Day: March 2, 2011

“Got my medal, feel so proud, James ‘fire+rain’ Taylor.”

Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

Sweet Baby James was “among the 20 performers and intellectuals awarded the National Medal of Arts or the National Humanities Medal at the White House”.

Taylor also took part in an unofficial tradition of visiting dignitaries, descending a staircase to the room below the White House press briefing room to scrawl a note on one of the walls. His reads, “Got my medal, feel so proud, James ‘fire+rain’ Taylor.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T35WXFOmwI

Zach files Motion for Reconsideration – will the usual noise from north Mississippi follow?

Here we go! Patsy Brumfield, who isn’t noise, had a short story up on NEMS360.com:

Zach Scruggs wants Senior U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. to reconsidering allowing him to seek new evidence related to his 2008 conviction.

The new evidence, Scruggs insists in a motion filed Wednesday, did not exist when he pleaded guilty and went to prison for knowing about an illegal conversation between then-New Albany attorney Timothy Balducci and Circuit Judge Henry Lackey.

This text from the Motion is significant and, IMO, should be read before the “lacunae” (a gap or place where something is missing, e.g. in a line of argument) or the discussion of “the new evidence that did not exist” when Zach entered his plea: (The Motion with all Exhibits, 119-pages total, follows below in Scribd format.)

Even with these lacunae, it bears emphasis that after all the facts were put on the table, it became clear to the Government that Petitioner was innocent of any involvement in bribery, and those charges were voluntarily dismissed. At that time, the Government repeatedly represented to this Court orally and in the Factual Basis that “all the facts and circumstances” of this petitioner’s conduct amounted to mere earwigging, not bribery. Plea Hearing Tr. 3/21/208 at 8 (Mr. Sanders), Sentencing Hearing Tr., 7/2/08 at 5 (Mr. Dawson). The purpose of much of the Petitioner’s propounded discovery is to discern what factual basis exists for the Government now to say the opposite.

Amazingly, it was in reading prosecutor Tom Dawson’s book that Zach learned of  “new evidence” giving cause to open Discovery. (I wonder if Judge Biggers learned something new, too, assuming he read the book)

Langston and Farese made a desperate pitch for immunity, offering to testify against Scruggs in the Delaughter case. They argued that the value of Langston’s testimony would cause Scruggs’s collapse in both cases, resulting in guilty pleas. The specter of Scruggs’s own lawyer testifying against him would be insurmountable. (Petition Exh. C., at 188.) Continue reading “Zach files Motion for Reconsideration – will the usual noise from north Mississippi follow?”

Alliance for Good Government endorsed and Slabbed approved. Please support Al Leone for tax assessor and Tim Baudier for councilman at large

We’re hearing Al is putting the wood on Capella and his shithouse double dealing in the assessor race. Tim Baudier has better things to do at 5 AM than to sit on the terlit impersonating Chris Roberts and should be a far better representative of the people than “Mini-Me”.

The Times Picayune recently had a blurb on these Alliance for Good Government endorsements.  If you live in Jefferson Parish please support both of these men and their campaigns.  Low dollar contributions of as little as $25 can make a difference if enough people chip in.

sop

Ding, Ding, Ding the Firechief files suit! – Smith v Jefferson Parish, John Young, et al

Sop has background posts here and here. The Complaint was filed yesterday in Eastern District Louisiana, Federal Court.

[scribd id=49885461 key=key-o9hu2sl1n3vxdoddgqe mode=list]

So, was it a “Doomsday Plan” or a plan for doomsday? SLABBED reports, you decide!

Intake side, pumping station at the lake, the day after Katrina -water flowing wrong way with pumps off and backflow valves not closed. (theplacewithnoname.com)

The pumping stations themselves are huge, sturdy, blockhouse-type buildings. None sustained any major damage from the winds. In fact, I received some reports that area policemen, during the height of the hurricane, actually sought refuge inside a pumping station, recognizing it as the safest place around. Sure enough, they emerged completely unscathed, as was the expensive – but completely idle – pumping station (What Aaron Broussard Didn’t Tell Us)

As it turned out, there was a lot Aaron Broussard didn’t tell – and what he did tell often conflicted with what Jefferson Parish Emergency Management Director Walter Maestri told plaintiffs’ lawyers in a deposition taken for the “pump flood” case:

“Maestri said he wrote two versions of the Doomsday Plan: one in 1998, during Parish President Tim Coulon’s administration when Broussard was council chairman, and another in March 2005, a revision requested by Broussard through Tim Whitmer, his top aide who supervises department directors.

On one hand, I understand my suggestion of Hell waiting for high water was, as one reader wrote in an email, “a leap for even this avid conspiracy junkie to wrap around”. On the other, it’s a “leap” for me to think the guys were just kicking ideas around and decided the Doomsday Plan needed a revision – one that would change “the earlier version of the plan” and evacuate pump operators to distant Washington Parish rather than shelter “essential public workers at Louis Armstrong International Airport”. Continue reading “So, was it a “Doomsday Plan” or a plan for doomsday? SLABBED reports, you decide!”

Citizens for Good Government calls on John Young to fire all of the perpetrators connected to the paralegal payroll fraud scandal especially the boss, Peggy Barton

Speech to Jefferson Parish Council Feb 23, 2011
About the Paralegal Scandal
by CFGG Vice-Chairman Margie Seemann

Today I am going to speak about Jefferson’s Paralegal Scandal, which is back in the news. Citizens for Good Government has been extremely distressed for some time about the Jefferson Parish paralegal scandal. As a matter of fact, tomorrow it will be exactly one year since we sent a letter to then Interim Parish President Steve Theriot with the SUBJECT: What do you intend to do about the apparent public payroll fraud in the “paralegal” scandal? We sent a similar letter a year ago to all of the members of our Jefferson Parish Council, asking them to conduct their own investigation if President Theriot did not take action to punish current Parish employees who were complicit in the paralegal scandal. By the way, we had no response from Mr. Theriot or from any of the Councilmen to these letters.

Our letter to President Theriot a year ago on February 24th, 2010 started as follows:

You are to be commended for the many actions you have taken to clean up and prevent corruption in Jefferson Parish government since you became interim Parish President. However, we have been waiting to see what action you take to punish current Jefferson Parish employees who facilitated the “paralegal” scandal, which was recently uncovered. Unfortunately, it appears that you have not taken disciplinary action against current Parish employees who participated in this scam, although the phony paralegal employees were fired or resigned and are no longer employed by Jefferson Parish. Continue reading “Citizens for Good Government calls on John Young to fire all of the perpetrators connected to the paralegal payroll fraud scandal especially the boss, Peggy Barton”

The Grand Isle Child Molestation Scandal receives more media coverage: A David Carmadelle/Jerry Dantin pedophile update.

We have 2 more news reports on the suit filed by Jane Doe against David Carmadelle, his molesting step dad “Captain Jay” Jerry Dantin and Euris Dubois. Before I get to the those I’d like to toss props to Judge Steve Wndhorst over in the 24th Judicial District Courts for putting the kibosh on Paul Connick’s office giving Dantin a sweetheart plea deal. Given the sad history in the 24th judicial district where Judge Bodenheimer of wrinkled robe infamy gave a child molesting relative of former Parish President Tim Coulon an easy ride the shit house precedent was set. Windhorst did what was right and to the extent the long arm of the Slabbed was watching this case unfold in the criminal system real-time, it is only right we recognize Judge Windhorst for keeping the light of justice burning over at the Gretna courthouse.

For Dantin, Carmadelle and Dubois the news isn’t so good as we begin with Paul Purpura’s extensive report for the Times Picayune that is well worth the read.  I’ll add that my mind is open to the possibility that it wasn’t the oil coming ashore that caused Mayor Carmadelle to cry on camera for the national news folks just a few weeks later. Continue reading “The Grand Isle Child Molestation Scandal receives more media coverage: A David Carmadelle/Jerry Dantin pedophile update.”