[StBernard] St. Bernard marina deal appears to shortchange a charity: An editorial

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard marina deal appears to shortchange a charity: An editorial

Published: Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 6:15 AM

 Editorial page staff, The Times-Picayune 

Amigo Enterprises Inc., a company that's partly owned by St. Bernard Parish
Sheriff Jack Stephens, has subleased marina land to BP during its oil spill
cleanup for a whopping $1.1 million a month since May, according to the oil
company.

But parish residents should have benefited from that deal, too, according to
the terms of Amigo's lease with the Arlene and Joseph Meraux Foundation.
Instead, the charity -- formed to benefit the people of St. Bernard Parish
-- appears to have been cheated.

The foundation's money is supposed to help make life better in St. Bernard,
something is has done by donating land for the parish hospital and funding
scholarships for Chalmette High School seniors.

Amigo -- which is owned by Sheriff Stephens, his cousin and former chief
deputy Tony Fernandez Jr. and John Despeaux -- has had its current lease
since 1996, first with Arlene Meraux and now with the foundation to which
she left her fortune. The lease calls for the company to pay the foundation
a monthly fee, now at $2,087 per month, and 10 percent of all gross income
derived from subleases or contracts.

Rita Gue, the foundation's president and Ms. Meraux's niece, said that since
she joined the board in 2003, Amigo Enterprises has never paid 10 percent of
its gross income, and that includes money from the BP lease.

BP and Amigo Enterprises disagree over how much money has changed hands. A
BP spokesman said the company has been paying Amigo Enterprises $1.1 million
per month since the beginning of the spill. Mr. Fernandez disputes that but
won't say how much the lease was.

But regardless of how much BP is supposed to pay or has paid, the Meraux
Foundation apparently has received nothing. That's troubling, especially
since Sheriff Stephens sits on the foundation's board.

Mr. Fernandez would not say whether his company has paid 10 percent of its
gross income, although he did acknowledge an ongoing discussion over the
lease between his company and the foundation.

"Let me just tell you this, the document itself is something that we adhere
to, and whatever the arrangements are, the payments between us and (the
Meraux Foundation) is between us,'' he told Times-Picayune reporter Chris
Kirkham.

No doubt he and his partners would like that to be the case. But if the
Meraux Foundation is getting short-changed, so is the public. After all, the
foundation was formed to improve the quality of life and standard of living
in St. Bernard Parish. 

Surely that means more than enriching three of its citizens.