Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Writteny by The Independent Staff

C’EST BON
It’s been a long time coming, too long for those of us who covered the ordeal from Day 1. From the first inkling that something wasn’t kosher in the deal between UL and attorney Jim Davidson to swap the front of the Johnston Street horse farm for Davidson’s few acres on Girard Park Drive to the torturous wait for an as yet unfulfilled grant from a still unnamed donor to actually purchase the property, it’s been five years of bated breath. But last week, a collective sigh of relief was heard around town as the City-Parish Council voted to put down $500,000 to secure the 100-acre horse farm property for posterity. Finally, we get our central park.

PAS BON
How do you get kids to stop playing king of the mountain games on prehistoric mounds on the LSU campus? Clearly not by posting plastic, “No sliding on mounds” signs, which proved to be superlative toboggans. At the urging of archeologists, LSU agreed to fence off the mounds during football games, but before last week’s home game, the university removed the ropes and poles “for safety reasons.” So the mounds, which are older than the Egyptian pyramids, took another beating. Why parents couldn’t restrain their kids is another story. In the wake of last week’s slippery slope, the university has agreed to re-erect the temporary fencing before each home game.

COUILLON
Last week KATC TV3 exposed the dis-Harmon-y among the Harmon family of True Vine Ministries. The couple, Jarvis and Victoria, founded the church in 1985 and had been serving as co-pastors, with True Vine’s website describing them as “Truly a man and woman after God’s heart.” Appropriately, the station reported that such a description was “no where to be found in protective orders filed by both parties against one another Tuesday.” The station further noted that Bishop Jarvis Harmon also filed protective orders against his kids — and that his wife accuses him of being a womanizer and porn addict. The station reported the sordid ordeal Tuesday, Sept. 28, the day after Jarvis Harmon was arrested at his church and charged with domestic abuse for allegedly assaulting his wife (in the affidavit of arrest Victoria claims that he pushed her and bit her right index finger, which was cut and bleeding, though he denies biting or striking her).