Road To Nowhere

It's September Twenty-Ten
Good times since can't remember when

The Apocalypse is nigh
But they still ain't finish Versailles

So long Sugarhouse Road Extension
You died from the mayor's inattention

Four years and millions later
The whole thing useless as a crater

Mini Mayor signed with HIP
But them boys gave him the slip

There is no safe levees
Thanks to our town heavies

Rapides Hospital laughed to the bank
And left us with the stank

Rapides pays the mayor's wife
She got a pretty good life

Harry Silver is on the board
We in trouble, oh Lord!

Have mercy on our city
Save us from this pity

We're on the Road To Nowhere

A Month To Go And No Scheduled Debates

This is an important election.  We got a clown - a really sad unfunny clown - as mayor.  This clown mayor can't even make basic city services work.  He did not protect our levees when he worked for the Levee District.  His wife even work for the Rapides Foundation levee busters.  He could not get our money back from Cleco.  He lied about HIP.  Clown mayor has a friends and family promotional deal down at city hall.  How else Lamar got a job?  Incompetence.  Nobody does it better than Mini Mayor.  Alexandria stands of the verge of the Apocalypse.  The Horsemen are riding into town.  Can't we at least have 1 debate before we slide into the abyss?

Fetal Freddy Playbook Used On Mini Mayor

Just like a rich, spoiled kid to be tramplin on the Constitution.  Look, Fetal Freddy, in this country you are innocent until proven guilty.  But what do you go off and do?  Calling people cowardly bigots.  Start accusing people of things and issuing ultimatums that they are guilty unless they publicly deny your accusations.  You really are a messed up little freak.  Simon Legree, Hitler, Stalin, Bull Connor, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, Mini Mayor and Fetal Freddy.  That's bad company, punk.

Maybe Mini Mayor would like a taste of Fetal Freddy's medicine.  Using Fetal Freddy's playbook, here are some things we will believe until Mini Mayor publicly denies them.  Just remember, we fightin Fetal Freddy's fire with a little fire of our own.  If you can't stand the heat in the kitchen (ask your momma for the rest, we're tired of giving your dumb*** free advice).

1 - Mini Mayor received money under the table from Cleco or Cleco shareholders to drop the lawsuit.

2 - Mini Mayor knew about all of the levee deficiencies long before he was mayor.

3 - Mini Mayor was the levee board attorney because of his family connections in Avoyelles Parish.

4 - Mini Mayor's dad is the levee board attorney because of his family connections in Avoyelles Parish.

5 - Mini Mayor's brother tried to cut St. Landry parish out of the levee board power structure to gain more Roy family influence over the corrupt levee board.

6 - Mini Mayor has had sexual relations with his Chief Operating Officer also known as Kay Cell.

7 - Mini Mayor has had sexual relations with a lot more than Kay Cell and his wife.

8 - Mini Mayor and his family and friends have received personal gifts from HIP in exchange for rewarding the bid to HIP.

9  - Mini Mayor will not sue Rapides Regional for cutting the Bayou Phillips Levee because Mini Mayor's wife rakes in a salary of over $100,000 from the Rapides Foundation.

10 - Mini Mayor has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

11 - Mini Mayor has a family history of alcoholism and mental illness.

12 - Mini Mayor takes anti-psychotic medication to function normally on a daily basis.

13 - Mini Mayor visits a therapist monthly to deal with his mental disorders.

The next mayor briefing would be a great time for Dr. Evil to let Mini Mayor deny these truths.  We hope Fetal Freddy is sitting in Mini Mayor's lap as Mini Mayor sets the record straight.  Dr. Evil with one arm up Mini Mayor's back and Fetal Freddy sittin in his lap.  Priceless.

Fatman Mini Mayor and Fetal Freddy

TT: Death of Journalism

Today TT opens year 128 of disinformation.  The mission of the TT is to suck up to local politicians and the powerful.  They've done a great job.  TT mainly print news releases from city hall, businesses and other politicians.  They ain't lookin out for you the reader.  No No No.  If they were, they'd look into this

http://jacquesbarack.blogspot.com/2010/03/rapides-regional-killed-downtown-now.html

or this

http://jacquesbarack.blogspot.com/2010/03/rapides-regional-silence-is-deafening.html

or this

http://jacquesbarack.blogspot.com/2010/03/oh-snap-ordinance-no-184-2008.html

They'd get up in David Williams face and ask him why Rapides Regional cut the levee and when Rapides Regional was going to fix it.

They go do some research to figure out who let Rapides Regional cut the levee.

They'd get up in Chris Brouillette's face and ask him what he's been doing all these years and where's the permits for Rapides Regional and the Pentecostals.

They'd get up in Jacques face and ask him what he did when he was employed by Chris Brouillette and why he's been lying about the city's role in the levee mess.

They'd get up in Jacques face and ask him why he hasn't demanded that Rapides Regional fix the levee problem they caused.

They'd get up in Harry Silver's face and ask him what he plans to do about the Rapides Regional levee problem as a board member.

They'd get up in Jacques face and ask him if he got any money from Cleco or if his campaign is looking for money from Cleco.

They'd get up in Jacques face and ask him if the economy is so bad, why he's driving a new $60,000 Mercedes?  Did Cleco pay for it or does the mayor make too much money?

No, TT ain't gonna do that.  Don't call yourselves journalists when all you are is a copier and a suckup.

The Rapides Foundation Can Fix the Levee that Rapides Regional Broke

Here's the history of the Rapides Foundation:

On September 1, 1994, a reservoir of almost $150 million was used to create the largest endowed charitable foundation in Louisiana, The Rapides Foundation. Although new to Central Louisiana as a grantmaking organization, The Rapides Foundation stems from a legacy of healthcare and community service that spans ten decades. It began in 1903 when a group of six physicians formed the 20-bed Alexandria Sanitarium at the corner of Second and Lee Street. The Louisiana Baptist Convention acquired the sanitarium in 1917 and operated it as the Baptist Hospital until 1970 when it was turned over to the community as Rapides General Hospital. From that point, the hospital flourished as Rapides Regional Medical Center and developed into one of the leading nonprofit, acute care hospitals in the state.

By the hospital's 90th anniversary in 1993, challenges to its long term ability to provide quality healthcare and civic involvement were recognized by the RRMC trustees. Trustees and administration were concerned with competitive market and pricing pressures in a managed care environment which had become the focus of the industry. The issues to be addressed were managing operating costs and obtaining access to capital for the technology and facilities necessary to maintain and improve the level of excellence that the medical and patient community had come to expect. Extensive research indicated that a networked alliance could offer operating efficiencies and strengthen market potential as a managed care provider.

An opportunity was then recognized. A joint venture partnership with Columbia/HCA could extend the hospital's ability to provide quality healthcare in the changing environment and create a perpetual pool of resources to enable and sustain the quality of living in Central Louisiana through grantmaking activities as The Rapides Foundation. The operating assets and name of Rapides Regional Medical Center were sold to Central Louisiana Healthcare Systems Partnership which also includes four smaller Central Louisiana hospitals contributed by Columbia/HCA. The recognition of operational and governance concerns resulted in the restructuring of the joint venture to a limited liability corporation - Rapides Healthcare System in 1998. The Foundation continues to own a 26% interest in Rapides Healthcare System. This ownership level enables the Foundation to ensure community benefit through local governance.

Listen, Rapides Foundation, if you want to "enable and sustain the quality of living in Central Louisiana", use some of the $150 million you've been skimming off of us and fix our levee that you cut.

Columbia/Rapides Regional Reads Jacques Barack

Welcome to the Big Show, Columbia/HCA/whatever your name is.  Now that you've graced us with your presence, you can tell us when you plan to fix our levee that you cut.  Or you could just contribute to the Roy campaign fund.

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March 8th 2010	14:39:54	Page View	No referring link jacquesbarack.blogspot.com/2010/03/rapides-regional-silence-is-deafening.html
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Rapides Regional - The Silence is Deafening

We found out last Wednesday that a parking lot at Rapides Regional is one of the reasons that our levees cannot be certified and that this may cost every house in Rapides Parish about $5000 to fix.  We asked for answers.  Can you hear the crickets?

Surely Rapides Regional must have the permit that it obtained to cut the levee, right?  Rapides Regional did get a permit, right?  Now that the Rapides parking lot is preventing the levee certification, how long does Rapides Regional expect us to wait before it corrects the problem?  Why isn't Jacques putting any pressure on Rapides Regional?  Why isn't the editorialboard@thetowntalk.com asking these questions?  It would be nice if Rapides Regional could issue a press release and clear this up for us.  Until Rapides Regional steps up and puts these questions to rest,  we invite all of our readers to contact the CEO of Rapides Regional, David Williams, and demand some answers.

Or maybe y'all like paying $5000 for flood insurance so David Williams can enjoy a fat salary and fat bonuses.

Rapides Regional Killed Downtown, Now Gunning For All Alexandria

Forget the hotels deal.  Forget street improvments.  Downtown is dying because of Rapides Regional.  The greedy flies at Rapides Regional were not content with a crosswalk over a public street, so they had their cronies in public office give them our city street.  A lot of people in town didn't care because they didn't use Highway 1 to move through town.  Now Rapides Regional has hit us all in the wallet with this submarine parking lot.  If we have to pay $5000 to insure our homes, you can bet sure as hell we'll be suing Rapides Regional, the City of Alexandria and Jacques M. Roy.  But, before we start calling attorneys, here's out list of demands:

We demand a public statement from Rapides Regional today about how this happened, who knew what and when they knew it.  This is Rapides Regional's CEO, David Williams.

We want some answers Mr. Williams.

We demand a public statement from Jacques M. Roy today about how this happened, who knew what and when they knew it.  This is Jacques.

We want some answers Jacques.

We demand a public statement from Councilman Harry Silver today about how this happened, who knew what and when they knew it.  This is Harry Silver.  He has served on the board of trustees for Rapides Regional during this whole mess.

We want some answers Harry.  And please, no cursing.

This is Paul Carty.

He supposedly runs the TT.  We want some answers to these questions and that means you are going to have to allow your reporters to ask them.  Don't be afraid of the truth.

You Think Rapides Regional Didn't Know It Was Them the Whole Time?

Reading Bret McCormick's piece on Leveegate this morning, our first thought was why has Rapides Regional been quiet the whole time?  They had to know it was them?  They were going to hang the Pentecostals of Alexandria out?  Nice.

During a meeting of the Red River, Atchafalaya & Bayou Boeuf Levee District Board of Commissioners this week, Chris Brouillette, the district's executive director, said he didn't know the location of a 350-foot parking lot along Bayou Rapides that was cited by FEMA as being without the required freeboard along the levee.

The first parking lot that came to his mind was on Bayou Rapides Avenue across the street from The Pentecostals of Alexandria church grounds.

Jessie Lachney, a Marksville resident who is a former member of the levee board and was in attendance at Tuesday's meeting, knew that couldn't be correct and started digging.

Lachney said he was on the levee board when the sea walls were constructed on the church parking lot. When Rapides Avenue was being expanded, part of the levee was taken, causing the need for the sea wall construction.

At that time, Lachney said, the construction project was approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"I called Chris Brouillette (on Wednesday), and he said, 'Mr. Jessie, I don't know. FEMA won't let me know,'" Lachney said, referring to the parking lot in question.

Brouillette told Lachney that the Pentecostals' parking lot was the first one that came to his mind, but that there were several others that came to his mind later, including one at Rapides Regional Medical Center.

That's when Lachney sought out the city's Engineering Department, and he said he got confirmation from City Engineer Mike Wilkinson.

Why does Chris Brouillette still have a job at the Levee District?

"I don't have it in black and white," Brouillette said, adding that "the city was the one who was kind of in charge of" the certification process.

This is getting more and more interesting.  Who is it, the Levee District or Alexandria?  FEMA definitely thinks Alexandria is responsible.

City officials have said they've had trouble getting answers about the deficiencies from both FEMA and the Corps of Engineers.

FEMA officials continually have said that levee certification "is a Corps issue," and Susie Webb with FEMA's Region 6 public information office said the city of Alexandria is the one to contact about Bayou Rapides and Bayou Phillips deficiencies.

Bret McCormick treats us to some other interesting facts that will make Jacques blood boil.  We like reading Bret, but couldn't he have at least given us a nod for breaking the ordinance story?

In June 2007, the Levee District entered into a PAL agreement for Rapides Parish with FEMA that gave the district 24 months to make sure all of its levees were certified, which would then allow FEMA to accredit them.

The Alexandria City Council approved an ordinance on Sept. 25, 2007, for the city to enter into a contract with the Levee District and the Rapides Parish Police Jury "to obtain Bayou Rapides and Bayou Phillips levee certifications."

Here is today's example of Jacques lying and trying to blame others for his failures.

Roy said critics who are taking shots at the city for any deficiencies in the levees are "missing the boat on the city's responsibility, scope and role" with the levees. The mayor said the levees fall under the jurisdiction of the Levee District, but the city offered to "provide resources" for levee certification, including use of the city's Engineering Department to inspect the levees.

Because the levees within the city limits are not among the Mississippi River & Tributaries Project, the Corps would not provide inspection, which meant the Levee District would have had to hire a private engineering fund to perform the inspection at a cost of approximately $45,000 per mile.

"The city steps up to provide the engineering services it can, and the Corps says it's not enough," Roy said.

Jacques, if you think we here at Jacques Barack are done with our investigation, you are wrong.  You are lying again today.  You are about to get rain made.  Look for more breaking news on Leveegate from Jacques Barack on Monday.