[StBernard] St. Bernard Council Meetings to Air in Other Parishes

[Westley Annis]

 St. Bernard meetings to air on Jeff cable                  
 Tuesday, March 14, 2006                                    
 East Jefferson bureau                                      
                                                            
                                                            
 St. Bernard's beleaguered parish government is getting a   
 little bit closer to its displaced constituents, who       
 scattered to Jefferson and other suburban parishes after   
 Hurricane Katrina.                                         
                                                            
 The Jefferson Parish Council agreed last week to show      
 meetings of its St. Bernard counterpart on the Jefferson   
 government access television channel, helping to connect   
 the far-flung population with a government that soldiers   
 on even though few residents are living within St.         
 Bernard's borders.                                         
                                                            
 Joey DiFatta, vice chairman of the St. Bernard Council,    
 said the government contacted its neighbors about showing  the meetings
produced in St. Bernard, and it got help from 
 Jefferson and St. Charles parishes. Plaquemines was        
 willing but has no operating cable station of its own, and 
 St. Tammany has yet to respond.                            
                                                            
                                                            
 "It really speaks well of the cooperation between          
 parishes. It is a much more regional approach to informing 
 the public," DiFatta said.                                 
                                                            
                                                            
 A schedule for the St. Bernard meetings has not been set,  
 but they will air in Jefferson on Channel 6.