Louisiana Voice

Granted, it was half-a-century ago when I attended Louisiana Tech, but still, to see the difference between the cost of a college education then and now is mind-boggling—and not a little depressing.

When I was at Tech, gasoline was 30 cents a gallon. Today, it hovers around $2 and has on occasion exceeded $3. My new 1969 Chevy Malibu was, if I recall correctly, in the neighborhood of $2,500-$3.000. (My first car, a ’64 VW Beetle, was a whopping $1,600, right off the showroom floor.) I don remember the prices of a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread then but suffice it to say it was considerably less than what we pay today. My first house, a nice brick home on an acre lot in a nice neighborhood in Ruston was around $11,000-$12,000.

So, based on the price of those items, gasoline and automobiles have increased about tenfold. Homes a shade more than that and while I can’t say for certain, I would assume milk and bread have increased along those same lines.

Not a college education, though. Oh, no.

When I was at Tech, it cost me anywhere from $100 to $200 per quarter, excluding books. That’s because as a resident of Ruston, I lived off campus.

My grandson, who attends Tech and who also lives off-campus in my late mother-in-law’s home in nearby Simsboro, just forked over $3,529.20 to attend the fall quarter.

It would be about half that amount but for a laundry list of obscure fees tacked onto the tuition, which was a more modest $1.851.

And it might well be considerably less than that but for one Bobby Jindal who during his eight disastrous years as governor, managed to slash about 75 percent of state funding from Louisiana’s colleges and universities. Don’t for a moment think that I’ve forgotten that.

[Of course, Eddie Rispone, with his promise of a rollback of taxes, would likely continue down that same reckless path.]

But I digress. The fees. Oh, yes, the fees. I would love for someone to come forward and explain, item-by-item what those fees are for. Here’s the list:

• Building Use Fee: $44.50 (okay, I get that, sort of. But many of those buildings have been “in use” for a long time—and they already have a dormitory fee for those living on campus).
• Academic Enhancement Fee: $16.67. Say what?
• Academic Excellence Fee: $80. What’s the difference between “enhancement” and “excellence’? Someone please enlighten me—and why does “excellence” cost nearly five times as much as “enhancement”?
• Operational Fee: $46. And how is that different than the Building Use fee?
• General Fee: $95.39. I guess they couldn’t come up with a creative name for that one.
• University Support Fee: $594.04. Okay, you have a Building Use fee and an Operational fee. What, pray tell is this for?
• Student Self-Assessed Fee: $327.90. As I remember from my student days, part of this was for the student newspaper—which now is online and not even printed—and for the Tech yearbook, The Lagniappe. Does anyone even get a yearbook anymore?
• Technology Fee: $45. What technology? Wi-fi perhaps? Seems a little high when you multiply that by several thousand students.
• Energy Surcharge: $80. Again, multiplying that by thousands of students…

The amounts given above were applicable to number of hours my grandson is taking. Some of the fees are even greater for students taking more hours.

And there are also parking permit fees for students bringing cars onto the campus, dorm fees for those living on campus, meal ticket fees for students eating in the campus cafeteria, and out-of-state fees for, well, out-of-state students.

And I thought reading all the charges on my cellphone bill was complicated.

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On Friday (Aug. 23),I received the attached “Trump Agenda Survey,” aka “A Project of the Republican National Committee,” cleverly disguised as a solicitation for a monetary contribution even though I was forced to walk away from the Republican Party several years ago because:

• It no longer makes any pretense of supporting individuals’ Constitutional rights;
• It no longer makes any pretense of fiscal responsibility as evidenced by the national deficit which has CLIMBED to $1 trillion rather than being reduced as promised by Trump;
• It no longer embraces the concept of rational conservatism but instead, in the very words of RONALD REAGAN, JR., in describing Trump: “He’s obsessed with ratings and things like that, but he doesn’t actually engage with the idea of being the president of the United States. Not interested in learning anything in particular. And so, he just sort of floats along day to day in this stew of chaos that he creates.”
• The Republican Party has capitulated to corporate America with its so-called tax reform that only benefits the wealthiest one percent at the expense of working Americans;
• The Republican Party has sold its soul to the Second Amendment while looking the other way as Trump and his allies in the party try to destroy the First Amendment. Even one of my own U.S. Senators, BILL CASSIDY, has sponsored a bill that would cast a chill over the First Amendment by labeling Antifa as a terrorist organization without batting an eye at the PROUD BOYS or other WHITE NATIONALIST GROUPS tied to TRUMP and his attorney general, WILLIAM BARR.

PROUD BOYS

In short, the Republican Party, led by the likes of Trump and Mitch McConnell, more resembles a totalitarian party than one that represents the American citizens.

The Republican Party no longer is the stalwart opponent of the communist government of Russia and North Korea, as evidenced by its silence when Trump fawns over those countries’ leaders.

The Republican Party is no longer the staunch, proud opponent of slavery, as evidenced by its deafening silence over the caging of children who are forced to live in squalid conditions no animal should be forced to endure.

• You ask in your questionnaire if I believe “that Democrats in Congress have any intention of working in good faith with President Trump and Republicans to address the pressing issues facing our nation.” I remind you that since January alone, the House has passed bills on comprehensive democratic reform (election security), pay equity for women, gender discrimination, dreamers protection, prescription drug costs, pre-existing conditions, background checks—all of which Mitch McConnell blocked in the Senate. So, just who is not working in “good faith”?
• You asked in your questionnaire if I agreed that “Democrats have not said or done enough to stop their radical left-wing supports and fringe groups from harassing and launching violent protests against people with differing opinions.” I direct you to Charlottesville, San Diego, Dayton, Orlando, El Paso, Charleston, and elsewhere and ask that you please tell me exactly which fringe group those perpetrators represented. I would also suggest you examine the arrests of those planning white nationalist attacks and then tell me just who the hell poses the greatest threat—white nationalist Trump supporters or suspected Democrats who heckle and hold counter-protests in opposition to groups like the Proud Boys, the American Freedom Party, The White Boys Society, or hundreds of other such groups?

David Duke must be so proud of you.

• You asked in your questionnaire if I am worried “that the hateful, divisive rhetoric of many Democrat leaders against our President, his administration and conservative policies is fomenting political violence and undermining the foundations of our society and democracy?” Oh, for God’s sake, where to start. I suppose by offering to provide you with a half-dozen (at a minimum) examples of Trump’s “hateful and divisive rhetoric” for every example you can provide of the same for Democrats. I dare you to take me up on that challenge.

I’m sorry, but I do not believe a truly patriotic political party would stand silently by while the president smugly refers to himself as “the chosen one.” A truly patriotic party would not stand idly by as he drives the country—and the world—into a recession with his chaotic trade policies. A party with an iota of dignity and self-respect might even ask Trump to “pick a position and stay with it; quit flip-flopping.” A truly responsible party would not condone the description of African countries as “shit-hole countries.” A truly patriotic party would never look the other way as innocent children are caged without toothpaste, blankets or clean clothing. A party that sincerely loves this country would address solutions to mass shootings in an adult, responsible way—instead of offering the by now cliché “thoughts and prayers,” and mumbling, “Now is not the time to make this (pick a shooting) tragedy a political issue.”

I have long lamented the fact that we were losing jobs to countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, China, India and Korea because of cheap labor. On that point, I can agree with Trump. Most people I know do, too. We would love nothing better than to see manufacturing jobs returned to this country. But no one, including POTUS, can “order” American companies to cease doing business with China. If such an order were to be implemented, Walmart would be out of business within a week. Such an “order” is the type action only a dictator would—or could—take.

Or, perhaps the “Chosen One.”

Here is the POTUS order-by-tweet:

✔@realDonaldTrump

Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.

In short, the Republican party is despicable, disgusting, uncaring, callous, and unresponsive to the concerns of this country.

So, no, I shall not be contributing one dime to any candidate, national or local, who indicates his unwavering, unquestioning, devotion and loyalty to such a monster as Donald J. Trump or Mitch McConnell—and that includes our two Republican candidates for governor of the state of Louisiana who proudly wear their lack of moral courage and convictions on their sleeves.

Not necessarily a proud Democrat, but for damned sure not a Republican,

Tom Aswell

(Disclaimer: I post this with the full knowledge that Trump’s core supporters will come out of the woodwork to nail me to the wall. So, having acknowledged that fact, enjoy yourselves. I would never deny anyone the right of free expression because that’s the American way. Just keep it clean and civil.)

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The following is an excerpt from my book, Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption, which chronicles the unparalleled power of sheriffs and how they can use that power for personal enrichment and to shield themselves from violations of human rights, theft, drug distribution and even murder. For this book, I have chosen to limit stories to Louisiana and there were plenty of examples from which to choose. This partial chapter examines Mike Tregre, sheriff of St. John the Baptist Parish.

On December 20, 1993, Leonardo Alexander and Arizona Batiste became embroiled in an argument over property Batiste said Alexander had stolen from his home. The confrontation ended when Batiste shot and killed Alexander when he said Alexander first pulled a chrome-plated handgun on him. Batiste panicked, flagged down a passing friend, Jerry Lewis, threw both guns in his truck with instructions to “get rid of them,” according to Lewis, who said he threw the pistol in a canal.

When deputies arrived at the scene of the shooting, one of the officers, Paul Schnyder, was a first cousin to the victim Alexander. Schnyder, because of the conflict of interest, turned the investigation over to his partner, Allan Wayne Schaeffer, but remained on the scene as interviews were conducted with four witnesses, each of whom said Alexander had a handgun. That would seem to collaborate Batiste’s claim of self-defense but deputies instead accused the witnesses of lying, saying they had fabricated the story of the second gun.

Lewis said sheriff’s deputies went to the canal in search of Alexander’s weapon and he seemed to remember there were divers at the canal who were not mentioned in the subsequent report filed by Schaeffer. “They had divers out there,” Lewis said.

Carl Butler, an attorney for the sheriff’s office, would deny that the sheriff’s office had an “official” diving team but Edward Nowell, commander of the Marine Division of the sheriff’s office at the time, confirmed that the sheriff’s department had access to divers.

Upon their return from the canal, Lewis said deputies pressured him to lie and say there was only one gun, repeatedly asking him, “You gonna continue to lie for Arizona?” Though Lewis said he never changed his story, the investigative report filed by deputies following their last interview with Lewis said he told them there was only one gun, quoting Lewis as saying he “only received one gun from Batiste, that being the 12-gauge shotgun that killed Alexander. The actual transcript of the interview, however, differs radically from the detectives’ report, with no mention of any questions about the gun. Instead, Lewis refused to answer questions and demanded an attorney.

Charges against Lewis were eventually dropped after Batiste’s trial because he had produced Batiste’s shotgun for deputies. The detective who interviewed him, Mike Tregre, asked, “Have any threats or promises been made to you or has pressure of any kind been applied to induce you to answer questions or give up any of your rights?”

“No,” said Lewis, who would later say, “They (the sheriff’s deputies) were putting a lot of pressure on me,” adding that he was in fear of retaliation against him by Tregre.

In December 1995, two years after the shooting, Schaeffer faxed a file to St. John Assistant District Attorney GeorgeAnn Graugnard which said a silver handgun recovered in the Batiste investigation was being held by the sheriff’s office for “safekeeping.”

When Batiste’s new attorney, Gwyn Brown, discovered the fax, she confirmed with the sheriff’s office that it was still in possession of the gun that deputies had denied ever existed. When Batiste appealed for a new trial, cooperation was less forthcoming, saying records of the investigation had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The only problem with that was while New Orleans was inundated by floodwaters, St. John the Baptist Parish was not. Instead, it served as a staging area for recovery efforts into New Orleans and the sheriff’s department’s own annual report boasted there was “no flooding and no looting. Power outages inconvenienced us all but thankfully, damage was mostly limited to roofs.” No mention was made of any damage to sheriff’s facilities. Nor did the sheriff’s office ever file any insurance claims for damaged facilities from the hurricane. Faced with the prospect of explaining how files could have been damaged when nothing else was, the department changed its story to say, “The case files you see were relocated to a mobile trailer following Hurricane Katrina damage to the CID (Criminal Investigations Department) building where they were stored. However, those files cannot be currently located.”

…

Mike Tregre captured 64 percent of the vote in the first primary, easily defeating two other candidates.

He was sworn into office in July 2012 and six months later, on January 18, 2013, his son, Jared Tregre, was sworn in as a reserve deputy while still a student in high school. He wore a badge and “represented himself as a deputy” during a ceremony for fallen officers in Washington, D.C. Among those honored at the event were St. John deputies Brandon Nielsen and Jeremy Triche, who were killed in 2012. Moreover, by virtue of his still being four months from graduating from high school, Jared Tregre could not legally be commissioned as a reserve deputy since the law requires deputies to have a high school diploma or to possess a GED, said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission (MCC), a nonprofit citizen watchdog organization.

Goyeneche’s letter described Jered Tregre’s action of walking around Washington “with a badge around his neck with people thanking him” for his service as a “disgraceful breech of conduct”

To read the first page of that letter, click HERE.

To read the full story, as well as 43 other chapters of murder, malfeasance, abuse of power, theft, and other transgressions, you may order my book, Louisiana’s Rogue Sheriffs: A Culture of Corruption. The price for the book is $30 and you may click on this icon: in the column to the right or you may send a check for $30 to Tom Aswell, P.O. Box 922, Denham Springs, Louisiana 70727.

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