St. Francisville News

By Catherine Farmer Mrs. Farmer is a free-lance writer living in St. Francisville, Louisiana.

The Entergy Charitable Foundation announced the release of more than $1 million in grants to 68 organizations throughout Entergy's operating area. The grant awards bring to $3.1 million the amount distributed by the foundation so far in 2008.

Nearly one-third of the funds announced on July 16 are earmarked to help rebuild homes in New Orleans. The largest grant, $200,000, is for the Volunteers of America's Coming Back Home Initiative, which is an effort by private and government groups to create 1,050 housing units for families who lost or had their homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Another $125,000 grant is going to the Louisiana Housing and Community Development Corporation to develop new or rehabilitated housing to be sold to low-to-moderate income individuals or families in New Orleans. The group anticipates building or rehabbing five to 10 homes a year.

"With Entergy's support, we will have a very positive impact on the lives of our fellow citizens by providing one of the most basic needs and one of the most basic senses of security -- a home," said Timothy Smith, president and CEO of Louisiana Housing and Community Development.

Entergy also gave a $70,000 grant to St. Charles Parish to improve Montz Park and $65,700 to the Central City Renaissance Alliance for its Giant Campus program. Giant Campus is meant to close the "digital divide" by improving computer and job skills for up to 300 participants.

In other areas served by Entergy, an $84,000 grant was awarded to the Arkansas Enterprise Group, a pilot program involving the Southern Good Faith Fund that encourages low- and moderate-income families to save for their children's higher education by matching their contributions to Arkansas' existing college-savings program. It is the second $84,000 grant the program has received from the foundation. In addition, grants were received by the Julius Freyhan Foundation of St. Francisville, La.; the Education for Tomorrow Alliance in Conroe, Texas; the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center, Brattleboro, Vt.; and KIPP Delta Inc. of Helena, Ark.

"The Entergy Charitable Foundation's goals are to invest in programs that help move low-income residents toward self-sufficiency and strengthen the social fabric of the cities and towns we serve," said Patricia Riddlebarger, Entergy's director of corporate social responsibility.

Sam D’Aquilla, district attorney for the 20th Judicial District of East and West Feliciana parishes, is a candidate for re-election in the Oct. 4 primary.

D’Aquilla, a 43-year-old Democrat, has served as district attorney for the past six years.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve our community as district attorney,” he said in his statement of candidacy. “I am grateful to the dedicated employees of your District Attorney’s Office, and I’m proud of the record of achievement and effectiveness we have earned together.”

D’Aquilla said his office has moved forward with bold, new initiatives while attaining a conviction rate that is among the highest in the state.

He said his office has collected more than $175,000 in asset forfeitures from the interdiction of illegal drugs and has won grants totaling more than $500,000 for office improvements and various programs, allowing him to improve services without direct costs to the taxpayers.

“I am especially proud that our office has collected large amounts in past due child support payments as well as from bad checks written to local merchants.” D’Aquilla said.

“We began the ‘Know the Law Program’ in local schools and began the East Feliciana Drug Awareness Council, which works with local high schools to help curb teen drug abuse, ” he said.

D’Aquilla said a “mock court” program allows at-risk eighth-graders to see the consequences of criminal behavior first hand, and said the hunter education his office provides is another positive accomplishment.

“We know that our first responsibility to the community is to prosecute criminals and seek justice for the victims of crime.” D’Aquilla said. “We have prosecuted numerous high-profile criminal cases, and I’m proud of our high conviction rate.”

D’Aquilla is a lifelong resident of the Felicianas, where he has spent his entire legal career. He is a member of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association, the Louisiana Bar Association and the Feliciana Bar Association.

A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy Reserve, D’Aquilla is former secretary-treasurer of the Naval Enlisted Reserve Association. He is a member of the Rotary Club and the American Rifle Association.

D’Aquilla is opposed by former District Attorney Charles Shropshire.

ST. FRANCISVILLE, La. -- West Feliciana Parish Sheriff J. Austin Daniel say a Louisiana State Penitentiary inmate allegedly slashed two security officers with a prison-made knife in Angola's Camp D. Daniel says ...

A retired lumber inspector and a resident of St. Francisville, Enous "Bro Gip" Gipson died at 6:31 a.m. on Saturday, July 5, 2008, at St. Francisville Hospital. He was 97 and a native of Pelahatchie, Miss.

A loving husband, father, brother and friend, Jack A. Knapps died Saturday, July 12, 2008, at Baton Rouge General Medical Center-Mid City. He was 48 years old and employed with Austin Bridge Co.

A retired Villa Feliciana food service employee and a resident of Baker, Hattie Carmena "Tootsie" Turner died at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 8, 2008, at Zachary Manor. She was 86 and a native of St. Francisville.

Candidates for local offices will run in a primary on Oct. 4 and, if necessary, the Nov. 4 runoff. Qualifying ends Friday. Qualifiers through Thursday are listed below:

DISTRICT ATTORNEY - Sam D’Aquilla, D; Charles A. Shropshire, D

DISTRICT JUDGE, DIVISION A - Hal Ware, D

DISTRICT JUDGE, DIVISION B - William G. Carmichael, D

MAYOR - Billy D’Aquilla, D

ALDERMAN, SECTION 1 (1 to be elected)- Oscar Robertson Jr., D

ALDERMEN, SECTION 2 (4 to be elected) - James C. “Jim” Davis, D; James Rucker Leake Jr., R; Robert P. Leake Jr., N; Abby Temple, N.

JUSTICE OF THE PEACE - Dusty Bickham, R

CONSTABLE - Dennis Neal, N

A resident of Zachary, Lincoln Smith died Saturday, July 5, 2008, at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. He was 51 and a native of Weyanoke.

Parish Manager Ambrose Sims told the West Feliciana Parish Police Jury on Tuesday he is leaning toward instituting a 4-day work week for parish workers to save fuel and electricity costs.

Jury President Billy Shoemake, responding to a question on whether the jury could vote on the matter, replied, “We don’t have to vote. It’s an administrative matter. It’s his call.”

Sims said he has calculated that the jury possibly could save $10,000 per month in fuel and electricity costs if employees worked four 10-hour days rather than five 8-hour days, although he acknowledged operating costs are determined by many variables.

“We’d have to make sure we provide the same level of services,” he said, adding that a new telephone system will be installed in the next few weeks to direct callers to “a cell phone or radio” in case of emergencies.

Jurors voted 4-3 after a lengthy debate to raise the fees for installing water meters by $300 each. The cost for a ¾-inch meter will now be $600, and the price for installing a 1-inch meter will be $700.

Jurors Ken Dawson, Shoemake, Randy Stevens and John Roach supported the increase, which Utilities Director John Hashagen said is necessary to offset increased material and labor costs. John Cobb, Lea Williams and Otis Wilson voted against the increases.

The jury agreed to advertise for people interested in filling three vacancies on the parish Port Commission. Members Harry Short and Kevin Couhig resigned to avoid having to meet new state financial disclosure laws and Elvis Calhoun resigned earlier for health reasons.

Tourist Commission Director Kitty Martin also reported that one member of the tourism panel resigned.

In other action, the jury:

-Set a 5:30 p.m. Sept. 9 hearing for taxpayers to protest assessments.

-Heard a report from DEQ officials about the possible effects of the parish being recommended for inclusion in the area that is out of attainment with federal air quality standards. West Feliciana has not been included in the five-parish “non-attainment area” for ozone pollution, but the federal standards have changed.

-Heard that recent flooding slowed construction of over-water work trestles needed to build the John James Audubon Bridge, but the contractor picked up the pace of work on approach roads and smaller, conventional bridges on roads leading to the river crossing.

A federal judge on Tuesday overturned the conviction of a former Black Panther in the 1972 stabbing death of a Louisiana prison guard.

Albert Woodfox, who was held in solitary confinement for over 30 years, is one of three former Panthers known as the "Angola Three." He and two other black prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola were convicted in the killing of guard Brent Miller on April 17, 1972.

U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a ruling late Tuesday approving a federal magistrate's June recommendation that Woodfox's conviction be overturned because one of his former lawyers failed to object to a prosecutor's testimony about a witness' credibility. Brady also found that Woodfox's trial lawyer failed to object to testimony from a witness who had died after the trial.

Woodfox's decades in solitary confinement attracted worldwide attention from activists who called him a political prisoner.

Michael A. Goza, a former contract route carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in St. Francisville, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Goza, a 37-year-old Baton Rouge resident, is one of three defendants accused of conspiring to cash more than $3,400 in checks stolen from the mail system.

A Baker woman, 25-year-old L’Desha D. Anderson, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in the same case last week.

A third defendant — 41-year-old Morris Butler Jr. of Baton Rouge — pleaded innocent, but is scheduled for a second arraignment July 15.

Court records show Goza was accused of stealing checks from his mail route and giving them to Anderson and Butler to cash.

Carefree days filled with laughter soon become replaced with sadness when a child loses a parent, sibling or other loved one. Comforting words and gestures coming from an older teenager can sometimes help soothe a child’s hurt.

Coordinators of a camp for grieving children are searching for high school seniors and older teenagers who can volunteer with therapeutic activities including music, art, reading, and individual and group discussion.

The teenage presence is in addition to a host of professional volunteers being sought that will include social workers, doctors and nurses who will help 20 area children deal with grief during a three-day, two-night retreat set amid 200 acres of rolling pasture and forestland in St. Francisville.

Camp Swan is accepting applications for its free-of-charge grief camp on Aug. 22 through Aug. 24 at Judson Baptist Retreat Center in St. Francisville.

East Baton Rouge authorities arrested at least 15 people suspected of driving while intoxicated, including a man accused of third-offense DWI, in East Baton Rouge Parish, and booked them into Parish Prison between 3 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Sunday, booking records show.

Among those booked was Jordan Bradford Fabre, 22, 5130 Audubon Lane, St. Francisville, for first-offense DWI and speeding.

ST. FRANCISVILLE, La. -- A state district judge said he plans to announce September 5 whether he will throw out any of the statements made to investigators by five Angola inmates implicated in the slaying of a ...

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.html

A resident of St. Francisville, William "Doe Belly/Puddle" Follins died at 4:55 p.m. Sunday, June 29, 2008, at West Feliciana Parish Hospital. He was 76.

St. Francisville Fourth - Join the fun and fireworks at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the St. Francisville Town Ball Park, behind the Sonic drive-in. The American Legion will provide complimentary hot dogs and soft drinks, and the fireworks will begin at dark.

A Land at War - Audubon State Historic Site on La. 965 in West Feliciana Parish offers this two-part program from 10 a.m. to noon and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. The program includes talks on period clothing and a black-powder weapon demonstration.

Headstone rendering - The staff at Locust Grove Cemetery on Bains Road in West Feliciana Parish will offer instruction from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday on a non-destructive way to take home memories of gravestone carvings from old graveyards. The process will be taught using the stones in the historic cemetery.

Happy hunting - Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site debuts a new living history demonstration series from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday focusing on hunting practices that provided food and clothing for people of past centuries. Interpretive Ranger Sasha Traña discusses the history and tools of hunting, from the ancient Native American atlatl, to the slingshot, through the firearms of the 19th century to the present. The program is part of a new “Did You Know” series.

Diabetes support - Lane Regional Medical Center’s Diabetes Support Group meets from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the hospital. Relatives of diabetics also are encouraged to attend.

One of three defendants accused of cashing checks stolen from the mail system pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Ralph E. Tyson.

L’Desha D. Anderson, 25, of Baker, admitted she participated in a conspiracy to commit bank fraud. In April, Anderson was indicted with Morris Butler Jr., 41, of Baton Rouge, and Michael A. Goza, 37, a highway contract route carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in St. Francisville.

That indictment alleges the group cashed more than $3,400 in checks stolen by Goza before their arrests by agents of the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General.

“After stealing the multiple checks from his mail route, Goza gave the checks to … (Anderson) and Butler so that endorsements could be forged,” Anderson conceded in a plea agreement.

She signed that agreement with her attorney, J. Rodney Baum, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard L. Bourgeois Jr. The agreement requires Anderson to cooperate with federal investigators. In return, four bank-fraud charges must be dismissed from her indictment.

The maximum penalty possible for her conspiracy conviction is 30 years in prison.

Charges remain pending against Goza, a Baton Rouge resident, and Butler. Court records show Goza is scheduled to be arraigned for a second time Monday.

Butler is scheduled for a second arraignment July 15.

Two psychiatrists gave differing opinions Tuesday on whether a seriously wounded Angola inmate was medically capable of giving a voluntary statement about his alleged role in the slaying of a security officer.

Inmate David Mathis, 31, was shot in the face by Louisiana State Penitentiary security officers who stormed a prison building after prisoners took two officers hostage and killed Capt. David C. Knapps, 49, on Dec. 28, 1999.

The riot control team also killed inmate Joel Durham, 26, in rescuing one hostage held by Mathis and Durham in a small room of the Camp D education building.

Mathis and four other inmates were indicted on charges of first-degree murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

West Feliciana Parish sheriff’s deputies Ivy Cutrer and Randy Holden and Angola investigator Warren Melancon interviewed Mathis on Jan. 7, 2000, while Mathis was recovering at Charity Hospital in New Orleans from surgery to mend his jaw, which was broken by a bullet.

Defense attorneys for the so-called Angola 5 are asking 20th Judicial District Judge George H. Ware Jr. to throw out incriminating statements their clients gave to investigators, claiming the statements were obtained through beatings and other forms of duress.

Jim Boren and Rachal Jones, attorneys for Mathis, also want Ware to exclude at trial the statement Mathis gave to the three investigators, saying he was under the influence of painkilling drugs and had a secondary wound that limited his reasoning ability.

The three investigators testified Monday and Tuesday that Mathis walked out of the hospital’s prison ward without assistance to talk to them, although he was still connected to an intravenous machine.

Mathis waived his right to remain silent and voluntarily discussed his role in the incident, they said.