[StBernard] Press Release from Steve Cannizaro

[Westley Annis]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  steve cannizaro
St. Bernard Parish Government
Public Information Officer

504.278.4221 OR 504.259.3395                        

September 22, 2005; 5:00 PM CST

Insurance complex proposed in Chalmette for public to meet with adjusters;
and first looting arrests made in parish

A centralized complex is being proposed along the river in Chalmette for
insurance adjusters to meet with returning St. Bernard Parish residents to
handle claims for homes, businesses and vehicles.

Parish President Henry "Junior'' Rodriguez, Sheriff Jack Stephens and Larry
Ingargiola, head of the office of emergency preparedness for St. Bernard,
participated in a conference call Thursday, Sept. 22, with state Insurance
Commissioner Robert Wooley and members of the insurance industry in which
the complex for adjusters was discussed.

It was proposed that temporary offices and living quarters for adjusters
could be set up near the area where the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office
enforcement division is now situated near the Port of St. Bernard.

No date has been established for setting up the adjuster's complex. Another
conference call between officials could be held Monday, Sept.26.

"This is part of the beginning of the recovery'' for St. Bernard Parish,
Rodriguez said. "The faster we can get adjusters here and start answering
questions the sooner we go to the next phase'' of rebuilding homes or
demolition and construction, he said.

"We need to do something,'' Stephens said of the proposal. "People here
don't feel a sense of urgency on the part of anyone (state or federal
officials) other than local officials.''

Meanwhile, two men and a woman were arrested Wednesday, the first alleged
looters since Hurricane Katrina struck the parish. 

Sheriff Stephens' department arrested two men and a woman, confiscated tools
allegedly stolen and seized three ounces of powdered cocaine worth $3,000.

Paul Taylor, 33, 2708 Nunez Drive, Meraux, who runs a lawn care business,
and Louis Jones, 38, and Tamikia Jones, 31, both of 2609 Guerra Drive,
Violet, were all booked with looting and with possession of cocaine with
intent to distribute.

Sheriff's officials said they believed the three had retrieved the cocaine
from the Guerra Drive residence and also stole tools from Meraux homes.

Capt. Chad Clark of the sheriff's special investigations division, said
officers had received information of a suspicious vehicle seen in the
Lexington Place subdivision in Meraux on Wednesday.

A pickup truck matching the description of the vehicle, and pulling a
trailer loaded with lawn care equipment, was stopped on Paris Road heading
for New Orleans, Clark said.

Taylor, who was driving, didn't have an explanation for why they had been in
the subdivision, Clark said. While the lawn care equipment was clean, he
said, there was a laundry hamper containing tools that were dirty and seemed
to have been in the muck from the flood, Clark said.

Officers also found a bag containing the cocaine in the truck and no one
owned up to who it belonged to, he said. The three people were initially
taken to Plaquemines Parish because the St. Bernard Parish jail hasn't been
reopened but were later taken to the state penitentiary at Angola.

It was believed the trio had entered the parish with a convoy of other
business vehicles.

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