An open letter to My Bossier Commenters

Dear My Bossier Commenters:
I have made the statement in blog posts previously, and will make it again – the commenters give My Bossier whatever amount of success it enjoys. The purpose of my blog posts, generally, is to start conversations. As far as I’m concerned, that is the principal purpose of a blog.
I do try to keep the comments as open as possible, and I allow anonymous comments because I realize that everyone who is commenting doesn’t necessarily want their true identity known. In some controversial political discussions, they cannot.
Only in very rare cases do I delete a comment, and I usually give an explanation when I do.
Besides, without my commenters I would never have realized that my blog sucks, nor that very few people actually read my little blog. Nor would I have known that it is people like me who ruin our system, I wouldn’t have realized that I’m as bad as The Times, and without commenters no one else would have pointed out how comical the stories are and that it is only made more comical by a Benton hillbilly blogging about it.
Oh, and that I'm an idiot.
So commenters, keep it up and thanks. Here’s a song for you.
Sincerely,
Jim

Duke Lowrie campaign up and running

Although he just made his formal announcement last night, Michael “Duke” Lowrie has been preparing his campaign for the District 8 House seat for some time. That seat is being left vacant by Jane Smith, who was term limited.
Lowrie was born, raised, and educated in Bossier Parish. He and his wife Kara are the owners of Acadiana Mortgage.
Duke is retired from the Bossier City Fire Department where he spent 20 years as a firefighter and paramedic. He has been active in various business and service organizations.
For more information, check out his website.

Discovery of 16,000 emails presents Lynn Austin with dilemma

The dilemma exists not because Lynn Austin sent the emails using a city email address.  It exists because Austin told Channel 6 that he 'made a mistake' by sending 30-40 emails from the wrong outlook account.  Channel 12 followed up and reported on the 16,000 emails that had been sent out in January.  Here's the dilemma - does Austin admit that he was not being forthcoming in the Channel 6 interview, or does he continue to say that he made a mistake. 
That is hard to buy into because the emails he sent out had the city email address listed at the bottom of the page.  That isn't a mistake or accidental.  This brings on the third prong of the dilemma - does he just attempt to stonewall it and say nothing about it at all?  None of these alternatives are attractive to him, but this won't go away until he manages in some manner to put it to rest.
Here is the letter; notice the email address listed at the bottom.

The other letter
Several people have asked me to publish another email that was sent out, this one went to about 30 members of the Republican Women of Bossier.  I was provided the text of the letter to publish.

About that 30 or 40 emails

Lynn Austin told Channel 6 yesterday that he had made a mistake and accidentally sent out 30 or 40 emails on his city email account.  Mark Natale verified that 250 had been sent out on February 17th.
Channel 12 investigated and says that it appears Austin sent out 16,000 emails last month on the city email account soliciting votes in the city marshal's election.
30, 40, 16,000? 
Here's the link to the KSLA story.

Tea Party Interviews have been posted

Interviews with the candidates for Bossier City Marshal have been posted on the website of the Northwest Louisiana Tea Party Alliance.
You can watch them here.

City resources used in campaign for City Marshal

City email and possibly city computers were used on behalf of a candidate in the City Marshal’s race.

The email address, AUSTINL@bossiercity.org, was used to send solicitations to city employees as well as for other campaign related emails.  It was used as recently as this week.  I have been told that the email address has been taken down as of this weekend.

Email from bossiercity.org addresses can only be accessed through city computers, or through authorized home computers that have been set up to access the city’s mainframe.  Unlike some public email providers, it cannot be accessed through a personal computer (unless set up by the city) or by a cell phone.

This raises some very awkward questions.

Lynn Austin resigned from his job as CAO effective November 30^th.  Why did he still have a city email address and access to the account as recently as February 17^th?  Who authorized this?

In any event, at the very least, it is highly unethical. 

You just don’t use city resources to campaign for office.

Bad Moon Rising

Head of Family & Child Services expects disciplinary action in handling of Celeste Lowe investigation

Trey Williams, the head of the Department of Family and Child Services, told Channel 12 "At this time it's still an open investigation but we expect there will be disciplinary action” in the department’s Bossier office in the handling of the case of Anna Celeste Lowe.

Not a lot of details, but you can read the story and see the KSLA video here.

Defining the duties of the Bossier City Marshal

I have been receiving some questions regarding the duties of the City Marshal.
The statute says that within the city he has the same powers and authority of a sheriff. Until 1949, the Bossier City Marshal policed the city. In most municipalities, the marshal simply serves the court and acts to coordinate the activities of the court and the police department, for example by transporting prisoners to court.
If I remember correctly, when Jimmy Dove first ran for marshal in Shreveport, he had a challenger who wanted to do bascially what Johnny Wyatt had done in Bossier by having uniformed deputies and cars that are fully marked and equipped with all of the police paraphernalia.
Johnny Wyatt expanded the scope of the office to include actual policing duties, such as heading up the internet predator task force and establishing a computer forensics lab.
Some believe that these duties best belong with the police department.
This is how the law defines it.  I think it may be a good thing for the candidates to fully address it, not just in the sense of 'continuing' what Johnny Wyatt did, but in explaining to the people how this is not simply duplicating what the police department already does.
RS 13:1881
§1881. General powers and duties of marshal; deputy marshals

• A. The marshal is the executive officer of the court; he shall execute the orders and mandates of the court and in the execution thereof, and in making arrests and preserving the peace, he has the same powers and authority of a sheriff.
• B. The marshal may appoint one or more deputy marshals having the same powers and authority as the marshal, but the marshal shall be responsible for their actions. The compensation of the deputy marshals shall be fixed and paid by the governing authorities of the city or parish, or both, where the court is located. The city marshal may use funds available for expenses of his office, including proceeds from costs assessed in criminal matters pursuant to R.S. 13:1899, to pay an amount in excess of the fixed salary or to pay the amount fixed or any portion thereof to deputy marshals or to employ additional deputies. However, nothing herein shall authorize the city marshal to fix or supplement his own salary. In no event shall the salary of any deputy exceed that of his city marshal. Acts 1960, No. 32, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1961; Acts 1983, No. 248, §1; Acts 1986, No. 168, §1; Acts 1993, No. 629, §1.

One of Bossier's finest sons is now one of DeSoto's finest

I've known Kyle Martin since he was, as they say, a snot-nosed kid.  Kyle is a son of Bossier Parish; he grew up near Plain Dealing.
He is a deputy sheriff in DeSoto Parish now and is involved in supporting Special Olympics.  He took a polar plunge - dressed up, as you can see, in special garb.  This was part of a bet and it netted Special Olympics $1,600.  A lot of people wanted to see Kyle in that Tutu.  KSLA has a video of the event, you can watch it here.
I told Kyle in an email that he is a credit to all of us, I'm sure you will share that sentiment.

Kyle takes the plunge

Kyle with Dad Joey and Mom Kathy

This is what he really looks like

Just had to get one more of these in here!