Random Thoughts

Everythinglakecharles.com The Blog

Carl M. Ambrose, Jr.

* They're 3000 counties in the U.S., 50% of the population lives in just 146 of them.

* There are roughly 7 Billion people on earth.

* 30,000 children die each day.

* There are 1 Million pounds of food thrown away each day.

* There are 4 Billion tons of toxic industrial pollution discharged per year.

* There are 2 Billion functioning cellphones thrown away per year.

*  50% of taxes got Military spending.

* Private corporations own and run 51% of everything on earth.

* The biggest problem facing America and the world in the next 5 yrs?

   Water, fresh drinking water.

   Corporations own the rights to much of the available drinking water in America.

* There are over 100,000 synthetic toxic chemicals mixed with organic compounds

   to create food, merchandise and products that or poisonous to you.

* Gold is being re-valued, as well as silver. 

   Gold and Silver production is Zero at present

   Demand will increase on precious metals that there is ALWAYS a demand for.

Randomness from Louisiana

     Senate Candidate Caroline Fayard held a campaign event recently in SWLa.  The event was held at the 1910 Restaurant & Wine Bar in downtown Lake Charles, nice crowd to hear the candidate speak and have a chance to talk to her.

    

     Speaking of the senate race, like the Governor's race it's off to a slow start.

The nine declared candidates have done little in the area of fund-raising or advertising.  With the state having budget problems and an upcoming session, attention is focused elsewhere.  The national election is also casting a shadow over this and other senate races around the country. While the major Republican candidates are the favorites in La., if Caroline Fayard, can get her message out, we could have a repeat of Last year's Governor's race, a republican against a democrat.  Though at this point, that does seem to be a long shot, kinda like the Governor's race. 

     In the race for the 3rd District seat there are six candidates: Greg Ellision, Brent Guymann, Erick Knezek, Gus Rantz, Grover Joseph Rees and Scott Angelle who  picked up the endorsement of the current holder of the seat and senate candidate Charles Boustany, Jr.

"I am proud to support Scott Angelle for the Third Congressional District. I've worked with Scott to support our farmers, our ports, and to restore our coastline. We fought together against the Obama administration in the wake of the Gulf drilling moratorium and won," reads the endorsement touted by Angelle. "I'm supporting Scott because he's the best candidate to stop Washington's war on oil, repeal Obamacare, and secure our border."

     While in Calcasieu Parish mums the word on the contract problems of the Superintendent of Schools. Conventional wisdom would think that copies were sent to more than us, knowing that the situation has been ignored by the local media for months.  Testing the waters...The quiet before the storm I would suspect...while state-wide..

   There might be some relief for teachers as  SB  342, sponsored by Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette, heads to the full Senate for debate after passing out of the Senate Education Committee on Thursday. The measure seems to have a lot of support and is expected to pass. 

     Hopefully the last words on Piyish Jindal, seems he came out of hiding at the $800K+ hole to be seen in Washington, just as Lamar White, Jr. (he's everywhere you know) was dropping a dime on his flip to now endorsing Trump while letting Vitter rot on the vine in last years Governor's race. Read More

     After the worst flooding in recent memory Police Jury President addressed a major problem facing the parish.  Here is his statement posted on facebook.

     "We have a drainage crisis in Calcasieu Parish. The following is my opinion, and I’m speaking only for myself as a citizen and as 1 of 15 Police Jurors. I apologize for the amount of text, and before anyone calls me out for not specifically addressing this street or that street, or this neighborhood or that neighborhood, I ask you to understand that if I wanted to fully address every aspect of drainage in Southwest Louisiana, I would need to author a novel. We must not look at this issue as a “North Lake Charles, “South Lake Charles, or “Downtown Lake Charles” problem. Truly, this is a parishwide problem. The American Press once said I "stirred the hornet's nest" with this issue. In Calcasieu Parish, we have 7 independent Gravity & Drainage Districts; that's right...7 districts all with their own boards(5 members each), superintendents, staffs, and equipment. We have taken a natural watershed that God has devised and cut it up in 7 districts, many with boundaries that follow no waterways or watershed. These man-made, straight lines drawn on the map have set up artificial "drainage walls," where a citizen may be lucky to live on one side of the street with a drainage district that is sufficiently funded and their neighbor across the street live in a drainage district that is not sufficiently funded. Add these drainage board members to the 15 police jurors we have and the dozens of city council members from cities and we have over 50 independent minds with their own visions for drainage improvement. Consolidation has historically been controversial. Within Calcasieu Parish, we have case studies for similar services consolidation, case studies that have proven very effective (library, roads, mosquito control, juvenile justice). We must view ourselves as a community, as "Calcasieu Parish Citizens," not "West of the River Citizens," "East of the River Citizens," or "Ward X Citizens." The first question we must ask ourselves, is, philosophically, how will we move forward to solve these drainage problems in our parish? Will we act as a unified front with cooperation and a sense of community, or will we deal in sectionalism? I believe every citizen of Calcasieu Parish deserves to have quality drainage, every citizen. I do not consider myself living in an isolated incorporated Lake Charles. I realize that I am also a citizen of Calcasieu Parish, and water will go where it wants to go, regardless of artificial, man-made boundaries. There is no “silver bullet” that will solve our crisis, but consolidation is a good foundational start. Simply continuing to do something the same way because "that's just always the way we've done it" is not a concept I agree with.

We must take action based on science, cooperation, common sense, an aversion to duplication of services, and of course, using the tax payers' dollar so that they shall receive the best bang for their buck. I understand studies are cumbersome and time consuming, but would we rather spend money recklessly without the engineering data to back it up? 

Moving forward, I offer several solutions: 1) Stop the bleeding. We must ask developers to change the way in which they develop. Constructing concrete jungles and eliminating all porous land on some lots over the past 30 years has done no favors to the drainage crisis. Rather than simply pushing excess water into laterals, more water can stay onsite. The Police Jury may vote on this in the coming months. Stay active and involved. Let your Police Jurors know how you feel. 2) Use more funds from the Parish Road & Drainage Trust Fund to partner with cities and drainage districts for capital improvement projects. To be sure, roads are a priority, but our drainage problem has reached a crisis stage. 3) Comprehensive capital improvements with additional revenue to maintain what already exists and to increase capacity. Allow me to speak about Lake Charles/Ward 3 for a moment. Contraband Bayou needs to be dredged. Coulees and laterals downtown need to be maintained. One outside of the box idea: we have a good amount of green space surrounding either sides of 2-10 and I-10. Could we create drainage basins along these roadways to get more water off the street? Neighborhoods all across Lake Charles need improvements on ditches and laterals. To accomplish all of this will cost a great deal, more than the current Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, or Gravity Drainage District budgets will allow. The old adage “don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax the guy behind the tree” would apply here, however the tree has been washed away by our drainage crisis. I, speaking as a citizen and taxpayer, personally am at a point where I realize this issue is paramount. This issue is a priority. This is a crisis. 

Decades from now, I want generations to look back and say “Thank God they did something.” I do not want these future generations to say “My God, why didn’t they do something?” I suggest you attend the next Police Jury Drainage Committee meeting and let your voices be heard. We cannot fix our problems overnight, but we must begin somewhere."

     At the beginning of the week did you notice the article on the renewal of a tax in the print edition of the American Press on the front page?  Coincidence right?  With taxes coming from Baton Rouge, and a tax rate that is the highest in the country, good luck, consolidation, furloughs and layoffs may be your only option. People aren't going to tax themselves too much anymore.

     A.L.E.C. controls Louisiana. Monsanto is expanding it's plant in Luling, La. Almost $1 Billion  expansion, we get 100 jobs and more pollution, what a deal. 

Hope your week is a good week.