Louisiana Voice

So much space is devoted here to the abuses of Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal and Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter that sometimes it seems that the shenanigans up in DeSoto Parish are being overlooked.

Not that events have not been covered up there but sometimes it’s necessary to go back and catch up.

This is such an occasion.

First of all, District Judge CHARLES ADAMS, who should have recused himself for obvious reasons, instead ruled that District Attorney Gary Evans was prohibited from investigating former Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle and his deputies in connection with the local LACE program gone bad. LACE is an acronym for Local Agency Compensated Enforcement, with a special emphasis on “compensated.” Under the program, state police and local deputies are paid overtime by the local district to assist in reining in speeders, drunks and other neer-do-well miscreants.

It is a program run amok, coming under investigation in a number of parishes, including DeSoto, Calcasieu, and Orleans-Jefferson. Those working LACE, in seems, find it difficult to restrain from fudging on their actual hours of work, resulting in more than a significant cost to hardworking taxpayers who put their trust in those behind the badges.

LouisianaVoice, in a cursory examination of 600 LACE tickets issued by DeSoto deputies, found that nary a one was issued to DeSoto residents. Zilch. Nil. None. Zero, as in not one.

But moving on, the DeSoto Sheriff’s Office is beset by other problems.

Arbuckle abruptly resigned in March of this year in the wake of the auditor’s investigation and was succeeded by Chief Deputy Jayson Richardson who had his name legally changed from Samuel Baldwin. He is now seeking the office full-time but is opposed in the upcoming special election by Mansfield Police Chief Gary Hobbs.

Not directly related to the election campaign is the matter of DeSoto Parish resident Ryan Jones. He was married to the sister and daughter of DeSoto Parish sheriff’s deputies. The couple had one child before their divorce and once divorced, the full fury of the sheriff’s office and Louisiana State Police were turned upon him non-stop.

Jones was subjected to arrests for DWI, extortion, and violation of a protective order. He was cited for various traffic offenses, one being stopping beyond a stop line (I’ve been teaching defensive driving to traffic offenders for 22 years and I have yet to have a single offender in my classes for stopping past a stop line), and for failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. In each and every case, he was exonerated, sometimes by a grand jury, others by appearances before a judge. Deputies have entered his property, issuing orders of “Don’t move,” but left without making any arrest.

He was even featured on the DeSoto Parish Crimestoppers Facebook page as “Felon of the Week,” even though the only charges pending against him (later dismissed) were for misdemeanors.

Jones has filed a LAWSUIT against Arbuckle, Richardson, Monica Cason, the former sister-in-law who serves as Richardson’s deputy, and several other deputies. If half of his allegations prove to be true—those include at least 10 instances of arrests, traffic citations, traffic stops, and other confrontations—then the sheriff’s department would appear to be guilty of malfeasance in aiding two deputies’ relatives by initiating and carrying out a pattern of harassment.

And Jones was wise enough to file his lawsuit in Western District U.S. District Court in Shreveport instead of state court in DeSoto’s 42^nd Judicial District where it, like the LACE investigation matter, might be heard by Judge Charles Adams.

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I’m going to get called a Hillary lover (I’m not, by any stretch; I find her strident and insincere) and an Obama apologist (I’m not; I felt he was an ineffective president—though he did have a Republican Congress to deal with and a Senate President who vowed no Obama Supreme Court nominee would be confirmed, which strikes me as a bit narrow-minded, more than a little bigoted and bigly divisive).

So, go ahead, give it your best shot but I’m still going to say this and I will not back down:

Mr. Frump may deny it (and he no doubt will—he takes no responsibility for his actions because despots never do), but the cold, hard truth is he has fostered, promoted, encouraged, applauded, and otherwise abetted this irrational behavior that resulted in suspicious packages (possibly explosives) being sent to the homes of the Clintons and the Obamas and the Time-Warner/CNN offices. As of Wednesday afternoon, at least seven explosive devices addressed to prominent liberals were intercepted by authorities. You can lay these incidents at the feet of our POTUS (Prevaricator of the United States), Donald Trump.

This is what happens when you have a damned fool spewing his rhetoric of hatred, bigotry, ignorance, and unsupported claims, and who is followed and adored by millions of other damned fools afflicted with the same herd mentality of bigotry, hatred, and ignorance—and it’s only going to get worse.

How else do you explain the remarks of two so-called “Christians” in a recent conversation in which one said Trump “has never offended me” (Seriously? Never?) and the other who wished aloud that Hurricane Willa which slammed Mexico’s west coast on Tuesday would hit the migrant caravan headed toward the U.S. “and kill them all.” Those are direct quotes from a single conversation.

And, in case you didn’t get it the first time, they profess to be devout Christians.

Is this really the way Christians are expected to think, say, and act?

Oh…, I’m sorry. That’s the Pat Robertson Christian doctrine.

He’s the one, you will recall, who said of the political crisis over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi:

“You’ve got one journalist. You’ve got $100 billion worth of arms sales.” He said we need to focus on the important things, adding, “You don’t blow up an international alliance over one person.”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the entire concept of Christianity based upon the life and death of “one person”?

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An interesting lawsuit has been filed in 16th Judicial District Court in New Iberia that names among its 17 defendants J.E. Schwing, Inc., Texaco, Chevron, and members of the local Iberia Parish political power structure.

The heirs of one Louis Carrier filed the lawsuit which claims they are owed CENTURY OLD ROYALTIES on an oil well drilled on or adjacent to property owned by Carrier whose heirs are claiming there was “no cloud on the title of the property until 1916, when oil was discovered in Iberia Parish…”

The Schwing Well No. 1 was drilled “on or near the Carrier family land” and access to and from the well “was provided or taken by ingress and egress” across Carrier’s property. The lawsuit further claims that the well “was located in such proximity” to Carrier’s land “that it is undeniable that oil and gas was extracted from beneath petitioner’s land” and that Carrier nor his descendants received any royalties “or other monies in consideration for the oil removed from their property.”

Former parish council member Glenn Romero is named as a defendant. His father was Mayo Romero and the succession of Mayor Romero is also a named defendant as is the succession of Paulin Duhe through the administrator Thomas G. Duhe. Paulin Duhe was the grandfather of 16th JDC District Attorney Bofill “Bo” Duhe.

Several of Carrier’s descendants who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit are current residents of Iberia Parish, a fact that should have them looking over their shoulders.

All they have to do to be reminded of the vindictiveness of Duhe and Sheriff Louis Ackal is review the problems encountered by DONALD BROUSSARD when he took on the power structure.

Just sayin’….

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Jeff Landry loves to present an image of himself as a crusading advocate for all that is just and pure. All you have to do is read his endless parade of self-promoting press releases about all the evil he has pursued as our law and order attorney general.

Except when it comes to investigating possible SEXUAL ABUSES in the Catholic Church as attorneys general in others states have done.

Could it be because his mother is a religion school teacher at Trinity Catholic School in St. Martinville in St. Martin Parish, which falls within the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette? (NOTE: I’m informed Landry’s mother retired three years ago and the school itself closed a year ago but that does nothing to diminish the significance of Landry’s ties to the church or his potential motivation to go easy on any investigation of same.)

Of course his office says it doesn’t have the authority to launch such a comprehensive investigation.

Landry refuses to say whether he would initiate a joint review of sex abuse allegations along with district attorneys in Louisiana, as has been done in at least one other state.

New Orleans attorney Roger Stetter, who represents alleged victims of clergy abuse in New Orleans, said he believes Landry could pursue an investigation if he desired.

“He doesn’t need the permission of the Legislature to pursue this,” Stetter said. “He doesn’t think he can because he doesn’t want to do it.”

Landry has not been shy in asserting his authority in other areas—even in cases where that authority was not his. He operated a special crime task force — with agents who arrested people — in New Orleans for about a year, though a federal judge said he did not have the power to do so. His office spews out a constant stream of press releases about his pursuit of child predators (other than priests) and welfare and Medicare cheats in his never ending quest for the governor’s office.

Things that make you go hmmm.

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Okay, folks, against my better judgment, I’m back—but on a much more restricted basis.

My “retirement” is shorter than that of Brett Favre. I’m harder to get rid of than love bugs in May and can on occasion create as much stink as a dead armadillo on a Louisiana highway on a hot August day.

Admittedly, I am a political news junkie and it’s impossible for me to stand on the sidelines and watch our elected officials get away with questionable and unethical, if not downright illegal actions.

So, here’s the deal. I’m returning to the fray but because of the strain on my somewhat diminished vision, my posts will have a decidedly different look about them: no more long, detailed essays. Instead, I’ll just be posting terse notes with a few accompanying acerbic comments and whenever possible, links you can go to for more details.

Call it The Reader’s Digest version of LouisianaVoice, McLouisianaVoice, or LouisianaVoice Cliff Notes. Whatever, I hope you like it.

Our first post under the new format will be on Monday (October 22).

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