MORE MADNESS
In our last issue, I wrote about the madness of the national news media in covering the 2016 presidential race.
In this issue, the madness continues.
But this time it’s about the Mardi Gras parades of Gemini and Centaur, which encroach on the residential areas of Broadmoor and Shreve Island. And also about the madness over the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, known as TOPS.
Let’s deal with Mardi Gras first. I received a phone call from a veteran Shreveport police officer who is aware of my ongoing concern over the danger the parades present to residents who live in those two neighborhoods.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he had some startling revelations about how the police department and city officials attempt to cover up what really happens at the two parades.
As we are aware, at the Krewe of Centaur parade Jan. 30, a gunshot was fired and hit one of the floats.
In addition, there were incidents of some parade-goers, who obviously must have been drunk, throwing concrete blocks and other items at some of the floats. Those incidents sent city officials, the police department and the krewes into panic mode.
My source said the police chief called 300 more officers to duty for the Krewe of Gemini parade, which was Feb. 6.
It was noted the chief and deputy chief were no where to be found as they hunkered down at their residences while their officers battled drunks and unruly people. The police officer identified the situation as total chaos. The arrest statistics released by the police department apparently do not reflect what really takes place.
There is no provision made for drunks and other law-breakers to be processed, so most of them are just released to roam wild at the parades. The reason, of course, is that the krewes and city officials do not want the public to know about the lawlessness that really takes place during the parades. That would give the Shreveport Mardi Gras a bad image.
My source also confirmed what I have been saying for years. There is no way an EMS vehicle or a fire department truck could get to some of the homes in Broadmoor and Shreve Island should the need occur. We are in agreement that the parades causing a lockdown of these neighborhoods is a disaster waiting to happen.
That brings up the inflated information about the economic impact the parades have on the city. It was estimated the city spent more than $80,000 in overtime for police officers and a total of about $150,000 for police presence. That does not include the cost to the city for set-up and clean-up, nor does it include the cost for fire department and EMS personnel.
Then you need to add in many outof-towners stay in Bossier and many of them, including locals who attend, bring their own food and drinks, perhaps purchased outside of the city of Shreveport. And there are the businesses who suffer along Shreveport-Barksdale Highway and in Shreve City because they have to close. So an objective study of the real economic impact would be interesting indeed.
But apparently city officials and the local news media are totally infatuated with the krewes of Centaur and Gemimi. They attend the float-loading parties so they can appear on TV with worthless beads around their necks.
One station even televises one of the parades. Lost in it all is any concern for residents who are adversely impacted by the parades.
I also heard from parade-goers who had a bad experience at one or both of the parades, but that’s a story for another time.
Now, to the madness over the TOPS program, which may not be able to fund as many students as it has in the past to attend college.
What is really disturbing is the revelation that 75 percent of those who receive financial aid are white with a majority of them coming from families who make at least $70,000 in annual income. Are you kidding me? Should taxpayers be paying for the education of these students?
When I entered college in 1959, my parents were poor, so I had to work nights, weekends and summers to pay for my college education.
My dad was a truck driver for Texaco.
Every now and then, I would get $20 in the mail from him, which in today’s money would be about $150. I don’t know how he managed to do that, but I realize now what a sacrifice my parents made to help me get a college education. I worked my way through six years of college, two years at Nicholls State College and four years at LSU Baton Rouge.
Therefore, I have very little sympathy for most of the students who are protesting at the State Capitol and whining about the lack of funds for TOPS.
My solution: Get a job. Taxpayers do not owe you a college education. If you talk with anyone who works with young people today, he or she will tell you that many lack responsibility and have no work ethic.
If they get fired, they know mommy and daddy will take care of them. That’s on the parents, who have instilled a sense of entitlement into the minds of their kids. Because of the state’s budget crisis, they may get a free education about both.
Lou Gehrig Burnett, an award-winning journalist, has been involved with politics for 44 years and was a congressional aide in Washington, D.C., for 27 years. He also served as executive assistant to former Shreveport Mayor Bo Williams. Burnett is the publisher of the weekly “FaxNet Update” and can be reached at 861-0552 or louburnett@comcast.net.
