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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Caddo Murder Suspect has history in Bossier

UPDATE: Taken into custody on Thursday, January 29th.


David Alan McAvoy is a white male, 5'11, 240 lbs., with brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses. His last known address is the 2400 block of Vanceville in Bossier City. He also has a houseboat docked at Drift In Landing.
The Caddo Sheriff's Office is searching for McAvoy, in connection with the fatal shooting of man at Drift In Landing on Caddo Lake Tuesday night.

If anyone has information about his whereabouts, contact Detectives Jason Morgan or Andy Scoggins at 681-0700, the Caddo Sheriff's Office at 675-2170, or Crime Stoppers at 673-7373.

Haughton Woman Arrested for Inciting Teenagers to Riot

January 28, 2009
10:10 a.m.

NEWS RELEASE

Bossier Sheriff Larry Deen says a Haughton woman has been arrested for inciting a riot, aggravated property damage, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and two counts of simple battery.
Jennifer Ann Madden, 35, of the 3400 block of Eliga, was taken into custody Tuesday after Bossier Sheriff’s investigators determined she had recruited individuals, most of whom were under the age of 17, to meet in the 100 block of Fullwood for the purpose of fighting. The confrontation involved
Airline High School students versus Haughton High School students and it resulted in two vehicles being damaged, one child left beaten in a ditch and several other children injured.
Madden gave directions to the fight, slapped two minor children and jumped up and down on the hood of a vehicle at the scene. Pool cues fashioned as weapons and bricks were recovered from Madden’s vehicle.
Madden, who aided suspects fleeing the scene, was booked into the Bossier Maximum Security Facility. Bond is pending.

NOTE: See reference to this incident in post below

Monday, January 26, 2009

More discussion on Cyber Bullying

The Norla Blog has commented on attorney Sam McAllister’s recent blog article Cyber Bullying on the Rise. I find myself in agreement with a couple of Norla’s points.


  • In 2007, the Arkansas legislation passed a law allowing school officials to take action against cyber bullies even if the bullying did not originate or take place on school property.

This one makes no sense to me. What does the school administration have to do with electronic transmissions that occur off the premises?

This reinforces the point. We’ve had some of that ‘aspirin-ibuprofen’ type silliness in Bossier Parish in recent years.

  • The existence of the disease is doubtful, and the cure is far, far worse.

I have to say that I am pretty far removed from my teen years and realize that it is a different world out there now. I have no idea how far the cyber influence goes, as when I was in school there was no ‘cyber’.

I do realize that internet talk can lead to real situations. This past weekend, according to a source, saw a convergence of Haughton and Airline ‘tough guys’ on Princeton Road, apparently for a gang fight. This was apparently was fired by their interaction on some ‘social networking’ sites. When a couple of guns were fired it got serious. Police were called, but I don’t know if the kids all left the scene before they got there.

In this case, it sounds like everyone involved was ‘bullying’.

In an attempt to see how, if at all, this is being addressed locally, I checked the Attorney General’s website (nothing) and the Caddo DA’s website (nothing).

The Bossier Parish DA, while emphasizing sexual predators, also covered Cyberspace in general.


Tips

  • Place the computer in a central area of the house such as the family room, den or kitchen.
  • Establish specific times when access to the Internet is permitted and keep that schedule.
  • If your child uses a computer at school, call and see if his or her school has adopted an “acceptable use policy” for the Internet. Use this policy as a tool to establish guidelines at home.
  • Limit the length of access time. This will encourage your child to go directly to the information required, rather than aimlessly wander or surf the Internet.
  • Explain to your children that many sites on the Internet are not appropriate for children or young adults, and they are expected to stay away from them.
  • Make it clear to your child you are aware that there is pornographic material on the Internet, and that looking at such material is forbidden.
  • Explain that if the sites’ address has adult language in it, the site is not to be visited.
  • If the child has access to a credit card, instruct the child never to give it out over the Internet.
  • Instruct your child to talk to you if he or she ever finds anything on the Internet that makes them feel uncomfortable.
  • Encourage communication with your children. Ask about their Internet experiences and what they have learned.

Red Flags

  • Secretive behavior on the computer.
  • You feel unwelcome at an on-line session.
  • Unexplained loss of capacity on the computer’s hard-drive. (It may be crowded with pornographic image files, which are typically very large).
  • A sudden new friend you don’t know.
  • Excessive time on the Internet.
  • Hidden floppy or Zip disks which may be used for storage of inappropriate or illegal files.

I personally don't know when 'Cyber-bullying' becomes a genuine threat, or what legal remedies are available under existing laws. I think defining the difference is important; a little name calling is one thing, but a credible physical threat is something else. Are there laws in place to deal with this or do we indeed need to consider more?

I read The Norla Blog daily (the link is in the sidebar). If you haven’t read it yet, check it out.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

From KTBS: The Strange Case against Garrett Wilson

KTBS (Channel 3) reports that last spring's arrest of Bossier City businessman Garrett Wilson -- one of five defendants in a federal corruption case involving fraud in maintenance work on Bossier schools -- did not play out in a vacuum.
Wilson didn't need to be facing criminal charges because he was on parole for a violent-crime felony. Jailed for parole violation would keep him away from his and his partner's business, which was making millions from air conditioning work on Bossier Parish schools.
Wilson was also saying he had friends in the right places in Bossier Parish.
And then a key piece of evidence against him didn't look right. There were suspicions it was altered.
The domestic violence charges would eventually be dismissed by the district attorney.
The FBI and Bossier sheriff's detectives have been asking questions.
KTBS Video
Read the entire story here

Friday, January 23, 2009

Cyber Bullying on the Rise

Reprinted with permission from Louisiana Divorce & Family Law Blog
by M. Samantha McAllister

As more individuals are being arrested for cyberstalking, law enforcement officials have noticed that this kind of harassment, or "cyber bullying," is on the rise in this country. Teenagers are using social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook to bully their peers on a regular basis. Half of all children have been cyber bullied by a peer according to a 2004 survey by wiredsafety organization online. Sadly, even adults are using the Internet to harass, stalk, bully and threaten. Hiding under the anonymity of the Internet, it is easy for these predators to attack you or your children.
The 2006 death of 13-year-old Megan Meier prompted Missouri lawmakers to update a state harassment law so that it now covers bullying and stalking done through electronic media, like e-mails or text messages. If you are not familiar with Megan's story, a former friend (along with help from other classmates) of Megan Meier created a fake Myspace page for a boy named "Josh" and began messaging Megan regularly, with the intentions of beginning a relationship with her. One day, "Josh" wrote to Megan that "the world would be a better place without you" and other mean-spirited messages. Megan's mother discovered Megan hanging in the closet with a belt around her neck.
Missouri's law prompted several other states to create laws and policies against "cyber bullying." In 2007, the Arkansas legislation passed a law allowing school officials to take action against cyber bullies even if the bullying did not originate or take place on school property. The law gave school administrators much more freedom to punish those individuals who sought to harass their fellow students. The progressive state of Oregon really delves into the details of cyber bullying. The laws passed in recent years in Oregon expand the boundaries of what constitutes cyber bullying to include those actions which “substantially interfere” with the education of the young person. Vermont has added a $500 fine for cyber bullying offenses to their already stringent laws on the matter. There is currently a bill being discussed that would increase the reach of the school’s powers regarding cyber bullying when the action puts the individual’s ability to learn (or health and safety) at risk. Other states with new policies for cyber bullying include New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Iowa and Idaho.
If you or your child are being cyber bullied or cyber stalked, there are several actions you can take:
1) Call your local authorities. Print out all messages, ims, texts, and/or emails and show them to the police. The police can use your complaint to gather any other admissible evidence from your computer, if need be. The police may find enough evidence to issue a warrant for "cyberstalking" and the bully could face jail time.
2) File a complaint. Most cyber bullying behavior -- harassment, threats, invasion of privacy, stalking -- are violations of a web site or Internet service provider's "terms of service."
3) Contact your child's school and/or the child's parents. Many schools are integrating policies to punish students for cyber bullying. Often, a phone call to parents or a certified "cease and desist" letter is enough to end the bullying.
4) Identify the cyber bully and block them -- block email addresses, access to social networking pages, etc. Cut off the cyber bully's avenues to harass you or your child.
And finally, contact an experienced family law attorney. Attorneys are seeing these kinds of cases more and more, and can file a suit against the party for harassment, slander, and other causes. Make sure you keep a good record of all the emails, messages, text messages and other forms of communication for your case. Print everything out and save it.
No matter what action you choose to take, remember, cyber bullying is a serious issue and you can stop a cyber bully before it is too late!

M. Samantha McAllister graduated summa cum laude from LSU-Shreveport, earned a Masters in history from Louisiana Tech and received her Juris Doctorate and Bachelor of Civil Law degree from LSU, Paul M. Hebert School of Law. She practices family law in Bossier City.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Bossier School Board needs to explain

KTBS has run a couple of stories (one of which we commented on) about School Board attorney Patrick Jackson. The questions about Jackson are his relationships with Air Repair and Cochran Construction. Air Repair and its owners, of course, were among those indicted for fraud a couple of weeks ago.
Cochran Construction has been sued by the school board over roofing problems at Haughton Middle School.
Jackson was present during a closed-door meeting last March where school system administrators gave Air Repair a $1 million, no-bid contract to do mold remediation and repairs at the Haughton school.
Jackson said he didn't recommend hiring Air Repair but acknowledged it looks bad because he was present while one of his clients -- the School Board -- was deciding whether to hire another client -- Air Repair -- to fix something built by another client -- Cochran Construction.
Jackson said nothing improper was done.
"Sometimes when grenades go off, innocent people get shrapnel," he said. "And I think that's what's happened here."
It appears that this goes beyond Jackson’s representation of Cochran and Air Repair. Jackson is also a partner with Carl Cochran in CC&J Development Co LLC.

From the Louisiana Secretary of State Corporation Database:
Charter/Organization ID: 36525715K
Name: CC&J DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.L.C.
Type Entity: Limited Liability Company
Status: Active
Annual Report Status: In Good Standing Last Report Filed on 07/16/2008
Mailing Address: C/O PATRICK R. JACKSON, 1463 AIRLINE DRIVE, BOSSIER CITY, LA 71112
Domicile Address: 1463 AIRLINE DRIVE, BOSSIER CITY, LA 71112
File Date: 08/23/2007
Registered Agent (Appointed 8/23/2007): PATRICK R. JACKSON, 1463 AIRLINE DRIVE, BOSSIER CITY, LA 71112
Manager: CARL S. COCHRAN, 405 EAST TEXAS STREET, BOSSIER CITY, LA 71111
Manager: CHRISTOPHER C. COSSE, 338 JANIE LANE, SHREVEPORT, LA 71106
Manager: PATRICK R. JACKSON, APLC, 1463 AIRLINE DRIVE, BOSSIER CITY, LA 71112

How could the School Board allow someone who was so conflicted to represent them in matters regarding construction?
There are still a lot more questions than answers, and the School Board needs to come clean now.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Monday, January 19, 2009

Times Snub?

Interesting article in internet version of The Times, predicting that Don “Bubba” Williams may run against Lo Walker. I wouldn’t be surprised if Walker has an opponent this year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is Williams.
The Times goes on to say that “here is a look at who could be representing you for the next four years.” They then list Hizzoner and 6 of the 7 current councilmen.
Do they know something about David Montgomery that the rest of the public doesn’t know, or are they merely snubbing him for whatever reason?

Captured: Sex Offender flees from Benton Police

A known sex offender led Benton Police on a chase Thursday after fleeing a children's playground in his vehicle.
Henry Lee Taylor, 50, of Benton, was arrested for aggravated flight, resisting an officer, battery of an officer, no driver’s license, expired insurance, expired registration and switched plates.
At approximately 1:33 p.m. Thursday, Benton Police Assistant Chief Gene Hillen received a call in reference to a sex offender in the area where children play and an elderly woman lived. Upon arriving in the area, Hillen noticed a red Dodge truck that was identified as belonging to Taylor, a registered sex offender.
Read the whole story in the Press-Tribune

Saturday, January 17, 2009

We Saw That story on Roy Brown causes stir

KTBS reported on the story of Roy Brown, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for first degree robbery. According to Channel 3, Brown, 54, of Audrey Lane, pleaded guilty in Caddo District Court to robbing the Capital One bank in December 2007. Brown admitted walking up to a teller with one of his hands under his jacket and telling her it was a "stickup."The teller handed the man three stacks of bills and he took a single $100 bill, told her he was homeless and left, police said.Brown surrendered to police the next day, telling them his mother didn't raise him that way.Police let him sober up and interviewed him two days later. Police said Brown told them he needed money to stay in a downtown detox center, had nowhere to stay and was hungry -- so he walked up the street and robbed the bank.

The Alexandria blog We Saw That reported on the story and has received a lot of attention from it. It is linked all over the world.
Read the blog and check out the response on We Saw That.

Friday, January 16, 2009

CyberCheating: The New Cause For Divorce

Reprinted with permission from Louisiana Divorce & Family Law Blog
by M. Samantha McAllister

The internet is one of the easiest ways to meet people without leaving your home, which, undoubtedly, has opened the door for spouses to commit adultery. Cybercheating has become a common element in divorce cases - whether a spouse is chatting in rooms, in virtual lands, or using a social networking site or dating site to meet paramours.
Many spouses believe it is not cheating if they chat to women or men on the internet. They feel that doing a little flirting is not considered "touching," therefore, is not cheating. They also can remain anonymous, use fake pictures, and believe they can stop anytime they choose -- kind of like having an addiction?
Some websites actually sell survelliance equipment to "catch" your spouse in the act. Infidelity.com offers a program that secretly sends you a copy of every e-mail your spouse sends. There are also programs where you can track the websites your spouse visits. This equipment is obviously not for the happily married couple - once you have reached this stage, you know your relationship is in trouble, or your spouse has been unfaithful to you in the past.
If you suspect your spouse is cheating on you on the Internet, confront him/her about it and seek therapy together, or in the alternative, consult an experienced family law attorney. Where adultery is concerned, there is no middle ground.

M. Samantha McAllister graduated summa cum laude from LSU-Shreveport, earned a Masters in history from Louisiana Tech and received her Juris Doctorate and Bachelor of Civil Law degree from LSU, Paul M. Hebert School of Law. She practices family law in Bossier City.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Air Repair owner pleads guilty in Bossier School Board fraud

The owner of a Bossier City business admitted (Wednesday) he helped mastermind a three-quarter-million-dollar fraud on the taxpayers through a scheme of rigged bids and overcharges for air-conditioning work on Bossier Parish schools.
Alan Lee pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Shreveport to mail fraud, becoming the first of five defendants in the case to plead guilty. He also agreed to cooperate with the government's ongoing corruption investigation of school system operations.
Lee is divesting his air-conditioning company, Air Repair, of its assets to make restitution to the school district. A real estate closing on the Air Repair property -- involving both Lee and his jailed partner and co-defendant Garrett Wilson -- was conducted Tuesday in the federal courtroom.
Lee, 53, will be sentenced in May. He faces up to 20 years in prison but is already jailed on charges he violated his parole on an unrelated state property-crime conviction.
U.S. District Judge Maurice Hicks told Lee today it is in his best interests to cooperate with government investigators because "substantial assistance" could reduce his sentence.
Complete story from KTBS

“..he violated his parole on an unrelated state property-crime conviction.”
If he already had a conviction for a property crime, why did the school board approve his company as a contractor?
Does the school board even check out the people with whom it contracts?

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Times Editorial: Patrick Jackson should be replaced as School Board attorney

excerpt:

Also last week, the board started dealing with a potential conflict of interest regarding its attorney, Patrick Jackson, who on occasion has represented both of the above contractors (Cochran Construction and Air Repair). Jackson said anytime there was a potential problem, "I withdrew."
Jackson acknowledged to KTBS News that he was present during a closed-door meeting last March where school system administrators gave Air Repair a $1 million, no-bid contract to do mold remediation and repairs at the Haughton school. Jackson, in a bit of understatement, said he knew it didn't look good that he was present when one of his clients, the School Board, was hiring another client, Air Repair, to fix something built by another client, Cochran Construction.
Whatever the outcome of the board's review of Jackson — who represents several public bodies including the Bossier Police Jury — it would seem a replacement would be in order.


(Those other bodies include the Bossier Parish Police Jury; Webster Parish Police Jury; Bossier Metropolitan Planning Commission, Bossier Tax Assessor; Webster District Attorney's Office; Bossier-Webster District Attorney's Office and the Webster Parish Convention and Visitor's Center.)

Read The Times editorial

Jackson’s role was also featured in a news story on KTBS on Friday. Watch the video.

Channel 3 also reported that one man, Micah Tucker, put his (request for information) in writing. Tucker gave a wide ranging public records request to board President Jack Raley. He's asking for hundreds of documents concerning Patrick Jackson, ArkLaTex Air Repair and Cochran Construction. That's the company that built Haughton Middle School. The school's roof has leaked almost since the first day. Jackson represented Cochran as well as Air Repair and the school board. Tucker says citizens deserve answers to their questions about emergency repairs to the school last year for a mold problem and how that was handled by the board. Jackson denies any conflict of interest, but won't go into details citing attorney client privilege.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Robert Adley questions Jindal's claims of cutting spending

At last Louisiana’s beavers can breathe easy. For all the promises of streamlined government and warnings of layoffs that accompanied Gov. Bobby Jindal’s $341 million “cost-savings” plan to balance this year’s budget, it appears the few flesh-and-blood, full-time state employees who actually will receive pink slips include the eight who work in the office that trapped 1,451 beavers last year.
The rest of the so-called cuts include about $32 million for not filling vacant jobs, some $57 million from one-time money in health-care programs and about $80 million in unused appropriations after goods and services were paid.
By law, this unspent money, otherwise, would become surplus on June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
Former state House Appropriations Committee chairman and now-Sen. Robert Adley says Jindal’s budget jiggling didn’t really reduce state government spending. “You cut that money, but it’s not really a cut because you weren’t spending it either,” said Adley, R-Benton.
Complete story in The Advocate

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Plain Dealing videos on YouTube

Just surfing YouTube and decided to see what Plain Dealing had to offer. I found two interesting, if dissimilar offerings.

The most recent was the band 'Brand New Strings' at the Plain Dealing Christmas festival.



The other one was posted about a year ago. For your enjoyment (mind the language, though), here is THEM PLAiN DEALiNG G00NS

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Golf Club at Stonebridge to get $2.4 million from Chesapeake


Excerpt:
The owners of Golf Club at StoneBridge in Bossier City were waiting for a special piece of mail Wednesday — a $2.4 million check.
StoneBridge was one of the last major, publicly used properties in the Shreveport-Bossier City area to lease its mineral rights at the end of the year; it did so in October. While the golf course owners, the Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System, a statewide pension fund, are still deciding how to use the money, one thing local golfers might see is improvements to the course.
MPERS signed its mineral lease in October with Twin Cities Development LLC, a broker for the Chesapeake Energy Corp., for the $2.4 million bonus plus 25 percent of future royalties. The golf course is about 162 acres, so the leasing bonus alone works out to a little less than $15,000 per acre.
Complete story in The Times

Mike Craig sworn in as District Judge

Mike Craig was sworn in Monday as District Judge at the Bossier Parish Courthouse. He was sworn in by retired Judge Cecil Campbell II.

Video from KTBS

Complete story in The Times

Monday, January 5, 2009

Defendants plead not guility in Bossier School Board fraud case

Accused of trying to defraud the Bossier Parish School Board of hundreds of thousands of dollars, five men appeared in federal court today (Monday). They all plead not guilty. The indictments accuse the men of charging the school board for air condition work that was not needed. School board workers, Randy Johnston, William Rodes and Mark Rowe appeared before a magistrate today facing 194 counts mail fraud. They are accused of trying to steal more than $700,000 from the school board.
Complete story from KSLA

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Race for the 4th is over, Battle for the 4th begins

Louisiana's shrinking population almost certainly will cost the state one of its seven congressional seats in 2012, and state lawmakers already are maneuvering to make sure their population hubs don't lose their voices in Congress.
Northeastern Louisiana, for instance, once was lumped into a congressional district that included Shreveport, which meant that Ouachita Parish voters rarely saw retiring U.S. Rep. Jim McCrery, R-Shreveport.
"We don't want to be in a combined district with Shreveport, because we'll always be behind Shreveport in priority," said state Sen. Bob Kostelka, R-Monroe.
Monroe and Alexandria are the population hubs -- and thus the focus -- of U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander's 5th Congressional District.
"(McCrery) is a good congressman, but because the biggest population base was in Shreveport, he naturally spent most of his focus there," said Alexander, R-Quitman.
Preliminary 2010 Census figures released this week show that Louisiana's population fell by 1.3 percent from 2000 to 2008, which led the nation in population loss.
Louisiana's Legislature, beginning with the House and Senate Governmental Affairs committees, will determine the congressional district map following the 2010 Census.
Kostelka chairs the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which is a clear advantage to northeastern Louisiana.
"That's the reason I fought so hard for the chairmanship of that committee," Kostelka said. "My whole intention is to save our seat."
Another northeastern Louisiana lawmaker, state Rep. Rick Gallot, D-Grambling, is the chairman of the House Governmental Affairs Committee.
Gallot said it won't be easy keeping a northeastern Louisiana-based congressional district intact.
Complete article in The Town Talk
h/t to The Reduct Box