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.
Friday, January 16, 2009
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?
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.
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
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
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Mike Craig sworn in as District Judge
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
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
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