Police Jury Asks for Help with Flooding

Pointe Coupee Parish Administrator Jimmy Bello told the Police Jury on Tuesday that a coordinated effort is needed after the Morganza Spillway forebay flooded Sunday. Despite the best efforts of area farmers, parish employees, National Guard personnel and many volunteers, water topped the “potato levee” and massive sandbags atop it, he said.

Such flooding usually means extensive crop loss, and draining the forebay takes four to six months. That probably means no planting of late 2008 crops. At Bello’s request, jurors approved a resolution he drafted, seeking a joint local, state and federal project to prevent further flooding of the forebay and to facilitate drainage when water does enter the area.

[Jarreau89]

Now, this just makes me mad as hell on a number of fronts. First of all what is Jimmy Bello doing "telling" the jurors what to do. Last time I checked, he was no longer a juror. And, shouldn't the jurors have addressed this issue without having to be told to do so by the Parish Administrator.

Secondly, what is Jimmy Bello doing drafting resolutions - once again, isn't this the job of the jurors?

Thirdly, have any resolutions been drafted to address the issues of flooding on False River? Don't think so, but I will stand corrected if I discover otherwise. I guess those homeowners on the river don't carry the clout of the farmers - although behind NRG, residents on the river pay the the next largest share of taxes collected in this parish. Guess this is truly taxation without representation.

And, to add insult to injury, the police jury abolishes the Lake Committee which was a group of concerned citizens that gave of their time, without any compensation, to address the issues of False River. And how did these citizens find out the committee had been abolished - they read it in the paper.

I'm through venting......

[Tired of Wating]

x2!! Aren't they talking about reducing flooding in the Spillway? If you can't flood the spillway, what's the point in having it? You farm there, you take the risk. You get bitten once in eleven years. Isn't that land subsidized because it is a floodplain? You can't have your cake and eat it too.

[cat]

Jarreau89 wrote:

Now, this just makes me mad as hell on a number of fronts. First of all what is Jimmy Bello doing "telling" the jurors what to do. Last time I checked, he was no longer a juror. And, shouldn't the jurors have addressed this issue without having to be told to do so by the Parish Administrator.
Secondly, what is Jimmy Bello doing drafting resolutions - once again, isn't this the job of the jurors?
Thirdly, have any resolutions been drafted to address the issues of flooding on False River? Don't think so, but I will stand corrected if I discover otherwise. I guess those homeowners on the river don't carry the clout of the farmers - although behind NRG, residents on the river pay the the next largest share of taxes collected in this parish. Guess this is truly taxation without representation.
And, to add insult to injury, the police jury abolishes the Lake Committee which was a group of concerned citizens that gave of their time, without any compensation, to address the issues of False River. And how did these citizens find out the committee had been abolished - they read it in the paper.
I'm through venting......

Are you anti new roads?

[Jarreau89]

cat wrote:

<quoted text>Are you anti new roads?

Absolutely not, in fact, I am just the opposite. I don't believe I stated anything that would even insinuate that I was anti-New Roads - I don't live in New Roads. There is much more to this parish than New Roads - in case you haven't noticed. I just want to see our local government do the right thing and represent ALL of the people in the parish. In my opinion, you farm in the spillway at your own risk - I think appropriate steps were taken to minimize their losses and it didn't work. And we won't even begin the discussion of all the federal subsidies that farmers receive currently. But now the PJ is going to ask for local, state and federal tax dollars to fix this situation! I don't think so......