Some argue that an alternative definition for insanity is walking into a courtroom without legal representation. But last year in Lafayette Parish, 10 percent of domestic violence victims seeking a court-ordered permanent restraining order – known as Title 46 protection – did just that.
To combat the inequity, the Lafayette Parish Bar Foundation oversees the Protective Order Program, which provides free legal representation to women who are victims of abuse and are seeking relief from the court system. Yet it can only do so much on a limited budget bolstered by largely private donations.
That’s why the bar’s faithful were excited to discover earlier this month that a $84,963 check from the Edward Byrne Justice Grants program was being directed to help beef up POP. “The money made available by this grant will bolster our efforts to truly help women break free from the cycle of domestic violence,” says Susan Holiday of the Lafayette Parish Bar Foundation.
Holiday says the funds will be used to increase domestic violence victim services by increasing referrals to POP works to protect those seeking assistance. “If we are able to increase that amount with this grant by increasing the number of clients who are taken into the POP and increasing the number of pro bono volunteers who represent these women, research has proven a higher likelihood of success for those seeking Title 46 and other protections,” she adds.
Byrne grants are intended to enhance local justice systems and provide for national support efforts. U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, a New Orleans Democrat who played a role in securing the grant money, says “programs like the POP are vital support services in our communities.”
Is it a crime for citizens to photograph, video, or take notes of a police officer in the line of duty, or a right protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution? Locally, such activity, as witnessed recently, will at the very least result in a night spent behind bars.
David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
At Thursday's State of the Economy luncheon, LEDA President and CEO Gregg Gothreaux said PXP has already quietly hired 180 people for its Broussard expansion.
Episcopal School of Acadiana’s Dr. Joshua Caffery, chair of the school’s English Department, is headed to Washington, D.C., and the Library of Congress as the latest winner of the Alan Lomax Fellowship in Folklife Studies.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
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