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The Lafayette Parish School Board could begin discussions next month on a tax proposal to pay for facility upgrades when the board receives an updated report on which of its schools are most in need of repairs. Last week, The Advocate reports the board’s Finance Committee approved staff’s recommendation that the board should consider asking the community to support a tax as a way to help fund school construction and improvements. That recommendation goes to the full board today as an introduction item, so full discussion of the issue likely won’t happen until the board’s first meeting next month on Oct. 7, when the item appears on the action agenda. Recently, the board approved a $126 million bond sale that will enable the construction of a new high school and other school projects.
Ten years after back-to-back storms Katrina and Rita galvanized plans for a Lake Charles museum focused on hurricanes, supporters have secured about $42 million in pledges to build it. The Advocate reports the supports are now focused on closing a roughly $15 million funding gap in the coming months. If they are successful, Gray Stream, who has led fundraising efforts as chairman of the board for the National Hurricane Museum & Science Center, says construction could begin next year and the doors could open by 2018. The vision is a 68,000-square-foot facility offering interactive exhibits and educational programs on the science and impact of hurricanes — how they change the landscape as well as the culture.
A CROWLEY WOMAN WAS KILLED YESTERDAY MORNING AROUND 5:30 WHEN SHE WAS STRUCK BY A TRUCK. 32-YEAR-OLD NAOMI CHAILLOT WAS WALKING ALONG JASMINE STREET IN EGAN NEAR THE PETRO STOPPING CENTER WHEN SHE WAS HIT BY THE TRUCK. THE TRUCK DRIVER SAID IT WAS DARK AT THE TIME AND HE DIDN’T SEE HER. CHARGES HAD NOT BEEN FILED AS OF LAST REPORT.
AUTHORITIES IN LAFAYETTE ARE TRYING TO FIND A GUNMAN WHO TRIED TO KILL ANOTHER MAN EARLIER THIS SUMMER. JULIE DARCE REPORTS.
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A MOTORCYCLIST WAS KILLED IN AN ACCIDENT ON LABOR DAY. LAKE CHARLES DEPUTY CHIEF MARK KRAUS SAYS THE MOTORCYCLIST WAS TRAVELING ON A CONCRETE PATH TO FITZENRIETER PARK WHEN HE WENT OFF THE PATH AND THE BIKE FELL OVER. THE MOTORCYCLIST, WHO WAS NOT WEARING A HELMET WAS EJECTED AND STRUCK A TREE. HE WAS TAKEN TO A LAKE CHARLES HOSPITAL AND THEN TRANSFERRED TO RAPIDES MEDICAL CENTER, WHERE HE DIED.
LAST NIGHT THE OPELOUSAS CITY COUNCIL UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED A PAY RAISE FOR SECRETARIES AND DISPATCHERS IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. THEY HAVE BEEN PAID THE MINIMUM WAGE AND NOT RECEIVED A PAY RAISE SINCE 2000. THEY WILL RECEIVE NINE DOLLARS AN HOUR BEGINNING WITH THE NEXT PAY PERIOD. POLICE CHIEF DONALD THOMPSON SAYS THIS HAS BEEN ONE OF HIS TOP PRIORITIES SINCE HE BECAME CHIEF AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR.
A Pitkin man has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $13,000 from the Fort Polk Post Exchange. U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley said Tuesday that 40-year-old Darian Chad Pottmeyer pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Patricia Minaldi to one count of theft of government money. Pottmeyer was a cashier at the Post Exchange and stole more than $13,000 from January 2014 to November 2014. A sentencing date of Dec. 10 was set.
The St. Landry Parish School Board met in closed session for 90 minutes to discuss possible legal options in a federal court desegregation case considered to have been closed in 2011. Attorney Bob Hammonds tells The Advocate the board requested a meeting with him Tuesday to go over potential strategies as the five-year monitoring period comes to a close at the end of the 2015-16 school year. During that five-year period, the federal courts have been monitoring the district’s progress on facilities and student assignments. The board took no action Tuesday after reconvening into open session.
