Homer Mayor Recall Back On Track
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
The Louisiana Supreme Court refused to
consider an appeal by
State Attorney General Charles Foti's office
regarding 66 signatures, 42 printed names, that were placed back on the recall
petition for Homer Mayor Huey Dean at the direction of District Judge Jimmy
Teat in a court hearing held September 11, 2003. Registrar of Voters Patricia Sanders had removed 380 of
the 989 names on the petition because they were either missing certain required
information, the signature was either printed or did not match the voter
registration card, or the signature was not legible.
Shreveport Attorney Larry English
represented petitioners Willie Young, Sr., Lurry Crew,
Maxine Wilson, Linda K. Robinson, Vannessia A.
Thompson Kirk (wife of Councilman Billy Kirk Jenkins), and Leamon
Cheatham, asking Sanders to provide reasons for disqualifying 148 names. Young,
whose name had been removed from the petition, had run for the office of mayor
in the October 2002 election but was defeated by Huey
Dean by a margin of 711 votes (55.12 %) to 579 votes (44.88%) for Young.
Crew and Wilson served as chairmen of
the recall petition. It was discovered that Crew did not live inside the city
limits so therefore was not a qualified elector. His name was disqualified on
the petition.
The petition needed at least 667 names,
or 33.33 percent, to have the Governor issue a proclamation calling for an
election. The addition of the 66 names gave the petition 675 names, or 33.67
percent, just enough to call an election.
Just over one month after taking office,
Huey Dean and the Town Council were presented the Town's financial statement
for the end of December, 2002 by town financial consultant Carlos Martin. The
statement showed a negative balance in the Enterprise Fund of -$263,721.06 and
a negative balance of -28,601.17 in the General Fund. The total cash for all funds in the master
bank account at the end of December was $63,295.93. Martin told the Council
using dedicated funds, such as industrial funds, to make up for deficits in other funds is a violation of the Town's sales
tax ordinance.
In a memo to the mayor dated February
11, 2003 Martin urged the mayor to take immediate steps to monitor the daily
cash flow and control spending. It was determined the Town was spending an
average of $45,000 more per month than was being collected in the Enterprise
and General Funds combined. At a special called meeting on February 20, Dean
recommended making cuts totaling $10,552 per month which included laying off several town employees. On February 28, Crew and
Wilson initiated the recall petition and began collecting signatures.
For the next several months, Dean made
repeated attempts to get copies of the recall petition, sending several
registered letters to both Crew and Wilson. Dean has now indicated he will
pursue a lawsuit against the petitioners for denying him a copy of the petition before they submitted it to the registrar's office.
Those pushing for the recall believe
Dean has not followed town policies, has laid off
employees unnecessarily, as well as other financial and ethics issues. Dean
says he inherited the financial problem from the previous administration. The
Council had no choice but to make cuts to avoid spending dedicated funds
illegally. In February 2004, District Attorney Walter May attended the Town
Council meeting and confirmed an Attorney General Opinion which stated it was
unlawful to use dedicated tax funds for anything other than what was called for
by Town Ordinance.
It is now up to Governor Kathleen Blanco
to issue a proclamation to call for an election to set a date to allow Homer
voters to decide whether or not they want Dean to continue as mayor. The Recall
Committee plans to meet this week to begin making plans how to get people to
the polls to vote.
Former Town Clerk's Sentence Overturned
Second Circuit Court Says Judge Was
Wrong To Reconsider Sentence
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Haynesville Town Clerk Marilyn Bush may have
to serve the rest of her ten year jail term if the ruling of the Second Circuit
Court of Appeal stands, overturning Judge Jenifer Clason's decision to throw out Bush's ten year sentence and
release her from jail last February in exchange for a payment of $100,000 in
restitution to the Town of Haynesville. District Attorney Walter May appealed
that decision. A ruling handed down last Thursday, July 8 by the Court of
Appeal agreed with May, stating that Clason's basis
for the decision "flies in the face of logic." The ruling stated the
district court erred in allowing any judicial review of an agreed sentence,
that a trial court is without authority to amend a hard labor sentence once the
defendant has begun serving it. Bush's hard labor sentence was reinstated.
Bush's attorney Eric Johnson disagreed
with the Court's ruling. He felt Judge Clason was
correct and vowed to do everything he could to see her ruling would stand. He
plans to first ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to review the ruling. If
unsuccessful, he will then file a petition for post-conviction relief, claiming
Bush was denied due process. This could
result in having her initial conviction thrown out and open the option for
either a new trial or a plea agreement, although he said Bush would never enter
another guilty plea with an agreed upon sentence.
Johnson said he has really never
understood why May is so intent on keeping a 56-year-old woman with a heart
condition in jail. It is a shame that her family spent the better part of two
years raising the $100,000 for restitution for the sole purpose of getting Bush
released from jail. If she is returned to prison, Johnson, who has been holding
the $100,000 cashier's check payable to the Town of Haynesville, said the money
will go back to the family members who raised it. It will not go to the Town of
Haynesville and there are no guarantees the Town will win the civil suit
against the former auditing firm.
May said, "My primary obligation is
to the people of the Second Judicial District and, certainly, to the victims of
crimes. In this case, however, I actually have some sympathy for the defendant.
She should have had a definite sentence, according to the Court of Appeals,
over two years ago. Certainly she should be punished for her crime, but
bouncing her back and forth with no certainty or conclusion for over two years,
I have never seen anything like it."
Bush has admitted taking as much as
$70,000 between March 1999 and September 2000, but a report issued in February
2002 by former Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle showed at least $432,250 missing
for town funds between July 1991 and September 2000. During that time, Bush was
town clerk and the only person responsible for making bank deposits.
During her pre-trial conference, Bush
never made any offer of repayment until just days before her scheduled trial on
April 5, 2002, when through her attorney Paul Garner she offered to pay the
$15,000 she had posted as bond, an amount that was unacceptable to the court. Clason then sentenced her to the maximum sentence of ten
years at hard labor. She said restitution was not available to the court as
part of the penalty, but said she could be ordered to pay restitution as a
condition of parole.
Council Approves Pay Raises For Police Officers
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
The Homer Town Council approved pay raises for police officers at
their regular meeting Monday, July 12. Police Chief Rodney Hollenshead
told the Council two of his officers had turned in their resignation in the
past month to take jobs elsewhere for more pay. The Town was going to continue
to lose police officers until the Council does something to raise their pay.
After some discussion, the Council approved giving full-time officers a $1 per
hour pay raise and part-time officers a $.50 per hour pay raise effective
August 1, 2004, with the exception of the two new officers and with the
stipulation that Chief Hollenshead monitor the
overtime very closely. The annual cost to the Town is estimated around $23,000.
Billy Kirk Jenkins asked if there were
any plans to give pay raises to the six employees in public works. Jesse Ford
said most of the public works employees are already being paid more than the
police officers.
Finance Committee Chairman Elmer Poss informed the Council several changes recommended by
his committee had not been included on the copy of the proposed budget for
January 1-December 31, 2004. The budget is balanced and all the funds show
small surpluses which he urged the Council to guard as best they could. The
Committee recommended setting a minimum of $30,000 from the new $5 fee on water
bills each year to repay the deficit in the Industrial Fund, and if possible,
to put another $30,000 in the budget so the Town could pay the debt sooner.
Otherwise, it could take 10-15 years to pay off the deficit.
Poss pleaded with the Council to get the
financial records up to date as soon as possible, to get current monthly
financial statements prepared each month with up-to-date budget figures, to
take any new proposed expenses under advisement until they could determine if
the expense was financially feasible, and to go ahead and separate the bank
accounts already approved by the Council as soon as possible.
Mayor Dean said it was hard to open
accounts when there was no money. Poss said the
committee understands there is no money for the Industrial Fund, but new
accounts could be set up in the other accounts and new tax receipts could be
placed in the separate accounts each month, including the Industrial Fund. They
do not have to cash in the $40,000 CD to place in the Industrial Account, but
they could at least show it on the books.
Police Jury Endorses Sen. Landrieu's
Summit
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
The Claiborne Parish Police Jury passed a resolution at their
July 8 meeting to commend Senator Mary Landrieu for her commitment to host a
summit in Claiborne Parish for those rural parishes who
have an economic development plan and to coordinate with her staff to help
implement the summit. Roy Mardis shared Dr. James
Robert Michael's concern that his committee's plan for lake and retirement
development was not being included in the resolution. Michael said the Visions
booklet was not a comprehensive regional economic plan but only a collection of
ideas, and asked jurors to clarify what his committee had been instructed to
do. Mardis said a little more communication would
help.
Lawson Wilder said there seemed to be a conflict between two
groups and the public was confused as to what the economic development plan is.
Jury President Weldon Kilpatrick said they have a new industrial board who will be looking at economic development. Wilder said he
did not think any board should decide on an economic development plan for the
parish without allowing for public comment. He suggested they hold some
meetings to get public input, then decide on the plan that everyone agrees on.
To avoid any confusion regarding the joint lake development
project being supported by both Claiborne and Webster Parish police juries, the
Jury voted to remove the statement in the resolution that referred to
Visions for a Better Tomorrow as the economic plan for the parish.
Scott Davidson reported the new Industrial Board had met and
elected officers. Dennis Butcher was elected chairman, Benji
Winn vice-chairman and Melissa Watts
secretary-treasurer. The four other members on the board are Tom Sherman, John
Wesley Cooper, Renee Buggs, and Kenneth Volentine. All members drew lots to determine their
staggered terms.
Jerry Adkins agreed to set a meeting with members of the Police
Jury, the Claiborne Industrial Board, the Claiborne Chamber of Commerce, and
Dr. Michael's Committee to discuss coordinating office space in the Jury
Complex to be used for industrial development.
School Board Gets Report On Homer
Schools
"Buy A
Book, Build A Child"
School Superintendent James Scriber gave
school board members
an update on the Homer School Project at their regular meeting
July 8. He said he had been working with architect Hugh Parker and had some
very preliminary figures on what the cost would be to construct either a
one-story or a two-story junior high building on the high school campus and to
renovate the existing high school building. The junior high building would not
be connected to the high school building. They could place the building on the
west side of the high school. A one-story building would almost have to go on
the practice field.
Scriber said he was trying to keep figures within
the amount available in the remaining bond funds of $2.8 million, plus Homer
District 13 maintenance funds of about $600,000, and the additional maintenance
funds of $130,000 per year that would be generated over the next eight years.
Homer Elementary classrooms and
cafeteria should have been completed May 20. They are projecting the cafeteria
to be complete by July 1 and Homer Elementary by August 1,
however Scriber does not think they will make the deadline.
Col. Ted Cox Guest Speaker At Prayer Breakfast
Col. Ted Cox was the guest speaker at a
recent Prayer Breakfast held at First Baptist Church in Homer. Cox is a
Shreveport attorney who serves as judicial administrator for the Caddo Parish
Juvenile Justice Center. He shared some of his experiences during his recent
stay in Iraq as well as some of his personal spiritual experiences. He referred
to a minister who once told soldiers to get out their weapons—spiritual
weapons, their Bibles. Comparing his
action to a former captain at The Alamo who drew a line in the sand asking
those who would stay and fight, he poured sand collected on a trip to Omaha
Beach. He then used a sword to draw a line in the sand and challenged the
approximately 75 in attendance to take a stand for
Jesus by crossing the sand. Everyone stood and crossed the line. Veterans who
attended the breakfast were Gurvis Vines, Jesse
Watson, Ted Cox, Ray Freeman, Cortez Bays, Paul Scott, Felton McDonald, Rev.
Bentley Masingill, Jack Hatfield, Michael Allen,
Chris Chandler, and Dr. T. M. Deas..
