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Coming Soon to your computer, everything you ever wanted to
know about politics in DeSoto and were afraid to ask!
Here are some of the stories we're
working on!
Coming Soon!!!!
- Arbuckle's DPSO cashes $$$thousands$$$ in
stolen money orders and checks....REALLY!!!
- Why several school board members don't
want to see a Walter Lee trial
Adams thinks its
"just part of being a Judge..."
I was not going to write about it. I didn’t
want to be accused of using the tragedy of a murder/suicide and
the resulting orphan, just to make the point that a DeSoto judge
has let at least two men out of jail who have then committed
murder. That is correct, two, two who battered their wives with
guns involved. They were then arrested, they announced what they
would do if they were let out of jail, they had their bail set
by Charlie Adams, they made bail and were freed, and then they
murdered their wives.
Then I met a little seven year old red headed
ball of energy. She is the orphan. It was at a Memorial Day
event at a dear friend’s camp on the river. Now I have to write
about it. You see, I believe that Adams thinks the entire matter
is just “part of being a judge”. He was not there when I
overheard her tell another child something that I will not
repeat, I walked away and cried. He was not there to look into
her sad eyes, not there as she looked at other children interact
with their mothers.
You, Judge Adams, have taken something away
from that little girl, and it had nothing to do with just being
a judge. That little girl will never be able to tell her mom
‘how proud she is of the way she raised her’. Never will she be
able to say ‘you taught me the meaning of family and the
importance of being there for the people you care about’, or
‘mom, you taught me the difference between right and wrong’. She
will never be able say ‘thanks mom for making me the woman I am
and I am proud you are my mother’.
I pray that this little girl will have
someone to tell these things to, and I am sad it can never be
her mom. I am also praying that the next time that the Judge
sets a bond in a domestic matter that he considers what was
taken from this little red headed seven year old child.
Comments...
5/27/2014
Legislative Auditor
Slams Arbuckle for relationship with Laginappe & Castillo
LLC and what the audit didn't say
If you haven’t heard, the Legislative Auditor has released its
report concerning Sheriff Arbuckle and his relationship with
Lagniappe and Castillo LLC. The report which can be
read here
is critical of Arbuckle and advised him… "We recommend that the
DPSO consult with legal counsel and the Louisiana Board of
Ethics on the legality of these relationships."
Also of concern is what is not in the report. While the auditors
were in town doing what they do it was discovered that Lagniappe
and Castillo utilized a web site to promote their business. At
that site it contained a list of names associated with the
company and their years of experience. As it turns out, several
of the individuals listed where never associated with the
company or where even aware that their names and law enforcement
experience was being used to promote the company. Arbuckle knew
this and to our knowledge DID absolutely nothing about it.
Arbuckle in fact by his continuing actions condones this
activity; he does that by continuing to do business with them!
While no local media has picked up on
this story (The Shreveport Times did but…) the
www.louisianavoice.com
has. I was intending on doing a piece of this type but in all
honesty I could not have said it better. Here is the link to
that story...
http://louisianavoice.com/2014/04/15/former-desoto-deputy-sheriffs-private-company-ran-half-million-dollars-in-background-checks-through-sheriffs-office/
Comments...
4/16/2014
Roe proposes 42nd Judicial District
Building, another waste of DeSoto tax dollars
What in the world is Reggie Roe
thinking? It seems the newly-elected President of the Police
Jury wants to build a new Judicial Complex on the Old Church Inn
site. The location is now boarded up and rumored to have
asbestos in it, which, if it does, that would mean it would
require an EPA asbestos eradication plan and a very large sum of
money. But, assuming the building is asbestos free, let’s think
about this: Every expenditure of taxpayer dollars must have a
compelling need before any capital project is undertaken. Simply
put, why do we need a new building to house two judges and a
court room? Is it because now they have to walk across Adams
Street to get from their offices to the courtroom when it is
raining? Here’s an idea: buy them an umbrella. Is it because of
the so called "security issues"? How about this, assign an extra
body guard on court days. Is it because the old courthouse
building is not ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant?
Don’t forget, the building will still be out of compliance for
the Clerk of Court, who you intend to leave at the old location.
Reggie, are you not aware of the
heartache the Sheriff is receiving (and will continue to
receive) for building a building we don’t need? Speaking of
which, the Sheriff has all but publicly said he has built more
building than we need by offering to repair any parish owned
vehicle for just the cost of parts. The parish repair shops are
really loving that; first the sheriff takes away any work they
may have been receiving from DPSO, and now in an attempt to
justify the 2 million dollar car wash, he’s trying to take away
any remaining work from other government entities in the parish.
Back to your Judges’ kingdom where no
one would be able to stand in the way of
whatever they want to do. Just like in the previously mentioned
security plan they put in motion without any written game plan
or consulting with the other tenant in the courthouse. So Mr.
President, what is the compelling reason for building such a
facility? Maybe that’s it, they don’t want to have to talk with
the Clerk. Sorry, that’s not compelling enough when it comes to
our tax dollars.
Comments...
4/12/2014
Qualifying brings no
surprises for April ballot
Qualifying for the April 5 municipal elections in Mansfield and
Stonewall has come and gone with no real surprises. Some would
argue that Stonewall has a few surprise candidates after Mayor
Charles Waldon tinkered with the idea of eliminating the town’s
police department in favor of subcontracting that out to the
DeSoto Sheriff. What Waldon found out was that bad timing of a
bad idea probably cost him a free pass; meanwhile, the Sheriff
found out that maybe our citizens actually do pay attention to
what our politicians are doing with their spare time.
In Mansfield, two long time politicians
got much deserved free passes. Winning by acclamation were Mayor
Curtis McCoy and Alderman Mitchell Lewis, both for the second
consecutive time. There is no better affirmation of the good job
one is doing than being blessed with not having an opponent
qualify to run against you. Mansfield is a cleaner, more forward
thinking town with a positive business climate because of the
Mayor and the Council. They have our best interests as their
motivating force, not just for the citizens of Mansfield, but
for everyone in DeSoto Parish. They have done a great job for us
and deserve winning by acclamation. When you see them, thank
them for their service to us!
Comments...
03/12/2014
A Reader asked about our qualifying article....
A reader asked about the
piece we did on qualifying. They wanted some
examples of what Mayor Curtis McCoy had done for
Mansfield. Aside from many abandoned lots being
cleaned up, he has negotiated with numerous
businesses who moved from one location to another
and who have moved into Mansfield. Wal-Mart and the
three motels come to mind; I hope you don’t believe
those things happened without a visit to City Hall.
Same for the Polk and 509 intersection upgrade,
which has without a doubt made that corner a lot
easier to travel. The new 171 bypass happened under
his watch also.
We have included a few
pics of some neighborhood work
currently going on….
4/6/2014
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A word about this past
weeks Brian Horn hearing......
Thanks to Judge Robert
Burgess for refusing Horns motion to another delay of 10 to 14
months. We all are aware that the appeal process may very well
reverse the Judges ruling, but it is comforting to know that
Burgess and DA Richard Johnson are ready to move forward and
bring justice to the Bloxom family.
Comments...
02/28/2014
Arbuckle's $2 mil car wash and oil change
facility
Editors Note: On Thursday, November 07,
2013 the following was submitted as a letter to the Editor of
the Mansfield Enterprise, they refused to print it. It is also
what prompted this web site.
“…building for the future” does not hold
water…
In response to the KTBS story about his 2
million dollar car pool, Sheriff Arbuckle says he is “building
for the future.” Hogwash! First of all, this statement implies
that there is some sort of business plan, or a future needs
study, projecting just what our future holds based on growth
patterns, census data, and other factors that only a qualified
professional could assess and predict. If such a study has been
done, and it does in fact say that we need a two million dollar
facility to repair and maintain our fleet of vehicles, I would
certainly publicly apologize to the Sheriff for criticizing this
absolute waste of our tax dollars. Now, since I’ve asked him to
justify that expenditure, I have a responsibility to explain why
I believe it’s a waste. No problem.
What the Sheriff has not mentioned is that
all of these Tahoes we’ve been buying (which, by the way, I
believe is a great idea, as they do a lot better on our country
roads, and they have a higher resale value when taken out of
service) all come with 100,000 mile power train warranties. So if
anything goes wrong with the engine, transmission, or drive
train
of these vehicles—in other words, the major, expensive
repairs—it’s not on the Desoto Parish taxpayers to fix this,
it’s on the dealer and General Motors. And it doesn’t cost us a
thing!
The second part of this is, the Sheriff has
said on multiple occasions in defending buying the more
expensive Tahoes, that he schedules them to be cycled out of
service at 80,000 miles to maximize the resale value (again,
another good idea). What this means is, as the older vehicles
are taken out of service and replaced, we will have a fleet that
with few exceptions will be repaired over at Mansfield Auto
World, free of charge! That two million
dollar repair and maintenance facility will be used almost
entirely to change tires and oil, swap burnt out headlights, and
for the inmates to wash those new Tahoes!
Finally, I want everyone to know that yes, I
have been Rodney’s campaign manager since he first ran for
office in 1999. I’ve also helped Judge Charles Adams on both of
his runs for office, and Jeremy Evans, Anne Gannon and Richard
Johnson, not to mention several school board members and police
jurors. I have dedicated my life to helping good people get
elected to office. I have told all of them I reserve the right
to tell them when I think they are doing something that is not
in the best interest of DeSoto Parish, a place that I am honored
to call home. When I first talked to Rodney about this, he made
excuses and told me that it just didn’t matter what anybody
thought anymore. That it didn’t matter? To me, that’s just not
acceptable, and I think we deserve better.
Comments...
02/28/2014
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