Louisiana Voice

Sometimes you just gotta wonder what our lawmakers are using for brains.

We listen to their campaign ads (no matter how hard we try to block out all the white noise) and we elect ‘em to go to Washington – or in our particular state’s case, Baton Rouge – and somehow expect them to become our representative rocks of responsibility and responsiveness.

And virtually without fail, we’re dismally disappointed, disillusioned and demoralized.

Okay, that’s it for the alliterations. But you get my drift.

Take the current hoopla on noncitizen voting, for example. Congressional right-wingers Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas are co-sponsoring a bill to make it ILLEGAL for non-citizens to vote in federal elections.

House Speaker Mike Johnson – one of several political hacks who represent Louisiana, by the way – is solidly behind the bill even though Arkansas was the very last state to pass just such a law prohibiting non-citizens from voting in federal elections – in 1926, almost a century ago.

The law is a little more vague for some state elections, but Lee’s and Roy’s bill does not address state elections. It specifically applies to federal elections, already quite well addressed and addressed AGAIN in 1996.

Johnson, as you may or may not know, fancies himself as a constitutional scholar. That being the case, why doesn’t he know that Lee’s and Roy’s bill is a tad redundant? The answer is, he does. He just doesn’t give a damn. It’s political rhetoric, pure grandstanding. Period.

That, then, raises a second question: why are Johnson, Roy, Lee, Trump advisor and racist in-residence Stephen Miller and nutcase, er conservative activist Cleta Mitchell pushing the bill so avidly? For that answer, I’ll allow two Republicans to respond. Republican consultant Charlie Black said, “The people who are promoting it know it is already illegal. But they hope by promoting the issue to convince voters that illegal immigrants are voting.”

Former Rep. Charlie Dent was even more succinct: “They’re trying to tie this to the border issue. It’s completely campaign-driven by challenging Democrats to vote against it.”

Louisiana voters even TIGHTENED restrictions on non-citizens in 2022 via a constitutional amendments – apparently the legislature’s urgent reaction to that stolen 2020 election.

For more reading on a law that’s already firmly established on the books, go HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

All of which begs yet another question: why the hell don’t these people just do their jobs and work for what is best for the country instead of what’s best for the party?

That, of course, will never be answered as long as big money running the political process and mentally deficient mouth-breathers representing us in Washington and Baton Rouge.

And that brings me to Baton Rouge and the Louisiana State Senate’s ill-advised bill passed by votes of 82-19 by the HOUSE and 30-8 in the SENATE that would require all schools receiving state aid to post the TEN COMMANDMENTS in each and every classroom.

It’s not that I believe the Ten Commandments themselves are ill-advised. Taken at face value and adhered to by every individual on the planet, I believe they would be the only laws necessary for civilization to exist and advance. Having said that, I don’t want any of the trolls out there to try and say I’m against the Ten Commandments.

But I couldn’t help but notice there was nothing in the bill requiring the posting of the Commandments in the halls, offices and chambers of the Louisiana State Capitol complex. That’s because, as the well-worn jokes goes, prohibiting lying, stealing, adultery and the worship of false idols (money) could create a hostile work environment.

But Rep. Dodie Horton (R-Haughton) might have been wiser put a little more thought into her bill before filing it and the Legislature probably should’ve done a little more research before passing it.

For example: which version of the Ten Commandments is to be posted in the classrooms?

I mean, Protestants have one version that is worded slightly differently than the Catholic version. And then there are commandments that are etched into the beliefs of Hindus, Buddhist and even Islamics. Here they are:

Protestant Ten Commandments

• You shall have no other gods but me.
• You shall not make unto you any graven images
• You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
• You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
• Honor your mother and father
• You shall not murder
• You shall not commit adultery
• You shall not steal
• You shall not bear false witness
• You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor

Catholic Ten Commandments

• I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not have other gods besides me.
• You shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain
• Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day
• Honor your father and your mother
• You shall not kill
• You shall not commit adultery
• You shall not steal
• You shall not bear false witness
• You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife
• You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods

Hindu Commandments

• Satya (Truth)
• Ahimsa (Non-violence)
• Brahmacharya (Celibacy, non-adultery)
• Asteya (No desire to possess or steal)
• Aparighara (Non-corrupt)
• Shaucha (Cleanliness)
• Santosh (Contentment)
• Swadhyaya (Reading of scriptures)

Buddhism Ten Commandments

• Abstinence from destroying life.
• Abstinence from taking what is not given.
• Abstinence from unchastity.
• Abstinence from falsehood.
• Abstinence from spirituous liquors, strong drink, intoxicants, which are a cause of negligence.
• Abstinence from eating at the wrong time [i.e. after noon].
• Abstinence from looking at dancing, singing, music, and plays.
• Abstinence from wearing garlands, scents, unguents, ornaments, and adornments, which are a cause of negligence.
• Abstinence from a high or large bed.
• Abstinence from accepting gold and silver.

The Ten Commandments of the Qur’an 29

• Your God is one God. There is no God but him, the Gracious, the Merciful
• Do not call upon another god alongside Allah. There is no God but him. Everything will perish but his countenance. Judgment belongs to him, and to him you will return.
• Unto Allah belong the best names, so call upon him by them and leave those who violate the sanctity of his names.
• O you who believe, when the prayer is announced on Friday, then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade. That is better for you, if you only knew. No one takes a bath on Friday, purifies himself as much as he can, uses oil or perfume in his house, then proceeds for prayer and does not separate two persons sitting together, then prays as much as is written for him and remains silent while the prayer leader is delivering the sermon, except that his minor sins between this Friday and the previous would be forgiven.
• Worship Allah and associate nothing with him, and be good to parents and relatives.
• The believers are those who do not call upon another god alongside Allah or kill the soul which Allah has made sacred except by right of justice.
• Do not approach unlawful sexual intercourse. Verily, it is immoral and an evil way.
• Do not consume the wealth of each other in falsehood.
• O you who believe, fear Allah and always speak the truth.
• Do they envy people for what Allah has given them of his bounty?

So, Rep. Horton, which one is it gonna be? Or do you propose posting all five in every classroom?

If you choose just one, you’re going to be in direct violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which says quite explicitly: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (emphasis mine)

I think I can safely predict that if you omit even one of the above versions, the Gret Stet of Looziana is gonna find itself embroiled in some nasty and expensive litigation of (excuse the bad pun) Biblical proportions. Of course, it’ll be a financial windfall for the contract attorneys who made significant campaign contributions to the right candidates.

There appears to be considerable mischief afoot in Catahoula Parish and it seems to keep circling back to the sheriff’s office and the Catahoula Correctional Center.

There is no shortage of verified reports (and photos) and several more unverified claims that might seem to attract an investigative audit by the Legislative Auditor. While some events might only cause raised eyebrows and knowing looks, others call into question the legality of the expenditure of public funds.

And then there are the allegations of beatings at the Catahoula Correctional Center, now run by Sheriff Toney Edwards after his office bought the facility for about $12 million from LaSalle Corrections which has experienced its own public image problems. There have been reports of:

• At least two inmate deaths at the correctional center;
• Twenty stabbings in a single month;
• Inmates beaten by inmates;
• Inmates beaten by guards;
• The arrest of corrections center employees for smuggling contraband into the facility;
• The use of inmate labor to cut firewood that a prison official sold for personal profit;
• The use of inmate labor to perform construction projects for private citizens;
• The use of inmate labor to construct a storm shelter for Edwards and his family;
• The use of public funds to purchase materials for the storm shelter – from a Mississippi firm;
• A cozy relationship with the former sheriff of a neighboring parish who operates two companies that conduct business with the correctional center;
• Nearly a dozen deputies having been fired by Edwards in recent months, leaving a force mostly devoid of Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) certification.

In a move that was eerily reminiscent of similar actions by the sheriffs of ST. TAMMANY and TERREBONNE parishes, Edwards even had a local man arrested and jailed for five days for the unforgivable sin of saying something bad to hurt Edwards’s feelings. What makes that problematic, however, is a little something called the First Amendment which covers things like free expression – and the 1973 ruling by the Louisiana Supreme Court that said the state’s criminal defamation law was unconstitutional. The state court’s ruling followed by nine years a similar 1964 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Nice to know the state finally got around to acknowledging it. Now, if only these Roscoe P. Coltrane sheriffs could just get the message…

Edwards also spent a million bucks to purchase a run-down, overpriced building and promptly moved his office out of the courthouse and into the newly-acquired building. AUDITORS did question the method by which Edwards purchased the building without State Bond Commission approval or without even an appraisal of the property which was originally built for about $40,000.

Edwards, seeing Catahoula Parish as the hotbed of political unrest as it must surely be, saw the need to purchase an armored vehicle for his department for the paltry sum of $277,000, a bargain by any standard. It’s unclear how many insurrections and/or riots have been snuffed out by using the prodigious machine but I’m told it really looks good in parades.

Around 9 p.m. on Oct. 29, 2023, there was a reported homicide at the correctional center. On arrival at the facility, deputies found inmate Montrell Rogers dead from multiple stab wounds.

A deputy, in his report, said Rogers had been transferred from East Carroll Parish to the Catahoula facility at Harrisonburg (local attorney Paul Lemke told LouisianaVoice in November 2022 that the Department of Corrections routinely moves prisons from site to site in efforts to conceal them from their attorneys and families).

The report, witnessed by another deputy, confirmed local attorney Paul Lemke’s 2022 assertion that Rogers had told Catahoula officials that he would be killed if sent to the Harrisonburg prison. “…[H]e told then-Capt. Jeremy Wiley, who was the night shift supervisor over the facility that he would be killed if he was put in any dorm or with other inmates,” the report said. “Capt. Wiley ignored his please and placed him in J-Dorm where approximately 10 minutes later, he was attacked by multiple inmates and killed.” Edwards was advised of that information “but no further action was taken,” the report said

Instead, Wiley was promoted to warden of the center to succeed Pat Book upon his retirement.

On May 5, 2022, then-Deputy Russell Evans, on Edwards’s orders, drove a correctional center vehicle to Washington, Mississippi, where he purchased building materials from Miss-Lou Steel Supply at a cost of $4,298, charged to the correctional center.

(To view entire document below, slide gray bar at bottom of illustration to the right.)

Prison labor was employed to then use the taxpayer-funded materials to construct a storm shelter which, upon completion, was transported by Edwards and Det. Ben Adams to Edwards’s Jonesville home for the sheriff’s personal use. To see a photo of the storm shelter, go HERE.

Then there is the business arrangement with Britts Distributing in nearby Tensas Parish. Britts Distributing is owned and operated by former Tensas Parish Sheriff Jeff Britt. Britt, while sheriff, was charged in a federal indictment with beating a handcuffed prisoner with his “hands, feet or a blackjack.” Britt was also charged in the same 1998 indictment with lying to the FBI about the incident. He pleaded guilty in 1999 to a lesser charge of malfeasance in office. A condition of his plea bargain was that he would resign as sheriff and he was ordered to make restitution of $21,568 in connection with yet another charge of misappropriation of funds.

In August 2018, then-Gov. John Bel Edwards took the unusual step of not only issuing Britt a full pardon and then named him to the board of the Louisiana Used Motor Vehicle Commission.

But Britt has been simultaneously operating two businesses from the same address in Monterey, Louisiana. The first, INMATE FINANCIAL SERVICES (IFS), allows inmates’ families to purchase commissary credits so that they in turn may purchase overpriced snacks, toiletries, and soft drinks from prisons’ commissaries. IFS touts the ability of families to purchase credits via computer, using standard credit cards. “You are no longer bound to automated phone systems or the hassle of drop boxes and facility personnel, or having to drive out of your way to make a deposit,” the IFS web page boasts.

The web page also says its service is provided “at no cost to the facility,” but does allude to “administrative fees” charged to inmates’ families who use the online service

But at the other end of the transaction, Britt also operates Britts Distribution. Britts Distribution does not have a web page per se, but it has little need for one: it has a captive audience (pun intended) in inmates who have no alternative but the prison commissary if they wish to purchase any of the aforementioned products. And Britts Distribution, like any other commissary vendor, charges prisoners outrageous prices for (often) stale snacks.

Britt also provides PFS and vendor services for prison commissaries in several surrounding parishes. It all evokes memories of Waylon Jennings singing the theme song for Dukes of Hazzard:

Just good ol’ boys

Never meanin’ no harm

Beats all you never saw…

Just a reminder that we’re halfway through May and this is only the third reminder of our May fundraiser.

That’s because I hate begging when I know there are so many thousands who are truly in need of food, clothing and basic shelter.

Please contribute to your local Food Bank for their sake and if you have anything left, do remember that it takes finances to keep this blog up to date with the news you want to read. I would be ever so grateful for your help in keeping the investigative stories coming.

We’re presently working on no fewer than three stories of corruption and secretive transactions that stretch from the Arkansas border to extreme southwest Louisiana.

Contribute whatever you’re comfortable with by clicking on the yellow DONATE button to the right to give by credit card. Unlike a certain grifting former guy, this is a single contribution and WILL NOT BE A RECURRING CHARGE!

President Harry Truman’s Oval Office desk had a placard on it that famously proclaimed, The Buck Stops Here.

That was Truman’s way of saying that whatever happened with U.S. domestic or foreign policy, the responsibility for all decisions rested on his desk. He never dodged that responsibility. Whatever happened, he owned it.

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower had drafted a letter in which he took full responsibility for the outcome of the D-Day invasion – just in case the bold tactic proved to be a disaster for the Allies. As most of us know, the Allied losses were horrendous, but the invasion ultimately ended in victory and Ike never had to send his letter. But the point is, he stood ready to take full responsibility in case things had gone south.

That is ultimately what really defines leadership: the willingness to accept responsibility.

That being the case, Kenneth “Kenny” Loftin should immediately withdraw his name from consideration for deputy secretary of the Office of Juvenile Justice.

For that matter, what the hell was Jeff Landry thinking when he submitted his name for nomination to the post?

Senate Speaker Pro Tem Regina Barrow (D-Baton Rouge) seems to agree as does the Legislative Black Caucus.

The allegations of rape, beatings and suicides were so bad that the New York Times ran a lengthy story about Ware. Some call the practice of swooping and writing such stories “parachute journalism,” but no member of the Louisiana media seemed willing to attempt an in-depth story so The Times dropped in. More power to them for it.

The issue does not appear on the surface to be a matter of race so much as one of abuse – and suicides – at Ware Youth Center in Coushatta.

Loftin, who opened and ran Ware from 1993 to 2015 and again in 2021 to 2022, has not been accused of any direct involvement of the alleged abuse, including rapes and beatings, but it happened on his watch and his response was to call 10 formerly incarcerated girls and staff members at the facility who gave detailed accounts of the alleged abuse to the New York Times “liars.”

“So, they made it up?” asked Sen. Gary Carter (D-New Orleans) during a legislative hearing on the accusations.

“Yes, they made it up,” Loftin answered.

Perhaps the suicides of a 16-year-old girl in March 2017 and the suicides of 17-year-old and 13-year-old boys just two days apart in February 2019 were also lies. And the 64 alleged suicide attempts in 2019 and 2020 appear to be a tad excessive. Granted, all these incidents occurred during a time when Loftin was not running Ware but for years Ware’s leaders, including Loftin, failed to report complaints of abuse, hired unqualified employees and disregarded state rules, The Times article said.

But never fear. State Inspector General Stephen Street came riding to the rescue.

In a 38-page report issued just last month (April 25), Street informs us that remedial steps had been taken since the suicides to address oversights such as not having checked on the 13-year-old for more than two hours or the 17-year-old for 45 minutes despite regulations requiring visual checks at 15-minute intervals.

Another neat defensive measure was to move bars to the outside of windows so they could not be used as tie-off points in hanging attempts. Digital readers were also installed that required staff members to show they completed room checks by digitally swiping a handheld device.

Question: didn’t anyone in charge have sufficient foresight to have taken those steps long before there were “incidents”?

Bottom line to Street’s REPORT? Ware is now “safe and secure.”