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#221 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Fri Jun 16, 2006 3:53 pm

Neighbors describe man who shot two deputies as fearful of government

By Michelle Hunter
and Walt Philbin
Staff writers


Buddy Christy, the man identified by neighbors in his Metairie subdivision as shooting two sheriff's deputies, had a problem with the federal government.

Three weeks ago, they said, he put on his front door a sign ranting about the National Security Agency, the supersecret eavesdropping outfit, and what he proclaimed it was doing in the Elmwood Park.

"The NSA has been taking over the subdivision for its hidden value in oil under its ground," the sign says. "Secretly the NSA has been displacing and killing residents here.

"They have been attacking me since 1999 to kill me to get my land for its huge oil reserve under it."

To neighbors, the sign represented the strange behavior of a former sailor and Vietnam War veterans who had grown increasingly bizarre in recent months. They said Christy, 56, was living alone in the house at 4624 Alexander Drive without utilities and, a few weeks ago, quit taking care of his lawn.

Neighbors said they grew so concerned that they called Christy's relatives, who in turn sought help from the Jefferson Parish coroner's office. Relatives told authorities that not only was Christy unbalanced, he was heavily armed in the house.

The coroner, Dr. Robert Treuting, said today that he hasn't found any evidence that Christy was ever professionally evaluated and diagnosed with mental problems. But he said his office and the Sheriff's Office took extra precautions before approaching Christy's house with an order to commit him to a mental institution.

Indeed, neighbors were called Thursday morning and told to get out of their houses before deputies arrived. Their arrival about 10 a.m. set off 19-hour orderal during which Christy allegedly shot and slightly wounded two deputies before he himself was killed in the house. His body was found today about 5 a.m.

"Obviously it didn't turn out well," Treuting said.

Neighbors said Christy had lived alone in the house since his mother, his sole caregiver, died last year before Hurricane Katrina.

After he resisted the commitment order, deputies retreated and called in a SWAT team.

The two officers were wounded about 5:45 p.m., some seven hours into the standoff, after the SWAT team tried to introduce a chemical irritant to force the man from his house.

Russell Varmall, a two-year deputy, was struck in the upper arm. The bullet shattered a bone and damaged his bicep muscle, said Col. Robert Garner, a Sheriff's Office spokesman. He was admitted to East Jefferson General Hospital.

Everett Beelman, a nine-year veteran, was hit in the chest, but his body armor stopped the bullet. He was treated for a bruised chest and relased from East Jefferson.

Garner described the weapon that wounded the deputies as a high-power rifle that fired a 7.62 mm round. He said the bullet that wounded Varmall had penetrated a shield that SWAT members carry.

Garner said the suspect had no criminal record, nor a known history of drug use.

While few neighbors said they knew the man, Susan Sperry said most Elmwood Park residents knew of him, and had said he was a Vietnam War veteran.

“The whole neighborhood knew his situation,” she said. “He’s ex-military, and he’s suffered for a long time from paranoid schizophrenia. His mother was his caretaker, and she passed away right before Katrina.”

Sperry said the man has lived alone in the house since then. She said his relatives had tried to get him help. “They had been trying to get him treatment, but he wasn’t going to go,” she said.

Standoff begins

The gunfire erupted about seven blocks from where retired New Orleans police officer Kelly Marrione was shot to death in his driveway in 2003, in a neighborhood of upper middle-class families whose 2000 median household income was $78,071 and median home value was $174,000.

The standoff began about 10 a.m. when officers arrived to serve the committal order, Garner said. The man, who was alone in the house, put up resistance, but Garner gave no specific details. He also did not say when the Sheriff’s Office determined that the man was armed.

The SWAT team was called to the scene, and deputies blocked off several streets surrounding the house. By 1 p.m., it was clear that authorities knew the man possessed some kind of high-powered rifle with a spotting scope.

Alexander Drive was shut down not long after the standoff began. Residents were ushered into their homes and were not allowed to leave. Deputies warned pedestrians, residents and motorists more than three blocks away on Wilson Drive at 37th Street that they could be in the line of fire and to stay clear.

The man was seen walking through the house from window to window, using binoculars to find the positions of the SWAT team members stationed outside, Garner said.

The neighborhood remained quiet but tense until about 5:15 p.m., when three pops, the sound of chemical canisters being deployed, went off. Another five pops followed.

That was followed by two distinctly louder, booming gunshots, then at least seven more shots. Officers shouted over radios that they were taking gunfire. A voice on the radio confirmed that there was at least one officer down.

The man had apparently leaned out of a window and opened fire on the deputies, Garner said. The two deputies who were hit had been in defensive positions on the front, west side of the house and had not been trying to approach the house. The officers returned fire, and there was word that one deputy might have hit the suspect. But there was no confirmation of whether the man was dead or merely wounded and might still be a threat. Another four pops of chemical canisters were heard about 5:45 p.m.

Then there was silence.

‘Sounded like fireworks’

Jeannette Drive resident Dianne Isaacson, inside her home for hours during the standoff, was surprised by the volley of gunfire.

“It sounded like fireworks going off, then I realized what it was,” she said.

Just minutes after the exchange of gunshots shattered the neighborhood quiet, deputies had difficulty corralling indignant motorists, pedestrians and gawkers who were insistent on making it to their homes, even if it meant putting themselves in danger.

One driver told deputies she had to cross 37th Street at Jeannette. As they tried to explain the danger, she informed them that she would not be in the line of fire. Another woman came out of her house minutes after the gunfire and asked if she could come outside, saying, “My kids are going stir-crazy in here.”

By 7 p.m., Garner said the SWAT team was waiting to enter the house to determine whether the man had been injured. Help from the New Orleans Police Department and the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office soon arrived.

Between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m., a New Orleans Police Department robot entered the house and was searching the first floor. Earlier efforts to get a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office robot in the house were thwarted when its umbilical cord was damaged in the initial exchange of gunfire.

The New Orleans robot’s search, however was inconclusive, Garner said, because the man “appears to have repositioned furniture and other items” hampering the search. Police were trying to determine if the robot was able to climb the stairs to the second floor of the house.

Shortly after 10 p.m., police set off an explosive device attempting to blow through a wall and provide additional access to the house. That effort was not successful, Garner said.

He said the officers had not determined what course of action to take, but that time was on the side of law enforcement, indicating there were no immediate plans to enter the house. Garner said the man had not been seen since the initial exchange of gunfire that wounded the two deputies.

Neighbors said the man kept to himself and had a poster on his door with rantings against the National Security Agency and Vice President Dick Cheney, among others.

“He’s done a terrible thing by shooting at people,” Sperry said. “But we feel really bad for someone who has that kind of mental illness, who loses their caregiver and is just spiraling down a path that will only end in tragedy.”
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#222 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Fri Jun 16, 2006 3:55 pm

Long-awaited removal of New Orleans' flooded cars to start Monday, state says

NOLA.com update 6/16/06

The hundreds of thousands of flooded and rusting cars that still litter much of Katrina-devastated New Orleans may finally begin disappearing on Monday, when a state contractor is scheduled to start towing them at a rate of 200 vehicles a day, the Department of Environmental Quality announced today.

Contractor DRC Inc., who will tow the cars, also has been working with the state to collect boats and trailers left on roads and other public property. Officials said they do not know the exact number of cars and boats to be towed, but estimated the process will take four to five months.

“A project like this and of this size is unprecedented,” said Bruce Hammatt, the project’s manager for DEQ.

State Police has begun tagging the flooded cars and collecting their vehicle identification numbers, so that the state can send a letter to the owners’ last registered address. Three days after that, the state will be able to tow the car to a staging area. Owners then will receive a second letter so they can recover their car. The vehicle can be crushed 30 days later.

Owners can find out if their cars have been towed by calling (877) 244-2540. To inquire about boats, they can call (877) 244-2451. Both numbers are staffed 24-hours a day, seven days a week, the state said.
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#223 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Fri Jun 16, 2006 3:57 pm

Special Report: Who will be the next Chief of Police

Last Update: 6/16/2006 8:29:42 AM NBC15- Mobile


(Mobile, Ala.) June 15 - Republican nominee Sam Cochran will be sworn in Friday afternoon as Mobile County's new interim Sheriff.

Former Mobile Police Chief Sam Cochran defeated a field of four other republican candidates in the primary election. Cochran will replace David Evans, who was appointed to the job two months ago on an interim basis.

The City of Mobile is still waiting for Cochran's replacement. The Mayor is now working off a short list of candidates.

Lester Hargrove has been in charge of the Mobile Police Department as interim chief since early march. "We are keeping crime down and hopefully the citizens are happy with what we're doing." said Hargrove.

Hargrove has been with the department for over 30 years. The past ten as Deputy Chief under former Chief Sam Cochran. "The department is not in limbo. The department is being run by the senior officer which is myself." added Hargrove.

Mobile Mayor Sam Jones initially set mid May as the time frame to find a permanent replacement. It was then moved to June 1st. Now the Mayor says it's more likely to be early July. "We have an extensive process." said Mayor Jones adding, "We're looking for the very best chief of police we can find for Mobile. We're looking for someone who we think can be very innovative. We're looking for someone to bring a lot of innovation to the department and someone who can take our department to the another level." said Mayor Jones.

The Mayor said there were 48 applicants for the job. A 14 member committee made up of city officials, business leaders, community leaders, educators, lawyers and former law enforcement officers narrowed the list to 5.

Councilman Fred Richardson was on the panel. "Pretty much consensus on the five. We pretty much had consensus on the five." said Richardson.

Lester Hargrove said he is on the short list. NBC 15 has learned that along with Interim Chief Lester Hargrove, internal candidates include Acting Deputy Chief David Wilhelm, Major Phillip garrett and Captain James Barber. The one external candidate is from Tennessee.

"It's always good that if someone from internal rises to the top that's the perfect situation." said Mayor Jones.

The rise for Lester Hargrove to Interim Chief was not without controversy. Back in 1991, Hargrove was demoted from his position as major for allegedly taking a cigarette lighter and video tapes seized in a drug raid at a downtown adult video store. According to published reports, then Mayor Mike Dow said Hargrove was "guilty of four violations.. all of which are classified as major."

When asked about the 15 year old incident, Hargrove responded, "I have no thoughts regarding that."

Mayor Jones did not have an opinion either. "I don't know anything about Mr. Hargrove's background. I wasn't here back in '91." said Jones.

In 1991 Jones was a Mobile County Commissioner. "So I couldn't speak to that and I can't speak to the other's backgrounds. I don't have the information on 'em."

That is why Mayor Jones has hired an independent company to conduct thorough background checks for those on the short list. Once the mayor receives that report, he will schedule one on one interviews with the final five.
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#224 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Fri Jun 16, 2006 3:59 pm

AmericaCorps volunteers help rebuild campus

By EMILY RANAGER
SUN HERALD - 9/16/06


LONG BEACH - Though Hurricane Katrina has left the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Park campus devoid of students, youth does have a presence there as AmeriCorps volunteers are on site taking the first step toward revitalizing the destroyed campus.

For the past two weeks, 10 AmeriCorps volunteers have been building an outdoor fitness trail and exercise stations next to historic Bear Creek at Gulf Park.

The paved trail, designed to accommodate people with and without disabilities, was made possible by a $90,000 grant from the Developmental Disabilities Council of Mississippi that was applied for before the storm. Lane Construction of Ocean Springs donated concrete for the trail.

The 10 fitness stations located along the winding trail are designed to enhance flexibility, balance and strength and will be open to the public.

"The Bear Creek Fitness Trail will provide a beautiful and serene place to exercise outdoors for all people," said Dr. Sara Jackson, director of the Technology Learning Center at USMGC, adding the focus is on giving people with disabilities the opportunity for outdoor recreation and fitness.

Although the hot June sun was taxing, volunteers were excited for the chance to help one of South Mississippi's largest educational institutions kick off its rebuilding.

"Our team is really happy that USM has started rebuilding and that we had a part in that," said AmeriCorps volunteer Eliot Elzing. "We're grateful for the opportunity to help."

The group has been in South Mississippi and Louisiana for about five months contributing to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

"It's been emotionally and physically draining," said volunteer Lindsey Fritsch, "but I'm glad that I get to walk away knowing that I contributed to something that mattered."
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#225 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:11 pm

NO Police Investigating Murder of Five

NOLA.com update 6/17/06

New Orleans police are investigating the apparent shooting deaths of five teenagers in an early morning incident at the intersection of Danneel and Josephine streets in Central City.

New Orleans Police Department Capt. John Bryson said at an 11 a.m. news conference Saturday that police had no suspects but believed, based on the gruesome and brazen nature of the crime, that the incident was sparked by drug dealing or was a retaliatory killing.

Victims’ names were not released. Bryson said police still were trying to identify the men but believe they all are from the New Orleans area.

Officers from the 2nd and 6th police districts responded about 4 a.m. Saturday to reports of shots fired. They found a Ford Explorer that had hit a pole. Inside were two men, ages 17 and 18, and a 16-year-old boy, each with multiple gunshot wounds.

A fourth victim, age 19, was found lying on a sidewalk, also with multiple gunshot wounds. A fifth man, age 19, who also had been shot died later Saturday morning after being taken to a local hospital in critical condition.

The last victim had been found lying in the street a short distance from the vehicle. The other four victims were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Homicide detective Edward Dieringer is in charge of the investigation.

The police department is asking anyone with information to contact Crimestoppers at 822-1111 or toll free at 1 (877) 903-7867. Callers do not have to give their names or testify and can earn up to $2,500 for tips that lead to an indictment.

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#226 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:19 pm

Senate snuffs out smoking in all La. restaurants

Ban effective Jan. 1; also applies to bars connected to eateries

Saturday, June 17, 2006
By Ed Anderson
and Robert Travis Scott%%par%%Capital bureau


BATON ROUGE -- All restaurants in the state will have to be smoke-free starting Jan. 1, even those with bars attached where patrons can now puff
Senators Friday night offered little resistance to a bill that imposes a ban on smoking in the workplace, voting 30-4 for a heavily amended Senate Bill 742 by Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Livonia. The vote sends the bill to Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Her aides said she is expected to sign it.

When the bill left the Senate several weeks ago, it contained a provision allowing smoking in bars attached to restaurants, as long as they are enclosed by a ceiling-to-floor wall. But health advocates said employees working in the restaurants and patrons would still breathe second-hand smoke because most restaurants have only one ventilation system for the bar and restaurant.

The House late Thursday took that language out and required that the no-smoking ban apply to all parts of the restaurant, including the bar area.

The bill does not ban smoking in free-standing bars or in casinos or other areas where gambling is allowed. It also allows parishes and cities to enact stronger smoking regulations and laws but not ones weaker than the conditions outlined in the bill.

"This is a difficult task for the restaurants but it is a difficult problem for health," Marionneaux said.

He said he was surprised by the lopsided final vote. Sen. Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, was the only New Orleans area senator to vote against the rewritten bill, and Sen. Tom Schedler, R-Mandeville, was absent for the vote.

"It was a situation whose time has come," Marionneaux said, pointing to a poll that showed 75 percent of the people in the state favor the smoking ban. "They (the restaurant industry officials who fought it) put up a valiant fight, but in the end they realized that public sentiment" was against smoking in public places.


Industry group unhappy

Critics of the bill said not only will it deter development of new restaurants, but will alter the dining experience for people who like to combine a meal with time enjoying a cigar or cigarette in the same establishment.

"It's definitely going to hurt our industry," said Jim Funk, chief executive officer of the Louisiana Restaurant Association.

In New Orleans in particular, with only 32 percent of the city's restaurants reopened since Hurricane Katrina, the nonsmoking law will deter redevelopment, Funk said.

"It's just not the time to be doing something like that," Funk said. "There is so much government interference in our business right now and this is just another example of it."

Funk said the law will be discriminatory against restaurants, especially "mom-and-pop" operations, because it leaves out free-standing bars, video poker establishments and casinos. "You can go next door to a bar and you can smoke and eat and drink," Funk said.

The city had 55,000 employees in the restaurant industry before Katrina and only 27,000 now, Funk said. While proponents of the bill argued that the measure would not stifle restaurant development, Funk disagreed.

"I guarantee you, you talk to some of the restaurants in the French Quarter and they have a completely different story," Funk said.

In brief final debate on the revised bill, Murray argued that some bars may now start serving food and encroach on restaurants' business or some restaurants may try to be licensed as bars that serve food.

But in urging the passage of the amended bill, Sen. Chris Ullo, D-Marrero, said, "The House has put this bill in the posture it should have been in before it left here."

Terri Broussard, spokeswoman for Tobacco-Free Louisiana, said the legislation will protect citizens. "This will be a big step in saving the 1,200 Louisiana lives that die annually from second-hand smoke," she said.


Other restrictions

Besides banning smoking in restaurants, the bill also bans smoking in eating areas of gambling establishments but allows it in the gambling areas. It also was changed to allow prisons to have smoking through Aug. 15, 2009, to give corrections officials a way to deal with inmates who are rewarded -- or punished -- based on smoking privileges.

Marionneaux's bill bans smoking in offices that employ more than one worker, all public buildings, malls, retail stores, indoor sports arenas, schools and a host of other public buildings. It would allow smoking in bars and gambling outlets, privately chartered limos, private homes, so-called "cigar bars" and any retail tobacco business.

It also would allow up to 50 percent of hotel rooms to be set aside for smokers, and permits smoking in convention centers used for Carnival balls and trade shows not open to the public that are staged by convenience stores and tobacco companies.

The bill requires employers to post no-smoking signs and remove all ashtrays from their work areas and buildings. Individuals caught smoking could get a $25 fine for a first offense, a $50 fine for a second violation and a $100 fine for subsequent offenses.

Employers who violate the law would be fined $100 for a first offense, $250 for a second offense and $500 for later violations.
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#227 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:22 pm

Injured deputies treated, released
Man discovered dead after 19-hour standoff


Saturday, June 17, 2006
By Michelle Hunter
East Jefferson bureau


William "Bud" Christy's extraordinary fears -- of sharpshooters positioned in neighboring houses for a clear aim at him and government agents implementing an agenda to do him in -- must have seemed tragically prophetic during his final moments.

Christy lived with five cats in a Metairie house that has not had electrical service at least since Hurricane Katrina struck Aug. 29. He quit tending to his lawn a few weeks ago, about the same time he posted a sign ranting that the National Security Agency had been trying for seven years to kill him. And he was heavily armed.

It was in this house that Christy was found dead Friday, shot in the head after a 19-hour standoff not with the NSA, the federal eavesdropping agency, but with a small army of local government SWAT team members who knew even before they arrived with a commitment order that he might turn violent.

A SWAT team robot discovered Christy, 55, about 5 a.m., said Col. John Fortunato, spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. Authorities couldn't say whether the head wound was self-inflicted or whether the bullet came from officers who returned fire after Christy shot and wounded two members of the Sheriff's Office SWAT team with a high-powered rifle.

What is clear, to neighbors and relatives, is that Christy's mental condition had been deteriorating for weeks. Relatives warned officials who were planning to take him into custody that the Vietnam War veteran was oblivious to his condition, well-armed and more than willing to defend his property with force.

For those reasons, Coroner Robert Treuting, whose office processes mental health custody requests, said he and law enforcement officials tried to take extra precautions.

"Obviously, it didn't turn out well," he said.


'Potential for danger'

The standoff began Thursday about 10 a.m. when deputies tried to serve an order of protective custody at Christy's home, 4624 Alexander Drive, to take him in for a mental evaluation. One of Christy's relatives had applied for the order Tuesday morning, according to coroner's office records.

The order states that Christy was "extremely paranoid" about the NSA and believed the government agency lined his fence with dynamite, had a sniper positioned in a neighboring house and was "out to get him." The order also states that Christy served in the Navy and was a gun collector with possibly 20 to 25 firearms and ammunition inside of the house.

"Here, we knew there was really an accelerated potential for danger," Treuting said. "Lots of preparation went into trying to get him to surrender peacefully."

To Treuting's knowledge, however, Christy never before had been evaluated for mental illness. And authorities said he had no criminal record.

"We chose to commit 'Bud' to protective custody where he could gain the medical treatment he required," his sister, Linda Luckow of Ponchatoula, said Friday in a written statement. "Our concern for his safety and the safety of others was evident, and we trusted that only the proper authorities could handle this matter since Bud was gravely mentally disabled."


Deputies injured

But Christy resisted when the deputies arrived at his house, so they retreated and called for backup. After seven hours of negotiations, SWAT team members fired canisters of chemical irritant into the house about 5:15 p.m. to force him out. Shortly afterward, however, Christy began firing on the officers.

One bullet shattered a bone in Deputy Russell Varmall's upper arm and damaged his biceps. Deputy Everett Beelman was badly bruised in the chest when a bullet struck his body armor. Both were treated at East Jefferson General Hospital and released.

During the volley of gunfire, however, at least one deputy reported that he might have shot Christy.

But authorities had no proof he was alive or dead. They spent the next 12 hours using small explosives, robots and chemical irritants to ensure it was safe to enter the house. Finally at about 5 a.m., his body was found in a second-floor room, Fortunato said.

During the standoff, many Elmwood Park subdivision residents living on Alexander, Jeannette and Burke drives had been either trapped in their houses for hours or couldn't return home, cut off by roadblocks.

By Friday morning, only Christy's two-story brick and wood house was off-limits, cordoned off by yellow caution tape lining the perimeter of his overgrown yard. On the second floor on the north side of the house was a 3-by-2-foot rectangular hole with blackened edges, where officers had blasted into the house. Most of the home's windows were shattered, and a window screen on the north side bore several bullet holes. A chemical fog remained in the house, prompting crime scene crews to use masks to enter.


Signs of agitation

Hidden in the patches of unkempt grass was a sign that read "Lawn by NSA."

A second, hand-painted sign hung from the gate on his front door. It contained a lengthy screed against the NSA including: "The NSA has been taking over the subdivision for its hidden value in oil under its ground. Secretly the NSA has been displacing and killing residents here. They have been attacking me since 1999 to kill me to get my land for its huge oil reserve under it."

Bizarre as they were, the signs, which appeared three weeks ago, were the only indication to some neighbors that Christy still lived in the house. He had always kept his grass neatly trimmed with his riding lawnmower, even cutting the neighbors' lawns from time to time. But then he just stopped, Pat and Danielle Barry said.

"We hadn't seen him for two months," said Danielle Barry, who recalled Christy as sweet and soft-spoken with a nice demeanor.

The Barrys said Christy's home had lacked utilities since before Hurricane Katrina. His water was turned on again about one month ago. But neighbors said Christy often collected rainwater or used their water hoses. The Barrys said he scavenged through their garbage, retrieving food scraps and household items they tossed after the storm.

While some neighbors knew he had once been in the Navy and served in Vietnam, no one knew whether he had been employed since. They said he grew up in the house and that his mother, Frances Christy, had been his caretaker until she died in 2004. His father died 10 years earlier.


Behavior grew erratic

For the past two years, Christy lived alone with his five cats, neighbors said.

He seemed fine for a while, but other neighbors noted increasingly strange behavior over the past two months. Christy soon began to refuse to come outdoors, saying he was safe from the NSA only when inside of his house.

The Barrys said authorities first notified them early this week that they would be trying to take Christy. They and a few other of his immediate neighbors received a call Thursday about 9:15 a.m. telling them to leave. While some left, Pat Barry stayed.

"We're still in shock that he . . . " Danielle Barry said, pausing, "that this thing turned out like this."
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#228 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:24 pm

Long-delayed car towing expected to start Monday

'Unprecedented' effort will take months

Saturday, June 17, 2006
By James Varney
Staff writer


The end of a rocky road may finally appear Monday, the day state officials say they will begin towing the thousands of muck-caked abandoned cars that have besmirched southeast Louisiana since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year.

If the operation kicks off as planned, it will mark the culmination of a process in which costs have ebbed and flowed as companies have emerged and disappeared from the job, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin dismissed a chance to earn millions for the flooded cars in the city, the Senate conducted a hearing into the state's first towing deal, and the state spent weeks fine-tuning a contract on a $33.8 million bid.

In its Friday announcement about the towing, the state Department of Environmental Quality didn't mention that checkered history and focused instead on the monumental nature of the task.

"A project like this and of this size is unprecedented," Bruce Hammatt, the DEQ's project manager, said in a news release. "It has taken a coordinated effort from state, federal and local agencies to reach this point."

But the agency acknowledged that "this point" is not an end point when it comes to towing the wrecked vehicles, including boats. For one thing, a precise inventory of automobiles and boats has not been done. Earlier this year, State Police estimated the count at about 150,000, prompting high bids to rid the landscape of the ugly roadside reminders of the storms and flood.

In New Orleans, the Nagin administration was poised to pay about $22 million to a multinational engineering firm to clear the city's streets of the junkers, even though a Texas car-crushing company had made an informal offer to pay $100 per car to remove them, a suggestion city administrators declined to pursue. When Nagin's plan collapsed amid a furor over costs and the vacillating commitment of the engineering firm, CH2MHill, the city decided to piggyback on the state's arrangement.

That $62 million plan promptly came unglued, too, when it was revealed that the low bidder in the state's contract was a consortium made up of a tiny janitorial firm from Georgia and a contractor with ruined headquarters in New Orleans' 9th Ward. State Sen. Ken Hollis, R-Metairie, launched an examination of the bidder's ability to perform the work as well as its financial solvency.

In the middle of Hollis' probe, the apparent winning bidders, TruSource Facility Services and L&L Steel Builders, proved unable to secure the required bond to compensate the state if they failed to complete the job. They were disqualified, and as State Police trimmed its estimate of the number of eyesore cars from 150,000 to 100,000, a handful of new bids came in at half the price of the previous bid. DRC Inc. of Mobile, Ala., got the job.

As towing is set to begin, the exact number of cars and boats remains uncertain, Hammatt said. DRC is expected to tow about 200 vehicles a day, which gives the task a 120- to 150-day window for completion.

The faster the towing goes in the early stages, the better it will be for Louisiana's public coffers. Until June 30, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse the state 100 percent on completed work orders for approved storm-related tasks, which includes towing. After that, however, FEMA's share will drop to 90 percent, and the state will have to pony up the remaining 10 percent.

Earlier this week, Hammatt said the early towing would likely concentrate in the New Orleans area. State Police teams putting stickers on vehicles have focused on the city and other areas where municipal towing crews have lumped together the often smashed and water-stained cars.

Once a car is stickered, State Police will send a letter via certified mail to the registered owner's last known address. After three days, DRC will tow the car to a staging area, where, after another letter and a 30-day wait, the car can be crushed, Hammatt said. The state has said the scrap metal will be sold through a separate contract that remains to be bid, but the proceeds will be used to repay FEMA for the towing expenses.

The process may appear to some as a laborious one for cars so clearly beyond salvation and that have been ditched for so long. Yet Hammatt insists that officials do not regret jumping through myriad hoops to protect property rights owners may have neglected or forfeited.

State agencies have set up toll-free hot lines so homeowners can claim their vehicles and boats. To find out if a vehicle has been towed to a staging area, call (877) 244-2540. The number for boat information is (877) 244-2541. Hammatt said both lines will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week
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#229 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:27 pm

From Biloxi Website: Your City at Work:

6/13/2006

Work on Caillavet revitalization to resume

Mayor A.J. Holloway, who in the wake of Hurricane Katrina froze work on dozens of Biloxi’s major improvement projects, announced today that work will soon resume on the revitalization of Caillavet Street.

The project, part of the city’s east Biloxi traffic improvement initiative, involves the construction of a new four-lane boulevard in place of Caillavet Street between the CSX Railway and Bayview Avenue. The roadway, which will include a tree-lined center median, is designed to help create an east Biloxi traffic loop that also employs Oak Street, Back Bay Boulevard and U.S. 90 to help move traffic more efficiently.

Construction on the new roadway – at a pre-Katrina cost of more than $9 million -- had begun in November 2004 with a contracted completion this month. However, the city was on track to complete the project in January 2006, more than six months ahead of schedule.

“All that changed when Katrina came along,” Holloway told more than 100 residents and business leaders attending the Biloxi Chamber’s “Breakfast With the Mayor” this morning at Edgewater Mall.

“But today, I’m proud to announce that we’ve notified all contractors that we wanted to get this project cranked up again,” Holloway said to an applauding audience. Work could be underway in as soon as two weeks.

The first task facing the six contractors working on the project is repairing any above ground or underground storm damage.

“If we don’t find any surprises, I expect the contractors to wrap up work on this project in seven or eight months, if not sooner,” Holloway said, noting that the project will be driven by the city’s innovative construction management program, which helped complete work on a new Back Bay Boulevard and a widened Popp’s Ferry Road ahead of schedule.

“When all is completed on Caillavet Street, we’ll have the four-lane boulevard as the centerpiece, but the real story will be the 36 parcels of land and 7.3 acres we’re revitalizing on Caillavet’s east side,” Holloway said. “The eight-foot wide sidewalks and attractive landscaping will help this area be a success, too.

“This,” the mayor added, “is going to be a great project. It’s one that will help move traffic and create jobs. It’s a project that will remind you of the great things we were doing before the storm, and is also a strong sign of our recovery.”
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#230 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:32 pm

Bay St. Louis Needs Update 4

GCN update:

Nine months after Hurricane Katrina, the City of Bay St. Louis is still struggling. If not for the courage of asking for help and the nation’s overwhelming response, one could honestly count Bay St. Louis as one of the dead after Hurricane Katrina

By Mark Proulx - Special to GCN

Hi, Mark! It's been awhile since an update so I wanted to drop a line to you and your GCN readers. The readers have been wonderful in their responses to our needs, even nine months after Katrina when everyone is exhausted – Mike Cuevas

CITY EMPLOYEE NEWS

Only one employee is still without solid prospects for permanent housing. Every volunteer group that has come to Bay Saint Louis, faith-based or secular, has helped our city employees get back on their feet. If anyone wants to more information on this employee and how they may be able to help please contact me (bsldepot@yahoo.com). She and her husband are one of the couples that have fallen through the cracks and are not eligible for assistance for one reason or another.

Mayor's Office

Secretary - building a new home, can use building gift cards or items for her home when complete.

Mayor Favre - has no home and has delayed even thinking about what he's going to do until he has Bay Saint Louis back on its feet. So, if any generous builder would like some great publicity building our Mayor a home, his employees would be forever grateful. He's taking care of everyone and everything else and he lost more than any of us - his home, his personal possessions, his car, his dog, his clothes - everything. It's not in jest that I make this request and he'd be upset with me for asking, but someone has to ask for personal help for him.

Administration

Utility/Finance Department

Everyone is "in process", except for the employee I just mentioned. Building supply help would be great for three of them.

Community Affairs

This is the most difficult group with which to work. All of our hard heads seem to be cornered in this one office, won't take help, all need it, so in spite of their stubbornness any one of these three men could use building supplies, appliances and furniture. One needs a 50 gal. electric hot water heater (he's got four women in the house!)

Administrative Clerk - she and her husband have almost finished their work and are back in their home!

Building/Code Enforcement

In this eight person office, five need building supply help, furniture and appliances.

Public Works

Everyone in Public Works can still use any type of help - building supplies, appliances, furniture. They are doing okay with personal items and most kitchen supplies because most are in FEMA trailers. There are 15 employees in this department.

Anyone wishing to help these employees can contact me at bsldepot@yahoo.com or the Administrative Assistant at peggyaverhart@yahoo.com.

Police Department

Everyone in the PD is doing fairly well, in various stages of building or re-building, and can always use building supply cards. One employee has a really long way to go and one has to start his re-building, but is waiting on the FEMA guidelines.

Fire Department

They are in much the same good shape as the PD so gift cards are always welcome.

CITY OPERATIONAL NEEDS

Fuel cards, fuel cards, fuel cards - paper towels, paper towels, paper towels! It is as much as that and as little. Fuel costs are our biggest daily expense and janitorial supplies what we wind up buying the most of for the four departments.

In addition to daily needs we do need tire repair kits and tow ropes to stock our vehicles for the hurricane season.

CITIZEN NEEDS

Bay Saint Louis citizens need the same things as employees. Building supplies, building supplies, building supplies and more building supplies.

“What I would really like to be able to do is to have another citizen lottery to give away building supply cards, gift certificates to local building supply stores, gift cards to help meet appliance, mattress and furniture needs. My target date for another lottery would be August 1.

“Mark, I always take up way too much of your time and I know I don't tell you enough how much your help means to the recovery of Bay Saint Louis. You certainly do the history of your family proud.

“Take care and God bless you and all GCN staff and readers.

Ms. Mike”

Reporter’s note: One of the greatest exchanges in movie history comes to mind after having read this above. It’s a simple exchange, but it speaks volumes of the singular people involved in this extraordinary relief effort…

Lt. Jim Gordon: “I never did thank you.”

The Batman: “And you’ll never have to.”
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#231 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:35 pm

Tourism industry plans $1 million post-hurricane Gulf Coast drive

Last Update: 6/17/2006 4:34:08 PM
NBC15-Mobile.


MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A Southeast tourism group has a one million dollar welcome-back message for travelers. It says the Gulf Coast hospitality industry, while not completely rebuilt after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, is open for summer business.

To spread that message, the federal Department of Commerce has awarded a 500-thousand dollar grant to the Atlanta-based Southeast Tourism Society, representing organizations in 11 states. The S-T-S members will match the federal grant with 500-thousand dollars for the nationwide campaign.

S-T-S president Bill Hardman says it's the largest campaign ever for the trade group, which plans a board meeting Friday at Orange Beach to discuss its 18-month hurricane recovery campaign. "A lot of it is just letting people know we're open," says Mississippi Development Authority Tourism Director Craig Ray. He's counting off the number of restaurants, casinos and hotels reopening on the Mississippi's coast. Casinos are illegal in Alabama, where Orange Beach and neighboring Gulf Shores had an almost sold-out Memorial Day weekend -- with about 13-thousand rental units occupied.

Officials hope to repeat that success on the Fourth of July. Herb Malone, director of the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, said there's a misperception that the Alabama resorts were damaged by Katrina because they are near the August 29th hurricane's major destruction in Mississippi and Louisiana. But it was Hurricane Ivan in 2004 that damaged Alabama's coast. Malone said the beach resorts now have almost as many rental units available as before Ivan struck.

The Tourism Society's one million dollar marketing drive will focus on Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, including hard-hit New Orleans.

On the Net: http://www.southeasttourism.org http://www.escapetothesoutheast.com
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#232 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sun Jun 18, 2006 5:54 pm

5 teenagers shot dead in Central City

Violence is 'almost beyond explaining'

Sunday, June 18, 2006- Times Picayune
By Michelle Krupa
Staff writer


In the deadliest slaughter to unfold on the streets of New Orleans in more than a decade, five teenagers were fatally shot before dawn Saturday when one or more gunmen pumped a barrage of bullets into their sport utility vehicle as they rode through a sparsely occupied neighborhood in Central
Police had no suspects late Saturday, but based on "the sheer carnage" of the crime, investigators believe the massacre was rooted in an altercation over drugs or was carried out in retaliation for an earlier dispute, New Orleans Police Department Capt. John Bryson said.

"Somebody wanted them dead, obviously," Bryson said. "They intended these five people to be dead."

Despite escalating violence as residents have returned to the ravaged city since Hurricane Katrina, police seemed shocked Saturday, both by the age of the victims -- three were 19, and the others were 16 and 17 -- and the brazen nature of the killings, which happened around 4 a.m. near the intersection of Josephine and Danneel streets.

"This is almost beyond explaining," Bryson said.

The victims, all from New Orleans, were Arsenio Hunter, 16; Warren Simoen, 17; Iruan Taylor, 19; Reggie Dantzler, 19; and Marquis Hunter, 19, said John Gagliano, the chief investigator for Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard.

Bryson said he could not immediately remember another atrocity with so many victims, though he said Saturday's killings called to mind a 1996 shooting that left three dead at a Louisiana Pizza Kitchen restaurant in the French Quarter and a 2004 armed robbery at a Treme restaurant and bar in which four people were killed.

Five people have not died in a single violent episode in New Orleans since March 1, 1995, when Juan Smith, then 20, sprayed bullets through a North Roman Street house, a crime for which he was sent to prison for life.

Later, Smith was sentenced to die by lethal injection for a triple murder on Feb. 4, 1995, at a home on Morrison Avenue in which he shot a 3-year-old nine times, along with the toddler's mother and her fiance.

The latest assault brings to 52 the number of people killed in New Orleans this year, with Saturday's incident boosting the total by more than 10 percent. The city's homicide rate since April has been more than twice as high as it was in the first three months of 2006, when 17 killings were recorded.

Officers patrolling in Central City and residents reported hearing "multiple, multiple rounds" fired from a semiautomatic weapon Saturday morning, Bryson said.

Police said one or more shooters approached the victims' blue Ford Explorer as it was heading downtown on Danneel Street and fired into it from the driver's side. The bodies of Arsenio Hunter, Simoen and Taylor were found inside the SUV, which came to a stop against a utility pole.

Their bodies were riddled with multiple gunshot wounds, Bryson said.

All three were pronounced dead at the scene, Gagliano said.

Dantzler and Marquis Hunter, who police suspect also had been in the SUV, were found not far away, Bryson said. Dantzler, who was pronounced dead by emergency workers at the scene, was found on a nearby sidewalk with a bullet wound to the head.

Marquis Hunter, who is thought to be the brother or cousin of Arsenio Hunter, was discovered with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body in the 2000 block of Danneel, about a quarter of a block from the SUV, Bryson said. He died at 8 a.m. at Charity Hospital's trauma unit at Elmwood Medical Center after he was taken from the scene of the shootings in critical condition, Gagliano said.

Bryson said no weapons or drugs were visible in the SUV, although he added that thieves commonly pick crime scenes clean of such items before authorities arrive. Investigators will conduct a thorough search of the vehicle in coming days, he said.

Almost eight hours after the grisly attack Saturday, as a hot midday sun beat down on Central City, a pair of laborers working at a Josephine Street home that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina shifted their efforts outdoors, shoveling debris away from the cleared crime scene.

Up and down nearby streets, where most houses still bear the telltale spray-painted X's left by rescue workers after the Aug. 29 storm, neighbors gathered on porches and discussed the gruesome crime and the recklessness of adults who, they said, should have been minding the victims.

"How could you let a 16-year-old go out at that time of the morning?" said James Williams, 26. "And for (the perpetrators) to do something like this to the children is a shame."

A woman who requested anonymity said she was at her home just a few yards from the crime scene when she heard shots. She said the shooting went on for two or three minutes.

"There were so many gunshots that you couldn't even count them," she said.

Sitting on a stoop across Danneel Street from the spot where the SUV slid to a halt, Clarence Joseph peered at a patch of bloodstained asphalt and evoked religious prophecy to describe the early-morning carnage.

"The Bible said that if you don't teach them at home, the world is going to get them," he said. "And that's what happening."

At 73, Joseph said, he has seen his share of bloodshed. But none of it, he said, compares to Saturday's incident. "This is the worst I've seen yet," he said. "The worst I've seen yet."

Even Bryson, an officer with 26 years at the New Orleans Police Department, choked back emotion as he detailed the crime for reporters at a late morning news conference.

"I'm a father, and I couldn't imagine getting this news today, the day before Father's Day," Bryson said.

Bryson also implored residents to help police fight the criminal activity that has seeped back into the city since it was emptied by Katrina. He stressed that although officers are trained to handle the city's worst criminals, they also contend with the personal effects of crime in their communities.

"People forget: Police officers are people, too," Bryson said. "We have families. We're recovering from Katrina, too."

Police said anyone with information should call Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 or toll-free at (877) 903-7867. Callers do not have to give their names or testify and can receive as much as $2,500 for tips that lead to an indictment.
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#233 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:00 pm

EDITORIAL: Not coming together

Sunday, June 18, 2006
New Orleans Times Picayune Editorial from NOLA.com


The effort to plan New Orleans' post-Katrina reconstruction has been stuck in neutral, but not because of a lack of activity among planners.

While individual planners have been plenty busy in the months since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans isn't much closer to having an official reconstruction plan than it was last fall.

Early on, experts from the Urban Land Institute visited New Orleans to offer advice about which areas should be rebuilt when. Public reaction was mixed; while some residents praised the institute's work as a sensible way to bring more people to higher ground, others loudly objected to the notion of shutting down low-lying, flood-ravaged areas.

The land use committee of Mayor Ray Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back Commission came up with a different idea in January -- to give flood-damaged neighborhoods four months to prove their viability and plan their own futures. That neighborhood planning effort was supposed to occur under the supervision of local architect Ray Manning and Tulane architecture dean Reed Kroloff.

But the process never even started, because city officials had been counting on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pick up the tab. When FEMA backed out, the result was . . . well, nothing. Nothing happened. The highly organized, high-stakes, high-participation neighborhood planning envisioned by the BNOB panel stalled out.

Others have stepped in to fill the vacuum. The BNOB map infamously showed green dots over Broadmoor and certain low-lying areas -- which residents took to mean their neighborhood was being targeted for conversion into parkland. So Broadmoor residents enlisted multiple Harvard University graduate schools to help them envision their neighborhood's future. Andres Duany, a Miami planner whose New Urbanist movement seeks to recreate the feel of walkable towns, led an effort to come up with a blueprint for Gentilly.

Meanwhile, the City Council allotted almost $3 million to hire its own planners. Consultants Paul Lambert of Miami and Shelia Danzey of New Orleans have begun a series of meetings in the neighborhoods that flooded after Katrina.

Finally, these disparate efforts seem to be coming together. The Louisiana Recovery Authority, the state entity that is in charge of distributing billions of dollars in federal housing aid, is backing a new planning effort funded with millions from the Rockefeller Foundation. And Mayor Nagin and the City Council seem poised to accept the Rockefeller project as the official plan. That is a good development for New Orleanians wondering where and whether to rebuild.

By itself, no plan will solve the many problems that besiege New Orleans after Katrina. Indeed, many plans developed for public purposes are gathering dust on shelves.

But billions in Community Development Block Grant money will hit the streets in upcoming months, and the purpose of this money is to help flooded-out residents repair their homes or move to safer areas -- and to help the city repair battered infrastructure in viable neighborhoods. A formal rebuilding plan gives people some inkling of which direction the city might take -- and gives them some basis for making decisions about their own future. If a citywide plan called for reinvestment in unflooded areas, the mayor, council and state Legislature could enact policies to make that happen. And flooded-out homeowners and real-estate investors would likely respond to those incentives.

If that occurred, public utilities would be obliged to fix fewer miles of pipe and wiring, and the city could pull back from providing services in unpopulated neighborhoods. Without such a plan, residents are left to guess at where public services will be offered and where citizens might be living in the future.

The planning process should be well under way already. Unless the city comes up with a realistic reconstruction plan soon, outside entities -- such as insurance companies -- will end up having more influence over New Orleans' future than city residents or their elected representatives have.

Other communities affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were far quicker to come up with official reconstruction plans than New Orleans has been. That's partly because of the scale and complexity of the destruction in the city. But it also has been the result of a lack of leadership and coordination in the city.

It is getting late, but New Orleans can still come up with one comprehensive plan to show to residents, to the Louisiana Recovery Authority and to Congress.

The burden of getting a real reconstruction blueprint lies above all with Mayor Ray Nagin, and it is encouraging that he seems ready to get the planning process moving.
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#234 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:02 pm

Still on hold

Phone service is still the big hang-up in MANY parts of post-Katrina New Orleans

Sunday, June 18, 2006
By Ronette King
Business writer Times Picayune


More than nine months after Hurricane Katrina swept through, the telephones still don't ring in big swaths of the Crescent City. And getting by without phones or Internet service remains an ongoing struggle for individuals and businesses alike.

Although telephone service has been largely restored in the metro area overall, it still hasn't penetrated the hard-hit areas of eastern New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish and patches of Lakeview.

Overall, traditional BellSouth telephone service has been restored in 86.6 percent of Orleans Parish, 96.4 percent of Plaquemines Parish and 18.2 percent of St. Bernard Parish, said Merlin Villar, a spokesman for the company. Within Orleans Parish, service availability runs the gamut from Michoud, where service is 82 percent restored, to near Chef Menteur Highway and Downman Road, where just 17 percent of service is restored.

Cox Communications has restored its telephone, cable television and Internet services to "a significant portion" of its footprint. But the company wouldn't give specific numbers.

Meanwhile, business owners still waiting for phone service are creating makeshift telecommunications systems with cellular phones, satellite links and voicemail.

At Terranova Brothers Superette on Esplanade Avenue, the lack of phone lines continues to prevent customers from paying for purchases with their ATM or credit cards.

The Orleans Parish district attorney's office is getting by on three dozen cellular telephones until its phone lines are set up at its second temporary office in the Amoco Building.

Common Ground, the volunteer group gutting and repairing houses in the Lower 9th Ward, has a satellite link on its computers to offer Internet access to volunteers and people returning to the hard-hit community.

And an eastern New Orleans podiatrist is relying on pagers and text messages to set up patient appointments.

Even cellular phones are no guarantee of service.

"I carry two cell phones to make sure I have one that works," said Walter Leger, a St. Bernard Parish lawyer and member of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. When he's in St. Bernard, Leger's original cell phone with a 504 area code doesn't work everywhere. So he uses his new cell with a 225 area code and that seems to work in places where the 504 phone doesn't.


A wiring puzzle


Many of the neighborhoods still without phone service have tricky challenges.

Cox, for example, can offer its services only in areas where Entergy has restored commercial electric power. And having electricity restored to houses in an area doesn't necessarily mean commercial power has been restored, Cox spokesman Brad Grundmeyer said. Fiber optic networks require commercial electric power to continually send the signal along the line, he said.

Cox is also in an ongoing battle to preserve the replacement equipment it installed post-Katrina. The company has replaced many pedestals, those green boxes about the size of an ice chest between the sidewalk and the street. In neighborhoods where wiring runs underground, the pedestals connect four to six houses to the cable line.

When house-gutting debris is put too close, the units often get hauled away, ripped up or otherwise mangled, Grundmeyer said. So when someone rips up one pedestal, it knocks out cable for several houses at once. In December, 81 Cox pedestals were ripped out in a single day in Jefferson Parish, he said.

The Cox Web site includes maps that divide Lakeview, eastern New Orleans and the Lower 9th Ward, and Chalmette into three stages of Cox service restoration. Green is for areas where service has been restored. Yellow means the company is working in the area, and service may be available, so customers can call to check their status. Red denotes places where restoration work continues and service isn't yet available. The challenge in those areas is that Cox is still making repairs or the company is waiting for commercial power to be fully restored, Grundmeyer said.

The map of Lakeview reflects a situation that, at times, baffles customers. Within a sea of green -- indicating Cox telephone, cable TV and Internet services have been restored -- are pockets of red, meaning Cox services aren't available there. Service is more widely available in the devastated Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish than in eastern New Orleans.

In parts of eastern New Orleans bordering Interstate 10, the Cox system includes coaxial connections, much of which needs to be replaced since it corroded after sustained flooding. But Cox can't start to assess the damage until Entergy restores commercial service to the area.

"That's our first chance to turn on the network to see where we are," Grundmeyer said.

BellSouth is working to get customers still waiting for phone service back online as well. Darrell Cooper, a BellSouth senior network vice president, said at an industry convention in May that some 130,000 BellSouth customer lines are still down. Katrina rebuilding is going to be a multiyear effort, but it will be an opportunity to provide high-end services by replacing copper cable with fiber, he said.

BellSouth is replacing all of the underground copper wiring with fiber optic cable, and elevating equipment in places that flooded. The company also has to replace equipment that was ruined after weeks without electrical power. The company estimates its restoration cost at more than $700 million, not including lost revenue.

For people in areas where land-line service isn't available, there are some new options. BellSouth has launched a wireless broadband service.

"We have put up several antennas in the area and currently can cover 80 percent of Orleans parish," Villar said. The service is also available in Arabi, Chalmette and Meraux. Service will be expanded to parts of eastern New Orleans later this month. The company also has a wireless service that uses a modem plugged into an electrical outlet and mimics regular phone service.


'Making it happen'


While telephone companies work to restore their networks, some businesses are still trying to get service.

Dr. Denardo Dunham is trying to revive his podiatry practice on Downman Road without telephone service from either Cox Communications or BellSouth, his usual provider.

Dunham reopened his office three months ago and since then has been waiting for telephone service. At least once a week he calls BellSouth to find out when his service will be restored. He queries technicians working in the area. He takes note of nearby businesses that have working phones, like the hardware store down the street.

But for Dunham, nothing yet. Working without a telephone, the task of setting patient appointments has evolved into an intricate tango.

"We're kind of just making it happen," Dunham said. Patients can leave messages at the regular office phone number, which is forwarded to a voicemail system that pages Dunham on his cell phone. He retrieves the message and gives it to the receptionist, who returns the call and sets the date in the appointment book.

When the receptionist isn't in the office, Dunham sends her a text message with the information to contact the patient. Dunham also has an online booking system that lets patients see what days he is available and make their own appointments. Since there is no Internet access at the office, the receptionist brings the appointment book home, where she has Internet service, makes a printout and brings it to the office, and combines the two.

"It works, but it's not the most convenient," Dunham said.

Troubles with land lines have worked to the advantage of at least one local company.

Joe Laura, president of Superior Wireless, said that since Katrina, businesses have been clamoring for the wireless Internet service he offers. He has helped provide phone service to businesses in Gentilly and eastern New Orleans.

The system uses microwave frequencies to relay signals from a series of antennas mounted atop buildings from Metairie to Chef Menteur Highway. It's the type of service once offered only in sparsely populated rural areas where telephone and cable company service didn't reach, Laura said.

These days, that description applies to parts of the New Orleans area as well.

. . . . . . .

Ronette King can be reached at (504) 826-3308 or at rking@timespicayune.com.

. . . . . . .


BellSouth residential customers can call 1 (888) 757-6500 for status reports on repairs. Business customers can call 1 (866) 620-6000 or visit the company's Web site at http://www.bellsouth.com. Cox customers can call (504) 304-1148 or go online at http://www.aboutcox.com and click on the Hurricane Katrina link. Last week, Cox opened a $3 million retail service center at 3131 Elysian Fields Ave. where customers can pay bills and pick up new or exchange old equipment.
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#235 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:05 pm

Hurry up on hospital, Blanco is urged

State, VA collaborate on medical complex

Sunday, June 18, 2006
By Jan Moller
Capital bureau


BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana State University officials are asking Gov. Kathleen Blanco to adopt an aggressive timetable for building a new teaching hospital in New Orleans to replace Charity and University hospitals.
The head of LSU's charity hospital system wants the administration to commit $300 million in federal Community Development Block Grant dollars toward a $1.3 billion downtown medical complex that would be built in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Donald Smithburg, who oversees eight charity hospitals as head of LSU's Health Care Services Division, said a financial commitment from the governor's office is needed quickly because the VA has already begun the process of hiring an architect and hopes to start designing its part of the project in October.

"We've gotten strong moral support for the project," Smithburg said. "Turning that into actionable decisions is the likely next step. And the VA has been clear: Their train is out of the station, and they'd like for us to be on the same track."

Without a quick commitment from the state, the cost savings that could result from having the state and federal government working together could be jeopardized, Smithburg said. "What we worry about is, if we can't keep up with the VA's aggressive pace, they may proceed without us," he said.

The idea is for LSU and the VA to build separate hospitals connected by a common corridor, sharing physical features such as an energy plant and parking garage. The two facilities would collaborate on providing certain types of specialty care and research in a way that avoids duplication.

Post-graduate medical residents from LSU and Tulane University would be able to train and conduct research in both hospitals.


Support for project


Blanco has voiced support for the project, and hosted a February news conference where the collaboration between LSU and the VA was announced. But Denise Bottcher, the governor's spokeswoman, said Blanco remains uncommitted on how much money the state should devote to the project.

"I don't think the governor has made a firm commitment on a dollar figure, but she sure does like the concept," Bottcher said. "It's very forward-thinking."

A report by the committee that has studied the proposed collaboration is scheduled for release Monday. It estimates that the project could be finished by early 2011, and that it would bring 30-year savings of more than $400 million over the cost of operating two stand-alone facilities.

In the meantime, LSU plans to open 156 beds at University Hospital by Nov. 1, and that could grow to 200 beds by the end of the calendar year. Charity and University hospitals had 550 beds in operation when Katrina hit.

The report lays out a detailed framework for how the collaboration would work.

The new hospitals would be designed to avoid the tragic pitfalls that crippled Charity Hospital after Hurricane Katrina. To protect against flooding, the lowest patient floors will be at least 15 feet above sea level. The hospitals would also be designed to be entirely self-sufficient for eight days, with enough food, fuel and other supplies on hand to survive that long without any outside help.

Smithburg said the state stands to benefit from federal design standards that were beefed up after Timothy McVeigh blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

"They bring a recipe that we don't have to invent from scratch," Smithburg said.


Where to spend dollars


Planners are hoping to locate the two hospitals on a 37-acre site near Interstate 10 at the intersection of Tulane and South Claiborne avenues, near the current downtown medical district where Charity and the VA hospital are situated.

The report estimates that LSU's share of the project would come to $630 million for a 350-bed hospital, but that costs could climb as high as $942 million if the state decides to rebuild the kind of capacity that existed before Katrina.

Smithburg said that if the state agrees to provide $300 million in block grant dollars, the rest of the state's costs could be covered by a combination of bond financing and other federal financing sources such as Federal Emergency Management Agency money that LSU expects to collect as compensation for the storm damage to Charity and University hospitals.

Although the state has more than $10.4 billion in block grant dollars coming its way, most of that money is slated to be spent on housing. As much as $2.5 billion could be set aside to build or repair government infrastructure across south Louisiana, from which the hospital financing could be taken.

Those infrastructure dollars are expected to provide for a wide range of needs, such as repairing public schools, airports, water facilities and highways.

The report comes as uncertainty surrounds the future of health care delivery in the New Orleans area, where the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina spawned a rare opportunity to make far-reaching changes to a system that has long been criticized for high costs and lousy outcomes.

State officials are pinning their hopes on a new working group led by Health and Hospitals Secretary Fred Cerise, which is charged with reconfiguring the Medicaid program so that it covers more people and provides the poor and elderly with choices in how and where they get services.

Smithburg said the plan needs to be flexible enough to allow for additional beds if demand for services is higher than expected. But the demand could depend partly on what happens with the redesign effort.

The report by LSU and the VA assumes that the number of uninsured people in the New Orleans area will escalate in the years ahead, which would argue for more people needing care in a public system that's historically been focused on treating the poor and indigent. But a redesigned Medicaid program could reduce the ranks of the uninsured and direct more people to private hospitals and clinics.

Smithburg said he wants the ability to expand above the 350-bed size that is currently envisioned.

"One of the reasons we want flexibility in this facility is that if health policy and reimbursement schemes change dramatically, we'll have the ability . . . to hopefully respond," Smithburg said. "But we can't wait around for the evolution of health reform in this state."
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#236 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:08 pm

JUDICIAL PRIVILEGE

Summer School for Judges often turns out to be a day at the beach -- and taxpayers foot the bill

Sunday, June 18, 2006-- Times Picayune/NOLA.com
By Jeffrey Meitrodt and James Varney, Staff Writers
and James Varney%%par%%Staff writers


SANDESTIN, FLA. -- With a baseball cap, sunglasses and skin tanned the color of Worcestershire sauce, 34th Judicial District Judge Jacques Sanborn plopped into a seaside chair at the Tops'l Beach & Racquet Resort and admired the multi-hued vista over the Gulf of Mexico.

Simultaneously, on the bay side of the popular vacation area, about 80 of his colleagues boned up on recent developments in traffic law and death cases. They were engrossed in continuing legal education -- "CLE," in the shorthand of the legal community, and the ostensible purpose of Sanborn's visit to the Panhandle. He was there to attend what's called "Summer School for Judges," the biggest, best-attended event on Louisiana's CLE calendar.

Over the course of the weeklong event, judges and lawyers have been able to earn up to 25 hours of credit, or twice the mandated annual requirement of 12.5 hours. But like most conference attendees, Sanborn wasn't pushing himself too hard. Though he planned to stay in Florida for the rest of the week, he hadn't registered for the second half of the program, which offers judges a chance to brush up on their courtroom skills during a three-day seminar known as "Nuts & Bolts."

Asked whether he was playing hooky, Sanborn said he planned to attend bar association meetings later in the day and the following afternoon. But he grew testy when asked how many family members had accompanied him on his annual Sandestin trip.

"It's none of your business," he said. "My family is my business."

Though Sanborn and many of his colleagues may regard their traditional week at the Tops'l or another nearby resort as a personal or family matter, Louisiana taxpayers underwrite the jaunt to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

The Sandestin conference offers an array of educational offerings for judges, but it has taken on the trappings of a paid vacation for them and their families. Judges receive generous housing allowances with which they rent exclusive beachfront homes or deluxe condominiums, and they typically avail themselves of daily reimbursements that exceed federal guidelines.

Education vs. relaxation

The courthouse crowd's annual Sandestin get-together unfolds against an academic environment that is far from rigorous, and education often takes a back seat to relaxation. Despite ample opportunity to complete CLE requirements during their week in Florida, nearly half of the local judges who attended in 2004 fail to do so, a review of their transcripts shows. The Louisiana Supreme Court waived the 2005 CLE requirements due to Hurricane Katrina and not all of this year's paperwork has been completed, making 2004 the last year for which a full set of Sandestin CLE records is available.

Altogether this year, 214 judges and other court officials from Louisiana traveled to Sandestin for summer school during the week of June 4. The group included 52 judges who work at courts in the seven-parish New Orleans area, including the Supreme Court and two appeals courts. The state's showing was down slightly from last year, when the event drew 234 judges and court officials, including 66 judges from the New Orleans area.

The most notable absence was Orleans Parish Criminal Court, which traditionally sends a half-dozen judges but this year sent none. The conference kicked off just three days after the courthouse at Tulane Avenue and Broad Street reopened. By contrast, St. Tammany's 22nd Judicial District sent nine of its 10 judges, according to the judicial administrator there.

That kind of participation makes Sandestin an expensive proposition . In 2004, it cost $238,231 to send 73 local judges to the conference, an average cost of $3,219 per judge. Included among the attendees were 10 judges over the age of 65, at which point the state CLE mandate expires. The Sandestin blowout absorbed 40 percent of the $590,591 that was spent on continuing legal education by local jurists in 2004, records show. CLE costs are covered through taxpayer dollars and courthouse fees.

Of course, not every judge goes to Sandestin each year. Records indicate that one-third of the 125 judges who have served on benches in New Orleans or the surrounding parishes haven't been to Sandestin in the past three years. Some judges are openly uncomfortable with the arrangement.

One of them is Martha Sassone, who has handled cases in Jefferson Parish's 24th Judicial District for 16 years. She attended the Sandestin conference only once, in her second or third year on the bench, she said.

"After that first time, I just thought it was a very expensive proposition and I made a decision I wasn't going to use public funds to do that," Sassone said. "I guess my philosophy is different from some other judges, but I don't feel comfortable spending that much money on CLE, especially when we've laid off people in the 24th and say we have all these post-Katrina budget issues."

Sassone stressed that she's not questioning the spending habits of any specific judge, but from a general standpoint she harbors doubts about the week's validity. She said she focuses her CLE on local classes and a short Biloxi, Miss., conference, called "CLE by the Sea," sponsored by the Jefferson Bar Association.

Nor is the Sandestin conference the sort of event that might be tolerated in neighboring states. A survey of CLE practices in 10 other Southern states, from Missouri to Florida, shows that even without a financial blow like Katrina, the lavish expenditure on a Sandestin-like gathering is frowned upon.

Texas, for example, allows no reimbursement for out-of-state CLE conferences, and judges in Georgia can get reimbursement for just one out-of-state trip every three years, officials said. At in-state conferences, Georgia judges get reimbursed for meals at a lower rate than the one set by the federal government and receive only a partial reimbursement on lodging, said Rich Reaves of Georgia's Institute for Continuing Judicial Education. Louisiana judges are permitted chow down at a rate that, in Sandestin, is almost three times the feds' and often receive full reimbursement for their sometimes lavish lodgings.

At Georgia's Spring Conference last year, for instance, judges got reimbursed $138 at a conference where the nightly lodging rate was $169. "That cap is imposed not by law but by budget," Reaves said, noting Georgia can't afford to pay big tabs.

He was astounded by both the concept of Sandestin and the amount of time Louisiana judges spend off the bench and on CLE.

"We never have anything like that," Reaves said. "I can't imagine anything like that."

Generous allowances

State law requires lawyers and judges to complete 12.5 hours of CLE, including course work in professionalism and ethics, each year. Sandestin's education smorgasbord features a "Summer School for Judges," which is comprised of seminars run singly or jointly by the Louisiana Judicial College and the Louisiana Bar Association, as well as the "Nuts & Bolts" seminar geared exclusively toward judges and courthouse personnel.

Generous allowances help the Louisiana judges enjoy Sandestin in style, records and eyewitness surveys the past two years show. For instance, many jurists take advantage of a $2,314.50 lodging subsidy and a $115 per diem for meals and incidentals, both figures fixed by the state Supreme Court justices. The justices and appeal court judges are provided with an extra dollop of housing assistance, raising their housing ceiling to $2,601.50 and $2,365, respectively.

The hefty per diem is paid in a lump sum and requires no receipts. At $115, it tops what federal employees are entitled to in Sandestin by $72, a daily difference the Internal Revenue Service considers taxable income for Louisiana judges. Although classes are offered on six days, there are numerous examples of judges tacking on travel days and thus claiming eight days in Sandestin and a payment of $920. But even with those bookend days accounted for, a comparison of expense reports with CLE transcripts shows many judges pocket a per diem on days when they received no credit for class work.

And now and then a random charge, at times an eye-popping one, gets tossed on the bill, too. In 2003, for instance, 4th Circuit Court of Appeal Judge James McKay, who collected several hundred dollars in per diems that year, also went to the Elephant Walk, an elegant and pricey restaurant, now defunct, that was next door to the Sandestin Hilton. It's not clear how many judges joined him or what they ate and drank because McKay never submitted an itemized bill. Instead, he simply wrote "lunch with judges" and claimed a reimbursement of $1,633.22.

Third Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Michael Sullivan said that Sandestin is a unique opportunity and he goes every year, but he is troubled by what he considers a relaxed attitude by some of his colleagues toward the conference's true purpose.

"This is a real treat, this is the vacation I take every year, and I can't stand to see judges abuse this," he said. Asked if he thought some judges had abused it, Sullivan, without citing any specific judge, said, "Based on some of the spending I see reported, yes."

In 2004, the most expensive week was rung up by Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Darryl Derbigny, who spent $4,684.50, records show. His two-bedroom condo at the Tops'l Beach Manor cost $2,355.02, but Derbigny paid just $40.52 of that out of his own pocket.

Derbigny also got $920 in per diems because he was in Sandestin for eight days. During that time he earned eight CLE credits, all at the "Nuts & Bolts" seminar, even though he spent another $775 to register for the Summer School and the Bar Association conference, at which he received no credit, according to transcripts.

Last week, Derbigny insisted he did attend additional classes and forgot to fill out the paperwork. He noticed the glitch back in 2004 and asked a secretary to take up the matter with the Supreme Court, but apparently it was never rectified, he said.

"Quite frankly, that was just something that got caught up in the wash," he said.

Because he actually attended the classes at which he received no credit, Derbigny insisted it was proper that he collected the $115 per diem every day.

"I don't think it's reasonable to take a per diem on days in which I didn't go to class, and I think that would be a slap in the face to the public and the taxpayer," he said. "I'm certain it was just an oversight."

Valuable experience

Judges who regularly enroll in summer school defend its scholarly benefits, insisting taxpayers get a solid bang for their buck. They argue that the public would be as ill-served by a judiciary not current with legal thinking as a patient would be by an outdated physician. Not only are the classes valuable, judges say, but so is the chance to consult off the record with their peers and hundreds of the lawyers who regularly practice in front of them. The Louisiana State Bar Association typically schedules its annual meeting in Sandestin to run at the same time.

"The Sandestin conference is one of the healthiest things we do as a judiciary," said Madeleine Landrieu, one of three Orleans Parish Civil District Court judges who have been to Sandestin each of the past three years.

"We learn from each other and we learn what good practices are happening in our neighboring courts," Landrieu said. "It is an extraordinary conference. We get a lot of work done. As a matter of fact, I usually work so hard at these conferences that I usually don't even bring my family."

That hard work, however, is not reflected on Landrieu's CLE transcripts. Those show that although she racked up more than $4,000 in expenses at Sandestin in 2004, she failed to earn a single hour of education credit. And the following month, she jetted to Jamaica for another CLE program, spending more than $3,000.

Regarding Sandestin 2004, Landrieu said she didn't recall attending any CLE classes, but she said it's possible she went to a few and simply didn't fill out the required form for credit. She was the only judge who earned no credit at Sandestin, transcripts show. That contrasts with her usual procedure, she acknowledged, and overall records show she earned 42 hours of CLE credit that year.

"Simply because I do not put in for CLE credit does not mean I did not attend the CLE," she said. "If I've already got what the Supreme Court requires, I may attend and not seek credit because what good does it do?"

Judge Reginald Badeaux of the 22nd Judicial District also had little to show for his 2004 trip. Though lodging records indicate he spent seven days on the Panhandle, he earned just 5.7 hours of credit for the conferences. Furthermore, he earned no credit at the "Nuts & Bolts" program, despite paying the $250 registration fee.

Badeaux is one of the local judges who chooses even more opulent lodging than might be available on the resort grounds. Instead, he typically rents a cottage down the coast in Seaside, a resort community that provided the setting for the movie, "The Truman Show." With the $2,314.50 reimbursement, Badeaux and his wife spent less than $500 of their own money in 2004 to rent a three-bedroom house with a wraparound porch and enough space to sleep eight, records show.

He did not respond to several requests for an interview.

Fun for whole family

While the judges insist Sandestin is not a subsidized family vacation, they acknowledge the housing allowance provides a chance for luxurious living while paying next to nothing out-of-pocket. Some years judges such as Landrieu, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Raymond Bigelow, and Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Victory rent sprawling beachfront houses in Four Mile Village next to the Tops'l that go for close to $3,000 a week. In 2004, Bigelow said his sons and some of their friends accompanied him.

Paul Sens, another municipal court judge from New Orleans who regularly attends the conference, said the idea of spending time on the beach with his family is a powerful draw.

"That's part of the incentive to be here," Sens said. "You can get your (CLE) time in and still relax. And trust me, I need it."

This year, Sens brought along his wife and 19-year-old son. He said he's been coming to the conference since his son was in diapers.

"I pay my fair share of the expenses for my family," said Sens, who shelled out $1,627 to cover the cost of his Tops'l condo in 2004 after maxing out his housing allowance. "The court doesn't pay all my expenses."

Judges note the CLE requirement is mandatory and that most of them have no hand in choosing Sandestin as a location.

"If they had it in New Orleans, I'd be there," said Sean Early, an Orleans Parish Municipal Court judge who regularly attends the conference. "If they had it in Westwego, I'd go to Westwego."

In fact, all CLE requirements can be met through conferences in New Orleans and other in-state locales, if not Westwego.

No picnic

Though he spends a lot of time on the beach, Sens said the conference is no picnic.

"This is not a family vacation," he said. "These are not a bunch of fluff classes. We are taught by experts and there is some important give-and-take with the judges."

This year, for instance, the conference included sessions on such topics as "Effective Jury Communication," "Sentencing Practices and Procedures" and "Advanced Cross-Examination." Another session, which featured four law school professors and three judges, focused on recent developments in the law and civil procedure.

"A big-time trial attorney did the session on cross-examination techniques, and it was incredibly entertaining," Plaquemines Parish Judge William Roe said. "The guy was hilarious. But it was also helpful in terms of the evidentiary rules about cross-examination. We got to sit there and listen to a really good attorney talk about how you should cross-examine a witness, which helps you in terms of what should be allowed, and what shouldn't be allowed, in your courtroom."

Sanborn, who oversees drug cases for juveniles in St. Bernard Parish, said the most interesting thing he picked up in Sandestin this year is a method for breaking up the sentences for nonviolent offenders. Instead of giving an offender a sentence that is either all jail time or probation, a new law lets judges impose a short prison sentence and suspend the rest of the time if the offender can stay out of trouble for six months. If not, the offender goes back to jail to finish the sentence.

"I didn't realize we could do that," Sanborn said. "It's a statute a lot of judges didn't know about."

But the academics at Sandestin are a far cry from law school. In 2004, almost half of the attending judges stayed in Sandestin for a full week but went to class on only four days, according to Supreme Court records. During lectures judges often step outside the room and mill about a breakfast buffet or chat on cell phones in the hallways. Some leave seminars early or arrive late.

Rock hits, movie clips

The courses, too, are a curious mix. For instance, last year's conference kicked off with a three-hour musical program called "Ethics Rock," which the presenter, Jack Marshall, described as a "tuneful and nostalgic legal ethics seminar." Marshall used rock hits from the 1960s to create parodies of what he calls "complex legal ethics scenarios."

The conference ended with an offering called "Movie Magic: How the Masters Try Cases." The 2½-hour program featured film clips from more than a dozen movies, including "My Cousin Vinny," "Miracle on 34th Street" and "To Kill a Mockingbird." Among the lessons offered by moderator Steve Rosen, a trial lawyer from Portland, Ore.: "You don't have to be Gregory Peck to succeed."

The class, which satisfied the CLE "professionalism" component, was clearly aimed at trial lawyers and some judges acknowledged it was a stretch to take credit for it.

"I don't know how they expected us to benefit from that," Roe said.

While some legal conferences last all day, Summer School for Judges is a considerably more relaxed affair. Sessions typically start at 8 a.m. and finish about noon, leaving judges with plenty of free time. Many judges trek down to the beach with their children or spouses in tow. This year, Ethel Simms Julien, the chief judge of Orleans Civil District Court, had a poolside lunch with her husband, lawyer Henry Julien, as soon as classes ended on Monday.

"You do spend time on the beach -- I don't deny that," Simms Julien said the next day. "But it gives you time to relax and talk to other judges about how they do things. You may laugh and talk about other things, but eventually you also talk about cases. So you get a lot out of it."

Other judges said they spend much of their free time writing opinions in their rooms or getting together with their peers to discuss ways to improve the judiciary. This year, for instance, Landrieu said she and several other judges spent two hours with a handful of their colleagues around the state who were recently elected to the bench. They didn't go anywhere fancy for lunch: Landrieu said the group ate turkey sandwiches in a hotel conference room.

"We gathered together to answer their questions and build camaraderie so they know they have a place to go when they have problems," Landrieu said.

To be sure, Landrieu isn't the only judge who has skipped a class or two in Sandestin. Of the 63 local judges who attended the conference in 2004 and are not exempt from CLE requirements, 41 judges skipped at least one session, including 16 judges who earned 10 credits or less, transcripts show. In 2004, judges could obtain a maximum of 15 credits during summer school.

Jefferson Parish Judge George Giacobbe, who works in 1st Parish Court, also earned very little credit for his work in Sandestin in 2004. But Giacobbe, who didn't register for summer school, said he spent two nights in Sandestin only because he had been asked to speak at the "Nuts & Bolts" conference about a computer program he put together for criminal courts. He earned six credits and spent a little more than $1,000 on his trip, records show.

"I think it is overpriced, and it is really too hot," said Giacobbe, who hasn't attended summer school since 2002. "We're not big beach people. And what is the point of going to Florida if you are not going to hang out on the beach?"
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#237 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:14 pm

GCN Recovery News Report --UPDATE:

This report will constantly be updated as information becomes available
Updated 6/18/06 10:14 AM --Gulfcoastnews.com


Immigrant labor, many illegal immigrants, are said by area business and political leaders to rebuild the Coast from Katrina's damages. Estimates of illegal immigrants in the state range to as many as 100,000, far higher than the amount reported in the 2000 census. The exact number is almost impossible to establish. The high number of immigrants does cost the state. State Auditor Phil Bryant estimated in the spring that taxpayers are footing the bill for illegal immigrants in the state to the tune of $25 million.

Coastal residents still are showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, agitation, nightmares and weight loss. Nurses in free clinics and mental-health workers who have been treating residents on the Mississippi Gulf Coast said those fears are common because people are living in cramped mobile units, and their children are free for the summer without the safety nets that school provided. Some parents are still reeling from guilt, having subjected their children to riding out the storm. Health officials throughout the Katrina Disaster Zone are noting an alarming rise of suicides. This includes residents and first responders such as police and firemen who live in the region.

Economic recovery along the Mississippi Coast is mixed with Jackson County cities generally doing better than the Biloxi-Gulfport area. Economic recovery is sharply less moving west through Harrison County in Long Beach, and Pass Christian as well in Hancock County in Bay St. Louis and Waveland. There is progress being made, but the lack of permanent housing is having a direct impact on the speed of the recovery. Over 103,000 people are still housed in temporary FEMA trailers in south Mississippi.

Construction to re-build Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Biloxi should get under way next week. Roy Anderson Corp. will be the contractor for the project. There are no plans to open a temporary casino, but the re-built Hard Rock is expected to open by July 4, 2007. Meanwhile, the Mississippi Gaming Commission has given its approval to Treasure Bay Casino to open a small casino in its hotel while renovations continue on the property. The casino should open next week. Boomtown casino plans to reopen on June 29th.

Standing along side State Insurance Commissioner George Dale, Governor Haley Barbour announced Wednesday he has set aside $50 million in state-administered federal grants to help mitigate an expected increase in the cost of insurance to consumers under "wind pool" policies. The governor made his announcement at a press conference at the Coast Coliseum Convention Center in Biloxi, where FEMA's Coast headquarters is located. (Click Here for more on this story)

In another issue affecting Coast homeowners, the state plans to expand the Homeowner Grant Program to include low and moderate income homeowners. Governor Haley Barbour tells GCN that the new program will help homeowners whose houses were in the flood zones.

"Our first Katrina Homeowner Grant program provides funds for those whose homes flooded despite being outside the flood zone, but we know there are many others whose homes flooded and still need help," Governor Barbour said. We are asking these other homeowners to register in hopes a program can be designed to help as many of them as possible. So, please register." "We may not be able to help everybody, but if you don't register, we can't help you." (Click Here for more on this story)

Biloxi officials say the city's dismembered Golden Fisherman statue will remain somehow part of the city's history. The statue was stolen by an Alabama man and found in a creek near Mobile. The 16 foot, one ton statue disappeared from a storage site near its Point Cadet home. Authorities found the statue in pieces. An arrest has been made in the case and more arrests may be made.
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#238 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:17 pm

Long Beach gets a peek at its future

By EMILY RANAGER
SUN HERALD, Sunday, June 18, 2006


LONG BEACH - Residents got a preview of what is being considered for the rebuilding of Long Beach at a planning and input work-session meeting Saturday.

About 250 residents began the day with committee presentations and a question-and-answer session addressing areas of the city's concept plan, such as business, housing, and recreation. They then had the opportunity to break into smaller groups and meet individually with members of each committee to voice their concerns.

"It's a process of education and learning for both sides," said Dhiru A. Thadani of Ayers Saint Gross, the Washington-based architects handling Long Beach's renewal. "The (residents) who have come and listened have been extremely receptive."

"I feel like I have a much better idea of what's being done and where we're headed," said Rosemary Ladner. "It was good to see plans laid out on paper and talk to people who have been working hard to get us moving forward to get a sense of where Long Beach is going."

Among the concept plan's proposals are creating a walkable community, encouraging mixed-use buildings and promoting local investment. Condominiums and creating quality, affordable housing were also key issues discussed.

Housing-committee chair Marcia Kruse said a major concern residents had was the city's property tax, which she said is the second-highest in the state. "We're looking into lowering that," she said.

Proposed condominiums, which would bring valuable tax dollars into the city, were also of great interest. Kruse said the committee is recommending small, high-quality condos that would look toward owner occupancy.

"When we said four stories, we had people cheering," said Kruse, adding the community seemed receptive to the idea of condos provided they are not towering structures.

Thadani was happy with the work session's turnout. "The best part of all of this is that if citizens become activists, the plan has legs and they see that it carries through," he said. "All cities take a while to grow, but you have to put the vision out there to the people first."
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#239 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:20 pm

AROUND SOUTH MISSISSIPPI

From the Sun Sentinel: June 18, 2006


Legal assistance available for disaster questions

Free legal-assistance workshops will be held this week in Pearlington, Long Beach and Gautier.

The workshops are conducted by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Mississippi Center for Justice, and the Mississippi Center for Legal Services.

Participants may ask any disaster relief-related questions. Bring identification, letters from FEMA, lender information, insurance documents, Social Security information, total household annual income, current address, pre-hurricane address, personal contact information, description of losses as a result of the disaster, lease agreements, rent receipts.

Workshops will be held at these times, dates and locations : 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday, Pearlington Baptist Church (across from Pearlington Recovery Center), 5487 Mississippi 604; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday, New Life Church, 20201 28th St., Long Beach; 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Thursday, administration building of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, 2300 U.S. 90, Gautier.

BILOXI

1986 Mercy Cross reunion scheduled for October

The Mercy Cross High School Class of 1986 reunion will be held in October.

Former students can send current information to mchs1986info@cableone.net.

- SUN HERALD

GULFPORT

Mayor to meet with College Park residents

A meeting of the College Park neighborhood with Mayor Brent Warr and Councilman Brian Carriere will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Anniston Elementary School library, 2314 Jones Ave.

The mayor's neighborhood meeting is to discuss concerns and needs specific to College Park residents.

The mayor will be holding a series of neighborhood meetings throughout Gulfport in the coming months.

If your neighborhood is interested, call 868-5801 for scheduling.

- SUN HERALD

Refresher course will be held for poll workers

The Democratic Party is offering a refresher training course in the set-up and use for the Diebold Election system and Accuvote Touchscreen for all interested poll workers.

The training session will be held from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the Circuit Clerk's office on the second floor of the Harrison County Courthouse, 24th Avenue and 19th Street, Gulfport.

Additional poll workers are still needed.

Details: 897-2979 , 863-6827 or 392-2142.

- SUN HERALD

New health-care degree available from USM

A new master's program will be available at the University of Southern Mississippi this fall. Executive Master of Public Health in Health-Services Administration is a program designed to advance health-care careers.

An information session will be held 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Gulf Coast student service center in Gulfport.

Details: (601) 266-5435 or http://www.usm.edu/chs/esmph hpa.html.

- SUN HERALD

HANCOCK COUNTY

Boil-water notice for White Cypress subdivision

Total Environmental Solutions Inc. has issued a boil-water notice for residents in the White Cypress subdivision due to lost pressure from a broken main water line.

Consumers should boil water vigorously for one minute and let cool.

Details: (800) 866-3561.

- SUN HERALD

HARRISON COUNTY

2 DRCs will become SBA loan assistance centers

Two Harrison County disaster-recovery centers, one in Biloxi and the other in Gulfport, will transition to Small Business Administration Disaster Loan Assistance Centers on Monday.

The DRCs that will make the transition are the Snyder recreation center, 2520 Pass Road, Biloxi, and the DAV, 2600 23rd Ave., Gulfport.

Details: 1-800-621-3362 or (TTY) 1-800-462-7585 for the speech or hearing impaired.

- SUN HERALD

ST. MARTIN

1981 St. Martin reunion will be held in August

The St. Martin High School Class of 1981 is planning a 25th class reunion at 7 p.m., Aug. 26 at the Sunkist Country Club.

Info: Angela Alley, 392-3925 or aalley9744@cableone.net.

- SUN HERALD

WAVELAND

City charrette set for June 24-28

The community and friends can participate in the Waveland charrette from Saturday through Wednesday, June 28. It will be led by Robert Orr and Associates.

This charrette is the result of previous public meetings held in conjunction with the Governor's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal and open meetings held with the Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, MEMA and the Coleman Avenue Coalition.

A general public meeting, opening presentation and breakout focus groups will be at 7 p.m. Saturday. On June 26 from 1 to 7 p.m., a pin-up and review will take place with a general public meeting at 7 p.m. A pin-up and review will be held at 1 p.m. June 27; public meeting and final presentation will be June 28 at 7 p.m.

All events will take place at Bay-Waveland Middle School cafetorium, 600 Pine St., Bay St. Louis.

Details: Kathy Pinn, 467-3425. - SUN HERALD
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#240 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:26 pm

Condo boom has area looking up

The South Mississippi Sun Herald
By KAREN NELSON


June 16, 2006: Hurricane Katrina has created new opportunities for a condo boom in Jackson County by clearing away single-family homes along Back Bay in St. Martin and waterfront property east of Ocean Springs in the Fontainebleau area.

But county supervisors have issues to consider before they open the door to large concentrations of people, and towers that reach 165 feet into the air.

'We're looking at the possibilities and the ramifications of allowing greater heights,' said Supervisor John McKay. 'If we're going to participate in the economic boom, we're going to have to look at it.'

A 200-unit condo development called Shearwater Village is planned on the shore of Back Bay at the end of Rivera Drive. It would stand, 10 stories maximum, on 22 acres where there had been a small subdivision.

The county Planning Commission approved aspects of the project that still has zoning and environmental permitting hoops to jump through, but the commission didn't touch the issue of height, because since the storm, height has been somewhat complicated.

As it stands, no building in Jackson County can be over 35 feet tall unless it has a variance, specially approved by the Board of Supervisors.

Since the current board was first elected seven years ago, 13 homes have been given a height variance of up to 12 feet,as well as three commercial properties - two motels at North Washington and Interstate 10 and one condo resort planned for the Gulf Park Estates area called Pine Island.

Politicians and county planners say there are more tall projects in the wings that haven't made formal application.

But Katrina and the new elevations have created another consideration. One reason the Planning Commission didn't take up the height issue with the Rivera Drive development is supervisors have had under consideration a rewording of the countywide height restriction. If changed, it would read that a structure is to be no taller than 35 feet above the lowest habitable floor.

That proposal has stalled with supervisors, and planners say there's no sense granting height variances until they know what maximum height the variance exceeds.

Not all supervisors want a rewording.

Supervisor Tim Broussard said this week 35 feet above the ground is high enough for most homes. He added anything built higher because the structure is required to begin 15 feet above sea level, for example, is running the risk of being unstable and unsafe, and could be difficult to board up with a storm approaching.

He said a 35-foot maximum might require homeowners in velocity zones to keep their homes one-story, but he said he feels that might be the prudent route.

As far as the condo boom, Broussard sees it coming, too.

He projected the county will need two or three ladder trucks - fire trucks that can reach five stories and higher - within the decade.

'And I don't think the taxpayers need to pay the bill,' he said.

Broussard proposed developers buy and donate the fire equipment needed to keep their housing developments safe, just like they pay for other infrastructure needs.

Fire protection is one of the biggest considerations involved in the issue, because if the county allows too many high-rise developments without enough fire protection, county fire ratings suffer.

When fire ratings go up, homeowner-insurance policies go up, too. The difference between a 10 rating and an 8, which most of the county enjoys now, is a 30 to 45 percent drop in insurance premiums, according to state fire-rating officials.

But ladder or aerial trucks aren't cheap - about $750,000 for one that reaches 75 to 100 feet. And each truck needs three full-time firefighters to staff it around the clock, county fire officials said.

County Fire Coordinator Ray Watson said he sees the need for at least two ladder trucks coming, one in the St. Martin area and one in the Gulf Park Estates and St. Andrews area, where projects have been discussed.

Supervisors missed a chance to discuss the issue Monday with a state Fire Ratings Bureau representative. Developers said they hoped the county would pick it back up soon.

Shearwater Village

Shearwater Village is a 200-unit development planned for the end of Rivera Drive on Back Bay in St. Martin. Mississippi Ventures Development Group in Baton Rouge plans boat storage, a private yacht club, a business center, meeting rooms, recreation and a pool, and 76 percent green space with elevated boardwalks in the marsh. Aiming for a fishing-village feel, target buyers would be East Coast and Midwest retiring baby boomers who want to live in a warmer climate or near the water. The developers were looking for a site before Katrina, and found it when it became available after the storm. An average cost-of-unit estimate is $375,000, but that figure could change as construction costs continue to rise, said Rob McConnell, spokesman for the company.
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