The license suspension, which can be appealed in district court, stems from a bartender at the club being cited for serving alcohol without a bar card. The more serious matter — 12 points assessed against the club this spring and summer for arrests in the club’s parking lot — was debated at length, but ultimately the council backed off the revocation vote after Councilman Purvis Morrison questioned what would become of the building if the bar were shut down for two years. The council voted 5-4 in favor of tabling the matter.
Attorney Daniel Stanford, representing Karma, called the ordinance and point system “capricious and arbitrary,” pointing out that other clubs in the parish where violent crimes have occurred were not assessed points by the Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control. Former Karma and Marley’s owner Eric Cloutier, addressing the council on Karma’s behalf, suggested that Karma is being target by consolidated government because of its mostly black customer base.
“When I owned it, it was a white club,” Cloutier said. “We had fights every night and never got points. Now it’s a black club.”
It’s unclear when the council will revisit a vote on whether the revocation should be imposed. Stanford has vowed to challenge the revocation in district court if the council ultimately denies Karma’s appeal.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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Other clubs in the parish have had violent crimes and not had points assessed? Why not? Is the "Office of Alcohol and Noise Control" doing its job? Doesn't sound like it. Cut off its budget and save the money, then. There's a finite amount of it out there.
What would become of the building? Who gives a s*^t? We don't decide whether or not to enforce the law based on the location of the building, do we?
Let's see. I don't want to pay city taxes this year. And LCG can't make me pay, because who will cut my grass if the sherriff takes my house? It's the same thing.
This is just not that hard.