New Rec 2-3 board chosen – lone holdout withdraws
May 10, 2018
Samuel Authement Sr
May 10, 2018
Lafourche Parish Councilman Jerry Lafont believes openly expressing oneself at a council meeting has now come under fire, in the wake of what has happened between he and Councilman James Bourgeois.
Lafont filed a protective order against Bourgeois late last month, which alleged Bourgeois bumped him in the chest and made statements indicating a desire to kill him. Lafont also submitted an audio recording of the incident for evidence.
After listening to the recording and taking statements from several witnesses, including other Lafourche Parish Council members, Lafourche Parish Detectives concluded there was probable cause to charge Bourgeois with Simple Battery in the incident.
And last week, Judge Steven Miller ordered Bourgeois to stay away from Lafont until Friday May 18, but added an exception to allow Bourgeois to attend Lafourche Parish Council meetings.
“It’s a crying shame that you can’t bring up an issue at a meeting, without some threatening to kill you,” Lafont said.
“What happened to openly saying how you feel, and then shaking hands later after the meeting was over?” he asked.
“I did not get into politics for this. My father was murdered a number of years ago, and I don’t take issues like this lightly,” he said.
Councilman Jerry Jones, who was one of the witnesses of the incident, which occurred after the council’s April 24 meeting inside the Matthews Government Complex, said, “the statement was made and it should not have been.”
Lafont said he recorded the whole incident and it’s in the hands of the sheriff’s office.
“When I release that recording to ya’ll, the media, the whole public will be able to hear what happened,” Lafont said.
Bourgeois has not been able
to be reached for comment since the incident. A recording says his phone’ voicemail remains full.
Jones said how Bourgeois and Lafont act with each other, as well as how Bourgeois acts with the council, “remains to be seen.”
Lafoot Bald he plans to conduct business as usual, and he will not let his issue affect him.
“That doesn’t mean that I won’t he leary. No disrespect to the judge, but I just don’t feel safe, no matter how much security we will have present at the council meetings,” Lafont said.
Councilman Daniel Lorraine however, believes Bourgeois was provoked.
“Pull the videotape and watch the meeting. See for yourself.” he said.
Of the incident, Council Chairman Luci Sposito said, ‘This is such a bad situation.”
Councilman Corey Perrilloux, who was another witnesses to the incident, said the confrontation is just unacceptable behavior for any public official, but that he is hopeful cooler heads will prevail and the two men can work things out.
“I understand things getheated; it is extremely troubling that discussions or comments at a council meeting could lead to a threat of violence,” he said.
