A Post Katrina Discovery

After almost five years post Katrina, volunteers recently discovered a house that was washed into a marsh by the storm from Bay St. Louis' Second Street




From The Sun Herald dot com

BAY ST. LOUIS — Volunteers from Idaho, Massachusetts and Wisconsin worked Friday to free a house from its swampy domain where it has rested since Hurricane Katrina blew it off Second Street.

Bay resident Chris Lagarde found the house in Magnolia Branch Marsh after investigating a bit of yellow and white painted wood he has noticed poking out of the swamp for two years.
He said he never dreamed there might be a house under it.

Lagarde, who works for U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, organized a field trip of college volunteers to begin pulling the debris out. They used planks to make their way about 400 yards to the house, which was surprisingly somewhat still intact.
The volunteers began dismantling the one-story wood house Tuesday. The debris piles are being placed in dumpsters, which will be emptied by the city, he said. Metal found in the home is being recycled.

“It’s probably one of those that washed off the block and when the tide went down, it settled in the marsh,” said Judy Steckler with Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain.

She said removing the debris will do much for the conservation of the wetlands there. “Once this is out, those grasses should grow back in that area,” she said.
David Weir with Mission on the Bay said volunteers found a surprise in the dishwasher. “It still had the dishes in there,” he said. “They’re all intact. Dirty, but intact.”

The home is believed to belong to Ed and Sandy Conrad, who lived on
View Map">Second Street during the hurricane, but relocated to Kentucky. Calls to the Conrads were unanswered.
The volunteers are trying to salvage some of the family’s personal belongings, Lagarde said.




Here's a transcript from NPR where Mr. LaGarde discusses finding the house:



NOAH ADAMS, host:

Think of the motion picture "Up." it's about a house carried away in the skies. In Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, you can make a picture called "Down," about a real house submerged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Chris Lagarde helped find this house. He works for a local congressman. He drives around a lot. Mr. Lagarde, you've been seeing this painted what -painted wood in the water for a long time?

Mr. CHRIS LAGARDE (Special Assistant, Office of Congressman Gene Taylor): For the last two years or so, yes.

ADAMS: And what does it look like or what did it look like?

Mr. LAGARDE: It looks like the roof of a house or the front part of a shed, maybe.

ADAMS: But you didnt suspect it was a house

Mr. LAGARDE: No, no, I just thought it was a part of a house.

ADAMS: Because there's lots of stuff in the water in a lot of places there.

Mr. LAGARDE: Right, everywhere down here, you still find debris. If you know where to look, you can find plenty of it.

ADAMS: Where is this one?

Mr. LAGARDE: It washed into a marsh. I think it's called Magnolia Branch. And it ended up in kind of the corner of a marsh, and it looks like when the water receded, the house just collapsed.

ADAMS: So you've been driving around for years now, looking at this piece of wood in the water, and how did you figure out it was a house?

Mr. LAGARDE: Well, I actually got the opportunity last week - some kids from the University of Idaho had come down. They I asked them if they were interested in walking through the marsh on boards, and they said, yes. They were foolish enough to tell me yes, and they were actually the first ones to get on top of the house, and they started screaming at me: Mr. Chris, it's a house, it's a house. And of course, I'm still thinking it's a shed. And I'm like, what do you mean, it's a house? It's a whole house.

ADAMS: And were you able to get inside of it?

Mr. LAGARDE: No because it had collapsed on itself. You could get in one of the dormers, but you could see the bathtub. There was a Viking kitchen range hanging off to one side. We were able to contact the owner. One of the kids had found an ice cooler with a name written on it. Dialed him up on the phone a couple hours later and told him what had happened, and they were pleased that we were going to take the house apart and anything we found, we're going to give to them.

And but a lot of the stuff we're finding is beyond use, but things like china and some crystal and some dishes were able to put on the side, and hopefully, we'll get them to the family.

ADAMS: Now, the family is where? Where do they live now?

Mr. LAGARDE: Well, the last I heard, the mother was in Prospect, Kentucky. I dont know where the two sons are and apparently the father is around. All I really know about the family was they lived in Bay St. Louis and they had a business on the Mississippi River.

ADAMS: You know, I've heard stories about houses being in the Bay St. Louis and out on the gulf. The Coast Guard said there were houses out there, but I had never heard of a house being in a bayou or a marsh.

Mr. LAGARDE: Yeah, it's amazing how close it is. I mean, from the top of the road, three minute walk. So you can, if you know what you're looking for, you can see the highway, and you can see the billboard on the highway. And it's just one of things, I guess we were all so busy with everything else after Katrina, you know, it was hard to rally troops to go pull a house out of the marsh. You know, as we get further and further away from Katrina, those things are making more sense.

And, you know, the idea would be to certainly get these people back anything we can and then restore that wetland, let the sunlight shine on it, and let it do what it's supposed to do.

ADAMS: Chris Lagarde, talking with us from Bay St. Louis. He drives around and looks for whatever he can find to help with in that city. Thank you, Mr. Lagarde.

Mr. LAGARDE: Thank you, have a good day. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

Sad Anniversary 2010

It's been two years since husband, father, professor, NOLA lover and blogger Ashley Morris passed away. There still is a void without him.




His wife Hana occasionally posts on the blog. Ashley and Hana had three children together. There is a fund set up to take care of his family at this link if anyone feels generous.

Here's a link to a tribute to Ashley from producer David Simon who - by the way - has crafted a character in the upcoming HBO series Treme after Ashley.

We all miss you Ashley....thanks for the help with the Saints this year!!!

Virtual Vietnam Wall

The link below is a virtual wall of all those lost during the Vietnam War
 with the names, bio's and other information on our lost heroes.  Those who remember that timeframe, or perhaps lost friends or family can look them up on this site.  Pass the link on to others, as many knew wonderful people whose names are listed
Here is the link.
First click on a state. When it opens, scroll down to the city and the names will appear. Then click on their names. It should show you a picture of the person, or at least their bio and medals. This really is an amazing website.  Someone spent a lot of time and effort to create it.

I hope that everyone who receives this appreciates what those who served in Vietnam sacrificed for our country.

Another brick off the wall

One down, six to go..........


The first member of the infamous "Danziger Seven" is expected to plead guilty in Danziger Bridge probe.

Associated Press Reporting

A third New Orleans police officer is expected to plead guilty in a federal probe of a deadly shooting in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.




A person familiar with the case said a bill of information is expected to be filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court against Officer Michael Hunter Jr. The person was not authorized to discuss the case and therefore spoke on condition of anonymity.

Michael Lohman

Jeffrey Lehrmann


Two former police officers, Michael Lohman and Jeffrey Lehrmann, already have pleaded guilty to a cover up after police killed two unarmed civilians and wounded four others on the Danziger bridge less than a week after the August 2005 storm.

A police report says Hunter drove officers to the bridge in a rental truck and fired three shots during the incident.

Prosecutors are running low on time, because most of the charges they would seek to bring have a five-year statute of limitations -- giving them a deadline of August or September 2010.

Update April 8th, 2010: Hunter pled guilty to obstruction of justice and here a link to his deposition about what went down on September 4th, 2005. Warning, not for the faint of heart.

Some reading this who are not familiar with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina may not recall the infamous 'Danziger Seven' Indicted in 2006 were:

click on picture for larger version


From left: Robert Barrios, Robert Faulcon Jr., Ignatius Hills, Robert Gisevius Jr., Kenneth Bowen, Anthony Villavaso II, and Michael Hunter Jr. (AP Photo) (AP)

Is there GOP leadership out there?

I'm usually not a political poster, too many nuances in politics for me to deal with. But lately this "tea party" bullshit has been gnawing at my nerves. Americans DON'T act like this against fellow Americans. What's wrong with this?



I read somewhere in the NOLA blogosphere about an editorial that says all of this violence is related to the GOP-ers reacting in fear about all the "non whites" taking over power in this country.

Well, good old boys, time to roll with the changes. High time to roll with the changes if you ask me.

Going to look for that link........................

Loki has a point.......

If you are a rabid Sarah Palin loving tea bagger, please read this:



Loki spells out what you REALLY mean when you spew the stuff that you spew


don't want socialized medicine? Take your parents off of Medicare.

RIP Marva Wright

Sigh.....Marva Wright, Blues singer, died at the young age of 62 this morning from complications related to several strokes she had earlier last year.



Appropriately titled "Walking Around Heaven", this article, written in 2006 discusses her feelings on Katrina's aftermath.

Heaven got an angel today. RIP, Miss Marva.

RIP Phil Johnson

Memories of this man: every night after the news he'd have an editorial. Then he'd pause (silently count to 6) and say "good evening".

Phil Johnson dies at 80.

wacko's

Until I read the columns linked below, I always thought I was being a little sensitive to some of the Republicans' insane rants and raves and lies against President Obama. But now that I read it in black and white, I see how crazy these people really, really are!!!

Entitled "An Open Letter to Conservatives", this hits the nail on the head

then there's an op ed called The Absence of Class which begins

A group of lowlifes at a Tea Party rally in Columbus, Ohio, last week taunted and humiliated a man who was sitting on the ground with a sign that said he had Parkinson’s disease. The disgusting behavior was captured on a widely circulated videotape. One of the Tea Party protesters leaned over the man and sneered: “If you’re looking for a handout, you’re in the wrong end of town.”

Another threw money at the man, first one bill and then another, and said contemptuously, “I’ll pay for this guy. Here you go. Start a pot.”


Yup, class missing there!

H/T to Greg Peters and Charlotte Hamrick via Facebook.

Fountainbleau State Park Links

These links are left for a person travelling thru our area interested about Fountainbleau State Park and Northlake Nature Center

here's one on the park and

here's one about Northlake Nature Center, virtually across the street from Fountainbleau

Scuzzbuckets.....Sick, sick, sick Scuzzbucket

I usually don't believe in lynchings, but after reading this story and looking at this video, I do. Reading the story made me immediately cry. The story starts at the 1:20 point of this video.




Police say they have rescued a severely malnourished 9-year-old Louisiana boy who was being held as a prisoner in his own home.

"He was weighing 38 pounds," Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's spokeswoman Kim Myers said. She the child was being held in the room with a dog leash.

He was also covered in bruises and burns on his face and body.

"He had a second degree burn on his back that was caused by a sock that had rice in that was heated up and was placed on his back," Myers explained his stepmother allegedly was responsible for the abuse.

Further allegations are even more graphic and outlined in the news release from the Sheriff's office below. Be warned the claims are disturbing.



Police say the stepmother, 27-year-old Jaime B. Day, is facing dozens of charges and locked up with a bond at more than $5 million. Her two children living in the house were reportedly not abused.

The new release says Day was "depriving the child of food, not allowing him to eat with the family but forcing him to watch the family eat. It was also determined the boy would be so hungry at times he would eat his own feces and drink his own urine to survive."

The child's biological father, 30-year-old Murray Day, turned himself in late Tuesday. His bail is set at $2 million.

Read the entire news release:

On February 19 the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office received a complaint from a woman living in Moss Bluff concerning the welfare of a nine year old child. When questioned by CPSO Deputy Jason Schnake, the complainant advised him the child was very thin and possibly being forced to stay in his bedroom. He also learned the child resided with his father and stepmother in south Lake Charles.

Schnake traveled to the house in south Lake Charles to check on the welfare of the child. Once inside the house he observed a dog leash that was tied from one door knob to another to keep a nine year old boy weighing 38 pounds inside the room where he was laying on the only thing in the room, a filthy foam pallet on top of box springs covered with blood. On the pallet was a bloody and urine saturated sheet. The smell of urine was very strong in the room. The boy was dressed in a t-shirt, shorts and wearing a diaper with multiple bruises to his body and face.

The boy was taken to the hospital where he stayed for 13 days. It was determined at the hospital his body temperature was 92 � which indicated he was in hypothermia due to malnutrition.

Further investigation revealed his stepmother, Jaime B. Day, 27, 2841 Southern Ridge Dr., Lake Charles, was depriving the child of food, not allowing him to eat with the family but forcing him to watch the family eat. It was also determined the boy would be so hungry at times he would eat his own feces and drink his own urine to survive.

There was a 2nd degree burn on the boy's back caused by Day placing a sock containing rice that was heated up on his back.

Day has been charged with 25 counts of cruelty to a juvenile and 2 counts of 2nd degree cruelty to a juvenile. Judge David Ritchie set her bond at $5.5 million. She has been booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center.

The father, Murry Dalton Day, 30, same address, is being charged with 5 counts of cruelty to a juvenile; and 1 counts of 2nd degree cruelty to a juvenile. Judge David Ritchie set his bond at $2 million. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. He is expected to turn himself into the Calcasieu Correctional Center today.

After examining the child, doctors have verified the injuries and the malnutrition are consistent with child abuse. Detectives have determined this abuse occurred from late last year until present.

There are two other children in the home � a 4 year old boy who is the biological child of the Day's, and a 6 year old boy who is Jaime Day's child and adopted by Murry Day. Those two children do not appear to have been abused. All three children have been removed from the home.

Six years ago, the biological mother of the 9 year old boy's parental rights were terminated when the Office of Community Service determined physical abuse had occurred. Murry Day was given custody of the boy at that time.

CPSO Detective Michael Primeaux is the lead investigator on this case. The investigation is continuing with more arrests possible.

The child was suffering from burns... there was blood and urine all over the room at the south Lake Charles home.

And of course, in cases like this, families of these abusive animals are coming to their rescue. From this website:
Several people, who know the family, have posted comments of support for Jaime, on our Facebook page. Some said the boy already had sever mental issues. Several attempts  have been made by  7 News to speak with these people, but no one has come forward. 7 News also attempted to speak with Jaime Day's attorney, Walter Sanchez. He also declined to comment.