Louisiana Voice

Tracy Hebert just wants to know exactly what happened on Prien Lake that fateful day. After all, it’s been 19 years since her son was killed in a boating accident there.

Questions also remain unanswered as to why then-Sheriff Tony Mancuso told Mrs. Hebert that the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) worked the accident and the sheriff’s office was not at the scene when two separate documents obtained by LouisianaVoice clearly indicate that “several Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Marine units [were] on the scene as well”?

And why did toxicology results reported on July 14 on the victim, 20-year-old Derek Hebert, show traces of cocaine in his system but results on the operator of one of the boats, the son of a prominent Calcasieu Parish attorney who at the time was involved in a campaign for district attorney, were never revealed?

Allie Torres still wonders why officials attempted to place her ex-husband as the driver of one of the boats involved in the accident on May 7, 2005, when he wasn’t even there and was later shot dead by sheriff’s deputies.

Derek Hebert was killed when two boats collided, throwing him into the water where officials said he was struck by a boat propeller. He was with a group of young people who were preparing to celebrate the annual Contraband Days Festival in Lake Charles.

While all the questions deserve answers that have never been forthcoming, the last one is perhaps the most curious of all.

Why would officials place Michael Torres at the scene when his then-wife continues to insist that he was not at the lake, but at his mother’s home at the time? And why did Dan Vamvoras text Allie Torres after the accident to say that he wanted to see that Michael was “taken care of.” He sent several texts, she said, but she did not reply.

Dan Vamvoras was operating one of the boats and his father is Glen Vamvoras, the owner of the boat. The elder Vamvoras was in the middle of an ultimately unsuccessful campaign for election as district attorney for the 14^th Judicial District when Hebert was killed.

Why Torres agreed to admit to being the driver of one of the boats remains a mystery but later, when he was later arrested for DUI, he called upon Glen Vamvoras to make the charges go away, telling Vamvoras, “I committed perjury for you. You owe me,” Allie Torres said.

By June 2020, Michael and Allie Torres were no longer married. On June 20, he appeared at their former home intoxicated and she called the sheriff’s office. Deputies responded, there was a confrontation and deputies shot Michael Torres.

Mrs. Hebert said she attempted to no avail to obtain a copy of the accident report. She said one LDWF agent who was at the scene told her he had never seen such negligence as he did that day.

Moreover, she said she later received an anonymous envelope with 148 photographs, photos she said she’d previously been denied, which she claims “clearly determines he was not struck by a propeller.”

Strangest of all was the settlement Mrs. Hebert received. “My lawyer told me [the settlement] was our only option,” she wrote in an email. “He said that both boats hit my son and we don’t know which one killed him, so we couldn’t hold anybody accountable.”

A retired attorney told LouisianaVoice, “If the attorney advised plaintiff did not have a case because two boats hit at the same time, then he is an idiot. It’s the finder of facts (a jury, if there is one) job to assign percentage of blame to everyone involved. If it’s a tangled mess that has not clear facts, it’s the attorney’s job to come up with a narrative to convince the finder of fact.”

This is an appeal for a different type of contribution.

I am in the process of gathering information for a book and I need input from anyone who may have experience in or knowledge about the subject matter.

The book will be about child trafficking, particularly as it pertains to both private and church-affiliated homes for troubled youth where hundreds of cases of psychological, physical and sexual abuse have already been documented and in some cases, perpetrators prosecuted.

I also will examine the many cases of sexual abuse by members of both Protestant and Catholic clergy.

I would like to communicate directly with anyone who has personal knowledge of any of these abuses. I particularly want to interview victims but I will also welcome input from those who once worked at these facilities.

This book will be a historical novel, meaning it will be a fictional work but will cite actual events – and in some cases, real names. It is not my intent to embarrass any survivors of abuse, so any victim who comes forward will have the option of remaining anonymous if they so choose.

You may contact me by posting a comment to this post or by emailing me at louisianavoice@outlook.com

I look forward to hearing from you.

As much as we’d like to, we should forget about Donald Trump and his asinine pronouncements and promises and Joe Biden’s abysmal debate performance.

As bad as both are and were, they are merely distractions from a much, much larger threat to our democratic way of life.

The U.S. Supreme Court is completely out of control and a legitimate threat, wreaking havoc at every turn of our legal system. Basically, the court is six destructionists run amok. In no sequential order, we have:

The 6-3 decision striking down the so-called CHEVRON DOCTRINE, gutting the power of federal agencies to interpret laws that they administer – a clear victory for corporate polluters.

Veterans? Who cares? Used up in fighting America’s seemingly endless wars and conflicts all over the globe, they’re quickly forgotten and ignored when they return home suffering the mental and physical scars of battle. Many end up homeless, the throwaways of a callous, forgetful and unfeeling bureaucracy.

In its GRANTS PASS DECISION, the court upheld the Oregon city’s ban on allowing homeless to sleep on city sidewalks. The cruelest joke of all was that the city has subjected homeless persons to fines of up to $1,250 if found guilt to criminal trespass charges.

There’s no question that something should be done to address the problem of people having to live on the streets, but an impossible-to-collect $1,250 fine assessed against already indigent people? Seriously? With the skyrocketing cost of housing, fed by corporate buyouts of residential homes for investment purposes, more and more Americans are facing the prospect of being thrown to the curb. City fathers would do well to think through the consequences of such laws.

The court also ruled that PUBLIC BRIBERY is, in effect, now legal. Of course, with the earlier rulings on Buckley v. Valeo that abolished limits on the amount of money individuals could spend to benefit politicians, and the 2009 infamous Citizens United decision that corporations are, in effect, people, it has been long-established that money – not principals, not public service and certainly not common sense – now is the grease that turns the political wheels.

Perhaps the late Sen. Russell Long said it best: “Almost a hairline’s difference separates bribes and contributions.”

And how about the SCOTUS ruling to THROW OUT CHARGES against a Pennsylvania police officer who was among the horde that invaded – yes, invaded; we all watched it live on TV – on Jan. 6, 2021?

That decision could well affect charges against more than 300 other Jan. 6 defendants who were among those who were hell-bent on literally overthrowing the U.S. government. That’s not an exaggeration. Had those crazed, frothing-at-the-mouth animals succeeded, any number of sitting members of Congress could well have been murdered that day, including the vice-president of the United States. Scoff if you will, that is the stark realism of what occurred that day.

Finally, we have yesterday’s ruling that the Huffpost says gives Biden the legal authority to have Trump ASSASSINATED. The decision granting Trump immunity prompted THE TIMES OF ISRAELto proclaim in response to the ruling, “The President is now a king.”

As one who has lived through the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the last catastrophe I would wish inflicted upon this already traumatized nation is to go through another of those.

Of course, Huffpost was being facetious. Anyone with half a brain would know that but the point is well-taken. Let’s carry it a bit further.

The court’s interpretation of executive immunity must now, if applied across-the-board, as it must be, filter all the way down to the mayor of the smallest of villages. So long as any otherwise criminal action is taken in conjunction with his or her official duties, no criminal prosecution may take place.

Extreme? You bet your britches it is. But realistically, that’s precisely what the court has now decreed.

Your senator or congressperson, your governor, your attorney general, your insurance or agriculture commissioner, your legislator, any bureaucrat at any level of government and as earlier noted, your mayor – they’re all now given carte blanche to take bribes or to commit virtually any crime so long as they’re doing the deed as part of their official duties. Sexual assault on a legislative or administrative aide? Well, was the legislator/public servant considering some bill or contract at the time? Okay, then, no problem. Fleeing the scene after running over and maiming or fatally injuring a pedestrian? Was he on his way to cast an important vote or trying to get to a committee meeting? Sorry, he’s immune.

You get the drift. We are going to see more and more office holders coming up with that legal defense to avoid prosecution for just about anything we can imagine.

It sets up the inevitable addendum “Do you have any idea what I’m doing?” to the tried and true “Do you know who I am?”

With this opinion in hand, maybe President Biden should issue full pardons for former Gov. Edwin Edwards and former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who was railroaded by President George W. Bush and Repugnantcan operative Karl Rove.

For the rest of us, though…We’re still the peons and subject to strictest interpretations of the law – and don’t you ever forget it.

Are our legislators always this thorough in reading – and comprehending – bills that they pass? Unfortunately, this is all too typical. Actions have consequences and this is a classic example of herd mentality and of kneejerk reaction to the urges of a few who would dictate to everyone else how they should live their lives.

The way this is worded, “I AM the Lord thy God” certainly reads like a commandment.

Not convinced? Read the entire (Act 676) by clicking HERE and scrolling down to page 3 of the bill as passed by a 79-16 vote in the HOUSE and 30-8 in the Senate.

Perhaps legislators – and Jeff Landry – should give a little more attention to learning basic math themselves before attempting to inflict their religious beliefs on children.

Only in Louisiana, folks, only in Louisiana…

CORRECTION: Sen. Alan Seabaugh has correctly pointed out that the 17-0 vote originally attributed here was not the final Senate vote. That was on the co-author page. We own our mistakes and readily admit when we’re mistaken. The actual Senate VOTE was 30-8 with one senator not voting. Sen. Seabaugh seems to have taken umbrage at the idea that we (and apparently anyone else) should dare “lecture” our elected officials. Interesting concept.

So, I guess we should never have pointed out that “coincidence” of your law partner and State Rep. Michael Melerine (R-Shreveport) having attempted to reduce payouts in personal injury cases with his HB 423 while your firm just “happened” to be representing a dozen or so insurance companies, several healthcare providers and a few assorted energy-related corporations. No ulterior motive there, right, Senator?

After all, that might be considered “lecturing.”

we’ll have to get back to you on that one, Senator.

Well, it’s now official: public officials are for sale.

Of course, we’ve known this for some time but yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court all but cleared the way for officials to accept bribes. Oh, they were careful to call them gratuities, but anyone not living under a rock understood that virtually all definitions of bribery are officially out the window.

It took 20 pages for the opinion, authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, to rationalize that so long as gifts to officials are given after some official action is taken, it’s considered a gratuity and not a bribe. It took another 24 pages for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to write her dissent. Concurring were Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Samuel Alito (no surprise), Neil Gorsuch, Amy Comey Barrett and Clarence Thomas (now there’s a real shocker!).

Joining Jackson in her dissent were justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

The decision arose from the conviction of former Portage, Ind. Mayor James Snyder who was convicted of bribery for accepting $13,000 from a local trucking company after the city purchased five trash trucks from the business for $1.1 million back in 2013.

Snyder, who was mayor at the time of the purchase, claimed the payment for consulting, leaving unanswered the question of how a sitting officer-holder could legally – or ethically – be working a side gig as a consultant for a potential vendor for the agency he represents.

That murky ethics question aside, the ruling leaves the door wide open – and I mean WIDE open – for all manner of backroom deals to enrich politicians at the possible – and probable – expense of taxpayers.

Vendors, just be certain that you don’t give the gift, cash or vacation trip in advance. Be sure that the package (official decision or action) is done and wrapped in a pretty bow first. THEN, it’s perfectly okay to shower the politico with those tokens of appreciation for a job well done (for the vendor, that is).

Let’s just say, for example, there is a major case pending in a state or federal court against one of our petro-chemical plants. Or some entity wants a multi-million-dollar contract to construct a jail for some sheriff. It could even involve some company striving to land a lucrative contract to say, perform maintenance at the Superdome. Maybe someone would desire to land a hefty contract to perform consulting services on something like a feasibility study on a new state constitution.

All that is necessary to grease the right palm – legally, of course – is to wink at the decision-makers and promise that the right decision “won’t be regretted.” And then all the principals need do is wait until it’s a done deal and the write the check, give the motor home or provide transportation and lodging for an elaborate vacation to some dream spot.

In the eyes of our Supreme Court, it would then be all nice and legal.

Of course, a furtive agreement ahead of time isn’t always necessary. Let’s say you have a decision to make about some unfortunate victim of some corporate misdeed. Who’s in a better position to award you a “gratuity,” someone with little or no resources or someone with a virtulally unlimited budget?

And don’t worry about the nosy press snooping around for public records that might expose your duplicity. Jeff Landry has already taken care of that by all but aboloshing Louisiana’s public record laws, making it difficult if not impossible to follow any paper trails.

And you can count on the Repugnantcans and their apologists to put a smiley face on the decision – if they mention it at all. But you can’t really make a silk purse of a sow’s ear. Put another way, as Fraser Crane once said, “Just because a cat has kittens in the oven, it doesn’t make them biscuits.”

Of course, with the wrong decision, those “gratuities” could vanish. It all harkens back to Sen. Simon Cameron who also served as President Lincoln’s secretary of war, who once said, “An honest politician is one who when he’s bought, stays bought.”

Folks, it turns out all the hoopla over abortion rights and immigration, important though they certainly are, might have simply been a smokescreen to divert our attention away from governmental ethics. I mean, it’s not like a couple of the Supreme Court justices don’t have dogs in that fight.

With the complete gutting of any ethical barrier between business and government, all vestiges of purity and good government have vanished from the Republican agenda because this issue most assurably occupies the top rung of the GOP ladder of priorities.

It began, probably, with the 1976 Supreme Court Buckley v. Valeo decision that said limits on the amount of money individuals could spend to benefit politicians were unconstitutional, that purchasing the allegiance of public officials with cash is a variant of protected free speech.

Unless, of course, you might happen to be a lowly civil servant. A person I know who worked for the state received – unsolicited – a Christmas ham from a vendor one Christmas. The ham was sent to the employee’s state office and she was ratted out as having accepted a gift from a vendor and the ever-vigilant State Ethics Commission popped her with a $250 fine.

Had she been a powerful bureaucrat or elected official, that gift would never have been raised as an issue.

The question now is with the latest Supreme Court decision, will the new rules be applied equally across the board? Will they be applied to elected officials and civil servants alike?

Don’t count on it.