Tangipahoa Parish in trouble again

It's a lesson that ought to be read about and absorbed by all Washington Parish educators.

The Tangipahoa Parish School Board has been held in civil contempt of court by a federal judge for violating an August 2004 agreement over school prayer.

The order, issued this week by U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan, does not specifically name any school official as being in contempt, but orders the school board to pay attorneys fees to the plaintiffs who filed the motions.

The American Civil Liberties Union is representing a parent and two children who complained about prayers in Tangipahoa Parish public schools. They are unnamed in court documents.

The ACLU and the school board have tangled for three years over the proper role of religiously worded invocations at school events and then overseeing them through the consent order that attempted to settle the question.

Berrigan rejected the idea that student-initiated prayers or prayers said at off-campus events would comply with the prayer agreement. At issue were two school banquets in 2005 in which students offered prayers.

ACLU officials said the decision upheld religious neutrality in the schools. School officials said they disagreed with the ruling,but would abide by the order until they could consult with their attorney. Link

This is dumb, dumb, dumb. Public school personnel continue to defy court orders and the law, and will jeopardize the school district because they cannot shut the f*ck up.

It doesn't sound very Christian to me.

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Graduation? or church service?

Smokin'

Just before sundown, we spotted a tall black column of smoke in this general neck o' the woods:

















Heard no sirens, so I guess it was somebody burnin' trash.

Be careful with that stuff, folks.

Weather

Some areas have had rain in the past week.

Heck of a storm near us day before yesterday - high winds, plenty of rain.

Scorching hot temps - 95 today. Be careful out there!

Preston Hartzog, a/k/a "The Bogalusa Boogieman"

August 9, 1976 - June 21, 2006

Google results on "Preston Hartzog" - over 400 links

His sister's page

On other blogs and boards

Lively discussion about local politicians and law enforcement at the Hard Copy message board.

Usually good restaurant reviews, too. Well worth a daily read.

Fire trucks of June 8

Word is that the fire trucks that turned onto Spring Valley were responding to a burning trailer.

Word is that the trailer was vacant and wrecked, and the owner lit it up deliberately so he didn't have to pull it down.

Word is, he got worried and called 911. Or something like that.

I hope they send him a bill. What if there'd been a life-threatening fire while this dufus was too lazy to use a pry bar?

Drought

When I paid my water bill at Bogue Lusa Water Works last week, I asked the young lady behind the counter if we were feeling the effects of the drought, yet. Do we need to cut back our water usage?

She said, No.

Music

We've got a recording studio in the area, and they've got a website.

Studio in the Country.

Check it out. Pretty cool.

Legislative shenanigans

It's always hard to know where to start when it comes to the Louisiana legislature.

The cockfighting bill has died in committee, apparently. So all those "fine, upstanding" folks who supposedly make their living strapping knives on roosters and watching 'em kill each other... Well, they'll still have a livelihood, won't they?

I have yet to meet anyone who's raising their family on the proceeds from cockfighting.

..o0o..

Senator Ben Nevers has wasted our time - and thus, our money - again. By sponsoring a bill outlawing abortion, which will only take effect if the US Supreme Court strikes down Roe vs. Wade. The law does not allow exceptions for rape or incest.

So if your 13-year-old daughter is raped, you can:
1) take her out of state for an abortion; or
2) make her go through with the pregnancy, bear the child and give it up for adoption;
3) or, hell, keep it and raise it!

I'm sure she'd appreciate #2 and #3 the most, huh? Constant reminders of a horrifying event, eh? That's a fine example of how to respect life [sarcasm]!

Not to worry, I'm sure the surrounding states will be building abortion clinics a couple miles from Louisiana's borders. Those rich enough to afford the drive and the (probably) inflated fees... Life will go on for them as before. The poor won't have a choice.

There are about 200 kids in Louisiana waiting to be adopted. People are going to be lining up to adopt the babies of rape and incest victims, aren't they? We love kids so much, we're letting 200 languish in foster care and group homes. That will be a fine thought for the future of any of those rape and incest babies, very comforting for the mothers. Those kids are probably not likely to be adopted into loving homes, judging by Louisiana's numbers.

Respecters of life? Ha! "Christian" fascists, is more like it. Shame on you, Nevers.

Parish happenings

A local merchant sez a couple begging vagrants have been arrested by BPD.

Fire trucks sped south on Avenue F yesterday evening and turned on Spring Valley Road. I haven't found anyone who knows what happened.

According to the Washington Parish website, there's no burn ban at the moment. But it has been dry, so be careful with those fires, folks.

Hot today, but less humid than yesterday.

Got anything to add? Post it in the comments!

More kindness of strangers

In Boxford, Massachusetts, Walk-a-Palooza for Bogalusa:

Sixth-graders at Boxford’s Spofford Pond Elementary were likely rubbing their feet Friday night after spending part of the afternoon walking around Chadwick Field to raise money for charity. The students were taking part in the "Walk-a-Palooza for Bogalusa," a fund-raising event to help a Louisiana elementary school damaged by Hurricane Katrina last summer.

For each lap completed the students earned various amounts of money from the sponsors who signed up beforehand to support them. After each lap, a volunteer punched a hole in a card the students wore around their necks. After every fifth lap, the students received a Mardi Gras necklace. One of the hardest tasks for the walk-a-thon volunteers was keeping the students from running.

While there were volunteers with hole-punching devices and beads, there was also a handful of volunteers with spray bottles. Since spring finally decided to show up for real last weekend, the volunteers were there to make sure the walkers kept cool. Some of the students seemed to genuinely enjoy getting spritzed while others sped past the sprayers so they wouldn’t get wet. Most of the sprayers stayed off the course, but one of them, 5-year-old Wes D’Alelio, stationed himself in the middle.

"I think he’s having more fun than they are," said Kimberly D’Alelio, Wes’ mother. "He’s taking his job seriously."

Wes’ brother, Drew, was one of the walkers.

Boxford Parent-Teacher Organization Co-President Lisa Teichner said Tuesday the total raised by the students had yet to be determined as they were still collecting pledges.

Big hugs to Lisa Teichner, Boxford PTO, and Spofford Pond School.

Katrina's body count - higher?

My previous post on May 13 quoted a source saying that there were nine storm-related deaths in Washington Parish.

But does this article raise the total?

Tracy Tullos recalled the hospital staff of the Bogalusa Medical Center in Louisiana worked 24-hour shifts following Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005.

The former director of Social Services at Bogalusa Medical Center in Bogalusa, La., located approximately 45 miles north of New Orleans, was interviewed Saturday about the hurricane and its aftermath. [...]
"We planned for every contingency -- nuclear disaster, chemical warfare, tornadoes; even terrorism -- but we never planned for having no running water. And that was of paramount concern.

"We had patients requiring dialysis. Several of those patients died," she said.

Who were these patients? Were they all nursing home residents, and thus part of those nine nursing-home deaths? Or were there a couple more poor souls not counted in the article I referenced in my May 13 post?

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Katrina's Body Count