An LCG ordinance that declares “junked vehicles” as public nuisances and subject to removal, fines and potential criminal charges is heading back to court for a civil lawsuit that challenges whether the law is constitutional.
According to a Nov. 26 report published online in The Advocate, George Phillips Jr. sued LCG in 2007 after four of his vehicles, a 1985 Lincoln Town Car, a 1995 Dodge pickup, a 1986 Plymouth Voyager and a 1988 Plymouth Grand Fury, were seized by a Lafayette police officer for not complying with LCG’s orders that the cars be removed from Phillips rental property within 15 days.
“Junked vehicles” under the LCG ordinance, according to Louisiana Supreme Court documents, are “wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled, or lawfully inoperable on public streets under the provisions of the various statutes and ordinances applicable in this jurisdiction as a result of significant damage, decay or destruction.”
Vehicles being stored in garages or buildings are exempt from the law, according to court documents.
LCG’s own arguments prompted the court to hold off on hearing the civil case until Phillips’ criminal charges pertaining to the ordinance were resolved. The Advocate reports that Phillips’ four misdemeanor criminal charges for noncompliance of vehicle abatement orders were dismissed about a year ago, leaving the door open for the case to return to court.
A state district court ruled partially in favor of Phillips’ civil lawsuit in 2007, but in early 2008 the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s ruling on a procedural error and sent it back to district court for a rehearing. The district court judge wrote in his 2007 ruling that “sections of the ordinance at issue were subjective and lent themselves to arbitrary enforcement.”
“Second, the trial court had a problem with the hearing procedure, noting that Mr. Phillips was directed to request a hearing from the chief of police but, after doing so, was informed by Lafayette that he was supposed to contact a different department to request a hearing,” according to Louisiana Supreme Court documents.
A city attorney is slated to take a deposition Dec. 8 from former LCG Criminal Justice Support Services administrator Marcus Bruno, who headed the public nuisance enforcement division until LCG shuttered the department in 2009.
LCG CAO Dee Stanley tells The Advocate that LCG is not enforcing the ordinance until litigation is resolved.
Read more from The Advocate here.
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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