The historic town of Washington has been frequenting news headlines far more often than usual lately for a bedroom community of 1,000 people, and it looks like it's only getting worse.
In addition to the $200,000 the town failed to pay the state for speeding fines under 10 mph it collected along I-49, it appears the town has yet to show proper documentation showing how it spent the roughly $72,500 allocated by FEMA in the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
FEMA spokesman Manuel Broussard says in 2005, the federal agency deposited the $72,500 for Washington into the state's emergency account, which is handled by the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. Federal emergency funds given during disasters are channeled through the state, Broussard says.
It appears that the town received the emergency money from the state in 2005, though a GOHSEP spokeswoman was not able to confirm that by Friday morning.
"The town of Washington provided documentation of costs incurred with sheltering evacuees; however, the documentation dates did not coincide with the timeline for Hurricane Katrina," Broussard says.
When FEMA had this epiphany — four years after the town reportedly received the money — the agency informed Washington and state officials in August 2009 that the money must be repaid unless the town could provide more sufficient proof on how the money was spent.
Broussard says Washington can still show FEMA the necessary documentation and possibly keep the money, but it's been almost two years since the town was notified of its deficiencies and nothing has been resubmitted.
Washington Mayor Joseph Pitre has been under fire since The Independent Weekly reported in its June 1 cover story “Need for Speed” that the town exempted itself from a 2009 state law enacted to curb speed traps. The law requires that money collected for speeding violations of 10 mph or less above the posted speed limit be redirected to the state. Washington's 2009-2010 audit revealed that the town failed to turn over more than $200,000 in speeding fines that should have gone to the state treasurer’s office.
The town has since voted in a Home Rule Charter form of government, or a legal loophole in state statute that allows the town to continue to keep money for all speeding fines. The state law only applies to towns that govern without a home rule charter and only pertains to tickets issued along interstates.
A recent meeting Pitre had with a Legislative Audit Committee to address the speeding fines ended after little discussion and no action taken, so it remains unclear whether the town plans to repay the speeding fines it kept.
When reached by phone Friday morning at Louisiana Technical College in Lafayette, where Pitre also works, Pitre said, "I'm in class. I'm teaching. Thank you," and abruptly ended the call.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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