[StBernard] Dean is all ears now at meetings and other tidbits

[Westley Annis]

Dean is all ears now at meetings
ALSO: Chief gets dirt on invention; Rebuilding issues in spotlight; Oil
spill status report; Battlefield, preserve to get visitor; Arabi, Ga.,
retirees lend a hand 
Saturday, April 22, 2006
By Karen Turni Bazile
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau 

St. Bernard Parish Council Chairman Lynn Dean, the eccentric and frugal
self-made millionaire, is known for his disdain of doctors and what he calls
the needless expense of medical care -- once claiming that he beat prostate
cancer by simply taking hot sitz baths. 

 
So it's no wonder that his colleagues and parish residents were surprised to
see Dean show up wearing a hearing aid at this week's council meeting. 

"My wife's been telling me for years I can't hear," Dean said. "I don't even
want to tell you how much I spent on this. Now she's going to try to get me
to an eye doctor." 

Dean, 82, says he doesn't believe in health insurance and pays cash for
everything. He said he has two hearing aids and that he can hear better now.
He took off one on the left ear because he said it was hurting him, not
because he didn't want to hear Council Vice Chairman Joey DiFatta, who sits
to Dean's left during meetings and often spars with him. 

As chairman, Dean is in charge of conducting council meetings, but other
council members have recently complained -- privately and even to Dean at
meetings -- that he seemed lost at times. They congratulated him for getting
the hearing aids, but some wondered if Dean also plans to do something about
his notorious mumbling. 

"We're glad he finally got them," DiFatta said of Dean's hearing aids. "But
we still can't understand him." 

. . . . . . . 


FIRE CHIEF HUSTLES: St. Bernard Parish residents may be used to seeing
parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez on national television ranting
about the ills of FEMA and how badly St. Bernard is being treated in its
recovery effort. But displaced residents were surprised to see the typically
low-key Fire Chief Thomas Stone and his entire family on ABC's "American
Inventor" reality show Thursday night. 

Stone, his wife, Lauren and children Tommy, 22, Chad, 18, and Nikki, 8, were
all featured helping demonstrate one of the inventions on the show -- a
"sackmaster" shovel that included a chute to make sand-bagging go very
quickly in flood-prone areas. 

The inventor, Mark Martinez of Chino, Calif., wasn't chosen to proceed to
the next level of the competition, but Stone said he thinks the product is
valuable. 

"I think he should have won," Stone said. "I think every hazmat team in the
country needs one." 

During the timed demonstration aired on the show, Stone, his wife and two
adult sons filled 119 bags using the sackmaster, while four professional
firefighters filled 87 bags using the traditional shovel method. 

Stone's third-grade daughter was the cheerleader and bag counter. 

. . . . . . . 


MEETINGS SET ON REBUILDING: St. Bernard Parish District A Councilman Mark
Madary will hold a town hall meeting today at 8:30 a.m. in the
brown-and-white tent behind the parish government building for residents of
Buccaneer Villa North and Buccaneer Villa South subdivisions in Chalmette to
discuss rebuilding issues, including the recently released FEMA elevation
advisories. 

Madary will hold a second meeting April 29 at the same location for
residents of the Carolyn Park subdivision to discuss the same issues. The
government complex is located at 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive. 

"I'm going to tell people what they have to do to get back in their homes,
if that's what they want to do," Madary said. "I'm going to give people an
opportunity to decide. It's time to decide. If you want to rebuild, you can.
If not, I am going to tell you what you need to do to have your homes
demolished." 

For more information, call Madary at (504) 259-4946. 

. . . . . . . 


AGENCIES TO DISCUSS OIL SPILL: Hurricane recovery topics including the
status of the Murphy USA oil refinery spill cleanup and health and safety
concerns will be discussed Sunday at a 1 p.m. town hall meeting in the gym
of Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church in Chalmette. 

Federal and state officials representing the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality and the Louisiana Department of Health
and Hospitals will attend to address issues and answer questions. 

Topics will be: EPA response activities in St. Bernard; status of the Murphy
oil spill cleanup; DEQ risk evaluation/correction action program; handling
and disposing of household hazardous waste; how residents can keep informed
abut hurricane recovery in the parish. 

For more information, call Beverly Negri, EPA community involvement
coordinator, at (800) 533-3508 or (214) 665-8157. 

. . . . . . . 


NATIONAL PARK SERVICE DIRECTOR TO VISIT: National Park Service Director Fran
Mainella on Sunday will review hurricane repairs at the Chalmette
Battlefield and the Barataria Preserve of Jean Lafitte National Historical
Park and Preserve. She last visited the park in October 2005, touring the
area by air and meeting with National Park Service employees affected by
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

The park at 8606 West St. Bernard Highway in Chalmette was flooded by
Katrina and suffered damage to its visitor center and historic buildings
housing offices and equipment at Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery
and 2,500 feet of the historic brick wall surrounding the cemetery was
shattered. The park has been recruiting volunteers with cemetery cleanup and
a prefabricated structure for a temporary visitor center is being installed.


The battlefield and cemetery remain closed although the park hopes to reopen
in late spring when services are restored to the area. 

. . . . . . . 


ARABI HELPING ARABI: Carol and Wayne Harris, retirees who live in Arabi,
Ga., decided they wanted to help people in Arabi in St. Bernard Parish after
hearing of the parish's struggles from Hurricane Katrina. 

The couple recently retired from the liquor business in Arabi, Ga., about
150 miles south of Atlanta, and decided for their 20th anniversary last week
that they would bring donations to help the storm-damaged community of Arabi
instead of giving gifts to each other. 

They drove by truck, arriving Tuesday, bringing hundreds of dollars worth of
nonperishable food, cleaning supplies and tools. 

"We heard about Arabi," and thought it unusual to have the same name as the
small town they have lived in for years, Carol Harris said. "We saw you all
on TV and our hearts went out to you" because of the damage from Hurricane
Katrina. 

. . . . . . . 


Karen Turni Bazile can be reached at kturni at timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3335.