Lighting of the Graves

I last posted about this two years ago .

This weekend, a beautiful tradition will carry on in the Slidell/Lacombe area. The day after Halloween, All Saints Day, is a day set aside by the locals to clean up the graves of their family members and "visit" with the departed.

From an article in the St. Tammany News Entitled Lacombe man trying to keep La Toussant tradition alive is the story of a seventy-two year old Lacombe man, Matthew Cryer.


Like he’s done since he was 6, Cryer is keeping the tradition of La Toussaint alive. Also known as “Lights of the Dead” or “Lighting of the Graves,” Cryer and about 200 people will help clean graves, light hundreds of candles and spiritually reunite with loved ones who have passed.



The day is similar to Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. And Lacombe is one of the only places in the country where the tradition, started in the 1880s by his Creole ancestors, exists.

“I’ve never missed one, and I don’t intend to start now,” Cryer said, sitting on a wooden chair outside his country home. “It’s our tradition.”

The tradition was launched in the 1880s when Choctaw Indians living in Lacombe lit ritual bonfires every November as beacons to guide ancestor spirits home. The Creole people, descendants of those Indians, eventually adopted the measure.

Now, other areas such as Slidell and Lafitte, and even Covington and Mandeville, perform similar rituals, but nothing like in Lacombe, where generations look forward to it every year, Cryer said. It’s a way of life.

And now he’s afraid it may be dying.

I hope he's wrong. It's quite beautiful.

Good stuff for NOLA

Here's a link to a website that will make you smile about New Orleans coming back post Katrina . Fastcompany dot com which details ideals like "New Orleans Kid Camera Project" and Green Coast Enterprises, a small real estate services firm that aims to build sustainable, storm-proof homes along the Gulf Coast. Current work includes Project Home Again, a project of the Riggio Foundation that plans to build energy efficient homes for families whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Finally, a website designed to make New Orleans FEEL GOOD about their recovery.

Thanks to Humid Haney for the link and smile.

Great Campaign Commercial

hattip to The Humid Haney Rant

There's another good one here

The Gray Ghost Sucks

Read about it here, at Humid City.

In a post written by NOLAREX, it details how this self serving asshole has taken it upon himself to paint over this artwork by British grafitti artist Banksy.

BEFORE

AFTER


He even went so far as to use people to pose as employees at New Orleans City Hall to convince building owners that they had to remove the work.

From the above link:


Before I could recover from the shock that was more chagrin than anything, another man who lives almost facing the wall of the store, confirmed. “Yeh, it’s that guy that goes around painting grey all over the neighborhood.” I was obliged to take a tour of the area where this gentleman showed me grey splotch after ugly grey splotch of the style of the Grey Ghost that I am already too familiar with. Indeed, the “woman from City Hall” arrived in a white van with the man who painted grey on the building across the street. What a coincidence!

Bigezbear: Does the RNC Something We Don't Know

From Bigezbeara discussion of the sad state of the mindset of the GOP but ends the post with a laugh (for me, anyway)

Progress

The Army Corps of Engineers has proposed spending $66.4 million to rebuild wetlands along the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and in Lake Borgne and also armor part of the lake's shoreline.






The plan is divided into three projects, each of which will take about 18 months to complete, and are expected to be built in succession:

-- The first project would use limestone rock to armor the shoreline of Lake Borgne at Shell Beach, with material dredged from within the lake brought in to rebuild wetlands between the shoreline and the MR-GO.

-- Next, the corps would use rock to protect the lake shoreline in two stretches at Bayous Dupre and Bienvenue.

-- The final project would fill in open water areas on the northwest side of the "golden triangle, " an area of wetlands sandwiched between the MR-GO and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. That project would be completed last to coordinate with the construction of a storm-surge barrier across the triangle that is part of the corps's "100-year" levee improvements, designed to protect the New Orleans area from surge caused by hurricanes with a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year.

The corps announced Thursday that it had authorized Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure Inc. to prepare for construction of the barrier and levee project, clearing the way for it to begin staging equipment and supplies in the area.

Some land acquisition in the footprint of the barrier project must still be completed, corps officials said.



The corps also has embarked on a broader study of how to restore wetlands and land features lost to erosion caused by ships and barges using the MR-GO and by construction of the ill-fated shipping channel itself.

That study was authorized by the 2007 Water Resources Development Act, but Congress must still approve and appropriate money for any projects it recommends.

The 2007 water act also ordered deauthorization of the MR-GO as a navigation channel. A $24.7 million rock dike is to be built across the channel at Bayou la Loutre in St. Bernard Parish by June 1, 2009.

The corps already has spent about $5 million of the $75 million appropriated by Congress in 2005 for a small wetlands-restoration project and some armoring along the MR-GO.


This brings us one step closer to realizing our goal of reducing risk from storm surge for the citizens of the greater New Orleans area,” said Lt. Col. Victor Zillmer, resident engineer for the project. “Mobilization efforts include staging equipment, conducting surveys, fabricating steel batter piles and spun cast piles used to anchor the barrier.”

The next steps include real estate acquisition and then the start of construction, which could begin in November with dredging, the corps said.

“Dredging will take about two months, and then we’ll begin driving piles to support the surge barrier,” Zillmer said.


View Larger Map

The surge barrier will extend from the Michoud floodwall north of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to the levee on the west side of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet just south of the existing Bayou Bienvenue control structure. The barrier will include a 150-foot surge gate and a 150-foot barge gate to facilitate navigation along the GIWW.

“The system will also feature a new navigable flood control sector gate at Bayou Bienvenue, a braced concrete wall across the MRGO and a concrete floodwall across the marsh between these waterways,” said Rick Kendrick, the corp's Hurricane Protection Office chief of program execution. The existing Bayou Bienvenue flood control structure would be maintained in its existing condition and could continue to be used to regulate high tides.

The corps expects to complete the project in 2011.

Iowa & FEMA

from an AP story:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday questioned a TV station's findings of high formaldehyde levels in agency-issued trailers and said the lifestyles and habits of the flood victims living in the trailers may be to blame.



Hmmm….sounds familiar, doesn't it?

For three years the residents of the Gulf Coast have been dealing with FEMA foolishness.

We've had the FEMA blame game

FEMA trying to selling surplus trailers to the general public to "raise money" to purchase more emergency housing.

FEMA offering to sell the trailers to residents for $13K

Luckily, there are the KatrinaRitaville Express activists out there, trying to educate people on what life is like in a FEMA trailer.

Dummy of the Day

Danny Willingham of eastern Slidell.




According to WWL TV
The wife told deputies that a family acquaintance told her that on three different occasions Danny Willingham offered him $10,000 to kill his wife. Strain said that none of the offers were accepted and no attempt was ever made on the wife’s life.



The couple co-operated the now closed Blue Dog Bait Shop on Hwy. 90 near the Mississippi state line. They were in the process of getting a divorce, but their community property agreement had not yet been reached.

The couple, who had a history of fighting, were in the midst of a “contentious property settlement,” when the murder-for-hire plot unfolded, Bonnett said.

The couple frequently fought over the ownership of the bait shop as well as the couple’s home, a tugboat parked on the Pearl River behind the shop at 47611 Louisiana Highway 90 in Slidell near the Mississippi border.

Willingham is no stranger to domestic violence arrests. In January 2006, he was arrested after he locked his wife inside the bait shop and used his backhoe to push “mounds of dirt and debris” against the door, preventing her from escaping, Bonnett said.

Stuck inside, she called authorities, who eventually arrived and opened the door.

But before Willingham was handcuffed, deputies allowed him to eat a sandwich and drink a Coke inside his store to quell his diabetes. He then asked to use the restroom.

He was granted permission, but only if a deputy escorted him to the bathroom.

Willingham “didn’t like that idea,” according to police reports and said, “I might as well just (urinate) on the floor.”

With that said he unzipped his pants and used the bathroom in front of deputies. In addition to false imprisonment and battery charges, the stunt also landed him obscenity charges, Bonnett said.

In January 2008, he was also arrested on domestic violence charges, including disturbing the peace, false imprisonment and resisting arrest.




Sounds like a real piece of heaven, doesn't he?

Scuzzbucket of the Week

From WWL TV:

A Slidell woman has been arrested and charged in connection with a case where the car she was driving struck and killed a Slidell man who was riding in his wheelchair along a Slidell area road, according to the St. Tammany Sheriff's Office.
St. Tammany Sheriff's Capt. George Bonnett reports that 40-year-old Kimberlin Edwards has been charged with vehicular homicide, driving under the influence, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, and having an open container in the vehicle.

The accident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. along Donya Drive in the Slidell area. Capt. Bonnett says that deputies received word that a vehicle struck a man in a three-wheel motorized vehicle.

Witnesses told deputies that they saw a white Buick Rendezvous, driven by Edwards, traveling at a high rate of speed along the roadway when the accident occurred. The 53-year-old victim died at the scene. His name has not yet been released by the St. Tammany Sheriff's Office.

According to Capt. Bonnett, Edwards and a female passenger were located nearby. He adds that both Edwards and the passenger were taken to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Capt. Bonnett says that Edwards failed an intoxilyzer test.

NOLA provides an example on surviving the latest American "tragedy"

True to form, Mark over at Toulouse Street "writes a letter" to America regarding how to handle the stress the last few weeks have brought in his post " Buddy can you spare some bootstraps "




New Orleans has rehearsed the complete collapse of the American Dream for the last three years, and yet every day you can find us at the neighborhood bar sipping a cold one while discussing the Saints and the venality of politicians, or at that restaurant around the corner getting a po-boy. Life goes on. Come the Fourth of July, you’ll find Going Fourth on the River, a bit choked up as we watch the bright red, white and blue bombs bursting in air. No, we don’t believe in that old American Dream anymore, at least not in the way you still do, America. We have a clear-eyed take on what government has become, what insurance companies (for us) or banks (for the rest of you) are really about.........If you want a lesson on how to survive the next few years, I suggest you hop on a plane or gas up the car and come on down to New Orleans–before someone cuts up those credit-cards–and we’ll show you how it’s done, and throw in a good time to boot.



thanks, Mark.

The November 4th Ballot

You'll be voting for more than the next president on the ballot in two weeks.

There are several amendments on the ballot which will require you to do some homework to make an intelligent decision.




Here are some websites that explain the ballots in plain english:

The Bureau of Government Research"
The Bureau of Governmental Research is a private, nonprofit, independent research organization dedicated to informed public policy making and the effective use
of public resources for the improvement of government in the New Orleans metropolitan area.

They have created a comprehensive report that details - in everyday English - each of the four constitutional amendments on the ballot. This is the place to go to make a wise decision on the amendments.

SOS LOUISIANA DOT GOV
The Louisiana Secretary of State
skip to main | skip to sidebar Thanks, Katrina
Observations from Slidell, Louisiana, where - along with the rest of the Gulf Coast - we are coming back from Katrina's wrath
Trying to keep the world aware that we are still not okay 3 years post Katrina.

Showing posts for query BGR.ORG. Show all posts Showing posts for query BGR.ORG. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
This Saturday's Election

Curious about all the stuff the ballot this Saturday? Here are some resources.

BGR.ORG
The Bureau of Governmental Research is a private, nonprofit, independent research organization dedicated to informed public policy making and the effective use of public resources for the improvement of government in the New Orleans metropolitan area.

They have created a comprehensive report that details - in everyday English - each of the constitutional amendments on the ballot. This is the place to go to make a wise decision on the amendments.

SOS.LOUISIANA DOT GOV
The Louisiana Secretary of State
Here you can find sample ballots by Parish

Vote Smart dot org.
By typing in your zip code on the left hand of the page, you will
be presented with all the information you need in making decisions in
this election. It doesn't include the amendments, but is chock full of
information about the candidates and incumbents.

CABL dot org
The Council for a Better Louisiana
In depth information of both the candidates and the amendments.

LA-PAR dot org
Louisiana Public Affairs Research Council
For a pdf guide to the constitutional amendments click here

Vote LA dot org
By putting in your address at this website you will be given a sample ballot
to familiarize yourself with the candidates and amendments. This site doesn't explain the amendments, though.


Proposed Amendments

1. Term Limits for Members of State Boards & Commissions
2. Time Limits for Calling Special Sessions
3. Temporary Successors for Legislators Ordered to Active Military Duty
4. State Severance Taxes to Parishes
5. Transfer of Special Property Tax Assessment Level
6. Re-Sale of Certain Expropriated Property
7. Investment of Non-Pension Benefit Trusts

So there you go. Vote informed.

addendum: I went and voted on the first day of "early voting" and it took an hour from when I arrived at the polling place. Lots of people interested in this election.