Four arrested in Barksdale FCU robbery

Can't help but wonder which one of these rocket scientists thought this was a good idea?  Who was the 'brains' of the operation?

KTBS Story on Barksdale Federal Credit Union Robbery

Haughton tough guy frightens elderly woman

Derek Thomas Mclendon, 23, of J's Lane in Haughton, was arrested around 11:30 p.m. last night after scaring an elderly female. Mclendon became intoxicated at Bodcau recreation area and got into an altercation with an unknown subject. He then walked to the 1200 block of Highway 157 and went up to the back door of a home. He then began beating on the door and yelling "Let me in!" The time of this occurrence was approximately 10:30 p.m., and Mclendon did not know the resident of the home. An elderly female inside the home was frightened by his behavior and called the Bossier Sheriff's Department.
When deputies arrived, Mclendon smelled strongly of alcoholic beverages, displayed poor coordination, was confused and admitted to drinking.
Mclendon was arrested and transported to the Bossier Maximum Security Facility. His bond is pending.
From Bossier Sheriff

No Fireworks

No Fireworks for Bossier Parish, Bossier City or City of Shreveport. 

The Race is On

If you've been looking for a sign that election season is here . . .

Ching Ching

It seems that everyone was taken by surprise with the announcement that Paradise Casino LLC wants to move a low performing riverboat Casino from Lake Charles to Bossier City.
The plan is for the city to sell land just north of Bass Pro Shops to Paradise Casino for the riverboat casino and a 400 room resort hotel.
This will have to be approved by the Gaming Control Board and by the voters of Bossier Parish in the November election. If those approvals are forthcoming, work would start on the $170 million project immediately and completion would be in mid-2013.
Bossier City Council President David Jones said ‘I believe the citizens of Bossier and of Bossier Parish actually understand the importance of this market’. The new casino is expected to employ around 1200 people.
According to Forbes Magazine, the five riverboats and the Louisiana Downs track casino in the Shreveport-Bossier City market won $61.7 million in April (of 2011), compared with $64 million in April 2010. That market also caters to Texas residents who have had more of their attention drawn to Indian nation casinos in Oklahoma.
Overall the casino market in Louisiana has begun to rebound from the recession.
Will another casino push that revenue up, or will it pull its share from the existing casinos?
That’s the gamble.

Part of it went on gambling, and part of it went on women. The rest I spent foolishly.
 - George Raft

Happy Birthday to Me

Candidate Profile: Mark Toloso

I had a good visit with Mark Toloso Wednesday. Mark is running against Glenn Benton for the District 2 Police Jury seat.
Because of questions that came up in the comments of his announcement in the blog, I asked Mark specifically about his experience working for the Sheriff and we got into a lot of detail. Some statements were made by commenters that Mark had ‘never really policed or arrested anyone’ and that he was a ‘yes man’. He pointed out that when you work for an elected official who has complete autonomy over his department, and when that official assigns you a task, ‘no’ is not an option.
As to never really policing, when he first came to the Department in 1977 under Vol Dooley, he started out on patrol. He was then assigned to the DEA Task Force working as an undercover narcotics officer for a year, spent a short hitch with detectives and then went to patrol for 8 years working every shift at different times. Obviously, his answer was that he did a lot of policing and made numerous arrests.
In 1984 Mark was certified as a Firearms Instructor & a PR-24 Instructor, in 1985 attended the FBI National Academy in Quantico.
When Larry Deen took office in 1988, he stayed on patrol until 1989 when he became Public Affairs Officer. In 1990 he was certified as a DARE officer and taught DARE in the school system for 10 years. Towards the end of that 10 year period he was assigned to be Director of the Bossier City Substation and was promoted to the rank of Captain.
As to charges that he ‘never supervised anyone’, he pointed out that in 2001 he was assigned to Corrections as Assistant Warden at the Minimum Security prison, and a year later was promoted to Warden.
As to lawsuits against the Sheriff’s office naming him, he pointed out that the Warden of any facility is subject to being sued for any number of reasons. He also stated that most of the lawsuits resulted from simply following DOC policy.
Mark works a few days a month as a bailiff at the courthouse since retirement.
Now to the to the subject at hand, his run for Police Jury. Mark believes that he can give the people of District 2 better representation, and vows to be accessible at all times.
"I have talked to a number of people who believe that when people are elected, they just fall into line with the ‘powers that be’. I promise to always vote for the people of my district, and to state my intentions and then follow through on them. Part of the problem is that too much money has been available to the Police Jury, and if the money is there, they will spend it. It’s time to economize."

Reader's thoughts on BCPD 'misdirection'

I received this in an email entitled 'letter to the editor of My Bossier'. It's from Anonymous. Of course I got the email so I know who it is from, but I'll respect his wish not to reveal himself. (I think he got arrested the last time he did that.)

Hey Jimbo! Here goes nuthin'...
Much has been made in the local media about the BCPD investigation of the brutal murder of local businessman Bill Norris, and two other men at his establishment on Barksdale Blvd. Some in the media have complained that they felt "used," because the BCPD gave them "misleading" information about the "suspect."
I could use a couple of hackneyed phrases. "All's fair in love and war...and this is war!" comes to mind. Indeed, this is a "war." Even though our police do not fight an "enemy foreign," they do fight enemies "domestic," so I'd go ahead on and call it a "war."
Another quote comes to mind. I'm pretty sure that this quote has been attributed to many Generals throughout the ages, but I saw it most recently attributed to General Norman Schwarzkopf. "If you find yourself in a fair fight, then it's time to change your tactics." How true. The object of a fight (especially one that you didn't pick) is to win, and move on.
My Daddy taught me at an early age that anything known as a "fair fight" was just a sport that folks paid money to watch. He told me, "When somebody picks a fight with you, find the biggest stick you can, and start wailing away. Beat the boy down until you're pretty sure he won't get up, and he won't bother you again."
(As a side note, my Grandma told me that my Daddy had to be pulled off of a boy by adults, because he had taken his little cowboy boot off and was beating the kid with the heel, right square in his forehead. The kid had picked a fight with Daddy. Daddy was 3 years old. So, that's where I'm coming from).
The Bossier City Police didn't pick a fight with Copperhead. No, Copperhead picked a fight with Mr. Norris (an unfair one at that), and two other men. The bastard (allegedly...) gunned them down in cold blood. By doing so, ol' Copperhead also picked a fight with the BCPD. He picked a fight with the folks that are charged with enforcing our laws...keeping our streets safe...and bringing the violators to justice (whatever "justice" means these days).
Historians have chronicled the "misinformation" passed down by governments for centuries. In fact, in the last 100 years there are numerous examples of the US government passing false information to the press in order to achieve the goal of victory over an enemy. Most notably in WWII, often bad info was given to the press in hopes that our enemies would react to it, and eventually help bring victory. It is common practice.
The Times, and any other local media outlet need to un-wad their panties, and read some history books.
If they can read.
Or, un-wad their panties.
The way I understand this thing, the BCPD had a pretty good idea early on that Copperhead had killed Bill. Honestly, I don't know enough about their fears that Copperhead would bolt, or "off" potential witnesses, or what, if he caught wind that he was a suspect. I just do not know. But, I know that a triple murder is not something they deal with every day. I know that a triple murder is something that rips at the heart of a community. I know that a triple murder is something that haunts the Police that are assigned to investigate it, and the Chief, who is under intense pressure (most of it from the media...who live in a state of pissiness) to resolve it.
I am almost certain that the phone calls from the media never stopped ringing at BCPD with questions like, "Do you have a suspect? Do you have a description? Have you got any leads? Can you come on our station and give an interview? Can you give me a scoop on this story...etc." ???
The media is a "tool. " So why not use 'em?
The only harm I can see in the BCPD releasing a possible description of the guy they were looking for in a deceptive way is that it probably caused some poor phone answering guy much grief. Having to say, "Thank you so much for the tip. We truly appreciate it. You're a good citizen for reporting this...yada yada yada," probably got old.
Quick.
From what I understand, they already had a pretty good idea what had happened, and only made MORE WORK for themselves by doing this...in order to keep the wretched snake close at hand.
So, I won't fault the BCPD. Nope. The deceptive info release could do NO HARM to anyone, and could possibly have saved the lives of folks that actually were "talking." (Not that I know that folks were "talking," and needed some cover from the cops...I really don't know).
Anybody that has ever watched an old episode of "Law and Order" knows that cops lie to bad guys all the time, so as they can put them in the slammer for good. And, Police Departments all over the nation routinely issue statements designed to illicit responses from folks that tip one hand or another.
Just ax Fred Thompson. He knows.
I could take this further, by letting you know my suspicions about the Osama Bin Laden thing. At present, there is great outrage about how all these details have been leaked...about how much of our intelligence operations may be compromised...about how the terrorists will now know exactly how we're operating covertly against them.
Bullshit!
I am 99.44% sure that all of these "leaked" details about just HOW we found Bin Laden are just plain old pasture punkins. This BS has been "leaked" by the CIA to news outlets, in hopes that it will be taken to heart by the ragheads that get their updates from CNN...and FOXNews...and the other tools. I sure hope I am right on this, and that there are some real adults in charge that live to screw with the media, and subvert the really bad guys by throwing them off their game.
I guess this is a loooooooonnnnnggggg way of saying what I could have said in short:
I do not give a flying fig that the BCPD said they were looking for someone that they were not. Good job. Fry the sumbitch!

Adley: Good governance or revenge?

State Senator Robert Adley says that he has citizens who are concerned because, apparently, there is a law that says that in areas of the state not governed by a home rule charter (that would include Bossier and Webster), the District Attorney is to serve as General Counsel to the parish school board and governing authority.

Patrick Jackson, however, serves as the Parish Attorney for both the Bossier and Webster Police Juries, and as attorney for the Bossier School Board. According to Adley, if Jackson is paid by these bodies to represent them, then they are in violation of the law.

The law says that these bodies may hire ‘Special Counsel’ only after a resolution that is passed by the appropriate body and approved by the attorney general. Adley says that this has not been done.

He introduced SB 174 to remedy the situation. Of course, he didn’t actually name Patrick Jackson as the problem he was addressing, but it is obvious, particularly after the bill was amended to make the new law applicable only to the 26th JDC, comprising Bossier and Webster Parishes.

26th JDC District Attorney Schuyler Marvin appeared at a hearing of the Judiciary C committee on Tuesday to oppose the bill.

Evodna Springer has a vlog on the NWLTPA website discussing the bill, and has a link to the hearing.
One of the problems appears to be defining what constitutes ‘general counsel’ as opposed to ‘special counsel’. An example given would be that special counsel are always hired to deal with bond issues and the like. This could use some clarification.
Although Adley has served in the Senate since first being elected in 2003, apparently he has just recently had constituents approach him who are concerned at the way that the law is being carried out, and particularly that their only recourse seems to be to complain to the DA.
The question that comes to mind, of course, is whether Adley has suddenly become aware of this situation, or whether he has become aware of it only since Patrick Jackson’s father, Richey Jackson, has announced his intention to run against Adley for the 36th District seat?

Richey Jackson

Richey Jackson, a retired educator, currently serves as truancy officer for – you got it – the 26th JDC District Attorney.

Whether a good bill or a bad bill is up to the reader to decide. This blog post isn't intended to influence one way or the other.  Rather I am just looking at the political ramifications of what is happening, whether Adley’s motive is good governance or revenge against the Jackson family and the DA.

I didn't have much trouble coming to a conclusion.

Wakeup call to Bossier City Police Department

I won’t give a bunch of links to the stories and editorials, I think everyone is aware of the situation which arose about the Bossier City Police Department giving out what they called ‘misinformation’ about the suspected triple killer in the Bill Norris shooting case.
The police spokesman, Mark Natale, told the press that they were looking for a hispanic or dark skinned caucasian, when in fact they already had a suspect, Gerald Needham. The reason ultimately given for their misleading information was that they did not want Needham to know that they were considering him a suspect.
I have mixed feelings about this. First, I’m not in favor of the police lying in any case, for any reason. I don’t believe that the government or any agency thereof has the right to lie to the people, even with good intentions.  It's a very slippery slope.
That being said, they weren’t lying to cover up something nefarious, such as the New Orleans PD did in the case of the people who were murdered by police on the bridge after Katrina.
I understand their reasoning, but personally I believe that if you have to lie, even a white lie, it is probably better to say nothing.
The attention that this is getting should be a wake-up call to the police department. Some local media people are very unhappy about this, and I can’t say that I blame them. They do try to assist the police by putting word out on major cases, and when they find that what they have been reporting to the people isn’t true, it is gives them pause and makes them doubt any future information.
I’m not outraged at this, or even terribly upset. I believe that it was a case of bad judgment, well intentioned. 
Hopefully the next time they are tempted to do this they will realize that it is a matter of principle that they be completely honest with the people they serve. The Bossier City Police Department has a great amount of goodwill and support from the people of the city, and they don’t need to do anything to jeopardize it.