Thank You (Memorial Day)

My thanks to all who have served

Still Not Okay-33 months later

Think everything's still "hunkey dorie" down here, almost three years (or 1,002 days) after Katrina?

Think again.

Here's a blog written by a student from Columbia College in Missouri. They recently came down to Slidell to gut a house in the Bayou Liberty area


Thanks, Guys!

Scuzzbuckets of the Week

Two supposedly grown men in Slidell went after each other after a baseball game involving eight year old kids.

According to the TP
A Slidell baseball coach delivered a series of blows against another coach and slashed through the air with a baseball bat after tossing his wife from his back in a video of a Monday night brawl at a youth baseball game that shows events more violent and one-sided than initial police accounts.

The squabble, which brought out eight police officers, ended with the arrests of Jason Chighizola, 32, who is a board member with the baseball association, and Robert Johnson, 34. Both men, who each had a son playing for their teams, were booked with simple battery and disturbing the peace by fighting.

Monday night's game at the Slidell Bantam Baseball Association's fields near Old Spanish Trail seemed routine. The players, including both coaches' sons, played a clean game and had gathered at the center of the field to shake hands. But though his players abided by the show of good sportsmanship, Chighizola apparently refused to shake Johnson's hand, O'Neill said.

The two exchanged heated words, which Chighizola described as Johnson's attempt to provoke him as he tried to walk away toward the dugout.

"I tried to walk away from the confrontation," said Chighizola, 1008 Woodview Drive, Slidell. "He refused to let it go."

Johnson, 218 Crescentwood Loop, Slidell, declined to comment on the incident Wednesday.

After Johnson called him out, Chighizola said, he walked back to the opposing coach.

That's when the fists started flying.

When Chighizola got close, Johnson flinched as if he were preparing to hit him, O'Neill said. Chighizola said Johnson hit him lightly in the chest as he moved.

Chighizola struck, hitting Johnson above his left eye and leaving a cut that would require stitches, O'Neill said.

"Obviously I regret that," Chighizola said. "Hindsight being 20-20, I wish I had just walked away."

Spectators began to rush the field, spouses began yelling at each other and some people tried to separate the two men, he said.

As the crowd approached, Johnson grabbed a nearby bat and began swinging it in an apparently defensive effort to keep others at bay, O'Neill said. No one was hit by the bat, he said.

Chighizola was arrested on the scene and Johnson was taken to a local hospital, where he received stitches for the cut above his eye, before being booked in Slidell City Jail, O'Neill said.

The feud between the two men apparently dates back six months to a year, said Dennis Neyland, president of the baseball association and head of a committee formed to investigate the incident.

Chighizola said the bad blood started when he was chosen to coach an All Star baseball team over one of Johnson's relatives. Neyland said Johnson told the league's investigative committee a different reason for the dispute but did not elaborate on what Johnson said.

Whatever the cause, the fight could have serious repercussions for both men. If convicted, their charges could bring up to nine months in jail and more than a $1,000 in fines.



It's really pathetic when adults can't be role models for their children because of their precious egos. This is nothing new. There are parents out there whose children play sports that are unbelievably immature and obnoxious when they should be thinking about teaching their kids sportsmanship. I feel sorry for the children of these dolts.

Victory for NOLARISING

The Details of the Victory over the Grey Ghost and His Personal Vendetta Against NoLA Rising

image from toulouse street website

Southern Breeze Article

From the spring edition of Southern Breeze Magazine, a nice article about New Orleans and its residents:



Like Clark Kent’s transformation into Superman, Ritz-Carlton server Daniel Victory shows his New Orleans pride



Maybe it’s always been there, but maybe it’s become more apparent since Hurricane Katrina. One thing is certain: New Orleanians love their city! And they don’t care who knows!

You see it on car bumpers: a slogan touting the Crescent City or the ubiquitous fleur de lis. Ahhh, those fleur de lis…they’re everywhere and not just on the baseball caps of New Orleans Saints fans. It has become the unofficial logo of this city that came so close to…well, we all know what could have happened. As bad as Katrina was, all New Orleanians hold one truth self-evident: it could’ve
been a lot worse!

The old saying goes that “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone” almost happened. Luckily, New Orleanians do know what they have—a one-of-a-kind culture like nowhere else in America. Sure, they celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile and you can get great shrimp po-boys in Biloxi and jazz fills the streets of St. Louis and Memphis…but it’s just not the same. It’s just not New Orleans.

New Orleans has inspired writers as diverse as William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, John Kennedy Toole, Mark Twain, Anne Rice, and legions of others. Singers, songwriters, and musicians have memorialized its people and places through the ages from the smoky sounds of Louis Armstrong to the revelatory soul of the Neville Brothers to Harry Connick Jr.’s silky crooning to the rollicking rhythms of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band or the Southern fried rock of Gov’t Mule. Strains of jazz, blues, rock, country, soul, R and B, Zydeco…they all coalesce with the heavenly aroma of the food that is only one part of the city’s distinctive magic.
And do I need to even discuss the food? I thought not. The term “culinary tourism” was created for New Orleans because where else would you rather be and spend your entire vacation sampling one mouth-watering delicacy after another? As for before and after dinner drinks: Hurricanes? Sazerac cocktails? Dixie Beer? It’s all good!
But all of this—the music, literature, food, drink, culture, architecture—would not amount to a pile of red beans and rice without the people. New Orleanians are proud, resilient, and a force to be reckoned with. Strike up a conversation with any local—native or transplant, it doesn’t matter—and you would think they all work for the Convention and Visitors Bureau!

But they all have one thought in the back of their collective minds they dare not
utter: “We almost lost it all.” True, some scars are far from healed, neighborhoods still stand in a “Katrina time warp” and they grieve for a city that will be
whole again. And while New Orleanians have always had a celebratory spirit, they fight just as hard to bring back City Park, Lakeview, and all their brothers and sisters scattered across the country.

Proud without being boastful, New Orleanians have rallied around their city and each other. As the population begins to inch upward to pre-K levels, old businesses
reopening bigger and better than before and new ones moving in, the streets, restaurants, shops, museums, parks, schools, theaters, and hotels are flooded
with old neighbors and new friends, natives and newbies.

After a recent trip to New Orleans, I started to lament the brevity of
my visit before I got across Lake Ponchatrain. I finally started to understand Satchmo’s jazz classic…now I know what it means to miss New Orleans (but I’ll be heading back as soon as I can!)
—Mark A. Newman


Mark said this article will be online in the near future, but I just wanted to share it now.

On the cusp of yet another hurricane season, during the midst of a rainy mid May afternoon, I ran across something in the WWL tv website that brings back memories of a New Orleans television/meteorlogical icon:

NASH ROBERTS @ 90

As a scientist, Nash Roberts looks at weather disasters, from Katrina to the more recent cyclone in Myanmar and earthquake in China, and sees these events not caused by years of man disrespecting the Earth, but more as a natural process.



From neworleansradiotheathre dot org, the history of this scientist who became the one to trust during hurricane seasons:

Long before Weather forecasters got to be television celebrities, Nash Roberts was forecasting weather conditions for areas as far away as the Gulf of Tonkin for his clients. It was said that no banana boat left South America without Nash's blessing, or rather, his forecast. Oil companies contracted Nash's company to get information about taking their crews off of their oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico during hurricane seasons.

The Nash Roberts forecasting accuracy was introduced to the TV screens of New Orleans soon after Ch 6 signed on the air and continued on WDSU-TV for over a quarter of a century in the 5PM, 6PM aand 10PM news programs as well as the "Midday" program.The people in New Orleans and the surrounding areas never said: "I wonder what the weather will be like." Instead, they asked: "What does Nash say?" When Nash finally retired from the broadcasting scene, he left several TV weathermen and their fancy radar and electronic presentations battling to assume his title and position as THE weather authority for the Gulf South. Nash Roberts was inducted into the GNOBA Hall of Fame in 1994.


Here's a link of Nash in action, predicting Hurricane Andrew's landfall No flashy storm maps or animations, he was at home using only his markers and experience to predict storms paths.

From a 1998 article in the New York Times
Mr. Roberts is often criticized by other meteorologists for deviating from National Weather Service reports, which he refers to derisively as 'the house thinking.'

'Some weathermen get unhappy because I don't always follow the Federal line, but if I have evidence to the contrary it'd be criminal not to give it,' he said.

Locals know a storm is serious simply when Mr. Roberts appears on the screen. 'They see me in the store buying my mark-up pens and they follow me around asking when the storm's hitting,' said Mr. Roberts, whose successful predictions, he said, come from treating each storm individually and keying in on the factors and the environment that await it.

'You're like a detective tracking someone,' he said.'You never know their next move.' Mr. Roberts said Hurricane Georges tipped its hand when the high-pressure system steering it stopped and the storm headed east.

He sometimes refers to computers as 'newfangled gimmicks,' but Mr. Roberts insists he consults the same reports and computer printouts sent to other stations. He also uses data from the oil rigs in the gulf, his private clients. With compasses and protractors, he calculates wind directions and plots each storm's path.

'We all get the same information, but it's what you do with it that makes the difference,' he said.

Here's another link of Nash talking about Katrina.

Katrina was the only hurricane that Nash evacuated for.

Happy Birthday, Nash!

fema's doing WHAT?

Lynn Henderson, who lives with her four children in a Federal Emergency Management Agency mobile home in Richton (Mississippi), is outraged by the agency's latest offer.

FEMA has offered her and other Hurricane Katrina victims still living in emergency housing the opportunity to purchase their agency-provided mobile homes. She says FEMA has deluged her with phone calls and sent her a letter that said the asking price is $13,000.

FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said the agency won't sell units that test high for formaldehyde. He could not say what FEMA has determined to be a safe level.



from the Washington Post:

FEMA hurriedly bought the 145,000 trailers and mobile homes via no-bid contracts just before and after Katrina hit the coast in August 2005. But the purchase quickly became problematic, with some communities refusing them for a variety of reasons.

FEMA was forced to put trailers on the market, selling them to anyone for 40 cents on the dollar.

In January, however, the emergency agency offered to buy them back, for their original purchase price, because of concerns that the trailers are tainted with formaldehyde. The agency said it is making the offer because of concerns about “possible adverse health effects” associated with the trailers.

And now they're selling them again. Unbelievable


In January FEMA was forced to put trailers on the market, selling them to anyone for 40 cents on the dollar.

Yesterday, however, the emergency agency offered to buy them back, for their original purchase price, because of concerns that the trailers are tainted with formaldehyde. The agency said it is making the offer because of concerns about "possible adverse health effects" associated with the trailers.

Another Katrina Victim

Howie Luvzus posts on the recent death of
7-year-old Christopher Jacobs, who fell into an unguarded, algae-covered pool behind a neighboring empty house and drowned when he tried to retrieve a soccer ball. Christopher apparently had chased the ball into the yard, not realizing the bright green surface hid water.

Sad, sad story. What's even sadder is the comment left on Howie's post.

Tolouse Street Gets it Right

Mark Folse responds to a Reuters article on yahoo that shows that the memory of the masses is short lived.

Here's an excerpt from this article


Americans get lots of warning when a storm threatens, can use their own cars or public transit to escape on efficient, paved evacuation routes, have sturdy homes or tall buildings to protect them from a flood and plenty of food and medical care in the aftermath, said emergency management experts at a hurricane conference in Fort Lauderdale.

Like I said, people have short term memory problems, but those of us who experienced the immediate aftermath of Katrina - the DAYS it took for us to get any kind of help - know better than the so called "emergency management experts".

Another rebirth

FORT PIKE REOPENS

After nearly three years after the winds and storm surge from Hurricane Katrina
beat it up, Fort Pike is reopened to the public.



From the Baton Rouge Advocate
Fort Pike State Historic Site, on U.S. 90 just south of the Rigolets Bridge, is open to the public once again. It is the last property operated by the Louisiana Office of State Parks to be reopened after Hurricane Katrina caused massive damage in 2005.

One of Louisiana’s more fascinating historic sites, Fort Pike was begun in 1819 and completed in 1826. It was named for the explorer and soldier Gen. Zebulon Montgomery Pike whose name is attached to Pike’s Peak in the Rocky Mountains. Visitors to the site can quickly grasp the importance of this fort, which sits between Lake Pontchartrain and Lake St. Catherine and overlooks the Rigolets, the narrow passage that ships used to enter Pontchartrain from the Gulf of Mexico.

At the official reopening of the historic site, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, whose offices oversees the Office of State Parks, talked about the fort’s importance in protecting the Port of New Orleans. He said the fort played an integral part in Louisiana’s military history.

Stand outside the fort’s thick walls. Take a look at the watery surroundings, and you quickly realize just how important the fort was to the protection of Louisiana. The fort, a brick and masonry structure, was designed to withstand attack from land or sea.

Although the United States survived the War of 1812, the British destruction of our nation’s capital and their attack on New Orleans emphasized the weakness of our country’s defense. To prevent a foreign invasion from occurring again, President James Monroe ordered the placement of an extensive coastal system. The new fortifications, along with the old ones, stretched along the entire Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.

Along with nearby forts Jackson and St. Philip, Fort Pike defended New Orleans from nautical assaults. During the Seminole Wars in the 1830s, Fort Pike served as a staging area for soldiers en route to Florida. It also was a collection point for hundreds of Seminole prisoners and their black slaves who were being transported to Oklahoma. During the Mexican War in the 1840s, the fort was a stopover for troops bound for Texas and Mexico. During the Civil War, the fort was held by Confederates until Union forces reoccupied the fort, using it for raids along the Gulf Coast. The Union also used Fort Pike as a training center, where former slaves were taught to use heavy artillery. These troops became part of the United States Colored Troops who played a role in many battles.

Not just for history buffs, Fort Pike offers a fantastic view of the Rigolets Pass.

Fort Pike was officially abandoned in 1890. In 1972 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Fort Pike is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday through Monday (Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day). Entrance fee is $2 per person. Free for seniors age 62 and older and children age 12 and younger. Groups are asked to call in advance. For information, contact (888) 662-5703 or (504) 255-9171. Also send e-mail to fortpike@crt.state.la.us.

New Orleans East update

One of the hardest hit areas by Katrina, New Orleans East is very slowly coming back to life. It's evident from I-1O going into and out of New Orleans.

Building Better Communities, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the rebuilding of homes and lives in the devastated city of New Orleans, will host its grand opening in eastern New Orleans May 17 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 10555 Deer Park, Building 9, near Lake Forest Boulevard.


New Orleans East residents will once again have access to a community health clinic
Operation Blessing operated the clinic from April '06 thru December '07.


Operation Blessing, an international, faith-based group, had operated the clinic from April 3, 2006 through Dec. 21, 2007. The Charity Hospital system began operating the clinic April 28, said Dr. Cassandra Youmans, the system's medical director for outpatient clinics and services.
.

"We will be able to see all patients regardless of their ability to pay," she said. "Some will be sent bills based on ability to pay. Others will qualify for free care."

The clinic will be staffed with two full-time physicians, one nurse practitioner, one medical assistant, a certified wound-care specialist and one hospital admission technician.

The staff ought to be able to see more than 70 patients a day, Youmans said.

The clinic will provide preventive care, acute primary care, prenatal care and link patients to mental-health care, including counseling and affordable medications, she said.

Walk-ins will be accommodated, but the clinic prefers patients to make an appointment by calling 245-7951.

Operation Blessing is providing modular buildings for the clinic and the Greater St. Stephens Full Gospel Baptist Church is providing the land. The clinic is being financed by patient fees, federal grants and state money, Youmans said.

Levee Stories

From MSNBC dot com, May 2008
Army Corps says condition of levees unknown
Agency that oversees nation's levees lacks inventory of thousands of them.

The Army Corps of Engineers made a startling revelation in the light of recent storms in the US which have seen numerous people killed saying they have no inventory of the country's levees and no idea of their condition.

Recent wet weather in the US is creating concern within the Corp which oversees levees. A University of California at Berkeley levee expert said when an inventory is finally produced "I think we're not going to like what we find."

Last year, the National Levee Safety Act was passed in the US congress which so far has failed to provided funding for the inventory of levees the act promised and isn’t likely to do so until 2009.

Today, about 2,000 levees are either operated by the corps or by local entities in partnership with the corps, generally protecting major population areas such as St. Louis and New Orleans.

Thousands of others _ no one is sure how many _ are privately owned, operated and maintained. The majority of those are "farm" levees keeping water out of fields, but some protect populated areas, industries and businesses.

Here's a pdf list of "levees of maintenance concerns" compiled in February 2007. This list accompanied a blog post I did last May about the fact that substandard levees - the cause for New Orleans' flooding after Katrina - are not just located in the deep south.

Couldn't have said it better....

Michael Homan discusses the hypocracy of the Bush administration regarding their recent comments on the Myanmar and China disasters.

I couldn't've said it better. Thanks, Michael

Scuzzbuckets of the Week

Reggie and Kimberly Colliers of Haughton, Louisiana
HUD has charged them with housing discrimination.

The are former owners of
"Camp Joy Marina" in Haughton which is in north Louisiana. In September 2004, Reggie Collier observed an African-American woman and a white couple viewing a property for sale in the development. Believing the African-American sales agent to be the potential homebuyer, Collier allegedly called the office of the real estate firm listing the property and stated that he did not want "those kinds of people" moving into the development. In addition, Collier allegedly threatened to disconnect water and sewer service to the home if the firm sold the home to African-Americans.

The HUD charge now goes before an administrative law judge who may award damages to each complainant for actual loss as a result of the alleged discrimination, as well as damages for emotional distress, humiliation, and loss of civil rights. The judge may also order injunctive and other equitable relief to deter further discrimination. Additionally, the judge may impose a maximum civil penalty of $16,000 for each violation for the first offense, in addition to actual damages for each complainant and order payment of attorneys' fees. Sanctions can be more severe if a respondent has a history of housing discrimination.

We Can Feel & Understand Their Pain

Formerly known as Burma, the country of Myanmar is reeling from a Cyclone Nargis, which wielded maximum sustained winds around 130 mph with gusts ranging from 150-160 mph. This made it a strong Category 3 or minimal Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

Many people were killed in a 12-foot tidal wave.

The cyclone pummeled Yangon for more than 10 hours from Friday night into Saturday, with 20 inches of rain. Reminiscent of claims immediately following Katrina, there are news reports of up to 40,000 killed.

Myanmar


Louisiana


Video from the scene showed residents in some areas hacking their way through downed trees and trudging through knee-deep, swirling brown water. Thousands of tropical trees had been ripped up and thrown down, some into roadways.

Myanmar


Louisiana


Myanmar


New Orleans


Even without the destruction from the cyclone, travel and communications can be difficult in the country because of its weak infrastructure, said David Mathieson, an expert on Myanmar with Human Rights Watch, a private organization.

In Yangon, he said, people usually get only five or six hours of electricity a day, and some remote areas have no access to electricity. “So the fact that electricity is down is not really that important,” he said.

While Myanmar's ruling military junta has been accused of not warning the public about the approaching cyclone, witnesses say state media did report the storm -- it just came too late.

Officials said they would open the doors of their closed and tightly controlled nation to international relief groups. So far, most foreigners and all foreign journalists have been barred from entering the country.


Witnesses and residents said the military had been slow to respond to the devastation of the cyclone, and some suggested that the government’s performance could affect the vote in an upcoming election for a new consititution.
Residents of the country, formerly known as Burma, said that they were being pressured to vote “yes” and that riot police officers had been patrolling the streets before the cyclone in a show of force that was more visible than their relief efforts afterward.

Here's a link for organizations accepting donations to help.

• International Committee of the Red Cross
• World Food Programme
• Save the Children
• World Vision
• UNICEF
• International Rescue Committee

Finally Home

Head on over to Tim's Nameless Blog and wish him congratulations for finally moving
into a place he and his family can call home.

Jazz Fest 08

Sunday had the perfect weather for Jazz Fest. Incredible. Lots of people, but everyone was peaceful.



Keb Mo. His music soothes.




Sonny Landreth was electric

Terance Blanchard @ Jazz Fest

Read the well written experience of watching Terance Blanchard at Jazz Fest today.


Mark Folse's usual eloquence retells the experience of hearing Blanchard's A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina), accompanied by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.



You can buy the album here

Listen to samples from the album here

I don't think so!

from NOLA dot com:
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana has asked a federal judge to award the organization more than $65,000 in attorneys fees and court costs, stemming from a ruling earlier this month that said Slidell officials broke the law by hanging a portrait of Jesus on the wall at Slidell City Court.

Who asked these ass hats to come in and cause a ruckus? Everyone is entitled to their opinion of this organization and mine is that they should just go away.

The ACLU said plaintiff "John Doe" and others "have suffered, or shall suffer, damages, including mental anguish and emotional distress" from viewing the image.


the picture is still on display, joined now by more than a dozen other images of historic lawmaking figures, and there are no plans to remove the image.

"This is the first case I know of that upholds a display of a picture of Jesus," Douglas Laycock, professor of constitutional law at the University of Michigan Law School, told Cybercast News Service. "It is significant."

Spillway imagery

Schroeder has a post including incredible satellite photos of the lost sediment that could have been used to restore Louisiana’s dying wetlands and disappearing coastline is falling off the continental shelf.

Why New Orleans rules

Check out the Lady of Perpetual Crawfish grotto.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

public high school principal who posted the names of two boys on a list of students believed to be couples, revealing their relationship to their parents as well as other students and teachers, violated the students’ constitutional right to freedom of association, the American Civil Liberties Union charged Tuesday. …


Of the couples gathered, and displayed on the educator’s desk, homo-partners Andrew and Nicholas received special attention, especially when Beasley - or Beastly - approached Nicholas’ mother and essentially outed him. The principal also told the woman that she disapproved of such behaviors. And that’s hardly the worst of it…

The honor student [Nicholas] underwent further humiliation, in addition to verbal harassment, when taken out of the running for a class trip to New Orleans related to rebuilding efforts, as a risk to the school’s image; Nicholas was told that there were fears he’d embarrass the school by engaging in “inappropriate behavior.”



This website offers the email address of said prinicpal

Here's the ACLU's report

Farmer's Market in Slidell

For those local citizens who have longed for a true farmer’s market on this side of the lake, take heart: the Camellia City Market opened in Slidell’s Griffith Park Saturday, April 26th .

“This has been a dream of mine forever,” said Mary Dubuisson of STARC Cleaners. “I’m just beside myself that it’s finally happening.”

UPDATE:

Here are pictures from the first Farmer's Market. Surprisingly, no produce was there:






There were fresh herbs,


Hot tamales....


Doggie Snacks....


Wonderful Mediterranean food


Tasty Italian fare...


Fresh Honey....


Crawfish Etouffe....


and live music...


I think it was a great turnout and look forward to seeing this Saturday morning market grow and thrive, especially since Katrina took Slidell's only outlet for fresh produce and dairy products, Cap's.

After nearly three years, I don't think Cap's will be opening up, despite the
promises of this sign.


Here's the background of the birth of this market:

Mary Dubuisson was one of a group of interested residents who first approached Slidell Mayor Ben Morris in 2002 with a plan for starting the market. The idea never quite materialized, however, and various circumstances forced it into limbo for a while.

Then that same group of people turned up in Leadership Northshore 2008. Sponsored by the East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce, the program divides participants into several small committees, each of which is required to stage an event that has an impact on the community.

The mission of the market made it a natural fit.

“We want it to be an economic stimulus for Olde Towne, but also to generate revenue for the city at large,” said Capt. Kevin Foltz of the Slidell Police Department. “We also intend at some point to donate our profits back to charitable organizations in the community.”

The group’s main issues are mental health and prevention of childhood obesity, which is one reason the park, with its playground and gym equipment, ties in well with that theme. Eventually they hope to add senior citizens’ issues to the program, and Dubuisson is working on getting discount vouchers for seniors to use at the market.

Foltz said they don’t know how long it may take to start realizing enough profit to make regular donations, but at some point the group expects to have a grant application process in hand.

As for potential economic impact, Foltz cited research showing that more than 80 percent of those who shop at outdoor markets also spend money in the surrounding area. That’s a statistic that should be music to the ears of many established Olde Towne businesses, as well as those that are new or returning, such as the Victorian Tea Room on Carey Street.

In order to be a true farmer’s market, only homegrown or home-produced consumables may be sold.

“It can’t be something like birdhouses,” said Foltz. “But say someone has a great recipe for spaghetti sauce that they make and bottle themselves, or grows their own flowers and vegetables, those things are perfect.”

At last count, 12 vendors had signed up for the market, with at least half a dozen more in the application process. Booths are $20 per week for a 12-foot by 12-foot booth. By paying in advance for four weeks, vendors can also receive a discounted price of $15 per week. A table and two chairs will be provided, but vendors are encouraged to bring their own canopy.

Modeling the project after the Crescent City Farmer’s Market in New Orleans, the group is also looking for local chefs and entertainers to participate. Volunteers are also needed to sell cold drinks and coffee and to staff the information booth.

The project has the full backing of the Slidell City Council, which awarded a $5,000 grant last fall toward the market’s startup. Many others have stepped forward to contribute, such as Creative Trophy, which donated nametags to the group.

Other members of the group are David Achary, Cheri Webster, Julie Watson, Michelle Partridge, Ann Mannella, Dana Fatic and Dinah Dyer.

Dubuisson noted the level of support and cooperation from the community that the project has received.

“Whether they own property in Olde Towne or they just like to spend time down there, people are excited about this because they understand that now is the time to work together,” she said.

Webster agreed and cited what has become an unofficial motto for the group.

“All these things are happening because people are working together,” said Webster, executive director of the Mental Health Association of St. Tammany. “It can’t happen by one person working alone.”

The market will be open each Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and an official grand opening and ribbon cutting is set for June 7. For more information call 640-8291.

What a Maroon

Bill Clinton - in a speech supposedly for his shrew who is running for president - recently talked about Bill Clinton in the small town of Lock Haven (pop. 9,000), hours away from Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.



. . . . I am working on rebuilding the Katrina area in New Orleans. . . .




Boy Bill, that's sure a big job!!!

This guy's got a problem

Fred Radtke, aka "the gray ghost". Who does he have in his pocket?
From New Orleans City Business Website

On April 19 a customer walked into Mojo Coffee House on Magazine Street and told employee Alicia Adams there was a strange man outside painting the side of the building.

Adams stepped outside and saw a white van parked across the street with several men standing in front of it staring at her. She looked to her left and that’s when she saw him, a tall, stocky man wearing dark sunglasses.

Adams recognized the man immediately. It was Fred Radtke, the self-appointed scourge of graffiti.

Adams said Radtke didn’t pay any attention to her. He walked across the street, grabbed another roller out of his van, walked back across the street and began to paint over markings on a telephone pole.

Adams, 24, said she asked Radtke to “please don’t paint on our private property.” His response has left her shaken and afraid for her own safety.

Adams said Radtke verbally attacked her with the most offensive of obscenities, letting her know that he could care less what she thought and was going to do whatever he wanted.

“I swear to God, I’ve been doing this for 10 years and in that time I’ve never cursed at a woman or a girl,” Radtke said. “She was the one yelling and screaming at me. ”

Radtke said he has never painted the Mojo building because the coffee house staff, who he accuses of being sympathetic to the graffiti artists, constantly harass him.

“Usually when I go to take out graffiti near that coffee shop I bring a police escort so I don’t get intimidated,” Radtke said. “If I’m taking out graffiti across the street, they walk over to us and start taking my picture. They do it all the time, which is why I need police escorts. ”
“He was yelling and screaming. He said that he never touched our building and that the 'little bitch' was lying.”

But when Estevez arrived at Mojo on April 19 just an hour after Radtke left, he said there was a large splotch of gray paint on the side of the building that had never been there before.

“I could still smell the primer paint.”



This person has a serious self image issue. He sees himself as the saviour of New Orleans' grafitti problem.

He has to have something on someone in New Orleans politics.


Mayor C. Ray Nagin, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Warren Riley, the Louisiana State Police, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI have praised his work.

But some property owners question what separates Radtke from the vandals he is fighting.

The NOPD, however, has no intention of charging Radtke with the defacing of public or private property and praises his efforts in reducing crime and improving the city’s quality of life.

“What he’s doing is work that the city would be doing itself provided we had the resources and manpower,” said NOPD spokesman Sgt. Joe Narcisse. “He’s covering up graffiti and if the city had a team to do that it would do so. He’s not doing anything that we aren’t asking him to do.”•

More at NOLArising.com

How do some people sleep at night?

From the WWL TV website (which includes the video), A contractor hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has apparently filled the expansion joint (or opening) between the floodwalls) with newspaper.

When confronted, the contractor blamed Washington for the substandard work.

“He basically told me when Congress sent down the money, it would be repaired the proper way.”

Ercon Corporation, based in Lafayette, Louisiana, had a contract to do the almost $2 million of work to raise and repair the floodwall under the Paris Road bridge.
Eyewitness News contacted the president of Ercon Corporation by phone and e-mail. He didn't respond to our repeated requests for a comment on this story. Further, our investigation revealed Ercon Corporation is not even licensed by the state's board for contractors. The Corps of Engineers says as long as the federal government pays for the work, it does not prevent them from hiring an unlicensed Louisiana company.

Schroeder has some interesting opinions on this subject

Celcus chimes in.....

More at Library Chronicles and YRHT.

UPDATE:
The Corps will now repair the wall .


After initially telling Eyewitness News a Lafayette based company did the work on those joints, the corps now says the work was done by laborers hired by the corps.


"Stuffing newspaper in that joint should not have been done," Bedey said. "In the very near future we will repair all three joints and put the proper backing next to the waterstop."


Bedey reiterated the findings of the report last night that the newspaper would cause no structural damage to the wall.


riiiiiight.

Thanks to Lee Zurik

Scuzzbucket Part Deux

self titled "intellectual" Thomas Brewton

In his latest blustering article,
in which our own Dambala
responds in great fashion , he shares his intellectual pretension regarding the state of New Orleans as follows:

Why does much of New Orleans still look as if the 2005 devastation of Hurricane Katrina had occurred just a few weeks ago?
Huge areas of New Orleans still are wastelands. New Orleans's liberal-progressive-socialist Senator Mary Landrieu has grabbed far more than her share of Congressional pork. Hundreds of millions of Federal dollars spent for rehabilitation have produced far too little beneficial result. People were without electric power for months; the police department contained more thieves than honest law enforcers; drug-dealing and prostitution remain major enterprises; and the city still retains its crown as the nation's murder capital. One of the city's few "legitimate" businesses is casino gambling.
City and state administrations have yet to coordinate rebuilding plans, as politicians fight over who gets what share of the spoils. The best that the city's Mayor Nagin can do is to demand that the Democratic-socialist Party presidential candidates pledge to send even more pork to New Orleans.
What accounts for this dismal record?
The answer is simple. New Orleans abandoned God and personal moral responsibility, turning instead to worshipping the atheistic, secular political state. That secular god has failed miserably, notoriously so in the aftermath of Katrina.


Here's the rest of his diatribe.

Feel free to comment on his website.

Lord, I wish Ashley were alive to rip this mook apart.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

From The Baltimore Sun dot com:


The Rev. John Hagee, the one who told National Public Radio some time back that Hurricane Katrina was God's way of punishing the city of New Orleans for celebrating homosexuality, was asked again this week if he stands by that judgment.

On the radio, conservative talk show host Dennis Prager asked Hagee about it, and the Center for American Progress is only too happy today to report what Hagee, one of Sen. John McCain's supporters, had to say in response. (McCain has said that he does not agree with everything Hagee stands for, but hasn't renounced his endorsement.)

"What happened in New Orleans looked like the curse of God,'' Hagee told Prager. "In time, if New Orleans recovers and becomes the pristine city it can become, it may in time be called a blessing. But at this time it's called a curse.''

A gay pride parade had been planned in the city, Hagee explained. "In the case of New Orleans, their plan to have that homosexual rally was sin. But it never happened. The rally never happened.''

But, Prager asked, "In the case of New Orleans, you do feel that God's hand was in it because of a sinful city?

"That it was a city that was planning a sinful conduct,'' said Hagee. "Yes.''

Prager apparently never asked why the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi got blasted in the bargain. And Hagee didn't explain. Hear the tape at ThinkProgress.com.



thanks to adrastos for the heads up.

Nope, still not okay

Nearly 1,000 days since hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, the city is far from being "okay".

George Bush - during his visit here for the North American Summit - proved once again how uninformed he really is.

Prytania Waterline spells it all out for the vacant minded "leader".

justice?

this just in
The man accused of killing NOPD Officer Nicola Cotton can't competently assist in his own defense and must be sent to a state mental hospital for treatment, a Criminal District Court judge ordered Tuesday.

Bernel Johnson, 44, will be sent to the state forensic mental hospital in East Feliciana Parish, where doctors will evaluate him and attempt to improve his psychiatric condition enough for him to stand trial in the first-degree murder of Cotton.

Judge Julian Parker ordered that Johnson be "immediately" transferred to the hospital after the testimony of three specialists, who all concluded that Johnson suffers from a psychiatric disorder that currently impairs his ability to stand trial.

Charles Vosburg, a forensic psychologist, and Dr. Michelle Garriga, a forensic psychiatrist, said they tried to interview Johnson on Tuesday morning, but found him largely unwilling to answer questions. But, based on the answers he did give, and his extensive history of mental illness, both experts testified that he needed treatment before he could assist in his own defense.

"His concentration is poor; his impulse control is poor," Vosburg said.

Johnson previously has been diagnosed as having either schizoaffective disorder or paranoid schizophrenia, Garriga said.

Prosecutor Mary Glass repeatedly questioned both experts about whether Johnson is possibly "malingering," or faking the extent of his illness in order to avoid trial.

Vosburg acknowledged that some of Johnson's refusal to answer questions is a conscious choice, but added that part of his stubbornness also seemed tied to his mental illness.

I don't think so, this man is playing the system, here's some background gathered by Frank Donze and Gwen Filosa of the Times Picayune:
Three weeks before he.....killed a New Orleans police officer, Bernel Johnson, whose family described him as a paranoid schizophrenic, was forcibly committed to a mental institution by the New Orleans coroner's office after he created a disturbance at a local bank.

"It was clear to me at that time that he was suffering from a psychotic illness," said Dr. Jeffrey Rouse, the deputy psychiatric coroner who saw Johnson that day and ordered the commitment, which allows a medical institution to hold a person against his or her will for up to 15 days.

Yet the institution, which the coroner could not name because of medical privacy laws, released Johnson days later, an episode experts said underscores severe shortages in acute mental health care in Louisiana, even for potentially violent patients.

Johnson's family said the release fits a disturbing pattern they have battled for years, in failed attempts to get the legal and medical systems to commit their relative to long-term, even permanent care.

His family wanted to help Johnson -- but they also feared him, after several outbursts in which he threatened violence against family members and others, and once shot himself in the chest.

The family's repeated attempts to get Johnson into long-term mental health treatment only set off his short fuse, said his sister, Michelle Johnson. Once in 2007, while living in a psychiatric care facility in eastern New Orleans, Johnson vowed violence against his sister.

On Jan. 4, before Cotton had her fatal run-in with Johnson, other officers had responded to the bank where Johnson had the outburst that led to his brief stay in a mental health facility.

"The responding units saw he was a gentleman who needed acute mental health care," Rouse said.
Johnson's family had never heard of the January incident until told by a reporter.

"The state protects his rights," Michelle Johnson said. "That's the problem. He is an independent adult. We can't access any of his records."

At some point after Rouse ordered his commitment, Johnson was transferred to an inpatient mental health facility, Rouse said. He would soon return to familiar haunts in Central City, a fact that hardly surprised his family, though they had not even been aware of his latest commitment.

As he bounced among mental health facilities, jail and the life of a tortured vagrant, Johnson became skilled at working within the social service bureaucracy to keep himself from getting the care he needed.

"Eventually, he learned that he could briefly comply with therapy and take his medications," his sister said. "Then he would get out and enter a group home. He would soon be out on the street abusing drugs and alcohol."

Johnson's longest stay in a mental care facility lasted nine months, his family said. He was released from Southeast Hospital in February 2007, Michelle Johnson said.

In July of that year, Johnson threatened to kill his sister, and she reported the threat to local authorities in LaPlace. A doctor and social worker persuaded her not to press charges, she said. But Johnson then also threatened the doctor and social worker, when they visited him in an effort to get him medical care.

Johnson ended up in Meadowcrest rather than jail, his sister said, although she can't say how long the hospital kept him there.

At this point, his family pushed for a judge to commit him permanently. The family went to civil court in New Orleans, she said, and paid attorney fees.

"I wrote the judge a two-page letter asking that he help," Michelle Johnson said. "The judge said he would take it into consideration and advisement. A few weeks later, my brother was out." Records of those proceedings are not public record, Civil District Court officials said Tuesday.

Family members most recently saw Johnson the day after Christmas. His sister said she dropped him off in Central City, near the train station and not far from the scene of Monday's fatal shooting. When Cotton ran into him a month later, she apparently had no inkling of his explosive temperament. She radioed dispatch with a "code 4," indicating she had the situation under control, and didn't need backup.

Normally, the NOPD requires a pair of two-officer cars plus a ranking officer to be dispatched to any report of a mentally unstable person. "The big challenge with policing is the big unknown," Livaccari said. "This guy just went sideways on her."



The only way to determine the extent of Johnson's illness and restore his ability to assist with his defense is to put him in a hospital setting where he will be evaluated by both security staff and medical professionals at all times, Vosburg said. The staff will also treat Johnson, with the hopes of making him competent for trial, he said.

Happy Earth Day

monday evening rant

I'm pissed off about a bunch of things tonite. In memory of Ashley Morris, I will try to let off steam

Photo from Humid Haney's Dirty Coast, where you can buy the sticker


Big Oil:



thanks for taking away my vacation this year. I'll be "a tourist in my own backyard", which may turn out for the better. Virginia IS too far to drive, isn't it?

George Bush:




You fucktard. There's too much I want to rant about you. You suck.

Upper Mississippi Valley:



thanks for the shit you've sent downriver to us.

My immediate future





To those 20 protesters on Poydras this morning

Get a job, you spoiled little shits!

to the pimple faced piece of crap kid in N.C. planning to blow up your classmates


to American Idol bimbo


to the folks who agreed to those stupid balloon mortgages


NOLA dot COM

Your website is so bad, so slow, so much behind high school websites. Hire some
real techies to help you become the news website this area needs.


Hillary

you are a shrew who can't even control your own husband. Why should I ask you to run my country, bi-atch?

there's more, but I need to go eat dinner.

bedtime is 9pm for those of us up at 4.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Wayne Andrews from street-people dot com.
In Andrews' postings on his Web site he refers to "street people" as "cockroaches, human sucker fish and parasites."

He describes a homeless man huddled and freezing on a snowy street as a human "ice sculpture.

By exposing the faces and stories of the street dwellers, Andrews said he hoped to shame both politicians and citizens alike into taking action to ensure that the street never has to serve as someone's home again.

And so he is in New Orleans hoping to help the city's homeless the same way he claims to have helped the homeless of Memphis.

Reaction from blogger Alan Gutierrez is here



here's the rest of the story

Thanks, Katrina

Another sad story of how Katrina
changed the lives of so many


This link features an interview with volunteers who knew Alvin Thomas

"Back from Katrina exile, man lived alone and died alone...."

weekend photos

click on photos for larger versions