Louisiana Voice

Most of us have received emails like the one below at one time or another:

PayPal

Report

Invoice no: 5JAE 60E0 URXR VR7G

Dear Customer,

Thank you for using PayPal.

Your account has been charged with $481.88 USD and will be going to deduct from your account within 24 hours. If you did not recognize this transaction or want to cancel this charge.

Please contact Toll Free Customer Support Number: +1(801)-882-2752

Invoice No                : 876-42154522

Order No                  : CL7-4512212-54451

Invoice Amount      : $481.88 USD

Invoice Date            : 30 November,2022

Date                         : 01 December,2022

Payment Method  : PayPal.

Or like this:

Rеdіlеѵеrу rеquеst.

Yоur pаrсеl hаs аrrіѵеd аt оur lосаl pоst-оffісе

Wе аrе mіssіng іnfоrmаtіоns іn оrdеr tо соmplеtе уоur dеlіѵеrу 

Рlеаsе сlісk thе lіnk bеlоw tо соrrесt уоur аdrеss аnd pау thе fееs оf (3 USD) fоr thе nеw dеlіѵеrу аttеmpt іt wіll аrrіѵе іn nеxt 2 dауs.

Updаtе pаrсеl 

You know you haven’t purchased anything and you don’t think you have any packages due but you have that urge to check messages like these out.

Don’t.

Both are scams and if you examine the messages closely you can spot the giveaways. In both, there are errors in grammar. In the first, “…and will be going to decuct from your account…” is fractured English and would never be sent out by a reputable company like PayPal. It was obviously composed by someone in a place well out of the reach of law enforcement authorities in this country.

The second one, you will notice, says, “Your parcel has arrived at our local post-office…” Notice that the message does not describe which post office – just “our local post-office.” Whose local? Where is that “local post-office”? Also, “post office” should not be hyphonated, a glaring error that points to an overseas hacker who is not quite as familiar with our language as he should be. Plus, he was a bit careless in misspelling “Redelivery.”

So, what’s the purpose of these scams? After all, the latter message only says that I owe $3 to get the mysterious package (that I never ordered) delivered “in next 2 days” (again, notice the incorrect grammar). I mean, what’s three bucks? No one scams for three bucks, right? Wrong

You are either supposed to call the number in the first message or click on a link provided (but not included here) in the second message. In either case, you will doubtless be asked to provide personal information, such as your PayPal account number, credit care information, or banking account information. You may even be asked to provide social security numbers (to ensure proper identification, of course) as well as other personal information.

If you do that, they gotcha and you will see your bank account eddy away like the last water down a bathtub drain. Or you may see the balance on your credit card balance explode like you just signed on one of those hidden Donald Trump contribution online solicitations.

Which brings up a third scam that was just attempted on yours truly but for the quick action of some alert employee of Hancock-Whitney Bank who thwarted the scammer’s efforts.

I received a phone call from a Hancock employee who informed me that an effort had been made to transfer funds from my LouisianaVoice checking account into a Huntington Bank account.

 First of all, I have never and will never authorize any electronic payment from that account. I’m old school: I write the old paper checks for all transactions from that account as well as our personal checking account.

Second, and this theory was supported by the Hancock representative as well: there most probably is no such animal as a Huntington Bank; it’s quite likely some untracable sham paper conduit through which money is skimmed from countless accounts like mine worldwide. Had it not been for that quick-acting Hancock risk management employee, $1,000 would have floated away, most likely to some overseas recipient.

As it was, the attempt was intercepted and my bank account frozen so that nothing can be deposited or withdrawn – not even by me. Now, I have to go in to the bank, close out that account and set up a brand-new account. But, it’s a minor inconvenience in order to keep from finding my account balance reduced by a thousand bucks.

The thing that most surprised me, however, was the amount they attempted to grab. Normally, these hackers go for smaller amounts in the hopes that (a) it won’t attract the bank’s attention (as it did in this case) and (b) the account holder won’t miss an insignificant amount like say, $50 or $75 or even $100 which, repeated in tens of thousands of other accounts across the map, can produce a substantial windfall for cyber thieves. In my case, they got greedy and their efforts failed.

Obviously, I’m certainly grateful to the folks at Hancock.

At the same time, I feel it’s important to use thie near-miss of a lesson to offer words of warning to those who have worked hard their entire lives to accumulate a few dollars to be ever-vigilant for unscrupulous hackers who want to sit at a computer and rob you of your life’s savings.

The elderly are especially vulnerable targets of these crooks, so it’s critical that when messages like the two at the beginning of this post pop up in your email, DO NOT OPEN them. Instead, just DELETE! You have absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose by opening the messages and especially by responding to them. (I don’t like typing in all caps because it’s the email equivalent to shouting, but this is important so I’ll repeat: BE CAREFUL!)

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.

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.

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.

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: