Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

ACCOUNT OF A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danc'd in their heads,
And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap-
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow,
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a minature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and call'd them by name :
"Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer, and Vixen,
"On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Dunder and Blixem;
"To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
"Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys -- and St. Nicholas too:
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound :
He was dress'd all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnish'd with ashes and soot ;
A bundle of toys was flung on his back,
And he look'd like a peddler just opening his pack :
His eyes--how they twinkled! his dimples how merry,
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry ;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow.
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow ;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly:
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laugh'd when I saw him in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And fill'd all the stockings; then turn'd with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle :
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight-
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Christmas Kids Part 5

Here are a couple from the past, I'm not going to give Caitlin's last name because she (thinks she) is all grown up now.

And this is my 10 month old great-granddaughter Gabby, meeting Santa for the first time. I think they hit it off.

A Sad Day

Very well said on behalf of all of us. 

Christmas Kids Part 4

I have to admit, this one kind of got to me. No matter how old they are, this is how they will always be to their family. Godspeed, Dean.

Sgt. William Dean Reeves (US byGod AF), currently stationed in Afghanistan...December 25, 1981.

Final Score: U. L. Coleman 25,000,000 - City of Bossier 0

This is the press release from the City of Bossier on the Walker Place settlement. It appears that the City totally folded. 
How could it get to this point over a simple curb cut? My theory is that it was nothing but pride and power. The City Council took a stand and instead of wisely coming to a mutual agreement, they hung on and spent millions fighting the lawsuit – out of pride and stubbornness. I could be wrong, but it sure as heck appears that way.
I especially love the spin in the last paragraph, “The City of Bossier City is excited about the opportunity to facilitate and support this exciting new development in South Bossier and looks forward to the added quality of life it will bring to residents and visitors.”
May be, but I bet it tastes more like crow than chicken.
Elliott Stonecipher estimates that the total cost to the city will come to $25,000,000.

As part of a comprehensive settlement resolving pending litigation, the City of Bossier City will be entering into a Consent Decree and Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with U.L. Coleman Company, Sequoia venture No. 2, Ltd., A. Teague Parkway, L.L.C., and Walker Place, L.L.C. to facilitate and fund infrastructure in a 90 plus acre commercial and residential development in South Bossier.

The settlement was approved this afternoon by the Bossier City Council during a special meeting called to address the issue.

The litigation filed in 2008 centered around the establishment of a curb cut on the Arthur Ray Teague Parkway for access to the proposed development to be located north of Walker Place. As part of the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement the city will grant a curb cut and a median cut on Teague Parkway among other items including:

· $10.4 million for infrastructure in the mixed use development.

· $1 million to develop a city park on city property north of the CenturyLink Center. U.L. Coleman Company will provide funds for the park's design.

· Construction of an elevated pedestrian/bicycle walkway over the Teague Parkway in the vicinity of the proposed park.

· $6.7 million in damages and costs.

· A transfer of 39.4 acres of city property for use in expanding the mixed use development to more than 90 acres. The property to be transferred is bordered by Walker Place, Barksdale Boulevard, Angelle Drive and CenturyLink Drive.

As a community partner, U.L. Coleman Company has also agreed to fund $100,000 to implement regulations to provide standards for future residential and commercial development in the Barksdale Boulevard corridor in South Bossier.

The City of Bossier City is excited about the opportunity to facilitate and support this exciting new development in South Bossier and looks forward to the added quality of life it will bring to residents and visitors.

Christmas Kids Part 3

More Christmas Kids. 
Here are more Christmas kids wishing you Merry Christmas. Email your picture and information to mybossier@gmail.com or just post them on the My Bossier Facebook Page. There will be more.

Ireland was a little nervous about visiting Santa

Riley, a little more experienced, was ready with a list.

Riley and Christmas Bear

Christmas Kids Part 2

Here are more Christmas kids wishing you Merry Christmas. Email your picture and information to mybossier@gmail.com. There will be more.

Youngest first. Braxton Davis is not yet a month old. He can't figure out the hat, but has been told it is something good!

The Cooper Kids with Mammaw

The smallest Cooper counting down for Santa

Christmas Kids

I noted on Facebook that I really enjoy seeing all the pictures of the little children at Christmas, and enjoy putting up pictures of my grandchildren and my great-grandchild, and it occurred to me that it would be nice to share on the blog.
If you would like to see your child wishing everyone a Merry Christmas on My Bossier, send me a picture and the caption you would like on it. Family pictures would be great too. If you don’t want to use last name, that is fine.
I’m putting up a couple of mine to kick it off!
Email your picture and caption to mybossier@gmail.com.

Great-Grandaughter Gabby checking out the tree - her first!

Ashton, Celeste and Aubrey hoping Santa is good to all

Congratulations Mike Nerren

Mike Nerren has won the election for Judge. Of 9,350 votes cast in Bossier Parish, Nerren won by a margin of 266 votes. In Webster Parish, where the count isn't complete, he has an insurmountable lead at this time.
Congratulations to Judge Nerren.

Undecided Voters

New Template

A new look for My Bossier, in an effort to make it a little more user friendly. Please let me know what you think, I welcome any feedback.

Three more days

Three more days until the election. Turnout is expected to be low, that's the problem with runoff elections. But then again, only the people who care are voting, and that's not a bad thing.
It has been an interesting election cycle. My Bossier has had some record numbers. I've had several blog posts about the election, including a couple early on when it was just beginning to develop.
The blog posts about the race for Judge have had more than 26,000 views and as of right now 1,545 comments. 
I am encountering a problem; when the comment count reaches 200 comments don't always post. Apparently it is a problem with Google Blogger, which is the platform that I use. In ordinary circumstances, that is not a problem, because very few blog posts have that many comments.
A lot of money has been spent by the candidates. I haven't done anything in depth, but it appears that the total raised, borrowed and spent by all three candidates is between $400,000 and $500,000.
That's a lot of money for a local Judge's race.
Use this blog post to comment any general thoughts you have about the election, and to support your candidate.
It would really be nice if we could get some positives in here - rather than just running down the other guy, tell us what is good and positive about your candidate.

The Louisiana Tech - Indy Bowl fiasco

Everyone is talking about the Louisiana Tech – Independence Bowl fiasco. Here is a video with ESPN’s take on it. For a good, detailed account go over to Tim Fletcher’s blog and read this blog post.

Ethics complaint filed against Mike Nerren

This letter was sent to the Louisiana Ethics Board today. 

George Peyton Cole, Jr.
Brigadier General USAF (ret)
Bossier City, LA 71111

December 3, 2012

Louisiana Ethics Administration Program

P.O. Box 4368

Baton Rouge, LA 70821

Dear Ethics Board Members,

I am writing for the purpose of filing an official ethics complaint against Mr. Michael J. Nerren, candidate for District Judge in the 26^th Judicial District Court in Louisiana. I am filing this complaint because I believe that Mr. Nerren has violated the Louisiana Election Code, Part II 18:1491.7. There are three ways that I believe Mr. Nerren has violated this code.

On September 17, 2012, Mr. Nerren issued a $2,000 payment for “Consulting” to Mr. Julian Darby. Mr. Darby is listed as the sole agent of United Independents for Democracy, a Bossier City Non-Profit Corporation. On and prior to Election Day on November 6, 2012, Mr. Darby’s group, illegally using the acronym “UID”, distributed a flier urging voters to cast their ballots for Presidential candidate Barack Obama, as well as Candidate for District Judge, Mr. Mike Nerren (see original flier enclosed). Mr. Nerren’s campaign never reported expenditure to United Independents for Democracy or an In-kind expenditure to Mr. Barack Obama’s campaign for President.

On November 27, 2012, when asked to address the Bossier Parish Republican Executive Committee regarding an endorsement of Mr. Nerren’s opponent based on the fact that Mr. Nerren paid for a ballot featuring himself and Mr. Obama, Mr. Nerren admitted to getting involved with Mr. Darby’s group. Mr. Nerren is quoted as having said the following, “My campaign made an attempt to have the black vote turn out and we got involved with a group to canvas the black community. Somehow that turned into a ballot which I did not authorize and I had never seen until it showed up in three places.”

The ethics violations that I would point out is the fact that Mr. Nerren violated Louisiana Election Code Part II 18:1491.7 (13) The full name and address of each person to whom an expenditure has been made by the committee during the reporting period.  The amount, purpose, and date of each such expenditure, and the name and address of and office sought by candidates on whose behalf each such expenditure was made shall be reported.

-          This first violation is that Mr. Nerren’s campaign reported having paid $2,000 to Mr. Darby, when in fact this money was used by United Independents for Democracy to create a ballot for canvassing the black community, as admitted by Mr. Nerren.

-          The second violation is that Mr. Nerren’s campaign reported that the purpose of the $2,000 was for “Consulting” when in fact, this money was used for the production of the enclosed ballot and presumably for manpower to distribute this ballot.

-          Finally, as there was no record found of Mr. Obama’s campaign paying for their portion of this ballot, Mr. Nerren’s campaign presumably paid for the entire ballot. If this is the case, Mr. Nerren’s campaign again violated the ethics code by failing to report an in-kind donation to the Presidential Campaign of Mr. Barack Obama. Mr. Nerren also violated the Louisiana Ethics Code by failing for report in-kind expenditures for the ballot initiatives that were supported by the ballot that he paid to have produced. Those initiatives include CA NO. 1 and the School District Local Option.

Please take these allegations into consideration, as I feel that the violation of the Louisiana Ethics Code by a candidate for District Judge is a very important matter. The citizens of this district do not take lightly the violation of state laws by a candidate who is seeking an office sworn to interpret the law. I expect a speedy response to this letter and I appreciate your consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

George Peyton Cole, Jr.

Brigadier General USAF (ret) 

On the lighter side

There are a lot of videos being made about the Judge's race, and in a couple of cases questions about who made them. Here is the latest, provided to me by a Nerren supporter to lighten it up. It pretty much reflects everything that is being said in the comments on this blog.

Benton Christmas on the Square next Saturday

Benton Christmas on the Square is next Saturday (December 8th). Bring the family up for a good time; the parade rolls at 3PM.

Christmas on the Square Website 

A Video inspired by My Bossier Commenters

Rex Moncrief, who publishes the blog Conservative Drink, has put up a video that was inspired by something I have also addressed, the comments on My Bossier.
This is not particularly a pro-Nerren or pro-Graves video, it just address some of the more outrageous comments from My Bossier.
Disclaimer: Rex, through his company, manages Whit Graves' campaign website. 

Keeping perspective in Judge's race

Check out the new post at Conservative Drink
The comments on My Bossier have gotten very heated, in some cases extreme. 
Regardless of what some commenters will tell you, I have presented the Judge's race in an unbiased manner, giving all sides an opportunity to present themselves. I have kept it open to the candidates to send me press releases in order to present their case. 
What is it about a race for District Judge that causes people to get so bent out of shape? Well, a couple of things.
Bossier Parish, at least the politicians, seem to be divided into two camps; the pro-Schuyler Marvin and the anti-Schuyler Marvin.
That's fine for the politicians and the power brokers, but I don't believe that the vast majority of people fall into either category. I think that people try to inform themselves about the candidates and vote accordingly, regardless of their affiliations and friendships.
I also believe that extreme rhetoric results in hard feelings for years to come, and that's a shame. We will all be living here together when the election is over. In the very first post about this potential race (back in March), I noted that both candidates are qualified and that it would come down to personal preference. 
We will know next Saturday night who will serve as Judge. In the meantime, let's all try to agree to disagree in a civil manner.
You know, for the old people and the kids.