[StBernard] What is going on here?

[Westley Annis]

        What is going on here? I have heard different stories and rumors
from several people and none of them are compatible to each other. 

        One rumor says that Murphy and the parish have already or are about
to reach an agreement  to tap into natural gas that is found in in the area
north of judge perez from the violet canal to paris road. The only thing
holding them up is people living there, so they are making it as difficult
as possible for us to be there. That certainly coincides with the fact that
we still can't get phone service or mail delivery after we have been
promised that it would be soon. Our history of shady politics also helps to
feed that one. 

        Another rumor is similar to the first. The parish really doesn't
want its citizens back. They would prefer to have us leave and sell our
properties cheap to the "LLCs" which are nothing more than the rich
politically connected people of the parish. They can then fix it up and rent
it out or sell it, standing to make a considerable profit from this at our
expense. I have also heard that a lot of the businesses that actually want
to come back are being given a hard time if they aren't connected
politically and that a lot of the ones who have reopened had the benefit of
"knowing someone". 

        Another story, a true one, involves a licensed contractor, my
neighbor, who wanted to get a permit to fix up his house. He couldn't get an
electrical permit, he wasn't a licensed electrician. So he tried for a
general contracting permit, after all, he is a licensed contractor. But,
alas, no  dice there either. He was told that the parish is not issuing any
permits for construction work. Whether that's strictly in the Murphy spill
zone or the whole parish, I do not know. What are the permit people doing?
Are we paying them to sit there and tell people "no" all day long? The
flat-out refusal to issue any kind of permit, kind of brings to mind my
first rumor about Murphy and the natural gas reserves. 

        The rest are all pretty similar to these. I have to say that some of
these stories are pretty believable and I wouldn't put it past St Bernard.
We have been described as having Peyton Place politics before. If there is
something shady in the works, I really hope it gets brought to light. I, for
one, am sick of the old regime. This is a great opportunity to revamp our
entire system and kick out those politicians teetering the brink of legality
and vote in some new, fresh, and untainted blood. Speaking of which, I
wonder how that FBI investigation into the parish and their recovery
contracts is going? The last I heard of it was the article I read in the
Times awhile back. With all the controversy, I cannot believe that it was
all on the up and up and I will be sorely disappointed if those involved
wriggle their way out of it. 

        Many of the people choosing to leave are doing so because of our
loose politics. For the basic survival of our community, we really need to
stand as a whole and make it very clear that those kinds of shenanigans will
not be tolerated any longer. If we have to splash every discretion on the
national news, and bring every suspicion to the FBI, then so be it. It's the
least we can do. We certainly owe it to ourselves to make sure that our tax
money does not end up in someone's pocket, but where its really needed.

Melissa