Alexandria man charged with battery, home invasion
January 4, 2018
Kenneth Authement
January 5, 2018
At the start of each year we look back at what our staff thinks were the biggest stories for the prior twelve months. It’s a way of marking where we have come and where we are going. The stories are not always good news. But they are in our opinion those which have impacted people. What follows are our picks for 2017. They will be posted on our Facebook page also, so feel free to give us your own opinions on the best – or worst – local stories of 2017.
1. ECONOMY STRUGGLES FORWARD
Officials in Terrebonne and Lafourche say that at the very least, the local economy has stopped getting worse. But there is still no clear way to measure whether and how it’s getting better. At the start of 2017 unemployment stats showed that by March 1,300 jobs had been lost in the Houma market. Low oil prices were cited as the villain, although as reports in The Times throughout the year indicated, things were a bit more complicated than that. Energy jobs were growing in some parts of the state, particularly in the River Parishes. But on the coast, where the money-maker for local companies is offshore oil and gas, things remained stagnant. More frustrating was that at the start of the year the state’s civilian workforce grew by 7.100 workers. The state’s civilian workforce also grew by 7,100 total workers in March – another strong sign of growth for Louisiana’s economy.
By October the unemployment rate in Houma was only 4.9 percent, however, just one tenth of one percent higher than for the state overall, and a tremendous improvement over the first quarter.
Economists caution that unemployment is not always the best way to measure. But it is a form of measure. That, coupled with a slow rise in sales taxes, are fueling hope that recovery is in progress, During the coming year we will be looking toward more concrete signs of recovery. Oil experts say there should be better news from the oilfield this new year, and more likely in the year that follows.
2. EXPOSE DAT SETTLED
For much of the year all eyes were on federal court in New Orleans, where Houma bloggr Jennifer Anderson filed a law- SEE IRMA, PAGE A2
suit against Tererbonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter, Parish President Gordon Dove and others, alleging that Terrebonne Parish officials violated her civil rights by seizing her family’s computers and cellular phones.
The suit against Dove settled for $50,000 in the late spring. In September Larpenter and Anderson reached terms, with a $150,000 settlement.
Anderson published on a web site and on a Facebook page under the fictitious name John Turner allegations of improper collusion between the various entities and others, particularly in regard to how insurance contracts were chosen by the Sheriff and the Parish Government through an agency with ties to Alford. Alford complained that the fictitious blogger committed criminal defamation. Larpenter’s deputies investigated, obtained search warrants that led them to Anderson and her husband Wayne, and the electronic equipment was seized. State District Judge Randall Bethancourt refused to vacate his warrant, which attorneys for the Andersons said was unlawful. But the 1st Circuit Louisiana Court of Appeal reversed him, and the equipment was returned.
“We think we did the right thing,” said Larpenter’s attorney, William F. Dodd. “This resolves a case and saves money in the long run, I don’t call it a bad settlement, and ultimately the Sheriff realized it.”
Louisiana’s criminal defamation statute has long been declared unconstitutional when applied to public officials. As president of the levee board Alford is a public official, and so a criminal complaint against Anderson’s blog should not have been acted on, decisions relating to the case indicate.
To be successful at trial Anderson’s lawyers would have been required to prove that Larpenter knew this, and took steps to seize the electronics nonetheless. His attorneys have argued that if anyone should have known that there was a problem it would have been Bethancourt. But the judge stated in open court during the hearing at which he refused to overturn the warrant that he did not know Alford was a public official.
Dodd said that at trial he would have had an opportunity to raise questions as to how these areas of law relate to bloggers, who often have no training such as that received by traditional, mainstream journalists, and who don’t necessarily set out to be fair when writing about a given issue or person, especially a public official.
“It is a settled area of the law but also unsettled,” Dodd said. “Bu the time had come. The sheriff was dealing with two hurricanes in the Atlantic last week, an epidemic of opiate problems in this community and this became a distraction from these daily things.”
3. Lafourche school tax fails, cuts begin
Lafourche Parish voters dug in their heels and rejected a school tax proposal, pacing the school district in the unenviable spot of trying to manage with a lot less money than they had hoped for, with cuts in several vital areas likely while officials regrouped and tried to figure a way to repackage their plan.
The April 29 election saw Lafourche voters narrowly voting against a one-cent sales tax for the school district. The measure, which lost a 19-vote margin, would have raised about $14 million, enough to cover a looming deficit and give raises to the teachers.
The tax revenue, defeated by a 19-vote margin, would have raised about $14 million and paid to both cover the deficit and give raises to the district’s teachers.
Overall 11 general education teachers were cut. The district lost eight counselors. A big hit was suffered by music departments, as six music teachers were cut.
As the new year moves ahead there are more budget woes in store for Lafourche. Foundering sales tax collections, school board members have been told, could result in an even greater deficit. And with no new tax sources, painful cuts may still provide the ony relief.
4. Recreation districts get new oversight
Long-standing issues between Terrebonne Parish’s recreation districts and its parish government, which appoints the members who serve on the local boards, came to a head this year. A new parish ordinance gives unprecedented oversight authority to council members. Additionally, boards are being required to submit their bids, contracts and even agenda to the Terrebonne Parish Council office of administration for review.
The war between the parish and at least three recreation districts stemmed in part from disappointment over how Recreation District 2 was handing the Field of Dreams project near La. 311, a regional-scale, multi-sport complex that is expected to bring in tourists for tournaments. The soccer fields for now are just a vision. The softball fields are already in the process of being changed to accommodate lot of people, and parking lots have yet to be built.
The Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, has put forward its own plan which appears to favor redistricting, with the idea being for the boards to work closer together.
The Council is still trying on its new sports-shoes, however, and it will be some time before we really know what direction these changes will most likely take.
5. Harvey and Nate scrape by
During a year that saw global devastation from tropical weather systems, Terrebonne and Lafourche got by with love taps from hurricanes Harvey and Nate.
Harvey fell to the west, crippling Houston and southern Texas. Nate traveled up the mouth of the Mississippi River, but remained primarily east of us.
Some houses in Dularge and in a small area of east Houma had encounters with water. Parish officials rendered assistance once they were able to, although there were lessons learned regarding communications between law enforcement in the field and executive administration.
Now as then, we send prayers and hope to Americans in Houston, Puerto Rico and the Florida Keys who took the brunt of this year’s season and are still rebuilding. We know what all that involves. While we are glad we were spared the worst of the 2017 season, we don’t wish that kind of hell on anyone else wither.
Continued success with flood water management thanks to the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District as well as Parish President Gordon Dove’s public works depart-
Issues between Terrebonne recreation districts and parish government came to a head this year and oversight was laid onto the districts.
