Corruption In The Big Easy

It is very quiet on the home front. There are no new allegations being made about bribery, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, etc. It seems that those who have been caught up in the recent corruption scandals are quietly sitting back and making their deals, with the feds, in the hopes of obtaining lighter sentences.

We haven't heard anything new about former school board member Ellenese Brooks-Simms. Former New Orleans Mayor, Marc Morial's aunt, Lillian Smith Haydel, is still awaiting sentencing. We really don't expect too much to come out of her mouth concerning any other wrongdoing, but it makes you wonder: Why is it taking so long for her to be sentenced? I am also curious as to what other information Ellenese Brooks-Simms will provide. I hope she fully cooperates with the feds in order for the City of New Orleans to really clean house. We are tired of the reputation we now have and we all hope that one day things change.

Working Class May Be Forced Out Of 'The Big Easy'

Thousands of blue-collar workers who never lived in publicly subsidized housing increasingly have no place to live in New Orleans. The planned demolition of 4,500 publicly subsidized apartments is less significant to the future, policy experts say, than Katrina's destruction of nearly 41,000 inexpensive rentals that once housed the city's self-sufficient working class.

With no concrete plan to replace those apartments, some say the city's economic base erodes with every blue-collar worker pushed out by higher living costs. Many local officials bank on rebuilding the city's health and biotech sectors, which were emerging before Katrina flooded 80 percent of New Orleans.

Robert Tannen, a New Orleans urban planner, fears the housing crisis for blue-collar workers is undermining eclectic qualities that attract the upwardly mobile.

New Orleans former school employees Convicted in Scam

It never ceases to amaze me when I read the newspaper these days. There is always a news story about someone committing bribes, fraud, theft and scams. People should realize that there is no such thing as a free ride. There seems to be no concern for others. Scamming the school system hurt the children as well as the state.

After five hours of deliberations, a federal jury Thursday convicted three former Orleans Parish school employees of doctoring payroll records in order to scam extra cash.

Debra Harrison and Drena Clay were convicted of violating the Hobbs Act by falsifying payroll records in order to beef up their paychecks, while Walter Tardy was convicted of lying to the FBI during a sweeping investigation of corruption in the public school system, pre-Katrina.

U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood Duval will sentence them in February. Violation of the Hobbs Act alone carries up to 20 years.

Harrison was the assistant secretary at Fannie C. Williams Middle School, while Clay taught special education there.

The same jury acquitted teacher's aide Lillie Carmouche, and special education teachers Willie Morris and Noble Garner of all charges in connection with the payroll scheme.

The players all worked at Fannie C. Williams Middle School in eastern New Orleans during December 2002 and January 2003, during which a group of teachers, secretaries and aides padded paychecks by making it appear that they covered for absentee teachers during the seven-period day.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office said originally that some $35,000 was siphoned away from the failing school system dependant on millions of dollars in federal funds to stay afloat before Hurricane Katrina delivered the final blow.

During the seven-day trial, prosecutors Carter Guice, Richard Rose and Dan Friel presented jurors with original payroll documents that still bore the white-out that the school employees used to blot out their correct number of hours worked. Also, teacher Trynitha Fulton and aide John Baker, Jr., pleaded guilty before the trial and agreed to testify against their former colleagues at Fannie C. Williams.

Since launching an investigation into the public schools in 2004, Letten's team has obtained 26 convictions out of 29 invidividual indictments.

Thursday's verdict doesn't end the federal probe into public school corruption, Letten said Thursday.

"Our investigation of individuals within the school system is still alive," Letten said.

Louisiana Got "Shortchanged" On Federal Recovery Money

"A new report by two independent policy research groups backs up Louisiana's long-held contention that the state got shortchanged on federal recovery money in comparison with Mississippi, which suffered far less damage.

"The amount of federal aid provided to Mississippi and Louisiana is not proportional to the amount of damage each state suffered," concluded the report released this week by GulfGov Reports, a joint project of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, N.Y., and the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.

The GulfGov project, financed by a $900,000 grant from the Ford Foundation, is independent and represents stakeholders in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Still, the report's findings on the distribution of federal housing recovery money come down solidly on the side of Louisiana in an argument that has angered Mississippi officials and drawn a rebuke from the White House." |Read more|

Jacques Morial Failed To File Taxes

"While many of the cases against members of Marc Morial's inner circle have had clear links to contracts awarded during his City Hall tenure, Jacques Morial's offense does not appear to have any relation to his brother's actions as mayor between 1994 and 2002. Marc Morial, who has headed the National Urban League since 2003, has not been accused of any wrongdoing."

"More jail sentences are pending, however, in connection with the highest-profile case to come out of the City Hall investigation: a scheme to skim more than $1 million from the city's massive energy-efficiency contract with Johnson Controls Inc., which was awarded during the waning months of Marc Morial's mayoral term."

"One of the four co-conspirators, Kerry DeCay, who headed the city's property management department under Morial, began serving a nine-year stint in a Massachusetts prison last month after pleading guilty to corruption charges."

"The other participants in the conspiracy -- restaurateur Stan "Pampy" Barre, a Morial family confidant; businessman Reggie Walker; and former Johnson Controls project manager Terry Songy -- are cooperating with investigators and awaiting sentencing." | Read more|

Three Booked In Burglaries On The West Bank

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office has arrested three men in connection with a string of apparently random aggravated burglaries and shootings on the West Bank overnight.

Austin Lowery, 18, of 247 Marmandie St. in River Ridge, Kevin Mayon, 20, of 713 Avenue F in Westwego and Sylvester Parra, 18, of 164 Columbus St. in New Orleans were booked with two counts of aggravated burglary, three counts of attempted murder, two counts of attempted aggravated burglary and one count of aggravated battery in connection with the shooting of three men, the pistol-whipping of another and the burglary or attempted burglary of four residences. All three men are being held in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center without bond.

*Note: Random burglaries are hard to predict. The best solution would be to establish a neighborhood watch program.