8-21-19
THE DUSON POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS RESPONDED LATE LAST NIGHT TO REPORTS OF A VAPOR LEAK FROM A TANKER. MEGAN KELLY HAS MORE.
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LAKE CHARLES POLICE HAVE ARRESTED A MAN ON A FIRST DEGREE RAPE CHARGE. POLICE RESPONDED TO A SEXUAL ASSAULT COMPLAINT AT A LOCAL HOSPITAL ON MONDAY. THE WOMAN SAYS A MAN FORCED HER AT GUNPOINT INTO HER HOME IN THE 17-HUNDRED BLOCK OF SIXTH AVENUE. THE MAN WAS IDENTIFIED AS 21-YEAR-OLD BRYAN RODRIGUEZ ECHEVARRIA, WHO WAS ARRESTED IN THE AREA OF THE SEXUAL ASSAULT WHILE COMMITTING A BURGLARY.
A 70-year-old Crowley man has died after trying to put out a fire in his rented house on west eleventh street. The state fire marshal says a woman who also lived there told investigators that a window air conditioner was sparking about 8:45 Monday night. She said the man, Lawrence Robinson, was trying to extinguish the fire when she left, urging him to leave too. Fire marshal’s spokeswoman Ashley Rodrigue said Tuesday that the fire’s cause is undetermined, but electrical malfunction has not been ruled out, as the air conditioner and several extension cords apparently were plugged into one power strip.
LAST NIGHT THE LAFAYETTE CITY PARISH COUNCIL APPROVED A RESOLUTION CALLING ON THE U-S ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS TO DREDGE THE VERMILLION RIVER OR, ALTERNATIVELY, TO SUPPORT THE CONSOLIDATED GOVERNMENT IN PURSUING ITS OWN DREDGING PROJECT. THEY FEEL DREDGING THE RIVER DOWN TO NINE FEET WILL HELP PREVENT FLOODING IN THE PARISH. THE VERMILLION PARISH POLICE JURY PASSED A RESOLUTION MONDAY NIGHT OPPOSING THE DREDGING UNLESS THE CORPS FINDS THERE WILL BE NO ADVERSE EFFECTS DOWNRIVER. THE CORPS IS CONDUCTING A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF DREDGING THE VERMILLION RIVER AND THE RESULTS ARE EXPECTED BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR.
THE OWNER OF AN OLD REFINERY ALONG THE CALCASIEU RIVER IS SEEKING A RENEWAL OF A WATER DISCHARGE PERMIT. THE PELICAN REFINERY IS NOT CURRENTLY OPERATING ACCORDING TO NEIGHBORS WHO WERE INTERVIEWED BY KPLC TV. SO ITS NOT CLEAR WHY THE OWNER WANTS TO RENEW THE PERMIT, WHICH IS CONCERNING TO THE NEIGHBORS. BACK IN 2007, FEDERAL AND STATE AGENTS INVESTIGATED THE REFINERY WHICH RESULTED IN SERIOUS VIOLATIONS AND LARGE FINES.
A FEDERAL INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN LAUNCHED INTO THE DEATH OF A WORKER AT A SALT MINE IN ST. MARY PARISH. LAST THURSDAY, SHAWN CLEMENTS OF FRANKLIN WAS ELECTROCUTED WHILE WORKING IN THE SALT MINE, WHICH IS OWNED BY COMPASS MINERALS. THE ST. MARY PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE HAS RULED THE DEATH AN ACCIDENT. THE U-S DEPARTMENT OF LABOR’S MINES AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION IS CONDUCTING ITS OWN INVESTIGATION.
SCHOOL HAS STARTED BUT THERE ARE MORE THAN FIFTY TEACHING POSITIONS THAT REMAIN TO BE FILLED IN ACADIANA. MOST OF THE TEACHER VACANCIES ARE IN LAFAYETTE AND ST. LANDRY PARISHES. DR. NATHAN ROBERTS, THE DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AT U-L, SAYS THE PROBLEM IS THE DWINDLING NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO WANT TO BE A TEACHER. HE TELLS KLFY TV THAT THE NUMBERS BEING PRODUCED IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION AND TEACHER PREP DON’T COME CLOSE TO FILLING THE NEEDS WITHIN THE STATE.
A ST. MARTINVILLE EARLY HEAD START TEACHER HAS BEEN CHARGED AFTER SHE ALLEGEDLY TWICE STRUCK A ONE-YEAR-OLD BOY IN THE BACK BECAUSE HE WOULDN’T STOP CRYING. STAFF MEMBERS AT HEAD START TOLD THE FATHER ABOUT THE INCIDENT AND HE FILED A COMPLAINT. POLICE OBTAINED PHOTOS OF AN INJURY TO THE CHILD’S BACK. 32-YEAR-OLD KRISTINA FRANCOIS HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH SIMPLE BATTERY.
