Christopher Hebert’s civic mindedness knows no limits. The man behind the Busted in Acadiana Facebook mug shot fan page, which was coincidentally taken down again shortly after Hebert bonded out of jail following his Oct. 5 arrest for stalking and cyberstalking, is the star of yet another public service website.
Registered Oct. 6 when Hebert was reportedly still behind bars, www.biabail.com prominently features Hebert’s most recent mug shot and labels itself as the “Busted Bail Fund: helping those in need to post bail.” Next to Hebert’s own mug shot is an excerpt from a KATC article detailing his arrest. The Busted in Acadiana logo hangs comfortably at the top left corner of the page.
Also included on the BIA Bail home page is a list of arrestees currently seeking donations for posting bail. But the only person listed on the collection tab is Christopher Hebert alongside his goal of raising $6,000, or the 12 percent payment needed for Hebert to post his $50,000 bond. It’s unknown exactly when Hebert bonded out of the Lafayette Parish Jail because the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office computer systems are down until Tuesday afternoon. He’s believed to have been released Friday evening or Friday night.
Lafayette Police Cpl. Paul Mouton says Hebert’s Oct. 5 arrest was based on a series of complaints a woman filed late last year alleging Hebert had made electronic and phone threats against her. Police will not release details on the alleged crimes, but Mouton says new developments on the investigation surfaced in recent weeks and led to the arrest. Hebert’s arrest is unrelated to Busted in Acadiana.
The Independent publicly identified Hebert as the BIA administrator in its Sept. 21 cover story, “Busted: Busted in Acadiana,” also pegging Hebert as the unemployed husband of Lafayette Police officer Amanda Hebert. Lafayette Police Department is still conducting an internal investigation into whether law enforcement resources were used to retrieve any of the criminal information that was released on Busted in Acadiana’s Facebook page.
Not unlike the Busted in Acadiana mug shot mecca, the BIA Bail website is using a cause to further Hebert’s own finances, encouraging those in need of bail assistance to “email your story to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .”
“This page’s purpose is NOT to determine an individuals guilt or innocence, nor to be judge and jury, simply to help those in need to post bail through a legitimate bondsman,” the BIA Bail page explains. “What is not universally known is that the bondsman requires a 12% payment from the individual and that money is money spent. It is NOT refunded after the court date.”
Click here to view the BIA Bail website.
MAY 20 This post by blogger CB Forgotston draws parallels between Gov. Bobby Jindal and two individuals he probably doesn't want to be aligned with: President Obama and former governor Edwin Edwards. CB says Jindal's trying to jack up the debt ceiling (an Obama play, according to CB) and buy votes from GOP leges who normally wouldn't go for that (an Edwards play, CB says).
MAY 20 Here's a post in the Baptist Message from an alumnus of Louisiana College. The author, Larry Burgess, calls on the leadership of the private school to take care of some pressing problems. Physical plant issues are critical and unaddressed, some faculty make so little they need government health care, and there is an atmosphere that does not encourage honest discussion, he writes. It's time to get things back in order, he says.
MAY 20 This post in Gambit tells of a benefit concert scheduled to raise money for the 19 people shot during a Mother's Day second line on Frenchmen Street in NOLA. Among them was Gambit blogger Deb Cotton, who spoke frequently about violence in the city and reported on the city's second line culture. Gambit's foundation, along with other NOLA non-profits, also is selling t-shirts to raise money for the victims.
MAY 20 Blogger Robert Mann is critical of the personal interest some legislators take in their work here, sharing the comments one NOLA solon made in explaining his decision to vote against a bill that would require people to stop discriminating against female workers. His wife might lose some salary, so he was going to have to vote against the equal pay bill, Conrad Appel said. Appel and everyone who heard him should have been ashamed, but they weren't, and that's what is wrong in that building, Mann argues.
MAY 20 American Press columnist Jim Beam writes about the budget again here, urging kudos for the House and its efforts to try to fix the budget as opposed to passing on a flawed and messy rubber-stamped document as it usually does. The Senate already is poo-pooing the effort, but instead Senators should be trying to find a way to improve it as well, Beam argues. He also has some predictions in here from LABI and CABL.
MAY 20 Here's a link to the photo gallery from Tulane's graduation this past weekend. Dr. John and Allen Toussaint played together and received honorary degrees. The Dalai Lama was so entranced by their performance he got up from his seat and walked across the stage to stand next to them. He even participated in a second line with his own personal, saffron-colored umbrella. To the graduates, he urged them to think about creating a peaceful, hopeful life and society.
MAY 20 This Picayune story questions the rhetoric of NOLA officials who say the city, aside from having a "murder problem," is safe. The talking points generally are that the criminals are killing each other, but everything else is OK. The police chief there says that even Lafayette is more dangerous than NOLA. But crime experts interviewed here say that NOLA's numbers indicate one of two things: either people are so used to violence they don't report it, or somebody's "fudging the numbers."
MAY 20 The Advocate's Mark Ballard writes about some of the background maneuvering that took place during the development of budget alternatives in the Legislature. From Rep. Joel Robideaux being called a "tax and spend liberal" to robo-call influence, Ballard lets us in on some of the work that happens behind the scenes but usually doesn't make it into the Advocate's daily coverage of the session.
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