Whit Graves website up

I posted on the 26th JDC Judge’s race and gave a link to John Slattery’s website. At the time I said I would update whenever there were any new developments.
Whit Graves now has a campaign website up, as well as a Facebook page.
Just click on the image to go to the website.

Bonnie and Clyde, May 23, 1934

I made this video 3 years ago and posted it. It was on May 23, 1934 that Bonnie and Clyde were killed over in Bienville Parish.

Bossier School Board sued for failure to honor public record request

Attorney John E. Settle, Jr. has filed suit against the Bossier Parish School Board in an attempt to get the board to produce documents which he requested under the public records law.
On April 27th, Settle requested the following from the Board:

• Contact information for all bond attorneys who were consulted.
• Copies of all correspondence to and from the bond attorneys.
• All communications to Clarence Babineaux regarding the bond issue.
• All communications between School Board employees regarding the bond proposal and tax propositions.

On May 1st, Settle received a letter from Charles F. Hardie VI of the Baton Rouge firm of Hammonds & Sills. Mr. Hardie stated that his firm serves as general counsel for the School Board. In the letter he further stated “please note that certain documents requested, specifically electronic communications, are not readily available.”
Missing Emails
The letter continues, “please also note that, while conducting the search of the School Board’s email servers for relevant communications responsive to your request, the School Board has discovered that its email archive failed on or about February 17, 2012. As a result of this failure, communications occuring on or after that date may have been deleted permanently from the School Board’s server if the original recipient removed that communication from his or her individual electronic mailbox.”
(If the IT people only discovered after 2½ months that the email archive wasn't functioning, who knows how long it would have gone on if Settle had not requested these records?)
It is important to note that the law requires all public bodies to save these records for a minimum of three years.
Public record requests are to be honored within 72 hours.
If the public record is not immediately available, the custodian must promptly notify you in writing of the reason why the record is not immediately available and fix a day and hour within three days (excluding Saturday, Sunday, and legal holidays) when the records will be made available.
There will be a hearing in District Court in Benton on Thursday. I’ll let you know the results of that.

Danielle

Today marks the 1st anniversary of Danielle Cox's suicide. Danielle was a student at Parkway High School and was the victim of bullying. I have posted on three separate occasions about the incident. There are more developments, and I will post about them at a later date. 

Today is a day for remembrance.

Armed Forces Day

A day to recognize all those who serve, and who have served.

National Police Week

Today marks the beginning of National Police Week. Take a minute and tell a police officer 'thank you' for their dedication.

Self Promotion on the back of a family's grief

Some people have no shame.
Scott Tubbs, who I’ve written about before (see Rollin' with the Big Dawgs), has some videos up on You Tube about the suicide of a Bossier City employee.
I won’t name that employee out of respect for his family, nor will I link to the YouTube videos. What happened isn’t a secret, and a lot of you probably already know the details.
This person had worked for the City for a number of years and was well thought of. To set the background, he shot himself in a parking lot at an apartment complex.
Scott Tubbs, who owns a used appliance store, heard about it and went to the scene and made a video of the police coming and going, and of the vehicle itself. Thankfully, the windows were covered and he couldn’t see inside.
A Bossier City police officer came over to Tubbs while he was filming and suggested – out of respect – that he not do it.
Tubbs explained that he has an internet news site and was doing it so he could report on it. I haven’t been able to find any internet news site operated by Tubbs, but he does have a YouTube account.
Tubbs put the video on YouTube, along with three others basically stating the same thing in each.
In the description on the video of the scene he states:

• Local Police department Violates Rights to freedom of press
• LISTEN as the police Officer TELLS us not to film

When you watch that video and listen to the conversation, the officer clearly ASKS him not to make the video. Mark Natale, the Spokesman for the City, who Tubbs refers to as “Mark - the bald headed white guy”, clearly tells him “It’s not against the law, out of respect he’s asking you not to do that.”
Tubbs agreed and the video ended.  Clearly the police officer did not tell him not to film, he asked him to stop. He was not told that he had to stop, and he was clearly told that it was not against the law. It was a request, and Tubbs honored that request. So far as the police department violating the rights to freedom of the press, as far as I can tell, the press wasn’t on the scene. They don’t usually report on suicides.
In the ensuing videos, Tubbs explains why he is ‘pissed off’, that the people have a right to know this stuff. 
Why?
I blog about a lot that goes on in Bossier, and I heard about this incident right after it happened. I didn’t blog about it. It had nothing to do with governance or with the operation of the city or of this person’s particular department. 
Just because you can do something, and because you have the right to do it, doesn’t necessarily mean that you should do it.
The tipoff came in a statement that Tubbs made on one of the videos.
“I may seek the mayor’s office of the City of Bossier City.”
Besides his ill-fated run for President of the United States, he threatened years ago to run for Shreveport mayor against Keith Hightower. 
He can do that, despite a felony conviction for arson. He received a ‘first-offender’ pardon for that act.
Mr. Tubbs, if you want to run for mayor, then do so. I'm sure that Lo Walker is as concerned about that as Keith Hightower was.
But please – take the videos down. They are really offensive.

Cinco de Mayo

Tomorrow is May 5^th, or as some of us prefer, Cinco de Mayo. There will be the annual celebration at Festival Plaza and a lot of people will have a great time and eat some great food.

But how many of us know what Cinco de Mayo is really about?

One local tourist site says that it ‘celebrates popular Mexican holiday’.

Well, not exactly. You see, Cinco de Mayo has taken on a lot more significance in the US than it ever has in Mexico, where it is not a national holiday.

Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Battle of Puebla in 1862, when the Mexicans defeated the French. Napoleon III had sent an expeditionary force to protect French interests and collect some debts owed by the previous Mexican government.

Despite the victory in 1862, at the 2^nd battle of Puebla in 1863 the Mexicans were defeated and the French marched on to Mexico City. When they got there, they installed Hapsburg Archduke Maximilian as the Emperor of Mexico.

So what was the significance to the United States? Well, at this time the Civil War was raging, and the federal government feared that the European powers would intervene on behalf of the confederacy. The last thing they wanted was a French foothold in Mexico and a government on the southern border that would aid the rebels in their cause.

The battle at Puebla in 1862 set the French back enough to remove that fear, and so the temporary victory benefited the US government.

Besides, we all love a good party, so get out and celebrate tomorrow!

In Remembrance

Chubby Knight

Funeral services will be held Friday for former City Council member Chubby Knight.

After retiring from Delta Airlines, he moved back to Bossier City and ran successfully for City Council.

Robert Jones

Services for Robert Jones will be held Saturday. He was a captain with the Bossier City Marshal’s office and was well regarded in law enforcement circles.

BCPD promotes 7

Chief Shane McWilliams promoted seven officers in a ceremony at city hall.

To Captain: Larry Stockton, Chuck Shaw and John Bacot.

To Lieutenant: Richard Broom-McGee

To Sergeant: Thomas Mack, Kevin Freeman and Sage Allen.

Congratulations to all seven, they will serve well.