Louisiana Voice

Back on July 18, in its abbreviated meeting, Jonathan Davis, president of Livingston Parish Library Board of Control, announced that he felt “A DEGREE IS A DEGREE,”  and that he felt a special Master’s degree was not needed to qualify for the position of parish library director.

Apparently, he no longer feels that way.

At the July meeting, Davis said that he wanted to open the qualifications for a new director to virtually anyone with a degree, no matter what that degree might be in and that he did not want to “punish those people, especially former principals that have managed schools and know exactly how to do a job very, very similar to this.”

He also denied that the board does not have anyone specific in mind, but that he had an idea of the type of person to fill the position. “I know I’m saying principals a lot, we can talk about someone from the school board’s administration, or someone who has retired from there. I think any of these people would be acceptable to be put in the pool. I’m just saying I want to find the best person for the job, and I think this is the way to do it.

With those words still echoing, the position was officially posted on August 21 and a friend immediately submitted his application. The very next day, August 22, he received this:

From: Livingston Parish Library <se-32-43202473-0@send.applyresponse.com>
Date: August 22, 2025 at 8:00:04 AM CDT
To:
Subject: Thank You for Applying

Dear

We appreciate that you took the time to apply for the position of Library Director with our company. We received applications from many people. After reviewing your submitted application materials, we have decided that we are unable to offer you an interview due to not meeting the minimum qualifications.

We appreciate that you are interested in our company. Please do apply again in the future should you see a job posting for which you qualify.

Again, thank you for applying. We wish you all the best.

Regards,

Human Resource Department
Livingston Parish Library

Whoa! In a single day’s time, he got “We received applications from many people.” That was faster than a speeding bullet. But then came this puzzling rejection: “After reviewing your submitted application materials, we have decided that we are unable to offer you an interview due to not meeting the minimum qualifications.”

Seriously? Just what were those “minimum qualifications”?

Interestingly, the library’s own web page which contained the announcement of the position had this to say about qualifications:

Necessary Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Knowledge of the modern principles, methods and practices of public library administration. Knowledge of library classification and cataloging techniques and practices. Knowledge of public administration and office management, practices and equipment as related to library. Knowledge of books, the book trade, and the reprint and out-of-print markets. Ability to determine the library needs of the community served and to develop a selection policy responsive to that need. Ability to plan, organize, direct and coordinate the activities of a diversified library system in a manner beneficial to full performance and high morale. Ability to delegate authority and responsibility and to schedule and program work on a long-term basis. Ability to express ideas clearly and concisely, orally and in writing. Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees, other local government officials and the general public.

Education and/or Work Experience Requirements

Masters (sic) degree in library science, four years of progressively responsible experience in professional library work, including two years of experience in library administration preferred. Certification by the Louisiana Board of Library Examiners achieved within the first year of hire.

That kind of shoots Davis’s theory in the head. More importantly, I believe it exposes the fraudulent intent of the board itself when it voted to fire Michelle Parrish at the express direction of Michael Lunsford, head of an outfit dubiously called Citizens for a Better Louisiana.

It casts serious doubt onto Davis’s claim back in July that he wanted to be “as transparent as possible” and it certainly calls to question his further claim that board did not have anyone in specific in mind to fill Parrish’s position and it certainly gives one pause over his expressed desire “to move the system forward and ensure long-term strength and unity within the library.” And were it not such a serious matter, it might have been laughable when he said, “I believe this is an opportunity to move forward together, with a renewed commitment, to our shared mission and a spirit of respect for all who use and support our library system.”

Davis and the rest of the board amount to little more than puppets for Lunsford who is trapsing around the state attempting to stir up the locals over some perceived sin of allowing inappropriate books to be available to the reading public.

That is nothing but censorship and this entire episode merely serves to validate claims that this library board is little more than an extension of some dude who doesn’t even reside in Livingston Parish but who insists to enforcing his version of purity and decency.

Anyone who knows me is aware that my passion in life is baseball.

Oh, I’ve tried them all: tennis, dirt biking, softball (I was a pitcher, the natural refuge of those lacking in talent), independent league basketball (coaching, not playing), flag football. But I always returned to my first love, baseball.

There’s no game like it. The single hardest thing to do is hit a small sphere thrown at 90 mpg from 60 feet, six inches – with a stick.

I was a terrible player, so I coached a sandlot team that I owned for 10 years. I played only when we were short-handed – like the night in Magnolia, Arkansas, when I found my self in center field and Gene Smith had a no-hitter going in the seventh inning when a fly ball was scorched in my direction. I stumbled in the direction of the missile and just as I looked up, I was blinded by the stadium lights. I threw up my bare left hand to shield my eyes and the ball hit my bare hand and fell into my glove on my right hand for the third out. As we trotted off the field, my left fielder said, “Way to make that routine play look spectacular.” Gene kept his no-hitter until back-to-back singles in the 11^th and guess who misplayed both hits? Guess who let the winning run score on those two errors for a tough 3-2 loss? Yup, yours truly. But I did get my first hit after 28 consecutive strikeouts in that game. God, I love that game despite my own shortcoming, which were many (I like to tell people that except for the fact that I couldn’t hit, couldn’t catch, couldn’t run and couldn’t throw, I could have been really good).

I say all this to say that I’m a baseball purist. I don’t like the idea of starting a runner off on second base in extra innings. I say let ‘em earn their way on base. Could there ever be a game to match the July 2, 1963 matchup between San Francisco’s Juan Marichal and Milwaukee’s Warren Spahn. The game went 16 innings and believe it or not, both pitchers were still around for the finish when Willie Mays hit a walk-off home run off Spahn for a 1-0 win. Over that entire game, Milwaukee had 8 hits and San Francisco 9. Spahn, 42 at the time, struck out only two Giants while 26-year-old Marichal fanned 10 That was a classic that may never be matched.

Pure baseball at its finest.

That’s why I don’t like the rule of limiting a pitcher to two pickoff attempts. Or increasing the size of the bases. Both give unfair advantages to runners. And now they’re talking about allowing a ghost batter to be injected in to hit, even if he’s already in the lineup in a different batting order. That’s not baseball.

But there also is talk of a new League of their Own – a But there also is talk of a new League of their Own – a WOMEN’S PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE.

There are those who call themselves baseball purists who still hate the idea of the designated hitter and who scoff at the very idea of women’s baseball.

I’m not one of them.

I say let ‘em play and I wish them the very best of luck. I don’t remember anyone ever saying that baseball was for men or boys only. LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey once threatened to sue Dixie Youth Baseball when she was initially blocked from competing with the boys. Dixie Youth backed down and she went on to excel at pitcher, catcher and shortstop.

For those who would never go to a women’s baseball game, I say, fine. Stay home. I don’t really care for NBA basketball, so I don’t go. I’m not a hockey fan, so I don’t attend the games of the Baton Rouge team. Nothing against them or hockey. It’s just not my thing. Baseball is.

And for the women out there who would like to compete in the best game under the sun, I would only say: Go for it. Knock yourself out and have a blast. Life’s too short to worry about the skeptics. If you’re good enough, you’ve earned the right – kind of like a century ago when women decided they’d like to vote.

Jackson Parish Sheriff Andy Brown has confirmed the arrest of one of his deputies for the rape of a juvenile – his own daughter.

Brown is the same sheriff who was CITED last December for having “flouted state-licensing law for juvenile detention facilities.” He also operated two private corporations out of the same address in he Jackson Parish town of Quitman – a towing service which reportedly performed towing services for the sheriff’s department and a Covid testing operation through a clinic called Mercy Medical that was housed in the former parish health unit purchased by the…sheriff’s office.

Shipping containers were purchased by the father of Donovan Shultz, Brown’s number-three person in the sheriff’s office and the agent for Six Point Consultants, the Covid testing corporation. And why did the sheriff’s office need shipping containers? Well, he was going to convert them to house juvenile offenders for about $1.6 million a year until the state YANKED THE CONTRACT almost before the ink was dried on it.

One of the problems was the facility was never licensed to house pre-trial youth. But was just one of the problems. An inspection earlier this year noted 83 VIOLATIONS in the treatment of youth – more than all other youth detention facilities in the state combined. These included poor conditions, physical abuse, chemical restraints, violent environment and a suicide attempt.

Other violations include a lack of educational and mental health services, poor hygiene and basic care, minors reporting they were maced, hit with pepper balls and physically restrained by guards.

A federal lawsuit was filed in 2024 to address the alleged abuses and systemic issues at the facility. Civil rights groups, including Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC), have opposed the use of an adult jail for minors and issued calls for federal intervention.

But now comes a new round of allegations of a more sordid stripe.

Reports confirmed by Brown indicate there have been the arrest of at least one deputy for having sex with a minor. Another deputy was arrested on an “unspecified warrant. There have been a few of those lately and they appear to be connected to sexual crimes, “possibly in order to keep them from being exposed to the public as sex crimes,” says one source.

That source also said that deputies who get into trouble are usually punished by being sent to the parish prison to work for a period of time “instead of being fired, only to come back once they are back in the sheriff’s good graces.”

Brown confirmed to LouisianaVoice today that deputy Harry Woolridge has been arrested for the “sexual assault of his 14-year-old daughter last year.

He said Woolridge, who joined the sheriff’s office “from the local police department” about two years ago, is presently in the Jackson Parish jail with bond set at $1.5 million. “It’s a tragedy,” Brown said.

The six-term Sheriff Brown, first elected in 2003, makes a base salary of $177,084 per year but additional benefits bump the total amount of remuneration to $280,506, a rather hefty salary for a depressed parish like Jackson. Those benefits include $16,218 for insurance; $46,710 in retirement benefits, $17,709 expense allowance, $18,216 for a vehicle, $592 for his cell phone, $363 for dues and $3,614 for conference travel.

Like the anonymous protester who stood in front of a column of military tanks in Tiananmen Square back in 1989, Sean Charles Dunn, the former Department of Justice employee who hurled a sandwich at federal agent, has become something of a symbol, a rallying point, for the so-called “resistance” to the ever-expanding authoritarian rule of Donald Trump.

The Subway sandwich hit the federal agent in the chest. It was fortunate that he happened to be wearing a bulletproof vest at the time or he might have been severely injured. The response was quick as about 20 heavily-armed agents pounced on the assailant before he could inflict further damage.

Attorney General Pam Bondi immediately FIRED Dunn, saying he would be charged with a felony.

Even as an indignant Bondi vowed full prosecution of the sandwich-throwing threat to democracy, an FBI agent who was charged with joining in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, REMAINS GAINFULLY EMPLOYED by the agency. Jared Lane Wise, a former supervisory agent, currently serves as a counselor to Justice Department pardon attorney Ed Martin Jr. Martin was a prominent figure in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Moreover, Trump has pardoned many of those arrested, convicted and sentenced in connection with events on that day.

So, as you can readily see just by comparing these two incidents, we are no longer a nation of law, we have become and are a nation of who you know. That’s a fact, Jack.

Still not convinced? Try this on for size.

If Mr. Dunn wants to avoid prosecution, all he has to do is write a $25,000 CHECK to Pam Bondi and presto! The charge disappears. It’s that simple, really.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) provides us with a handy TIMELINE  of events.

You see, way back in February 2008, before anyone had ever thought of the possibility of TACO Don running for president, Eric Schneiderman, then Florida’s attorney general began getting reports of students being defrauded by the Trump Institute and related entities. On August 1, 2013, Schneiderman had heard enough and filed a lawsuit against Trump for “engaging in persistent fraudulent, illegal and deceptive conduct.”

That same year, Bondi launched her campaign for attorney general and ol’ Yam Tits on September 17, 2013, wrote her a $25,000 campaign check. (By comparison, in Louisiana, where ethics go to die, the maximum allowable contribution in a statewide campaign is $5,000.) Carrying the ethics bit even further, the contribution came from the Trump Foundation. It is illegal for a 501(c)(3) private foundation to make political contributions. To take this ethics question even further, the donation was solicited by Bondi.

The contribution was acknowledged on Oct. 17, 2013. The very next day, October 18, it was announced that 21 of 22 complaints against Trump University had been “weeded out,” leaving only a single complaint against the university.

On January 1, 2014, the Trump Foundation claimed that it had made no donations to political entities, admitting to “clerical errors” nearly four months later.

On June 6, 2016, Bondi’s spokesperson informs Associated Press that Attorney General Bondi was unaware of the 20+ complaints against Trump entities when she solicited the donation.

On June 7, Bondi tells the Tampa Bay Times, “I was never, nor was my office, investigating him (Trump). Never. I would never lie. I would never take money. I’ve been obviously devastated over this.”

Wow. That sounds almost sincere.

Meanwhile, Dunn could probably set up a Go Fund Me account and raise enough money to write Bondi one of those $25,000 checks that she knows nothing about.

You’ve seen him/her at your job and you’ve probably shaken your head and laughed at the pathetic scene of the corporate or bureaucratic butt-kisser who tries to be the first one in the supervisor’s/manager’s/CEO’s office every morning to perform the obligatory suck-up chores. We derisively called that “snorkeling.”

In much the same absurd manner, we are seeing every day the spectacle of members of Congress, political appointees, favor-seekers, college presidents and governors acting out identical roles as they line up to kiss the ring of Clown Prince Donald Trump.

In the end, that ring is going to be one of those water-squirters that only drench the faces of those wretched sycophants, but that’s another story for another day.

I watch with growing amusement or befuddlement – I still haven’t decided which – as people like Mike Johnson, John Kennedy, Julia Letlow, Steve KKK Scalise and Clay Higgins drool all over ol’ Yam Tits in hopes of scoring an invitation to visit Tub-A-Lardo down in Florida.

And, of course, you can add one Jeff Landry to that list (if you hadn’t already).

Each of the aforementioned, along with scores of others, can’t wait to get their cues from Cadet Bone Spurs on what to say and do next to further his ever-changing agenda.

Take Landry, for example. First, he was all for solar energy – until he wasn’t. He wasn’t the moment el-Trumpo decided to eschew solar in favor of the fossil fuel barons.

Then there was the decision to order the National Guard into Washington to restore law and order to a city that ranks 80^th in crime rate among major cities in the U.S. with a violent crime rate of 9.8 per 100,000 population.

So, what was Landry’s reaction to that? Naturally, he’s going to DEPLOY 135 members of the Louisiana Guard to that war zone. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, is it not?

But wait! You want to guess the third-worst violent crime rate in America? It’s in Letlow’s district. It’s MONROE and the violent crime rate in that city is 26.3 per 100,000, more than 2½ times that of D.C.

How about the 10^th highest crime rate? Well, that’s in Alexandria, also in Letlow’s district. Wonder if Landry’s considered dispatching Guard units to those cities to quell the unrest?

At least New Orleans (33^rd highest) and Baton Rouge (49^th) aren’t in her district but are in fact, safely embedded in Democratic districts.

But wait! The city with the 73^rd highest violent crime rate (10.4 per 100,000 population) is Bossier City. That’s not only in House Speaker Mike Johnson’s district, but, egad! It’s his home town!

At least Shreveport (90^th worst) with a violent crime rate of 9.6 per 100,000 is 10 places better than that hellhole D.C. – by .2 of a point.

In terms of HOMICIDES, New Orleans ranks second-highest with 46 per 100,000 (Jackson, Mississippi, is highest with 49 per 100,000) among medium-sized metropolitan areas.

Baton Rouge is fourth-highest in its homicide rate at 23 per 100,000. Both of those, as noted earlier, are in the hands of the Democrats. But coming in at 7^th highest is Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, with a homicide rate of 15 per 100,000. Jefferson is represented by Scalise.

Washington, D.C. homicide rate? Fourth-highest among large metro areas.

So, now that he has gone on record as opposed to crime and willing to call up the Guard to enforce law and order, there’s only one thing left for Landry to do.

He must now dispatch Guard units to New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, Baton Rouge, Monroe, Alexandria, Bossier City and Shreveport.

I mean, all this rampant crime’s gotta stop, even if we have to go all the way to Washington.