Month: April 2016

Harbor Fest-Gate: Never a dull moment in the Bay

I understand Hizzoner and the City Comptroller were MIA at last night’s Bay City Council meeting, perhaps because the Office of the State Auditor has summoned the City Council to a meeting tomorrow, where the rumor mill holds the boom will be lowered on the Mayor and his history, habit and practice of ignoring the home rule statute. We’ll see.

Meantime Harbor Fest promoter Michael Rosato announced last month the dates of the 2016 Bay Harbor Fest, an annual festival that has been heavily promoted in the local media but which has massive problems the least of which was last year’s Greg Allman set, which was delayed several hours.  The bigger problems to holding this year’s event appear to be twofold:

  1. Rosato still owes the City money for last year’s event.
  2. Rosato evidently owes the festival’s vendors money from last year as those following along last night on Twitter witnessed:

Now given how Hizzoner handles the City’s finances, I can understand the attraction to the event’s promoter but the City doesn’t do itself any favors holding a money losing music festival. Stay tuned.

Former St Charles Parish DA turned pervert Harry Morel Jr. to enter plea today

And folks this is the culmination of a story about allegations surrounding the former DA that he traded sex for prosecutorial leniency that was first broke by Slabbed New Media way back on September 9, 2011. But it gets better as Drew Broach pointed out a few days ago for Nola.com because if its St Charles Parish, there has to be political inbreeding to go with the perverted old geezer:

It also marks something of an embarrassment for his successor, Joel Chaisson II. The day before Morel announced his retirement in 2011, to clear the way for his daughter, Michele, to run for district judge, he hired Chaisson’s brother, John, as an assistant district attorney. Chaisson, president of the Louisiana Senate, quickly announced he would run for district attorney, a race he won with no opposition.

Joel Chaisson also contributed $2,500 to Michele Morel’s 2012 campaign. She won, edging opponent Tim Marcel by 168 votes, to complete the term of another Chaisson brother, Robert, who had been elected to Louisiana’s 5th Circuit Court of Appeal.

And when Joel Chaisson took office, he hired Harry Morel as an assistant district attorney at an annual salary of $44,000. That was in addition to the $146,227 annual pension Morel began collecting in retirement.

Chaisson denied there was a deal.

Everyone believes that I’m certain. In any event when the former DA become too hot to continue the mutual back scratching, the new DA threw the old under the bus again proving true the old adage about reptiles eating their own kind.

Those wishing to review Slabbed’s archival coverage of this story can click here.

Meantime St. Charles Parish remains unchanged. Stay tuned.

“If they would only work with me….”: A Bay St Louis Financial Disaster Update

As I read the latest round of Mayoral Vetoes of City Council actions and minutes, Mayor Fillingame stated reasons for the veto caused me to do a double take and say to myself “Couldn’t this have been handled with a phone call?”. Of note is the City Council’s action directing the Mayor to open a bank account for the City owned community center was vetoed as ambiguous, my guess being that Hizzoner was the only person in the room that didn’t understand the Council directive.

The reason the council took this action is that there appears to be shortages of recognized revenues related to the rental of the facility to the public, a task handled by Hizzoner’s daughter, who makes way more annually than most of the Bay Fire Department employees that so courageously lay down their lives for public safety many times each year. Beyond under recognition of revenue, allegation have been made that cash deposits were paid and not refunded. The lack of internal controls in this area has been well documented in bad audit report after bad audit report.

These vetoes represent what the special interest group Les Lovers United terms “working together”, where the Mayor makes all the decisions and the City Council acts the part of rubber stamp, even for the bad decisions that skirt the limits of the law. In any event click below to obtain the full three page pdf of Hizzoner’s latest vetoes and decide for yourself: Continue reading ““If they would only work with me….”: A Bay St Louis Financial Disaster Update”

How about a few more details on the East Beach VRBO

But first I’d like to welcome you folks in the Bulldog Nation that are salivating at the prospect of the another NCAA hammer coming at Ole Miss football from the Six Pack Speak forum before disappointing you with news that I have confirmed the amount of money the Black Spring Break Revelers told a “Curious Joe” they paid to rent the property which was $750.

I also know the identity of the owner of the vehicle parked in the Walkers driveway who I will not disclose beyond saying the vehicle is registered to what appears from Facebook to be a nice, middle age lady from Moorhead, Mississippi that would be at the right age to have college age child(ren) who would pay $750 for a weekend of fun and frolic at 435 East Beach. The 2016 Ole Miss roster does not list any player from Moorhead, Mississippi.

But the funny part about all this is SRHS Watch’s comment was prescient, the funny being Walker subsequently using the talking point in his interview with Warren Kulo at the Mississippi Press which now leads here:

Ocean Springs businessman admits NCAA violation ~ Hugh Kellenberger

A couple of other tidbits. I am told reliably by a source familiar with the operations of Ocean Springs City Hall that a prominent local Citizen that is invested in the East Beach neighborhood has threatened legal action against the City if the Walker’s unlicensed VRBO enterprise is not reigned in. The same source tells me the neighborhood has organized so as to better respond should short term renters again appear 435 East Beach.

And now a couple of comments from the Six Pack Speak Forums: Continue reading “How about a few more details on the East Beach VRBO”

Other Voices | Wednesdays Wars: Trump is Toast

Published on Apr 6, 2016

Donald Trump, the billionaire builder who says he “loves the Bible” is on track to spend more time with it. He certainly will not have to worry about being encumbered by the responsibilities of public office.

Trump told us that “we would win so much with him as President that we would get tired of winning”. He’s leading by example there, and becoming a loser.

Trump constructed his whole campaign on the shifting sands of his own magnificence. It worked for a while and then it didn’t. Donald Trump will not be the Republican nominee.

In a way, it’s too bad. It was a heck of a show while it lasted. He could have been the nominee if he hired a couple of people who knew what terms like “ground game” meant and were aware of the fact that different states had different rules for delegate selection. And maybe one person to whisper in his ear and remind him to keep his story straight on where he stood on things like abortion, NATO, and nuclear weapons.

Before Wisconsin, some betting sites had the probability of a Trump Nomination as high as 71%. Now, the number at Betfair is 54%.

That’s straight out crazy. My number is 5%. He is a one in twenty shot to get the Republican Nomination. And the only reason I give him any chance at all is because he’s got money and he’s unpredictable. Continue Reading………….