[StBernard] St. Bernard preparedness chief outlasts 'squabble'

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Tue Aug 8 18:22:05 EDT 2006


St. Bernard preparedness chief outlasts 'squabble'
Heated words follow drill in St. Bernard
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
St. Bernard bureau

St. Bernard Parish almost entered the most active period of the hurricane
season without the person responsible for hurricane preparedness.

But in the end, cooler heads prevailed Monday evening.

Earlier Monday, Larry Ingargiola, who as director of homeland security and
emergency preparedness is responsible for hurricane planning, told reporters
he had resigned his post under pressure from two ranking members of Parish
President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez's administration. Ingargiola said he was
asked for his resignation after the parish had held a hurricane preparedness
practice run Monday morning.

Ingargiola, 61, who has been the parish's homeland security director for the
past 2½ years, said Alan Abadie, Rodriguez's chief legal counsel, and Dave
Peralta, the acting parish chief administrative officer, had asked for his
resignation, citing unhappiness with his job performance. Ingargiola said he
would resign.

But the day's events apparently caught Rodriguez by surprise. "Junior didn't
know anything about it," Ingargiola said. "He said, 'What the hell are you
talking about?' "

And by Monday night the story was that Ingargiola would not be resigning
after all.

Charlie Reppel, Rodriguez's chief of staff, blamed the
now-he's-resigning-now-he's-not drama on a "family squabble" within
Rodriguez's administration that led to some heated words after the hurricane
drill.

And after meeting with Rodriguez on Monday evening, Ingargiola is staying
on.

Hurricane season is June 1 to Nov. 30, with the peak from August to October.



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