UPDATED 02 april 2008
Her body was discovered around 7 a.m. Monday in her car in front of an abandoned Bunkie home. The discovery came about three and a half hours after the arrest of Donald Ray Johnson, 23, of Bunkie, who was charged with unauthorized use of a credit card in connection with using Distefano’s card, Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Maj. Harry Normand said.
Johnson is also being investigated in connection with Distefano’s death, he said.
He said detectives were led to the body “through their investigation” and led to Johnson after his use of Distefano’s credit card.
Distefano was last seen Saturday morning at the Paragon Casino Resort and reportedly left around 11:20 a.m. to go to Wal-Mart, half a mile away, but hadn’t been seen since.
Several calls to Distefano’s cell phone over that day went unanswered, Normand said.
Her credit cards had been used twice by Johnson, according to Normand, at Wal-Mart and its gasoline pumps. ~ source
2007-223
Created By: Jenny Arnaud on 03/31/2008 at 03:45 PM
Category: Ethics Charges
Caption:
March 31, 2008
Mr. Rich Dupree
8317 Ridgemont Drive
Pineville, LA 71360
Re: Ethics Board Docket No. 2007-223
To: Rich Dupree
The Louisiana Board of Ethics, at its March 13, 2008 meeting, concluded a private investigation into information received by the Board of Ethics.
Following this private investigation, the Board, with Board Members Johnson and Lowery recused, by a majority vote of its membership at its March 13, 2008 meeting, ordered that a public hearing be conducted for the purpose of exploring the following:
CHARGES
I.
That Rich Dupree, at a time when he served as the Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Pineville, may have violated Section 1111C(2)(d) of the Code of Governmental Ethics [LSA-R.S. 42:1111] by receiving compensation for providing services to the Alexandria Aces, at a time when the Alexandria Aces had a business and/or contractual relationship with the City of Pineville.
II.
That Rich Dupree, at a time when he served as the Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Pineville, may have violated Section 1111C(2)(d) of the Code of Governmental Ethics [LSA-R.S. 42:1111] by receiving compensation for providing services to Louisiana College, at a time when Louisiana College had a business and/or contractual relationship with the City of Pineville.
III.
That Rich Dupree, at a time when he served as the Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Pineville, may have violated Section 1115 of the Code of Governmental Ethics [LSA-R.S. 42:1115] by receiving complimentary admission to the Louisiana College Centennial Celebration Luncheon from Louisiana College at a time when Louisiana College had a business and/or contractual relationship with the City of Pineville.
IV.
That Rich Dupree, at a time when he served as the Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Pineville, may have violated Section 1115 of the Code of Governmental Ethics [LSA-R.S. 42:1115] by soliciting tickets to a professional baseball game from the Alexandria Aces, at a time when the Alexandria Aces had a business and/or contractual relationship with the City of Pineville.
V.
That Rich Dupree, at a time when he served as the Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Pineville, may have violated Section 1115 of the Code of Governmental Ethics [LSA-R.S. 42:1115] by soliciting tickets to an Alexandria Aces baseball game for his spouse, from the Alexandria Aces, at a time when the Alexandria Aces had a business and/or contractual relationship with the City of Pineville.
The hearing will be held at 10:00a.m., August 14, 2008 in the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency Building, 2415 Quail Drive, 1st Floor, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
This public hearing will be conducted in accordance with the procedural requirements set forth in Section 1141E and 1143 of the Code, and in conformity with the Rules adopted by the Board, a copy of which is enclosed. At the conclusion of this public hearing, the Board may impose the civil sanctions contained in Part III, Subpart C of the Code.
In order to fully cooperate with you in this matter, the designated trial attorney will, upon request, provide you with copies of all documents that may be introduced into evidence and the names and addresses of all witnesses that the designated trial attorney intends to call. If you desire the attendance of any witnesses, the Board, through its Executive Secretary, Deborah Grier, can issue subpoenas for those witnesses. In order to have subpoenas issued you must, at least ten (10) days in advance of the hearing, supply the names and addresses of the persons to be subpoenaed to the attention of the Executive Secretary.
If you need any additional information, please contact Michael Dupree, the designated trial attorney, or Deborah Grier, the Executive Secretary, at (225) 763-8777 or (800) 842-6630.
Sincerely,
LOUISIANA BOARD OF ETHICS
Henry C. Perret, Jr.
Chairman
EB:HCP:mdd
Enclosure
...........................
the below advertisement was paid for by raymond edwards and hayden paul and was published on page A-6 of the sunday 30 march 2008 edition of the gannett/alexandria daily town talk.
click here to download one page .pdfon the friday 28 march 2008 ksyl talk back live radio program, hosts dave graichen and bob madison were talking about the city of alexandria, la. supplying water to the international paper mill located across the red river near pineville.
mr. graichen, basing his comments on nothing factual, was insistent that alexandria sold the water to international paper at a nice profit, stating "they [alexandria] don't give it [water] to them [international paper], they make a pretty nice chunk of change on that from what i understand." a caller called in and said that "no, the lady was on t.v. talking yesterday said..." mr. graichen cut the caller off in mid sentence and chastised him saying that "i'am telling ya, no -- the city of alexandria -- that [international paper] is one of their top customers -- they make money off of that, they dont give the water to international paper...the city charges international paper for that water"
however, the informed caller stood his ground and replied to repeat what he had heard and seen "the lady" state on t.v. the previous day that the city charges international paper .31 cents per thousand gallons, while it costs the city around .90 cents per thousand gallons to produce.
"the lady" whom the caller was referring to, is city of alexandria,.la. chief operating officer, kay michiels and the t.v. program was the city of alexandria special city council meeting held the previous day, thursday, 27 march 2008 and televised live on government access channel 4.
there can be no doubt as to what ms. michiels said, however, we will remain skeptical of her facts and figures unless and until the city posts those documents to their official website for us to download and see for ourselves. even better, it would be preferable to see these documents posted under cover of a notarized verification since ms. michiels and the mayor tried to trick us in the past with their fake prescott road 'study.'
an audio clip of the caller as well as a video clip of ms. michiels addressing the ip water situation can be found here or at the link. the full version of the special city council meeting in question is here.
the other day we posted the contents of a letter we received from dan juneau in which he took governor piyush "bobby" jindal and the louisiana tax commission to task because "within minutes of taking their oath of office, the new commission unanimously voted to overturn significant, pro-taxpayer rules put in place by the prior tax commission under fovernor blanco. because of this reversal in policy, many taxpayers will be subjected to higher property assessed values and higher taxes."
mr. juneau's letter was also published on the popular statewide political website bayou buzz.
today we noticed that a bayou buzz commenter, /concerned citizen' pointed out the following about several of piyush "bobby" jindal's tax commission appointments:What Mr. Juneau politely omitted was the questionable backgrounds of 3 of Jindal's 5 Tax Commissioners. Jindal's appointed chairman, Pete Peters, left the Tax Commission years ago in scandal. He was found to have taken gratuities along with the old Chairman, who was found guilty by the Board of Ethics. The Inspector General also found that Peters created bogus travel expenses for the Chairman. Peters was the former Director of the troubled agency.
Kenny Naquin was investigated by the Feds for lowering the assessment on a New Orleans riverboat casino. The casino then gave Naquin's cousins (Sen. Heitmeier and his brother) a "consulting" contract.
Paul Hargrove was investigated by the Ouachita Sheriff's department in Monroe when his former employer accused him of theft. I don't know the ultimate outcome of that. Hargrove was also cited by the Board of Ethics for a campaign finance violation. (he ran for state rep in Monroe and lost)
Since all of these things are easily verifiable and were widely reported, why did Jindal appoint them anyway? Are the Assessors so strong that they get to appoint the Board that is supposed to police them? Wow ! Either Jindal doesn't know government, doesn't know how to do a background check, or he really is a very bad politically corrupt guy masquerading as a reformer. It will be very interesting to see if the State Senate will confirm these Jindal Tax Commissioners.
Written by Concerned Citizen on 3/30/2008
another bayou buzz commenter had this observation:
Everyday we are finding out that Governor Jindal is not his own person, as he told us all throughout his campaign and acceptance speech. With all of the groceries, insurance, gasoline going up in price, we, the citizens of the State of Louisiana, really appreciate your latest move, Governor Jindal. You could not even let the new board get their feet wet before you gave them their orders.
Written by Sweetpea on 3/28/2008
redflex protest 29 march 2008 lafayette, louisiana
The Valianteers had an impromptu protest yesterday!! The Abshires were protesting the van on HWY 90 while Betsy and Stephanie protested the van at Kaliste Saloom & Hugh Wallis. The police requested that the Abshires leave HWY 90 because waving at the traffic is not appropriate (it was on the 6pm & 10pm KATC news). We learned from the police that it is appropriate to protest with signs.
The Abshires next went to reinforce Betsy and Stephanie at Kaliste Saloom location. The protest was successful as business became slow for Redflex and the operator packed up. As a group and with proper signage we went back to HWY 90. That van operator decided business was too slow and also packed up. We followed that van to its next location on Pinhook, before Walmart, and allowed them to setup. As we approached the van, with signs in arm, the driver drove off without even disconnecting and removing the external radar system!!!
We aggravated 2 vans enough to move from their locations 3 times – that’s 150% success!
Great job for Mark, Steph, Betsy and photographer Phil Abshire.
lies, deception, fraud and trickery have been and shall remain the hallmarks of this administration. piyush was a liar and a deceiver from the beginning but fortunately for those hip to these things, a viewing of that disaster of an inauguration ceremony portends that piyush and all those around him are bunglers and are destined to be found out.
C-LOGISTICS LLC: Galliano, on 10/2/2007, $5,000 to Republican Party of Louisiana.
OFFSHORE SERVICE VESSELS LLC: Galliano, on 9/14/2007, to $5,000 Jindal Campaign for governor.
ALPHA MARINE SERVICE LLC: Galliano, on 9/14/2007, $5,000 to Jindal Campaign for governor.
CHOUEST OFFSHORE SERVICES: Galliano, on 9/13/2007, $5,000 to Jindal Campaign for governor.
ROSS CHOUEST: Galliano, on 5/18/2007, $2,500 to Jindal Campaign for governor.
CASEY CHOUEST: Galliano, on 5/18/2007, $2,500 to Jindal Campaign for governor.
GARY CHOUEST: Galliano, on 5/18/2007, $5,000 to Jindal Campaign for governor.
ROSS CHOUEST TRUST: Galliano, on 1/25/2007, $50 to Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority.
DINO CHOUEST: Galliano, on 1/25/2007, $50 to Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority.
DAMON CHOUEST: Galliano, on 1/25/2007, $50 to Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority.
CASEY CHOUEST TRUST: Galliano, on 1/25/2007, $50 to Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority.
DIONNE CHOUEST: Galliano, on 1/25/2007, $50 to Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority.
C-LOGISTICS LLC: Galliano, on 11/3/2006, $100,000 to Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority.
source: Louisiana Board of Ethics via the advocate
pastor james david manning has an interesting take on political correctness and words you can and can't speak and words you ought to speak and avoid.
Written by: Dan Juneau
After much anticipation, Governor Jindal’s Tax Commission was sworn into office on March 18, 2008. Within minutes of taking their oath of office, the new commission unanimously voted to overturn significant, pro-taxpayer rules put in place by the prior Tax Commission under Governor Blanco. Because of this reversal in policy, many taxpayers will be subjected to higher property assessed values and higher taxes.
During the summer of 2007, the Blanco Tax Commission heard testimony, discussion and lengthy presentations from taxpayers and assessors on the pending rules and regulations for 2008. Taxpayers successfully argued that, to achieve fair market value in valuation techniques as mandated by our state constitution, the appraiser must appropriately recognize depreciation and obsolescence when evident, or the property will be overvalued—and thus, overtaxed. To the contrary, the assessors pushed for discretionary privileges regarding obsolescence, leaving its inclusion solely at the discretion of the assessor. Unfortunately, many assessors simply do not recognize obsolescence as a matter of practice, even though it is a requirement of the appraisal process in determining fair market value. Other assessors treat obsolescence as a gift to taxpayers—if they choose to bestow it.
Taxpayers are not looking for gifts or handouts, but rather the uniform application of appraisal principles throughout the state, regardless of whether the parish is an “obsolescence-granting” parish or whether the “obsolescence-granting” assessor is still in office or not. This arbitrary and capricious treatment of obsolescence certainly does not comply with the uniformity provisions of our state constitution—property should have the same fair market value standards statewide, irrespective of the parish or assessor making the fair market value determination.
During much of modern history in Louisiana, assessors have generally had their way with the Tax Commission. This has often led to the historical under-assessment of residential property on the tax rolls statewide and a disproportionate amount of property taxes being paid by business and commercial interests. Gov. Blanco made a bold decision early in her administration to reform and clean up the property tax system. To do this, she appointed a fair and independent Tax Commission. This obviously worked, because both taxpayers and assessors generally left Tax Commission meetings not satisfied, with neither ever getting all that they had hoped for.
Some powerful assessors were determined to overturn the reforms put in place under Governor Blanco. They endorsed then-candidate Jindal, in hopes of going back to the way things used to be at the Tax Commission. On February 29, 2008, Governor Jindal announced his five appointments to the commission. On the same day they took their oath of office, the new commission, on rehearing and without any public discussion or explanation, reversed the obsolescence policy in favor of the assessors. Because of this change in policy, assessors will now be able, within the sole discretion and whim of each assessor, to choose whether or not to include obsolescence in their appraisals, even if established by the taxpayer.
While it is still too early to tell whether the Jindal Tax Commission will continue to veer from the road to reform paved by the Blanco Commission, it is definitely off on an inauspicious start. If the new policy holds, we will be telling businesses looking to invest or expand in Louisiana that they will need to kiss the rings of their local assessors in order to be treated fairly. That policy will erode the positive impact of the economic development advances Governor Jindal recently pushed through the Legislature. He should realize that and demand that his Tax Commission reverse this policy.
local piyush poot sniffer, joey vercher, sells out central louisiana's poor and elderly property owners.
====
kittens run a 'real young teenage bear' up a tree
it seems that back in 1967 rapides parish voters approved a one percent parish-wide sales tax. according to mayor roy "it allocates thirty-three percent of the one cent sales tax revenue to [the city of] alexandria, fifty percent goes to the rapides parish school board, i believe, nine percent goes to the [rapides parish police] jury and five percent goes to the city of pineville. there are other municipalities...townships and villages that share in those other percentages. they were actually listed in the call. at the time when the 1967 tax passed, ball was an unincorporated township so it did not share. five years after that, it incorporated and it started its - really battle to become one of the ones that share directly."this is the case to allow alcohol sales in certain parts of north rapides parish. it turned on a louisiana state supreme court opinion in sabine parish police jury versus commissioner of alcohol & tobacco control [thirty page .pdf] however, the third circuit didnt buy that argument:
click here to download five page .pdfThe case before us differs from Sabine, in certain respects. In Sabine the local option election took place before the redistricting of the parish into election districts, that redistricting resulted in a “dry” ward becoming part of an otherwise “wet” election district. In the case before us, the local option election took place after the redistricting, included the entire parish, and after the election, all of Election District A had voted to remain dry.
Although the parish-wide election allowed voters to determine whether their ward, rather than their election district, would allow sale of alcoholic beverages, the result, as it affects the parties to this case, is that Election District A chose to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages. Therefore, the argument that the election should have been held on the basis of election districts rather than wards is based, in this case, on a distinction without a difference. In either case, the voters of Election District A have chosen to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages.
La.R.S. 26:583 makes it clear that its purpose is that the sale of alcoholic beverages be allowed or prohibited “only in an entire ward, election district, or incorporated municipality and not in any portion thereof.” Therefore, as it pertains to Election District A, the purpose of the statute has been achieved.
robert wolf
link
05 october 2002 link
in the 25 march 2008 alexandria city council legal committee, mayor roy "put forth an agenda item fact sheet it does not have a contract attached which does not follow the normal rules" the mayor said that he would work with the legal committee chair mr. everett hobbs, "to negotiate any legal fees or structure that needs to be met for an ordinance "authorizing the mayor to enter into a professional services agreement with john adragna, esquire." because "the administration seeks the services of mr. adragna to assist in the litigation of city of alexandria versus cleco corporation in the event the present mediation is not immediately resolved - we think this is necessary, mr. adragna is one of the best in the business...[and is the] kind of person we would need in the litigation phase of this case as opposed to where we've been."
john michael adranga [bio] is a principal with the washington d.c. law firm miller, balis & o'neil, pc. and practices in the area of electricity regulation.
heather-renee' sarah skarina skeen was a twenty-two year old who died in september, 2005 in rapides parish, ball, louisiana under what her mother and maternal family maintain was suspicious circumstances, which they say were never properly investigated.
via curt maynard's blog:Why did I write that the media will ignore Pastor Manning as opposed to smearing him? Simple, it's obvious he'll never apologize for telling the truth, he has no fear of them, thus they'll never give him any publicity, NEVER!
Pastor Manning is far too honest for the average black to comprehend and appreciate, and way too honest for the Zionist media and Zio-American monstrosity in Washington DC to ever allow you to see.
UPDATE: sometime around 10:00 am cdt tuesday 25 march 2008 the city updated their website with the council agenda.
this morning, we noticed that the gannett/town talk reporter, karina donica, in her weekly 'city notebook' column wrote about some agenda items on tomorrow's alexandria, la. city council meeting agenda.
so, we jammed over to the city of alexandria's official website to view the agenda ourselves because you cant trust the town talk's reporting about these things because they always leave out (or suppress) most of it and usually the most important part out of their reporting but alas the 25 march 2008 city council agenda is nowhere to be found within the city's website. this is surprising because in the past the city council agenda was usually placed on the city's website on the thursday or friday before the following tuesday's city council meeting.
representative hunter v. greenein the easter sunday 10 pm news cast, kalb's leigh culbert announced that kalb will be sitting down this week with rapides parish, louisiana sheriff chuck wagner. you can tell its gonna be a fluff piece by the way its announced in that ms. culbert recites the obviously erroneous line that the staff changes are "part of the normal process any police agency goes through in its day-to-day operations." this is a patently disingenuous thing to say, considering all the documented evidence to the contrary. all kalb is trying to do here is subliminally plant that seed in your mind that everything is ok, its just normal bidness.
popeyes famous fried chicken founder al copeland died today at munich, germany.
the mosquito coast has a rather detailed write-up about mr. copeland from the times-picayune - click here.
hb795 by representative roy "provides that immunity from civil liability under worker's compensation law shall not extend to situations where an employer removes adequate safeguards"
