City-Parish President Joey Durel has agreed to let Lafayette Consolidated Government sign off on a $20,000 contract for rural fire protection in the Broussard area, according to a report in today’s Advertiser. He told the daily his gesture is “a show of good faith that we want to try to work together.”
LCG has routinely entered into such contracts with the smaller municipalities in the parish to help their fire departments — some of them operated on a volunteer basis — cover areas of unincorporated Lafayette Parish near each’s city limits. In the case of Broussard, the coverage also extends to unincorporated islands within the city limits of Broussard. The $20,000 was half of what LCG annually distributes the towns; consolidated government had made the first installment to Broussard already and had made full payments to Carencro, Duson, Scott and Youngsville.
We wonder whether Durel’s “show of good faith” was precipitated by legal questions about LCG’s right to withhold the money. Lorrie Toups, chief financial officer for LCG, tells us in an email the money for the rural fire-protection contracts comes from the parish general fund, and since Lafayette Parish doesn’t have a parish-wide millage for fire protection, those funds are generated through parish property- and/or sales taxes, all of which residents in Broussard pay. In other words, the city of Broussard contributes to the fund from which the rural fire-protection money is drawn.
But that’s moot now. Durel has made nice and hopefully Broussard Mayor Charlie Langlinais will follow suit.
In the words of the mortal Rodney King, why can’t we all just get along?
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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