Scuzzbucket of the Week

A woman has been booked with theft for allegedly stealing money from a woman with Lou Gehrig's Disease that she helped take care of, Kenner police said.

Cherri A. Desporte, 43, lived in the victim's house in Kenner between July 2007 and May 2009, according to a police report.

The victim entrusted Desporte with a power of attorney to pay her home mortgage and medical expenses with medical disability benefits that were directly deposited into an account she shared with Desporte, according to police.

The disability benefits were more than enough to cover her expenses, said Lt. Wayne McInnis, Kenner Police Department spokesman.

The victim learned about the alleged theft when her mortgage was in foreclosure because of 23 failed payments, the police report said. An investigation revealed $9,093.63 in unpaid bills and a negative balance in the shared account, the report said.

The report did not list the total amount allegedly stolen.

Desporte referred calls to her attorney, Robert Levenstein, who could not be reached Tuesday.

ALS is a debilitating neuromuscular disease that causes muscle weakness and atrophy, according to ALS Association Web site. With ALS, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. Patients in the later stages of the disease may become paralyzed.

The victim used a computerized eye response system to indicate to police that she wanted to pursue charges against Desporte, the police report said.

Desporte was booked Wednesday and released Thursday on a $10,000 bond, according to court records.

I hope she rots in hell

My morning laugh

Thanks to EJ for the laugh.

Fun in the Sun

This past Friday hubby and I left the house with cameras in hand, off to discover changes that have taken place since our last trek through the outer reaches of New Orleans East.

One of the stops we made was the Bayou Sauvage Ridge Trail on Highway 90 (Chef Menteur Highway). This nature trail reopened last August after being completely flattened by Katrina.

click on pictures for a larger size





The ridge trail boasts bathroom facilities as well as a covered picnic area.




The boardwalk runs about a mile through what used to be lush swamp growth. Currently the land surrounding the boardwalk is in rebirth stage which is pretty lush for its size.







Along the boardwalk there are benches to allow the visitor to relax and contemplate the peaceful surroundings. I wouldn't recommend contemplating too long in the summertime.



The boardwalk comes to an overlook section that illustrates just how much damage the inundation of salt water from Katrina caused. This was once an area covered with native cypress trees.



But the people at the Wildlife and Fisheries have replanted hundreds of new cypress trees in this area. Everywhere you see a blue tube, you're looking at a baby cypress tree.







Leaving the overlook, we head back to the boardwalk. Taking the right at the fork, we are now passing through an area with different types of flora.



These trumpet flowers grow on vines on the trees. This beautiful flower attracts butterflies as well as hummingbirds. We noticed a few butterflies during our trek thru the ridge trail. But what we noticed was the number of grasshoppers during our visit there. All along the boardwalk we could see and hear the grasshoppers flying around. Hubby got a great shot of one of the grasshoppers resting here.



While looking at the ground on either side of the boardwalk, my husband spied what appeared to be some sort of vine growing freely in this area.



Some of the vine had this flower attached to it, while other had fruit



Upon closer inspection, the fruit appears to be watermelon!



The swamp melon is growing for a good 1/2 mile along the boardwalk. The fruit is small, probably due to the lack of rain and the heat, but it's growing nonetheless.

While looking at this, I was reminded of the phenomenon of the watermelon growth after the storm.

Watermelon growth was spontaneous after Katrina hit this area four years ago. I'm thinking that the watermelons in the Bayou Sauvage Ridge Trail is related to the other watermelon surge after Katrina.



The Ridge Trail is a great way to spend an hour or so if you're looking to be a tourist in your own backyard. And it's free. Can't get any better than that. We plan to revisit this area after summer's over to gauge the rebirth of this precious resource.

It's a great spot for birding as well. Here's a link to what birds can be seen, as well as directions to the Ridge Trail. Enjoy!

Trouble the Water

Coming on DVD on August 25th is the film "Trouble the Water". Nominated for and Academy Award for best documentary, the movie is described as follows:

With a $20 video camera that she bought off the street, Kim Roberts, a 24-year-old resident of New Orleans’ lower 9th Ward, shot agonizing and intimate footage as Katrina‘s floods forced her family and friends into their attic and then to a dramatic escape that not all survived.

Click below for more

Global Wildlife visit

This weekend, hubby and I took the drive to Folsom to visit the Global Wildlife Center. I hadn't been there in close to ten years and it was a joy to return.
Home to over 4,000 exotic, endangered, and threatened animals from all over the world, it is is a non-commercial,non-profit organization, established to help preserve and protect endangered species, and to help educate the public.

If you have kids you really should visit. All the kids on our tour loved the interaction with the animals. Here are some pictures of some of the things we saw.
click on pictures for larger versions


This plaque is by the fish pond. I love its message. Speaking of the pond, it is full of the biggest koi fish I have ever seen! And there's a huge catfish that comes out to feed every once in a while. I could've just stayed by the pond all afternoon and watched them feed.



There's a collection of kangaroos there now, new from my last visit. They have to stay fenced off from the other animals due to their dietary restrictions.

A few months ago, the people at Global found an abandoned baby Kangaroo. They took him in and named him Skippy. Here's a video of him learning how to hop





Before our tour started, we watched this family of giraffes following another tour ($35/head). Apparently the giraffes got enough to eat from this car because when our tour started they ignored us!



Here they are chasing the car after it took off. It was great to watch them run, especially the baby.



Before the tour train takes off, the driver honks the horn three times. First, to let the riders know it's time to sit down and second to alert the animals. Once we started moving, at least 100 emu's, both grown up and babies started running toward our train.



I have never seen so many tame deer in my life!



Next stop was the camels and they stink. Ugh. There were two types of camels, a dromedary and a bactrian. Once that big head came toward my side of the train, I was up and on the other side.



This bird was hanging around the camels. I can't remember its name, but I do remember the tourguide telling us that this type of bird mates for life and he lost his mate. They tried to introduce him to another bird but he ignored it.



That's not a buffalo, it's a bison. Our guide was sure that we all understood this.



On one of the stops I looked toward the back of the train and was amazed at the number of animals feeding. With 6 tours a day, these animals are well fed.



It's out of the way, but I suggest everyone take a trip to Global Wildlife. You'll definitely leave with a smile.

I don't get it

Preliminary autopsy results on the death of three month old Natalie Hill indicate
that she bled to death as a result of rat bites last week.

I am wondering if the authorities have taken blood samples from the parents. I don't want to pass judgement until all the facts are in. This is too tragic.

And it's not only in Louisiana:


In Ohio, three people have been accused of letting rats bite a 6-week-old girl and chew off her toes at their cluttered home.

Welcome, Lutherans!

The city of New Orleans is about to host 37,000 Lutherans. Thank you all for coming and for your volunteer efforts. You have no idea how much this means to the people of New Orleans.

Top 10 Apollo Hoax Theories Debunked

In the early days of the Cold War, three men claim they were chosen by a powerful new government agency to undertake a historically perilous journey. They claim this well-funded operation was staffed with the best scientists and engineers using technology pioneered by the Nazis, and they created the most powerful machine ever built.

In July of 1969, they claim, they climbed aboard an enormous rocket assembled in a Florida swamp, and were sent hurtling at incredible speeds into the sky … all the way to the Moon! Two of them even claim they landed on the Moon, got out, and walked around!

And what prize did they bring back from this momentous journey? Well … they have a bunch of black and white photos of unidentifiable persons in bulky white spacemen costumes in a field of gravel (but curiously without any stars in the black sky) -- and several bags of gray, dusty rocks.

Put that way, the story of the Apollo program can sound pretty far-fetched.

But why should we believe the stories? What evidence is there, really, that the Apollo program landed men on the Moon and brought them back?

Phil Plait, an astronomer at Sonoma University in California, and the Web master of BadAstronomy.com, has his reasons.

If I were trying to fake this, I would put stars in the image," he said referring to the complaint made by hoax proponents that the Apollo photos lack stars. If this had been an oversight, he said, it's an amazingly stupid thing to have forgotten, considering the scope of the "hoax."

Not to mention that with the way cameras work, photographing stars under those conditions would have been nearly impossible.

"If you do know about physics and photographs, you can see these arguments are all ridiculous," Plait said.



Here's a link that puts to rest these hoaxes

Here's a link to an article about a "famous" hoax believer.

Criminals is stupid

ST. BERNARD - At 11a.m. 4 hispanic males robbed Gold Star Restaurant in the 1100 block of Bayou Road in Eastern St. Bernard in the Poydras area.

At least 2 of the suspect had guns. They forced employees to open the safe. They then tied up a couple of employees and customers. Nobody was injured.

In their hurry to get away they forgot the bag of money.

The suspects fled the scene in a 2006 white Dodge Durango with a Texas license plate reading TFR014 its registered to a Fernando Lopez. Officers believe the vehicle is still in the area.

If you have any information on this incident please call the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office at 504-278-7630.

RIP Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite passed away at 92 today.



America's "grandfather of news" has passed. His voice was what a newscaster's voice should be.

RIP, old friend.

At Long Last

Liftoff of STS127 from KSC was successful this evening. After six attempts, Endeavour is headed for the Space Station to deliver the Japanese Kibo module which will give the Station additional space for conducting science experiments.

I realize there are a lot of nay-sayers out there regarding space travel, including the people who think the moonlanding 40 years ago was false. I'm not one of them. Space travel excites me, not just due to the fact that I work at a spaceship factory, but the benefits that we've reaped in the 50 plus years of Space travel are too many to mention here. That and it's an awesome sight to watch a launch, either live or on TV.

From a website called The Space Place dot com, where there is a complete list of spinoffs from space travel:

Some of the most frequently asked questions about the U.S. space program are "Why go into space when we have so many problems here on Earth?" and "What does the space program do for me?" These are legitimate questions and unfortunately not enough people have been made aware of the vast benefits the space program provides that increase the quality of our daily lives. Applications on Earth of technology needed for space flight have produced thousands of "spinoffs" that contribute to improving national security, the economy, productivity and lifestyle. It is almost impossible to find an area of everyday life that has not been improved by these spinoffs. Collectively, these secondary applications represent a substantial return on the national investment in aerospace research.

New Twin Spans

The new I10 Twin Spans, which connect the northshore with the southshore, partially reopened on July 9th.

Beginning on Thursday, cars traveling east will get on the new eastbound span entrance ramp on the south shore. From there, they will be directed to cross over to the new westbound span, cross the lake and then cross over again to a second new eastbound ramp on the Northshore and then back onto I-10 east. In a week, after traffic signs and ramps have been re-configured, Slidell-to-New Orleans traffic will use the old eastbound span until the new Twin Span is totally finished.

As soon as the old eastbound span has changed to westbound, crews will begin to dismantle the old westbound span permanently. The old eastbound lane will also be dismantled after the new Twin Span is completed in 2011. St. Tammany Parish has already signed agreements to use part of the old eastbound span as a fishing pier.



Taking down the old westbound span will be a relief to motorists. Parts of it have been cobbled together for the past four years with special sections that tend to shake and move.

To those who use the bridges every day, this milestone has been a long time coming.

VIDEO: New I-10 bridge over Lake Pontchatrain opens to eastbound traffic

I hope I don't grow up to be like this old lady

She beat a fawn to death with a shovel.

Saturday Scene

Taken from the top of the East bound Twin Span

Kudos to Karen Gadbois

New Orleans blogger Karen Gadbois has been selected as one of the "Top Ten Female Achievers" by New Orleans magazine.

Congratulations to Karen for this well deserved honor!