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MONDAY, HAD POINTED HIS WEAPON AT THE OFFICERS WHO WERE TRYING TO APPREHEND HIM, ACCORDING TO STATE POLICE SPOKESMAN JARED L. SANDIFER. VERMILLION PARISH SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES RESPONDED TO REPORTS OF A MAN ARMED WITH A GUN IN THE AREA OF KIRK ROAD AND MORTON ROAD, AND WHEN THE MAN, 46-YEAR-OLD JAMES DEROUEN OF NEW IBERIA, FLED INTO THE WOODS, THEY REQUESTED HELP FROM OTHER AGENCIES. SANDIFER SAYS DEROUEN WAS FOUND IN AN OPEN FIELD AND, WHEN HE RAISED HIS FIREARM TOWARD THE OFFICERS, HE WAS SHOT BY A LAFAYETTE PARISH SHERIFF’S DEPUTY AND A STATE POLICE TROOPER. DEROUEN IS IN CUSTODY AT LAFAYETTE GENERAL HOSPITAL AND, WHEN HE’S RELEASED, HE WILL BE BOOKED INTO THE VERMILLION PARISH JAIL FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER OF A POLICE OFFICER.
THE STATE SUPREME COURT HAS DECLINED TO HEAR THE CASE OF A PROPOSED PAYMENT IN LIEU OF TAXES, OR PILOT, PLAN BETWEEN CAMERON PARISH AND CAMERON L-N-G. THE CAMERON POLICE JURY, SCHOOL BOARD AND SHERIFF’S OFFICE HAD REACHED AN AGREEMENT WITH CAMERON L-N-G IN WHICH THE COMPANY WOULD PAY A LARGE LUMP SUM UP FRONT TO THE PARISH. BUT THE PARISH TAX ASSESSOR CHALLENGED THE AGREEMENT IN COURT SAYING THE PARISH WOULD END UP LOSING MORE THAN A BILLION DOLLARS IN TAX REVENUES. A JUDGE IN CAMERON PARISH AGREED WITH THE TAX ASSESSOR, REFUSING TO APPROVE THE DEAL, AND THE THIRD CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS UPHELD HIS DECISION.
FATHER FELIX DAVID BROUSSARD, WHO WAS ACCUSED LAST SUMMER OF POSSESSING MORE THAN 500 CHILD PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES ON HIS COMPUTER, ENTERED A PLEA OF NOT GUILTY YESTERDAY. DISTRICT JUDGE PAUL DEMAHY SET HIS NEXT COURT DATE FOR AUGUST 14TH. BROUSSARD HAS BEEN A PRIEST IN THE DIOCESE OF LAFAYETTE FOR MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS, THE LAST TWO AT ST. BERNARD ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN BREAUX BRIDGE. WHEN BROUSSARD WAS ARRESTED AND CHARGED LAST JULY 27TH, HE WAS IMMEDIATELY PROHIBITED FROM PERFORMING PRIESTLY DUTIES SINCE THEN BY BISHOP DOUGLAS DESHOTEL.
Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration is trashing House Republicans’ version of next year’s budget, saying it would cause widespread damage to health services and child welfare programs. In a Tuesday briefing, Edwards’ cabinet officials outlined a litany of criticisms against the proposal that emerged from the House Appropriations Committee. They said it would keep some Medicaid recipients from getting medications, shutter psychiatric treatment beds, force furloughs of nonviolent inmates and close two veterans’ cemeteries. The more than $28 billion operating budget proposal in the House would spend $235 million less in state tax dollars than Louisiana is forecast to receive next year.
Gov. John Bel Edwards has reached some common ground with Louisiana’s sheriffs and district attorneys in his push to decrease Louisiana’s highest-in-the-nation incarceration rate. A package of bills aimed at helping save Louisiana millions by bringing down the prison population received backing Tuesday from a Senate judiciary committee. But before they passed unopposed to the Senate floor, the proposals were heavily amended to reduce opposition from sheriffs and district attorneys, who refuse to cede much ground on lessening the punishments for violent crimes. The measures expand opportunities for probation and parole and shrink sentences for some offenders, mainly those jailed for non-violent crimes.
THE LAFAYETTE CONSOLIDATED COUNCIL YESTERDAY VOTED ON ONE-POINT-9 MILLION DOLLARS IN FLOOD DRAINAGE MONEY. JULIE DARCE REPORTS.
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A MEETING WILL BE HELD AT THE HOLIDAY INN IN SULPHUR AT FOUR THIS AFTERNOON TO GIVE DETAILS ABOUT A PROPOSED PIPELINE PROJECT. SEMPRA L-N-G IS PLANNING A 135 MILE PIPELINE THAT WILL TRAVEL FROM JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS THROUGH CAMERON, CALCASIEU, BEAUREGARD, ALLEN AND EVANGELINE PARISHES AND THEN ENDING IN ST. LANDRY PARISH. AT A MEETING IN KINDER YESTERDAY, SEMPRA L-N-G SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT MARK NELSON SAYS ABOUT TWO BILLION CUBIC FEET OF NATURAL GAS WILL BE CARRIED IN THE PIPELINE TO A PROPOSED PORT ARTHUR L-N-G FACILITY TO BE LIQUIFIED AND EXPORTED ABROAD. NELSON SAYS A PROJECT THIS LARGE WILL NEED LOCAL CONTRACTORS, ENGINEERS AND OTHER BUSINESS PARTNERS, SO IT WILL HAVE A POSITIVE ECONOMIC IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITIES THE PIPELINE PASSES THROUGH.
RESIDENTS IN ST. LANDRY AND EVANGELINE PARISHES HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO FILL SAND BAGS IN ANTICIPATION OF POSSIBLE HEAVY RAINS TODAY. THE CITY BARNS IN EUNICE, VILLE PLATTE AND MAMOU HAVE SAND AND BAGS. ALSO RESIDENTS CAN GET SAND BAGS FILLED AT THE YAMBILEE BUILDING IN OPELOUSAS UNTIL EIGHT P-M AND THE TOWN OF ARNAUDVILLE WILL BE ISSUING SAND BAGS TODAY. THOSE WHO WANT TO FILL SAND BAGS TO PROTECT THEIR PROPERTY WILL NEED TO BRING THEIR OWN SHOVELS.
