It\u2019s nice to see all de beautiful\u00a0 Christmas lights de city has put up around de Civic Center. Now, in years befo, de lights were pretty nice. But dis year, de city haz really kicked it up a notch, az Emeril Lagasse often sez in his cookin\u2019 show.<\/p>\n
We can tell you dat dis year we will have lots mo visitors from out uf town comin\u2019 to our area to see de lightin\u2019 extravaganza. An\u2019 you can bet dar are gonna be a lot mo buggy rides filled wit\u2019 folks admirin\u2019 all de additional lights.<\/p>\n
In de next few years, if de city expands de lightin\u2019 program to include areas around de bidness district, we will be in serious competition wit\u2019 Natchitoches for de bes\u2019 in de state.<\/p>\n
Now, remember, it takes a lot uf hard work an\u2019 money to make dis happen. City workers have put in lots uf hours to make dis light show possible. An\u2019 of course, Mayor Randy found de money as usual.<\/p>\n
For dis wonderful project to expand, we will need mo man hours an\u2019 mo money. But you know Randy haz a plan for next year already.<\/p>\n
We would like to tank de Mayor for waitin\u2019 \u2018til after Thanksgivin\u2019 to officially turn de lights on.\u00a0 Tanks again to de City of Lake Charles for a job well done.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cove Lane Movin\u2019 Along<\/strong><\/p>\n Az dis Cove Lane project continues to move along, it appears mo an\u2019 mo to me dat de project will be an exit\u00a0 from de casinos to I-210. Now my frans Max and Slim say I\u2019m dead wrong, an\u2019 dar\u2019s a lot mo to dis project dat all mos\u2019 all de gubment bodies an\u2019 casinos chipped in to build.<\/p>\n When I axed Max an\u2019 Slim what else dar wuz to dis project, day simply sed I\u2019d have to wait an\u2019 see. Well, I\u2019m waitin\u2019, an\u2019 so are a lotta udder folks in our area.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Green Army Iz Marchin\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Louisiana: De State We\u2019re In iz a very popular program dat airs on Public Television trewout our state. Dere\u2019s one recent program everyone in our state should watch, an\u2019 if you have de Internet, you can go back and watch it. It concerns our wetlands, and what\u2019s bein\u2019 done to restore dem an\u2019 create even mo wetlands.<\/p>\n In de program, dey sed an area four times de city uf Miami in marshlands iz los\u2019 every year.<\/p>\n De leader uf de Green Army dat\u2019z tryin to make dis marsh preservation activity happen by forcin\u2019 de oil companies to cap wells dat are still leakin\u2019 oil in de marsh an\u2019 fill up canals dat were dug durin\u2019 drillin\u2019 operations is retired Gen. Russel Honor\u00e9.<\/p>\n He points out in dis program dat when oil companies got de permit to drill in de marshes, day agreed to cap all wells an\u2019 fill all canals. Dis, accordin\u2019 to Honor\u00e9, hasn\u2019t been done, an\u2019 az a result, we\u2019ve damaged marshes dat help protect us from surges when hurricanes come our way.<\/p>\n Laplace is where de surge stopped wit\u2019 Katrina. An\u2019 for Rita, it stopped jus\u2019 south uf de Intercoastal Canal. Where it stops next time may be much worse if we keep ignorin\u2019 de marsh losses.<\/p>\n Of great interest to our area is de loss of shrimp and oysters for harvestin\u2019. Now, de Green Army haz filed suit against 93 oil companies an\u2019 drillin\u2019 operations to make dem fix what day agreed to fix. Jindal jumped in an\u2019 opposed it. Uf course, we know some uf his biggest supporters are folks in de oil bidness.<\/p>\n Now one uf de ladies dat appeared on de panel spoke about what is de environment. She said \u2014 an\u2019 dis makes sense \u2014\u00a0de environment iz where you work, live, worship and go to school. De Bayou Corne area wuz a nice place where lots uf folks lived after retirin\u2019. Now it\u2019s a big sink hole dat keeps getting\u2019 bigger and haz cost de state millions already. De demand for action will end up in court. But in de meantime, let\u2019s all be mindful uf our environment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One Uf Many Polls To Come Iz Released<\/strong><\/p>\n One ting about politicians, day don\u2019t do anyting witout lookin\u2019 at poll\u00a0 numbers. An\u2019 de recent poll figures released by Southern Media and Opinion Research shows a very interestin\u2019 U.S. Senate race. Sen. Mary Landrieu had 41 percent, wit\u2019 Republican Congressman Bill Cassidy 34 percent and Republican newcomer Rob Maness 10 percent.<\/p>\n Main issue for not favorin\u2019 Landrieu for reelection \u2026 you guessed it \u2026 Obamacare. Now she crawfished out uf her strong support for de Obamacare bill when it was learnt dat companies were droppin\u2019 dar insurance plans and folks couldn\u2019t keep dar own doctors. She introduced a bill she claimed would fix dat. We\u2019ll see how dat flies in de Senate in de next few months.<\/p>\n De governor\u2019s race wuz included in dis poll. De only announced candidate iz state legislator John Bel Edwards, who showed only 8 percent. Leadin\u2019 wuz Sen. David Vitter wit\u2019 30 percent, Treasury Secretary John Kennedy wit\u2019 19 percent and Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne wit\u2019 18 percent. Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle got only 2 percent. But it doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019s much interested in de job anyway.<\/p>\n Hard to imagine dem numbers where de majority uf registered voters are Democrats. But de same scenario played out in de recently held 5th District congressional race. Two Republicans faught it out in a district dat haz way mo Democrats dan Republicans. An\u2019 we don\u2019t see any Democrat wit\u2019 enough clout in dis state\u00a0 to eat into de Republican stronghold on dis state. Ain\u2019t politics funny? Especially in our state.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One Udder Local Race For Next Year<\/strong><\/p>\n Recently we spoke about de races for judgeships an\u2019 Sulphur Mayor comin\u2019 up next year. We regret dat we forgot to mention de race to replace retirin\u2019 Judge Tom Quirk. We\u2019ve heard\u00a0 several names mentioned, but no real action yet from any uf dem.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a long time since we\u2019ve had a race for a judgeship in Ward 3: probably 20 or more years since we had a real heated race for dat office. You can bet afta de firs\u2019 uf de year, we gonna be seein\u2019 a lot mo signs an\u2019 ads for whoever ends up tryin\u2019 for dat seat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A Few Shots About Sports<\/strong><\/p>\n Our area produced some real fine high school football teams dis year. Barbe, Westlake, Vinton, Welsh and LaGrange made it through a few rounds of de playoffs, but none could make it to de state finals in de Dome.<\/p>\n Nonedeless, we had great performances by de players, az iz evident by de number who\u2019ll be playin\u2019 college ball.<\/p>\n McNeese did better dan in recent years. An\u2019 we know both de basketball teams an\u2019 de baseball team will keep bringin\u2019 honor to dar school. So keep wearin\u2019 your blue outfits on Fridays an\u2019 show your support.<\/p>\n Now to LSU \u2026 a few weeks ago Texas A&M came to Baton Rouge an\u2019 got beat. All dem national sports journalists could say wuz dat Johnny Football had a bad game. Why couldn\u2019t day jus\u2019 tell de truth, an\u2019 dat iz, dat LSU\u2019s defense wuz ready for de Heisman Trophy winner and boorayed him at every turn? Dem so-called sports reporters really get my dander up sometimes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You Know De Slogan<\/strong><\/p>\n Mos\u2019 uf us will be attendin\u2019 a lot uf holiday parties in de next few weeks, an\u2019 dat means drinkin\u2019 uf alcohol. Already, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers haz teamed wit\u2019 area State Farm agents to urge folks to stay away from de wheel if day\u2019ve had too much to drink.<\/p>\n Me, I\u2019d like to add to drinkin\u2019 de use uf cell phones for talkin\u2019 or textin\u2019\u00a0 while drivin.\u2019 It ain\u2019t smart to do dat. We\u2019ve all seen de huge increase in number uf accidents caused by cell phone usage while drivin\u2019, an\u2019 if you do it, you are a real cooyon.<\/p>\n So we at Lagniappe join wit\u2019\u00a0 MADD, de State Farm guys, local law enforcement guys an\u2019 D.A. John DeRosier in urgin\u2019 you to leave de bottle an\u2019 de phone alone if you\u2019re drivin\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Deep Taughts While Watchin\u2019 Auburn Make Sabin Booday<\/strong><\/p>\n 10) What bowl game would LSU have gotten had day beat Ole Miss an\u2019 ended up 10-2?<\/p>\n 9) Haven\u2019t we all seen enough Duck Dynasty stuff in stores an\u2019 on TV?<\/p>\n 8) How can T-Claude say I gave him my Skil saw when he axed to borrow it?<\/p>\n 7) Why does my dog T-foo insist on jumpin\u2019 on me when I\u2019m takin\u2019 a nap on de sofa?<\/p>\n 6) What\u2019s goin on wit\u2019 dem big banks closin\u2019 branches in Sulphur an\u2019 Westlake?<\/p>\n 5) Did I really smoke all dem ceegars while watchin\u2019 football durin\u2019 de Tanksgivin\u2019 break?<\/p>\n 4) When are day gonna be finished wit\u2019 de Burton Coliseum facelift?<\/p>\n 3) How can I convince my wife Sedonia dat I went to Jerrod\u2019s?<\/p>\n 2) Why didn\u2019t day make dem changes to de Weather Channel years ago?<\/p>\n 1) Why do all dem folks who come to my house for Christmas have to stay so long?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Final Shot<\/strong><\/p>\n Lefty tol\u2019 me de udder day he made some homemade eggnog\u00a0 radder dan buy it at de store. I axed him if it wuz strong. He sez it\u2019s 90 proof \u2026 at lease what\u2019s left uf it. Lefty always gets de holiday spirit.<\/p>\n \u2018Til next time, lache pas la patate.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s nice to see all de beautiful\u00a0 Christmas lights de city has put up around de Civic Center. Now, in years befo, de lights were pretty nice. But dis year, de city haz really kicked it up a notch, az Emeril Lagasse often sez in his cookin\u2019 show. We can tell you dat dis year [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[130,31],"yoast_head":"\n