Louisiana Voice

The stabbing death of a prisoner at the Catahoula Correctional Center in Harrisonburg on Nov. 10 apparently was an “inside hit job,” an incident that officials have attempted to keep from the public, according to two sources who spoke with LouisianaVoice.

The victim even warned center officials that he would be killed if he were placed in the inmate housing unit but his pleas went unheeded and he was subsequently attacked by as many as eight other inmates.

Montrell Rogers was described by one source as a state prisoner who told correctional center officials that he had enemies in the assigned dorm but that he was forced into the unit anyway.

Harrisonburg attorney Paul Lemke said the facility has been plagued with problems for a number of years, the latest of which was the “inside hit job” on Rogers, who he said he understood had been transferred to Catahoula from East Carroll Parish.

“He (Rogers) had made somebody mad and they were waiting for him,” he said. “The Louisiana Department of Corrections (DOC) moves prisoners around in efforts to ‘lose’ them, or hide them from their attorneys and their families. And with prisoners being moved around like that, word travels from facility to facility and the word gets out” through the prison grapevine.

The other source who contacted LouisianaVoice described Rogers as a personal friend and called his death “a brutal murder.”

That person, whose identity is being withheld out of concerns for his safety, said Rogers was stabbed “by multiple inmates” and that the Catahoula Parish Sheriff’s Department has so far kept the incident from the news media. “The warden, Pat Book, runs a terrible prison operation,” he said. “He (Book) was allegedly under investigation years ago for cracking he skull of an inmate in his office during a used of force incident.” He said at the time of that incident, one of Book’s family members, Ronnie Book, was sheriff.

Ronnie Book was first elected sheriff of Catahoula Parish with 89 percent of the vote in October 1999.

Lemke said he had represented the inmate who was injured by Pat Book whom he identified as Anthony Day. “He was another of those who was moved around by DOC. He was brought in from Iberia Parish. He was one of those who the Iberia Parish sheriff at the time (Louis Ackal) had turned dogs loose on in the jail.”

Lemke in March 2003 filed an ethics complaint against Sheriff Ronnie Book, claiming that Pat Book, while employed at the correctional facility, was simultaneously part owner of B&B Commissary which supplied the jail with snacks, drinks, and toiletries from July 2001 to Jan. 31, 2003. That, Lemke claimed, was a conflict of interests and the Ethics Commission levied a fine of about $5,000 against the Books.

B&B Commissary, which was chartered in June 2001, one month before it began operating the commissary, is no longer in business, according to corporate records of the Louisiana Secretary of State which indicate the corporation was dissolved in May 2003, two months after Lemke filed his ethics complaint.

Lemke said that prior to awarding the contract to Pat Book and B&B (the other “B” in the name was for H. Layne Book, also listed, along with Pat Book, as a director of the company), Sheriff Ronnie Book contacted a prison commissary vendor in Arkansas to ask that they submit a bid with elevated prices “for appearances sake” for when the contract was awarded to B&B.

Lemke said the Catahoula Correctional Center was once run by private prison operator LaSalle Corrections of Ruston and that Pat Book was a LaSalle employee at that time. He said Book was also once a member of the LaSalle board of directors but LouisianaVoice was unable to confirm that.

He said the Catahoula Parish Sheriff’s Office took over operation of the corrections center several years back. “It’s been a real mess out there,” he said. “They’ve gone nuts.” He said DOC and Louisiana State Police have had to intervene “a couple of times.”

Lemke said he does not expect charges to be filed against all of those involved in the Rogers death. “It’ll probably come down to a single person being charged because no one is going to talk to investigators,” he said.

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Normally, I don’t get too excited by events in California other than the fact that a year ago, I was fortunate enough to be in the Sacramento area during Thanksgiving week and happened to notice that California highways are far, far, far, FAR superior to the pothole-punctuated, broken-up obstacle courses we enjoy in Louisiana.

But today, a headline in my online Washington Post dispatch caught my eye and it took me back nearly 70 years.

The headline read, “California greenlights jaywalking.” Gov. Gavin Newsom, it seems, has signed into law the Freedom to Walk Act, which now legalizes jaywalking, an offense that once carried fines of up to $200.

I don’t know how well that’s going to go or how wise it may be in a state that also legalizes marijuana but that’s not what caused a quick reminder of what looking back today was an embarrassing but funny event of my childhood.

When I was 11 or 12 (I don’t recall exactly how old I was), I had occasion to visit Glendale, California, a suburb of LA, to meet my biological mother, my sister, stepfather and half-brother for the first time.

I grew up in Ruston which, at the time was strictly small-town, about as small-town as you can get. I remember we had one traffic light that worked occasionally (whenever you could make out the faint glow of a tired green or red glow in bright sunlight).

Not that it mattered with the dearth of traffic in downtown Ruston at the time. My grandmother was fond of saying one could shoot a cannon down Trenton Street and not hit anything.

Take a kid out of that environment and set him down in a place like Glendale and you’re inviting trouble. Of course, seeing a big city for the very first time in my life, I wanted to see it all so, one day I decided to take a walk downtown. Being adventurous, I set out alone and without telling anyone.

I came to the widest boulevard I’d ever seen in my life (remember, I was from Ruston and lived on a dirt road). It was much like Canal Street in downtown New Orleans, but with about twice the traffic flow. That boulevard looked to be a mile wide to my pre-teen eyes. It had to be at least eight lanes wide (probably less, but that’s the way it seemed at the time).

But not to worry. It had these amazing traffic lights that were mounted on metal poles on each corner instead of hanging from wires over the street like the one in Ruston. And, believe it or not, it actually had blinking instructions telling me when I could walk across. So when I saw a blinking “WALK,” I headed across into parts unknown.

Halfway across, the message changed abruptly to “DON’T WALK.”

Well, hell, being a kid from Ruston who had been taught to always do as I was told, I did the only sensible and responsible thing. I stopped. Right in the middle of the boulevard. Horns were blowing but I’m doing as instructed. The sign said “DON’T WALK,” and I’m not moving.

Until this cop walked up to me, that is. Cops still walked beats back then. Anyway, he came up to me and the first words out of his mouth were, “You aren’t from around here, are you?”

“No, sir. I’m from Louisiana.” That, apparently, told him everything he needed to know.

Laughing, he explained patiently to me, “Son, when the sign says “DON’T WALK,” that means people back on the sidewalk should stay there until the light changes. Those already in the process of crossing, like you, should get their butts on across. Come with me, I’ll walk you across.”

I still appreciate that officer’s understanding that day – and his decision not to give me a ticket.

And to think, jaywalking is now legal there.

And Ruston no longer has just a single traffic light; they’re everywhere. Residents have always jaywalked in relative safety in Ruston and still do, though the traffic is a little heavier than back in 1954.

Ah, progress.

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Both LSU and Tulane are rocking along with unexpected success this 2022 season, each heading into their season finales with identical 9-2 records, followed by Southeastern Louisiana University’s Lions who have run up an impressive 8-3 record thus far.

That’s a composite record of 26-7. Not too shabby.

Too bad the same can’t be said for the eight remaining Louisiana’s collegiate football teams who have struggled to surpass those 26 wins.

University of Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Grambling State, Northwestern State, McNeese, University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Nicholls State, and Southern altogether have recorded a fairly dismal record of 32-54 with only Southern, with a 6-4 record, assured of a winning record for the 2022 regular season.

Tech in 1969, had the number-one NFL draft choice in Terry Bradshaw and in 1973 won the national championship in the NCAA’s inaugural year of Division II playoffs. Last year the Bulldogs finished at 3-9 and going into their final game this year, are 3-8. Ruston High School (10-1) has more wins than

Grambling, which at one time had more former players on NFL rosters (more than 100 former players, including four NFL Hall of Fame members) than any other school in the nation – including such football legends as Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, USC, or Alabama – has really fallen on hard times. Last year the Tigers were 4-7 and so far this year, they are 3-7. These once proud programs have combined for an embarrassing record of 13-31 over the past two years. And with one more game to play, the hurting ain’t over yet.

Ruston High School (10-1) has more wins than collegiate neighbors Tech and Grambling have combined.

This is the same Tech team, by the way, that still thinks it can swim in the deep end of the pool. And while the Bulldogs have had their moments, beating Mississippi State a couple of times and playing unexpectedly close games against Alabama and Nebraska, they are unable to shell out the big bucks for a marquee head coach – or if they’re lucky enough to get a good one, to be able to keep him – there will be no consistent winner in Ruston with Tech continuing to schedule the NCAA powerhouses in exchange for a big payday and led by a coach looking to move up.

Another program that has had its ups and downs is ULL, a team that went 11-1 a year ago. The Ragin’ Cajuns are hoping to just become bowl eligible by improving from its current 5-6 record in its final game of 2022. Like Tech, ULL had a good coach in Billy Napier but couldn’t keep him. When these smaller programs get a good coach, success usually is both good and bad. Napier was so successful that the Florida Gators waved big dollars under his nose and off he went to Gainesville. Tech’s Maxie Lambright (95-36-2) and Grambling’s Eddie Robinson (408-165-15) were rare breeds who built tremendous success – and stayed put.

The point of all this hand-gnashing and teeth-wringing is to point out that college football coaches are almost without exception, the highest-paid employees of a given institution of higher learning. Everyone loves a winner but when high salaries meet poor performance, something generally has to give. Especially in football.

We seem to have unusually high tolerance for mediocrity at universities not named LSU. In Baton Rouge, excellence is not only expected, it is demanded. Tiger fans are used to winning and if LSU manages to defeat ‘Bama, the head coach could probably run for governor and win – that week. But with the next loss, the grumbling will inevitably begin.

In Ruston, Grambling, Monroe, Natchitoches, Lake Charles, Thibodaux, Lafayette, or Hammond, they’ll wait a bit longer before showing the coach the door, but not too long.

With the following 2022 records, one has to wonder how long it will be before the revolving door begins spinning:

ULM               4-7

GSU                3-7

*Tech              3-8

NSU                4-7

McNeese         4-7

*ULL              5-6

Nicholls           3-8

SU                   6-4

*First-year coaches will be given a little more time to produce.

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Amanda Jones is due back in court on Monday in an effort to persuade a state district court judge to reconsider a curious ruling in September in Jones’s defamation lawsuit against two men she says defamed her on social media in the widening controversy over the content of school library books.

Jones is the school librarian for Live Oak Middle School in Livingston Parish and has been under relentless attack on Facebook by Livingston Parish resident Ryan Thames, with encouragement from St. Martinville resident Michael Lunsford and his self-appointed decency monitoring organization Citizens for a New Louisiana.

In September, 22^nd JDC Judge Erika Sledge, with a courtroom full of Thames and Lunsford supporters ruled that Jones is a public figure under the US Supreme Court’s landmark Sullivan v. New York Times decision and THREW OUT Jones’s lawsuit against the two despite Thames’s having labeled Jones a pedophile on social media.

First of all, labeling Jones a public figure under the 1964 UNANIMOUS DECISION is quite a reach since its definition seemed to limit “public figures” to elected officials and figures of authority, not civil servants. Perhaps Judge Sledge felt the presence of the Thames-Lunsford supporters, who packed the courtroom, and, as an elected official, ruled on the basis of what she perceived as the desires of her political base instead of the rule of law.

Nevertheless, Jones was granted a rehearing of her case Monday in the Livingston Parish Courthouse. The case is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Even if Jones did fall within the legal definition of public figure, Sullivan v. New York Times said that if someone labeling charges against a public figure knew the allegation to be false and still uttered or wrote it with malice and forethought, then that person could be found guilty of defamation.

It would certainly seem that Thames had no basis, factual or otherwise, to call Jones a pedophile.

Lunsford said his efforts to remove/relocate objectionable books is not a censorship move but one of plain decency. But that would not explain why efforts are underway to ban books about Black Lives Matter, civil rights, women’s suffrage, and the US Civil War. And that movement certainly would not justify labeling one as a pedophile on social media.

NBC News has observed the trend toward library censorship and back in August, did a national FEATURE STORY on the travails of Jones and the threats to First Amendment freedoms.

On Thursday, The New York Times posted a 37-minute interview of Jones. You may read the transcript of that interview below:

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If it seems like I’m obsessing over Brandon Browning’s inappropriate ridicule of the physical handicaps of Joe Biden (stuttering) and John Fetterman (stroke), then perhaps I am.

Browning just can’t seem to get past the fact that Biden beat his boy Trump for President two years ago – two years, and he’s still not over it – and Fetterman was elected US Senator from Pennsylvania last week.

Browning, in case you need to be reminded, lost his bid for Livingston Parish assessor and he’s about to lose again in his announced candidacy for sheriff. Browning can’t even be elected to a parish office and he’s gonna throw darts at a US president and a US senator? Seriously?

It’s fine to disagree with any politician on policy and philosophy. But to zero in on a physical disability is hitting waaay below the belt and Browning should have the decency to know that.

He got into a running Facebook exchange with someone named DeAnna (who is obviously far more sensitive – and smarter – than Browning). The one thing any politician should know is when you start defending yourself or what you said or did, you’ve already lost the argument.

And that’s precisely what he did in their Facebook banter and the more he defended himself, the more absurd his position became, saying finally, that he wasn’t discriminating against Biden and Fetterman because they’re Democrats but that he was discriminating “against a lack of cognitive ability and function.”

Function. Hmmm. Wonder how he feels about Franklin Roosevelt’s being a victim of polio and confined to a wheelchair during his administration while actually making America great again – and not just slapping a slogan on a baseball cap?

Obviously, FDR was limited in his “function,” right Browning? Or do you lack the cognitive ability to comprehend history?

I mean, all he did was pull this country out of the Great Depression by creating all those socialist programs that put people to work – people who desperately needed jobs to put food on the table and clothing on their kids’ backs. And guess what? Those jobs FDR created weren’t just deadhead government jobs; they were actually productive. I’ll get to those in a minute but first, it’s probably appropriate to point out that that crippled president, who was of extremely limited physical function, also saw this country through World War II.

You do know about that war, don’t you, Browning? That’s the one where we defeated Hitler. We thought we’d eradicated fascism from the face of the earth but unfortunately, it’s back but this time it’s in this country. Well, we defeated them once and we can do it again if we have to – even if we have to rely on a president who stutters and a senator who is recovering from a stroke.

Oh, and about those government jobs FDR handed out in his socialist programs: besides roads and rural electrification that they brought to rural America, you might want to check out some of the other projects FDR’s socialist Works Progress Administration (WPA) was responsible for just in Louisiana. You can check them out by going HERE.

And speaking of socialism, Browning, what did you do with your socialist stimulus checks (two in 2020 and a third in March 2021) that you got during the pandemic? Just askin’.

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