Another Destin Junket Upcoming

The Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association will hold the 2021 Louisiana Sheriffs’ and Wardens’ Annual Conference  scheduled for July 25-29, 2021 in Destin, Florida at the San Destin Hilton. Any questions, please call 225.343.8402.

Meanwhile, later today:

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Louisiana’s top law enforcement leaders are scheduled to hold a news conference at 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 8 to speak in opposition to the proposal for state legislators to convene for a special session and override Gov. John Bel Edwards’ veto of Senate Bill 118 (SB 118).

The bill, which Gov. Edwards vetoed on June 24, proposed to allow Louisiana residents 21 and older to carry a concealed carry weapon without a permit.

Louisiana’s top law enforcement leaders support the governor’s veto of SB 118.

On Thursday, police chiefs and sheriffs say they will discuss how if the legislature overrides the governor’s veto, it will lead to “more dangerous crimes throughout communities.”

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Bel Edwards Mask Order Doesn’t Cover Much

Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office says it will not enforce Edwards’ mandatory mask order going into effect Monday

By Zach Parker

The Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office says it will not enforce Gov. John Bel Edwards’ mandate issued Saturday that anyone in public must wear a mask as of Monday, though people could still face criminal charges in certain circumstances.

The Sheriff’s Office noted Edwards’ order was a mandate, not a law.

“Many are questioning the enforcement guidelines that will be taken regarding the mandate,” said Glenn Springfield, the sheriff’s public information officer. “This is a mandate, not a law. In announcing the mandate, Governor Edwards himself says it will not be enforceable by law enforcement agencies.”

Livingston Parish won’t enforce the state’s mask mandate, Layton Ricks says

By Youssef Rddad

Livingston Parish will not penalize people people who don’t wear a mask in public, local leaders said Monday, even though the parish’s coronavirus caseload is four times the rate needed to be exempt from a new state mandate requiring masks be worn in public

Livingston Parish President Layton Ricks said in a statement Monday that while he encourages people to take precautions from getting sick, local authorities will not “strictly enforce” the state mandate, including citing people.

Face mask mandate likely won’t be included in Louisiana school reopening rules

While Louisiana’s top school board meets Tuesday to approve emergency health safety rules for the reopening of public schools, the panel is expected to stop just short of mandating that students and adults wear face masks.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is expected to approve guidelines that mostly mirror minimum safety standards issued by the state Department of Education on June 25 to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

That report recommended, but did not mandate, that students in the third grade and adults wear face masks “to the maximum extent possible” in schools.

When do the Politicians Take a Pay Cut?

Over the last six weeks, millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and hundreds of thousands of those have been our fellow Louisiana citizens.

As we had predicted, local governments have begun to trim their payrolls, because their tax revenues have been vaporized by shutdowns. School districts, police juries, and cities have furloughed employees.

Have any local politicians volunteered to cut his/her pay? Very few, if any.

In any of the last month’s public meetings we’ve been to, or watched online, never has that subject come up.

City councils? Police jurors? School board members? Judges? District attorneys? Senators? Representatives? Sheriffs?

So when will our “public servants” show they are really willing to share the pain that the people who pay their salaries are now enduring?

Local Government Layoffs Soon?

Unlike the Federal Government, The State of Louisiana and local governments cannot print money. They must rely on current revenues to meet expenses.

Lincoln Parish local budgets, with which we are intimately familiar, rely on sales taxes for a large percentage of revenue. The City of Ruston, in particular, funds all of the new 1.5% tax on restaurants and hotels.

With Gov. John Bel Edwards order shuttering restaurants all across the Bayou State, he has vaporized a huge revenue stream for local and state governments. Tourism will go away in the blink of an eye.

The largest expense component for government is payroll, in some cases making up 85% of expenses.

Many teachers probably thought closing the schools would amount to a month-long paid vacation. They perhaps should spend their time updating their resumes.

Used to be, having a government job was seen as having a lifetime guarantee of employment. You had to really mess up to get fired. Great retirement and medical benefits, too.

That hayride is about to end.

State Police Commission Unloads on Ouachita School Board

Recall our news story last month on a 2017 incident between a Sterlington High School football coach and several students:

2017 Sterlington Coach Incident Revisited in LSP Hearing

As they promised, the Louisiana State Police Commission has sent a scathing letter to the Ouachita Parish School Board regarding the incident:

Mr. Jerry R. Hicks, President
Ouachita Parish School Board
100 Bry Street
Monroe, LA 71201

August 24, 2018

Dear Mr. Hicks:

The Louisiana State Police Commission sends this letter as an expression of its concern over the School Board’s hiring of Jack Goode to teach at West Monroe High School. The Commission was shocked to learn that the Ouachita Parish School Board continues to employ Jack Goode as a teacher, and that Mr. Goode continues to have power and authority over minors after abusing the trust that the citizens of this state have placed in their teachers.

On Thursday, August 9, 2018, the Louisiana State Police Commission held its monthly meeting in Monroe and heard the disciplinary appeal of Trooper Joseph Jones. Trooper Jones was disciplined for intervening in an investigation by the Ouachita Parish Sheriffs Department of Sterlington High School coach and teacher, Jack Goode. As you are aware Mr. Goode had served alcohol to or condoned the consumption of alcohol in his home by minors on the night of this incident, including to Trooper Jones’ sixteen-year-old son. Further, Mr. Goode had threatened and struck Trooper Jones’ son. Despite these extenuating circumstances and the fact that we thought Trooper Jones acted with greater restraint than many parents would have under the circumstances, we still thought discipline of the Trooper was in order for a violation of State Police policies. As such, we fulfilled our duty in imposing discipline. Yet, despite the horrendous conduct of Mr. Goode, we understand that he is still employed by the School Board and still has access to and authority over other minors in your school system.

Testimony at the hearing revealed that in April, 2017, Mr. Goode supplied teenagers with alcohol at his home, forced Trooper Jones’ son to drink vodka, causing him to throw up, called Trooper Jones’ son an expletive for initially refusing the vodka and for not being able to hold his liquor, struck Trooper Jones’ son about the face, neck, chest and back on at least two different occasions, and threatened to kill him. Mr. Goode’s wife, Emily Goode, a teacher at Sterlington High School, was at their home at this time. After the children escaped Mr. Goode’s home and returned to a party with a number of other teenagers, Mr. Goode went to the party and threatened all of the teencgers there until his wife was able to convince him to leave and she drove him back home. Further testimony also revealed that on other occasions Mr. Goode made some of the teenagers run errands for him during the school day and was apparently a known source of alcohol for the teenagers on his football team. Shockingly, we understand that Mr. Goode was allowed to plead guilty to simple battery of Trooper Jones’ son and the additional charge related to providing alcohol to the minors was dropped. Despite the facts in this case and the agreement that Mr. Goode would not return to Sterlington, he was hired to teach (and is currently teaching) at West Monroe High School.

This Commission is appalled that this School Board continues to employ Jack Goode in such a capacity after the events that occurred in April, 2017, and it continues to allow Mr. Goode to work as a teacher of minor children at West Monroe High School.

According to commission Executive Director Jason Hannaman, the letter was delivered to the school board yesterday (9/10), and was signed by all seven members of the commission.

2017 Sterlington Coach Incident Revisited in LSP Hearing

The Ouachita Parish School Board (OPSB) and the Fourth Judicial (Morehouse, Ouachita Parishes ) District Attorney apparently failed to completely investigate an April, 2017 incident where Sterlington High School students were supplied beer and liquor by a football coach, and was involved in an altercation with a student.

A Thursday, August 9 Louisiana State Police (LSP) disciplinary hearing was covered by Sound Off Louisiana reporter Robert Burns of Baton Rouge here, and includes sworn testimony of people who were involved. The Monroe hearing was to review the actions of LSP Trooper Joseph Jones at that incident. The Louisiana State Police Commission serves as the civil service review board for the LSP.

According to hearing testimony, the incident began with a student party that ran out of beer. The party-goers contacted Sterlington HS Coach Jack Goode, who lived nearby. Goode voluntarily supplied the students with more beer and then vodka, according to Jones’ then 16 year-old son.

The younger Jones resisted drinking the hard liquor, he said, but was forced by Goode to drink until he got sick. Goode then struck Jones several times in the face and chest.

The elder Jones, who was not on duty, arrived on the scene at the same time as two Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office (OPSO) deputies. He had been contacted by a deputy who was the parent of another student at the party. That student was fearful that events had become too unruly.

Goode was arrested by the OPSO deputies, and charged with battery and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The deputy that testified said that Goode appearted highly intoxicated.

However, DA Steve Tew negotiated a plea bargain with Goode for misdemeanor battery and a $300 fine.

Trooper Jones’ hearing was to review discipline administered because of his intervention into the OPSO investigation.

The commission said they would be forwarding a letter to the school board expressing their profound disappointment of their handling of the matter.

LA State Police Speed Trap Program Suspended

Zurik: State Police suspend LACE program amid FOX 8 investigation

Written by: Lee Zurik, Director of Investigations
Contributor: Tom Wright, Investigative Producer

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) –

Louisiana State Police have suspended a ticket-writing agreement with many local parishes, pending an internal review.

The suspension and review result from a FOX 8 undercover investigative series, State of Unrest, which premieres in the New Orleans viewing area Wednesday night on FOX 8 News at 10.

We spent much of the summer and fall on an undercover surveillance investigation and brought our findings to LSP Superintendent Kevin Reeves. Col. Reeves was noticeably upset and immediately called for the suspension of the LACE detail program.

LACE is short for Local Agency Compensated Enforcement. If you’ve seen a state trooper near the Bonnet Carre Spillway or in New Orleans East, they’re likely on a LACE shift.

Many local parishes throughout the state contract with State Police. They hire troopers to write tickets in those parishes on highways. The local government keeps the ticket money but reimburses LSP for trooper overtime and mileage.

Parishes participating in the program include St. Charles, St. John and Orleans parishes in the New Orleans metro, Ascencion Parish near Baton Rouge and Calcasieu Parish at Lake Charles.

It’s unclear how long the program will be suspended. But questions about some highly-paid police officers remain.

We’ll start to lay out our findings in State of Unrest, Wednesday on FOX 8 News at 10.

See here the memo.

Louisiana State Police suspends 3 troopers, LACE program amid payroll fraud investigation

BY JIM MUSTIAN | jmustian@theadvocate.com

The Louisiana State Police on Wednesday suspended a statewide highway traffic enforcement program and began a criminal investigation into three troopers accused of claiming extra-duty hours they never actually worked.

The State Police superintendent, Col. Kevin Reeves, ordered a review of the program, Local Agency Compensated Enforcement, and placed the troopers on administrative leave after reviewing surveillance footage provided by WVUE-TV.

The undercover footage appears to show the troopers “claiming hours for time they weren’t working,” said Maj. Doug Cain, a State Police spokesman.

The troopers under investigation are Eric Curlee, a senior technician assigned to the agency’s Emergency Services Unit; Daryl Thomas, a veteran trooper who works out of the agency’s Kenner-based Troop B; and Byron Sims, a State Police polygraphist.

The LACE program is run by local district attorneys, who contract with the State Police and reimburse the agency for hours and mileage claimed by troopers working extra-duty shifts and writing speeding tickets in jurisdictions around the state.

The WVUE-TV segment, called State of Unrest, captured footage of the troopers abusing the program, apparently in part by writing a full shifts worth of tickets in a relatively short period of time.

Your Tax Dollars at Work!

2017 Louisiana Sheriffs’ and Wardens’
Training and Exhibition Conference Conference

Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa
4000 Sandestin Blvd. South, Destin, Florida 32550

July 30th – August 3rd, 2017

See here the business agenda and the social agenda.

School Money Missing in Ouachita

From the Louisiana Legislative Auditor

Nearly $22,000 Missing from a Ouachita Parish Middle School’s Bank Account

An examination of West Ridge Middle School’s (WRMS) records showed that nearly $22,000 that should have been deposited into the school’s student activity bank account could not be accounted for, the Legislative Auditor said in a report released today.

The examination was conducted in response to a request from the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Auditors found that, between October 2013 and October 2014, $11,600 collected from eighth-grade honor students for a trip to Walt Disney World was not deposited into the school’s student activity bank account. WRMS teacher and trip sponsor Jodie Dean was responsible for collecting the money.

In addition, auditors found that student activity payments totaling $10,301 were received but not deposited into the student activity fund bank account between May 2014 and May 2015. Stacey Rogers, the WRMS bookkeeper at the time, was responsible for receiving, recording, processing, and/or depositing all of the missing funds. In some cases, records show the bookkeeper gave a receipt to a faculty sponsor for a greater amount than the receipt in the school’s records.

Both women have denied taking any of the missing money.

See here the complete report.

Ouachita Court Coverup Update

Palowsky appeal gets court date in Baton Rouge

The First Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge could hear arguments later this month in Monroe businessman Stanley Palowsky III’s lawsuit against Allyson Campbell, a law clerk at Fourth Judicial District Court, as well as against five judges of the district court.

The Feb. 23 hearing is among several on a docket that begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Southern University Law Center’s A.A. Lenior Hall off Roosevelt Steptoe Drive in Baton Rouge.

The three judges presiding over the docket including Palowsky’s hearing include Chief Judge Vanessa Whipple, Judge John Michael Guidry and Judge Page McClendon.

Stanley R. Palowsky III v. Allyson Campbell and others, which was first filed in July 2015, centers on Palowsky’s claims that Campbell concealed or destroyed documents he filed with the court as part of a separate lawsuit against his former business partner, Brandon Cork, and others. Palowsky also accused Campbell of payroll fraud.

Marchman: Special assistant AG involved in conspiracy

As part of her federal lawsuit against Fourth Judicial District Court officials and their attorneys, Judge Sharon Marchman filed paperwork earlier this week disputing a special assistant attorney general’s claim he had not conspired with others to accuse the judge of criminal acts.

Marchman’s lawsuit centers on claims that law clerk Allyson Campbell, Fourth Judicial District Court judges, and their attorneys retaliated against her and violated her constitutional rights when she tried to expose Campbell’s alleged payroll fraud and destruction of court documents.

Lawrence Pettiette, a Shreveport attorney who sometimes handles legal work for the state Attorney General’s office, filed a motion to dismiss Marchman’s claims against him last month.

Marchman filed a response Feb. 5, arguing Pettiette reached parts of his defense “without any citation, argument or analysis.”