowledge of the council, and no ordinance authorizing it.
This contract was not dated, signed, notarized, or witnessed. The emergency contract calls for a three year contract with option to renew for another four years. The emergency contract also required the ambulance company to work football games and teach the fire department and the police department emergency medical techniques.
The contract said that the city would pay the ambulance company for any patients picked up in Bogalusa and the amounts not paid by insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. There were thirteen of the pick ups billed and paid for by the city from locations outside Bogalusa. Upon checking, those outside the city were not billed to the parish. Of the 9 patient bills I checked on, all had insurance or Medicare and a supplement, except one, who only had Medicaid. When asked, the patients stated they had not been notified by their insurance they were paying or had been billed. There were at least two patients that should have been covered by city health insurance.
When payment for this was denied by FEMA, on February 24, 2006, one month after payment was made to the ambulance company, an attachment was added to the contract, stating the contract began August 29th and ended December 31st. Dates on the invoices were from August 30, 2005 through January 12, 2006. The city was billed and paid $31,631. The ambulance company has repaid the city that amount.
Again, an ordinance must be passed by the council in order for the mayor to have authority to sign a contract. The council had no knowledge of this contract until brought to its attention by the auditor.
Problem 5: After Hurricane Katrina, the mayor and some other salaried employees received overtime compensation. The time sheets indicate that some worked multiple days, 24-hours a day. When this was submitted to FEMA for payment, it was returned. FEMA only pays this compensation when there is a prior established procedure. The administration responded by constructing minutes of a meeting held two days before the storm in which the mayor told the department heads and some other salaried employees they would be required to stay at City Hall a while. Upon these instructions, the group decided they should receive overtime pay. These minutes were an attempt to create a prior policy to allow the compensation. This was resubmitted to FEMA. The first checks paid by the City for overtime were on September 15th. Total paid to those attending the meeting was $44,000.
The City Charter requires the council to fix the pay of the mayor and approve the pay requested by the mayor for the department heads. Those receiving the overtime had no authority to pay themselves extra without council approval.
Checked but noted as a problem by the auditor: City paid a local company $4,000 a month for a storage warehouse from September through January, totaling $20,000. This was a large building and was used to stock supplies after the storm.
City Council: On September 15th the City Council held a special meeting to handle several ordinances the mayor needed passed in order to handle the emergency situation. The overtime, the ambulance contract, nor the construction contract were mentioned to the council. Being brought to the council’s attention by the auditor at the end of March, these things were unknown to the council before that time.
Almost everyday following the storm, most of the city council checked in at City Hall to get updates of the situation. Had the council been requested to have a special meeting at anytime from late August through September, there were enough members to constitute a quorum who could have attended.
On April 25th, the Council President, the auditor, the mayor, the city attorney, the city administrator, our state senator and our state representative attended a meeting with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor. At the end of the meeting, the state auditor told the council president he would meet with the city council to discuss his findings after the due date of the audit, June 30th.
TONIGHT’S AGENDA: Our agenda tonight includes ordinances authorizing the mayor to enter into contracts for the ball parks, North Royal Street bridge, VeeCor and Model Crafts.
The VeeCor and the Model Crafts work have been completed. Payments have been made and the city has received some insurance reimbursements. Work has been done at all three ballparks included. Avenue U and Davis Street ballparks are complete as far as I can tell. Avenue B complex ballparks, the work is almost complete, still needing a cover for one dugout/bleacher and completion of the light alignment. These things were being worked on today but he dugout roof is not complete as of this afternoon. The concession there does need repairs but was not shown on the request for bids and no work has been done on it to my knowledge. North Royal Street bridge has not begun as far as I can tell. The low bid for the work on the three ballparks is $237,900.
These are the facts as I understand them to be. Again, let me say that I am not trying to tell you these things were right or wrong, legal or illegal, just the facts. You can each make your own determination in that regard.
As I said in a previous meeting, the council was kept in the dark about these things until the auditor brought them to our attention. My feeling is that you have just as much right as the council does to know what is happening anytime in our city. If you have any questions or would like to see documentation, please feel free to see me later.
The only thing I won’t share are invoices showing names of ambulance patients and some notes from the auditor that are not public information until his audit is presented to the council in an open meeting. There is a confidentiality law that might govern those items.
While searching for articles about brush fires in Daily News archives, I ran across this one from October 2005. Excerpt:
The bad news is he might have to shut down operations in the city if he doesn't get some financial help soon from the federal government.
"I asked for $300,000 24 days ago," McGehee said Monday. "And I still have not received one dime. I gave them a deadline. If they don't come up with the money by Friday at lunchtime, I'm going to put the keys in the door and tell the city employees to go home because I can't afford to pay them."
McGehee said many city employees, including members of the police, fire and public works departments and the administration, worked pretty much non-stop for at least the first two weeks after the storm. And the overtime did not stop then.
The federal assistance is needed to pay overtime as well as contractors who are helping in the recovery, he said.
"All I want is the city's money back so we can continue to fight this battle," said McGehee. "We just don't have the means or the money to handle this tab alone. We've got to have some help."
McGehee said he cannot ask people to work without compensation.
That is often the question, in this rural area where many people incinerate their trash in open fires.
You can find out if there's a burn ban in effect here, the Washington Parish Government site. Look in the box on the right-hand side of the page.
And please use common sense if you're burning. There are worse things than an unkempt yard right now - like igniting your house, or starting a brush fire. We've had plenty of both since Katrina.
Clear the area around the fire, and wet it down. Don't use accelerants. Pick a day without wind; I can't believe the numbers of people who've tried burning debris in 15 MPH and higher gusts. Duh, people! Watch your fire. Stay out there, with the hose, and dampen it down if it gets too rowdy. Know what I mean? You can always burn the rest of it later.
Stay safe, and let's not overwork our volunteer fire crews.
A couple relevant Daily News articles:
Thursday morning fire
Out of control debris fires
Apparently the Louisiana state auditor has released a seven-page report of their findings on the actions taken post-Katrina by various Bogalusa authorities. My previous post here.
The owner of the Washington Parish Hard Copy message board is gonna post it in its entirety. Hallelujah! I don't have to wait for The Daily Snooze to do their job:
[IPs redacted - B]
From what's been printed in the papers so far, it seems unlikely that this report will be anything but damning.
Apparently the Louisiana state auditor has released a seven-page report of their findings on the actions taken post-Katrina by various Bogalusa authorities. My previous post here.
The owner of the Washington Parish Hard Copy message board is gonna post it in its entirety:
[IPs redacted - B]
I can barely contain myself, waiting for what I think is gonna be a damning document detailing malfeasance and stupidity.
Senators never voted on the merits of the bill, which would ban cockfighting in the state. Instead, they voted in favor of a parliamentary maneuver by Sen. Nick Gautreaux to divert the measure to a committee that has killed similar bills in previous years.
Senators voted 21-16 to approve the motion by Gautreaux, D-Meaux, sending it to the Senate Agriculture Committee, which is chaired by the pro-cockfighting Sen. Mike Smith, D-Winnfield.
We heard a weird sound from the woods, like a pig grunting, but the grunts were evenly spaced and went on and on.
I googled "nature sounds" and found this Smithsonian site where you can purchase CDs, including nature recordings. The page is full of samples to listen to. Sure helps figure out which critter you heard - in this case, an amphibian.
Scroll down to #143, The Grunt-Like Sound Produced by the Pig Frog. That's what is makin' a racket in the woods tonight.
The Washington Parish Humane Society, a private charity, was badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Falling trees smashed most of the cat facility. They were sheltered at the home of the org's president, Jan Applewhite.
The Greg Biffle Foundation is helping:
Aid for Animals: NASCAR Nextel Cup star Greg Biffle just picked up a new fan. I'm very partial to animals in general and dogs in particular and Biffle, through his Greg Biffle Foundation, has ponied up $50,000 this past week for aid to animal shelters in the New Orleans area that have been overwhelmed as a result of the damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Biffle and Nicole Lunders, of The Foundation, toured the New Orleans facilities and with the help of the Humane Society of the United States, identified the shelters that need immediate assistance. St. Tammany Humane Society, Ascension Animal Advocates, Washington Parish Humane Society and Hancock County Humane Society will receive $10,000 each for supplies and repairs. [emphasis mine.]
The Naredo family never thought they would end up here: in tents outside of Franklinton in Washington Parish. They said Hurricane Katrina cost them their jobs, their apartment in metairie, and their lifestyle.
