C’EST BON
Heisman Trophy also-ran Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska finished the season with 82 tackles, 12 sacks and 23 tackles for loss. It’s a Heisman-worthy achievement to be sure. But the All-American defensive tackle had one of his poorest performances of the season on Sept. 26 — six tackles, one tackle for loss and no sacks — against UL’s Ragin’ Cajuns. And there are two good reasons Suh was held in check: Cajun senior offensive linemen Brad Bustle (guard) and Chris Fisher (center), who last week were among three Cajuns named to the first-team All Sun Belt football squad (junior punter Spencer Ortego also made the first team). In all, seven Ragin’ Cajuns earned All Sun Belt honors. But it was the achievements of Fisher and Bustle that are particularly noteworthy: By season’s end, the Cajun offensive line ranked 16th in the NCAA in fewest sacks allowed. Nothing offensive about that.
PAS BON
Mother Nature’s been a real bitch the last few months, taking a particular toll on events downtown. Numerous rainy Fridays knocked more Downtown Alive! and Bach Lunch performances off the schedule than ever before. In fact, Downtown Lafayette Unlimited took the extraordinary step of rescheduling Nik-L Beer for an extra DTA date, extending the Friday concert series beyond its traditional Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving finale. It rained. Concert canceled. Most recently, cold, wet weather forced DLU to cancel last weekend’s second annual Rudolph Run and ’Twas the Light Before Christmas event. The Rudolph Run has been rescheduled for Jan. 16, 2010. We’re not sure if this is climate change, but Mother can you spare a dime?
COUILLON
It’s time to rename the Assumption Parish village of Napoleonville. Keystone sounds fitting after the police department had two new cruisers repossessed by the Oklahoma dealership from which it purchased the cars. Joe Watt Auto Sales in Vinita, Okla., is also suing the 800-soul village for breach of contract, seeking $20,000. Ineptitude reigns in the hamlet U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon calls home. According to an account in The Times-Picayune, the village bought the specially outfitted 2009 Dodge Chargers using stimulus money it had yet to obtain, but because the department didn’t have anyone competent enough to write the grant, the stimulus money never came in. But the cars did. Watt claims what followed were weeks of calls to Mayor Ron Animashaun requesting and then demanding payment, and weeks of Animashaun saying, “The check’s in the mail.”
In rendering his ruling, District Judge John Trahan all but called the real estate developer a liar for inconsistencies in his accounts of what prompted him to punch a school teacher unconscious.
Frank’s Casing Crew, now doing business as Frank’s International, will make its final appearance on ABiz’s list of the Top 50 Privately Held Companies in Acadiana this year, and once again it will likely be at the top with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. The 75-year-old company specializing in tubular fabrication and installation services to the oil and gas industry plans to offer shares of its stock to the public for the first time.
The defeat, or rather highjacking of House Bill 420 in the final days of this year's Legislative Session, say Reps. Vincent Pierre and Terry Landry, is the result of the propaganda spread by one unidentified local media outlet and an unnamed former state Representative, but nothing to do with the original legislation's lack of checks, balances or details.
City-Parish Council Chairman Brandon Shelvin heaped steady doses of condescending ire on a Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana executive while failing to reveal his financial ties to a BC/BS rival.
Abbeville native David Primeaux was a popular professor until his death late last year, and while he was successful at camouflaging a dark past, he couldn’t outlive it.
Tehmi Chassion’s failure to recuse himself in the school board’s selection of a group health benefits provider raises ‘serious questions’ on whether he violated state ethics law.
He’s a singer. A songwriter. A piano man. A family man. He’s even got his own Wikipedia entry. He’s David Egan. And he knows ancient secrets about the monolithic stones of Stonehenge that he’s not willing to share.
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