On the night of Friday, July 14 ' after suggesting in that morning's Rightblog column that Willow Street should be renamed Ronald Wilson Reagan Drive Â' Tritschler, 42, was arrested following a dispute with his wife at their Lafayette home.
The initial police report states that following a "verbal argument," Tritschler "became physical by pushing the victim to the floor. Once victim was on floor, suspect dragged victim by legs and spit on her." Tritschler's booking was noted in The Advertiser a day later along with other arrests from the weekend.
Last Friday, The Advertiser did not post a new column from Tritschler as scheduled. The Web site and Advertiser print edition also offered no explanation as to why Tritschler's column was not appearing. When called for comment, Daily Advertiser Editor Denise Richter referred all questions to Advertiser Publisher Ted Power.
"I don't know if anybody here has talked to him or not," Power says. "I believe Mr. Tritschler has a personal issue that he's dealing with, and he couldn't submit an entry last week. There will be no additional entries until all that's resolved from either side, right or left."
Tritschler, a marketing director with Teche Federal Savings Bank in New Iberia, did not return a call and e-mail for comment on his arrest.
The Advertiser will be keeping Tritschler's old political commentaries up on its Web site. "There's nothing wrong with keeping stuff up [on the Web site] that we've already published," says Power. "We're not embarrassed by anything."
Power expects the political blogs will resume normally next week, though he did not know if a replacement had been found for Tritschler.
Republican executive committee member Don Bertrand says he has been asked by The Advertiser's online editor, Bill Decker, to continue "RightBlog." Bertrand says he hopes to write a much less abrasive column than Tritschler ' one he says should be more representative of local Republicans. Bertrand says Tritschler has not been actively involved with the parish Republican committee for several years. Tritschler notably broke rank with many in his party last year when he argued against Lafayette Utilities System's fiber-to-the-home project in a guest editorial in The Daily Advertiser. The LUS initiative ' a signature issue of Republican City-Parish President Joey Durel ' was heavily backed by the parish Republican committee.
"Suffice to say, [Tritschler] did not represent most people on the Republican Parish Executive Committee and probably did not represent many Republicans," Bertrand says. "I found him to be venomous in what I did read. His writings tend to carry a certain amount of anger."
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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