Day: March 28, 2013

OK folks time to tackle this DMR Executive Director thing part 1: Three Candidates went to Gov Phil…..

Allow me to share a bit of a Slabbed back story to kick off this post and that would involve the Goatherderian fleecing of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency as outlined in these two excellent rural delivery articles found here and here. Part of that saga, well chronicled on these pages, involved the untimely deaths of 3 ACOA employees involved in the loan.  It was a twist I did not emphasize because I could never find a direct salience between the events but it exists as part of that story’s lore.  I’m very hesitant to trample the deceased in order to report a story.

Along those lines I was drug kicking and screaming to the suicide of Michaela Hill even though it occurred, according to local lore, there at the Bolton Building last Summer.  I am in fact reticent to this topic but then the emails started coming after the unfortunate events surrounding State Rep Jessica Upshaw’s untimely demise last weekend at the home of a former colleague in Mendenhall bubbled up.  Here is a sampling of those reader emails:

Three finalist of the DMR director fiasco included Jessica Upshaw, who supposedly committed suicide Sunday in the garage of her boyfriend in Mendenhall……….

That brings the death total to three folks who have died, two by suicide and one by drowning, who have a history with the DMR.

Mrs. Hill being the first, then attorney and marine expert, Ricky Hembre, and now Upshaw…..attorney and oil spill legislator assigned to oversee the disaster and relief; also on the Conservation Committee of the House…..

After knowing the qualifications of the other two applicants, both successful women…

Let’s call that data point number 1. Here is data point number 2 from a source unconnected to data point 1 source: Continue reading “OK folks time to tackle this DMR Executive Director thing part 1: Three Candidates went to Gov Phil…..”

Law Enforcement on the move: A four pack of previous Slabbed topics.

As FBI moves in, Janus voted out as D’Iberville city manager ~ Mary Perez

Criminal investigation examining Jefferson Parish Housing Authority, sources say ~ Manuel Torres

Somethings tells me Slabbed will end up giving some of the Housing Authority types an “Alfortish Special”. 😉

Louisiana attorney general passes on sanctions against Orleans judges for suspect spending ~ John Simerman

Slabbed played a very small role in the above when Judge Calvin Johnson used these pages to get in a word on the subject. Meantime disgraced former NOLA pol Sherman Copeland is back in the news:

Bond set at $10,000 for former New Orleans state Rep. Sherman Copelin Jr. ~ Michele Hunter

Because they just do things a bit different in Hancock County

This post has a little something for everyone from the Goatherders to Good Government peeps plus we get to do a  bit of compare and contrast:

The first story is still in its original form while the second was updated. It is unclear who the 22 residents are who filed suit against the Hancock County Board of Supervisors using the services of Goatherder lawyer Henry Laird as neither story mentions them and it may well be none ultimately have any standing to sue but Harris updated her story with comments from the property owner, American Legion Post 139, which is the exact context I heard about this budding controversy originally. Specifically:

The county has leased the property from American Legion Post 139 for 25 years, but the lease expired in November, post Commander Clayton Thompson said. Board attorney Ronnie Artigues said supervisors have been in negotiations to buy the property.

The board will meet Monday to discuss renewing the lease monthly until the property can be purchased, he said.

So the county constructs bathrooms on property it did not have any legal rights to and for some inexplicable reason did not bother to renew the lease on the property, which expired last November electing to break ground instead.  Ignorant does not quite do the actions of the Board of Supervisors justice in this circumstance but earlier this month Bay Waveland School Board President Sherry Ponder attempted to swear in a school board member that had not yet been been appointed to the school board by the City. Sources indicate to Slabbed Ponder lashed out at the Alliance for Good Government member that pointed this out in the school board meeting which makes one wonder exactly which local government is more clueless, the School Board or the Board of Supervisors.

OTOH not much good law gets practiced when a Goatherder is involved so this one has FUBAR potential written all over it so it is worth keeping an eye on.  This is about more than just building flood mitigated bathrooms IMHO.

USA Ex Rel Rigsby v State Farm False Claims Act Update: State Farm sends out its PR astroturfers

And this time it isn’t Rossie at the Insurance coverage (denied) blog as Lecky King testified yesterday that Hurricane Katrina was a special type of Hurricane: the windless variety. And per Anita Lee’s latest update to the trial, Lecky King again overstated the amount of flooding at the McIntosh residence saying it had 5 and a half feet of water, around 3 feet more than official measurements indicated. She also admitted she substituted her judgment of damage from the Ivory Tower for the engineers and adjusters State Farm actually had on the ground.

Fact of the matter is State Farm and the rest of the insurers adjusted their post Katrina claims a curious way here after the storm by maxing out taxpayer paid flood coverage with a promise to later adjust the related wind claim, such promise later broken.  The effect was the insurers dumped their contractual obligations to pay for wind damage on the National Flood Insurance Program, whose use of private insurers as flood adjusters results in an “inherent conflict of interest“.

But that is OK folks because Mississippians evidently did not get enough abuse from State Farm after Katrina so they elected an Ed Rust shoe shine boy for their congressman. Remember it was not that long ago Steven Palazzo was touting that he was an integral part of reforming the National Flood Insurance Program.  That reform was the insurance industry version of the bill, which Palazzo supported.  Today?

Dramatic flood insurance increases could force residents to flee the coast, restoration officials say ~ Mark Schleifstein

That’s OK folks because South Mississippi’s Fluffer Congressman, a sometime deficit hawk that denies disaster relief to others parts of the country is on it.

As NFIP Faces Deepening Debt, Some Call for More Subsidies and Lower Rates ~ Arthur Postal

More specifically:

Palazzo proposes flood insurance relief ~ WLOX State Farm TeeVee

So how is that firing Pelosi thing working out for everyone down here, especially you peeps that received MDA grants to fix flooded out houses now with covenants on your land requiring NFIP coverage?