LHA’s Simmons getting the ax — again

City-Parish President Joey Durel is asking Lafayette Housing Authority board member Leon Simmons to step down after learning of Simmons’ aggressive action toward local media at the LHA office Monday morning.

Simmons, the board member who represents LHA residents, pushed a KLFY TV10 videographer’s camera when the station was covering the story of LHA Executive Director Walter Guillory’s and Deputy Director Jonathan Carmouche’s resignations Monday. The station was filming Guillory as he walked to his car (while being questioned by Daily Advertiser reporter Claire Taylor) to leave the LHA’s premises. Despite Guillory’s pleas for him to not intervene, Simmons persisted, calling the reporters “some buzzards, some damn buzzards” before throwing down his drink and walking away. The station did not air the controversial footage in its coverage yesterday but did run it at 5 p.m. today. View the video here.

“After hearing about the incident, I intend on asking him to step down,” Durel told The Independent Weekly Tuesday afternoon.

Simmons, who fought to get his board position back after Durel dismissed him and four others in mid-August after a critical audit of the LHA, has also been under fire for driving residents of LHA’s programs around in an LHA-owned van. An LHA volunteer, Simmons uses the van for such services as delivering meals and shuttling elderly LHA clients to casinos. Yes, casinos.

At a board meeting this afternoon, which Simmons attended along with John Freeman and Joe Dennis, the board authorized Freeman to sign checks for the LHA until an interim executive director is named. The board, however, cannot spend any money without the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's authorization.

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written by queenbee , October 26, 2010 - 05:21 pm

OMG...like he is the only public official to attack media? witch hunt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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written by queenbee , October 26, 2010 - 05:22 pm

pt deux....and oh, they ran it TODAY because their newscast is in the TOILET.....nobody's watching!!!!!!!!!!!!

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written by witness , October 26, 2010 - 06:06 pm

I'm sure the media can take care of themselves. Does Joey paln to ask everyone who is ugle to the media to resign?

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written by beheard , October 26, 2010 - 08:16 pm

The TV 10 reporter tonight said Joey Durel sent Don Fuselier to the tv station to review the footage of the incident. Donald, you and Rickey are some really good field hands. I'm sure ya'll make "masa Durel" very proud. Just curious did you and Rick was and wax Joey's car, and cut his yard prior to going to the station are afterwards. As this drama continues to unfold it is painfully obvious that, HUD needs to take over the housing authority and that local government is corrupt starting in Durel's office.

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written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , October 26, 2010 - 09:40 pm

If Beheard and Laf. Native are not one and the same, then they are co-joined at their brain stem.

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written by BoFred , October 27, 2010 - 04:23 am

I will say again, I believe Mr. Guillory suffered some undue pressure, although I find his salary impressive & question if its warranted, and I regret the position he finds himself in today. Maybe he feared he could lose his job if he didn't give those positions & certainly 2 could have given him grief. I think, at the end, they all were shamlessly greedy, and the poorest of the poor are who suffered & the program's rep is in the toilet. BUT, we must also acknowledge, Mr. Guillory instituted some fine programs, and made many lives better. And I am especially saddened to see MR. JOE DENNIS, an upstanding, fair minded, determined man of integrity, a valued and important rep of the community have his service questioned and tainted by the actions of others. I believe, in this case, he trusted the wrong people and I believe he served with good intent. I suspect he considered the others to be of the same caliber man as himself, and they aren't. I hope Mr. Dennis can shake this off and I hope he continues to serve the community. I respect him so much. I trust his integrity. He serves his community with such intelligence and dignity. On occasion, I may have not liked what I was hearing, but I trusted Mr. Dennis's integrity, so I figured it was an issue I just wasn't familiar with or would not understand because I can't relate to those circumstances. I deferred to Mr. Dennis's wisdom. His is the voice of reason & if he gets passionate about an issue, I sit up and take notice. There are those who posture and make gestures and grandstand & I question their sincerity, feel a negativity, but not Mr. Dennis, so I tend to really listen to his view. I appreciate his dignity. This community benefits from his service & I hope he continues. I can certainly understand if he just gets tire of the hassle of it all. I can surely understand if he would like to sit back & just do things that he enjoys. He's more than earned that right. I'm sorry this thing went sour.

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written by I Noticed , October 27, 2010 - 05:27 am

Queenbee, I would not put Simmons in the Public Official status!! You don't want me to tell you what I think his status is. Because they would definitely kick me off this blog!!

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written by I Noticed , October 27, 2010 - 05:33 am

queenbee: What in the world makes you think Simmons is a public official? Ya'll don't want to know what status I put him in. Because they would kick me off of this blog!!

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written by sadden , October 27, 2010 - 07:13 am

Let me see if i got this correct. Simmons acts like a hoodlum and Joey Durel is responsible? That is the kind of thinking that is keeping the black community down. Instead of going after the people who stole from the poor, aka, the honorable chris williams and porcha evans, we go after Durel. The Lafayette Housing Authority was being run like a piggy bank for Walter Guillory and his podners. Now is the time for all good people to who really care about the poor to stand up and speak out about the wrong that has been done. Donald Fuselier and Ricky Hardy should be recognized for standing up for what is right. What kind of message are we sending to our children. Wake up people.!

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written by neutral party , October 27, 2010 - 08:05 am

This does sound petty and trivial.See Mr guillory walk the walk of shame has no effect but to sensationalize the story.Does not change what went on which we still dont have all the facts.Donald does not want to be there so resign already.Besides what ever faults lies with the board you were part of that board.But the position is non paying so you took it for the applied status and gave it no attention.The lack of oversight has come back and bitten you now,

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written by Common Sense , October 27, 2010 - 12:15 pm

Simply Amazing! The same board members that were not smart enough to keep accurate records of meetings will now sign checks??? These are the same guys that approved these huge salaries and knew about all of the exchanging of monies. What is wrong with this picture? Change! Change! Change!

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written by hmmmm , October 28, 2010 - 04:18 am

Is it because its Channel 10 that it makes the issue so imperative?

I did not like, nor was I impressed by, the aggressive actions of the news reporters & videographers. On the other hand, the best thing to do is ignore them. If they perisist to the p;oint of intrusion, call for a police escort.

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written by hamburger , October 28, 2010 - 11:42 am

Your headline in this story is WRONG again Leslie. You seem to be getting a lot of things WRONG lately!!!

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written by Hamburger Helper , October 28, 2010 - 12:21 pm

That wasn't Simmons, it was Ricky Hardy. Just review the video real close.