NEW ORLEANS GETS A SECOND CHANCE!

Monday, October 20, 2025.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

NEW ORLEANS GETS A SECOND CHANCE!

 

For those who do not live in the deepest of the deep southern states, you may not realize that New Orleans, the Queen city of the South, has been under siege. No, not from hurricanes. The siege has been from within. New Orleans is known as the City that care forgot. But it’s hard to let the good times roll in the Big Easy when the dice keep coming up snake eyes. 

 

The Crescent City has been in a battle for a number of years to stay afloat as it dealt with Major Street crime, inept public leadership, and a dysfunctional criminal justice system. Even federal officials can no longer be trusted. Author James Lee Burke writes about this corruption and dysfunction in his novel Last Car to Elysian Fields. “One of the most beautiful cities in the Western hemisphere was killed three times, and not just by forces of nature.”

 

Many crimes go  unreported out of a sense of frustration that nobody will do anything about it anyway. Drug deals gone bad play a major role in a majority of the killings according to the New Orleans Police Department. The city is a cesspool of illegal drug activity in many neighborhoods, even in broad daylight. Recently, I watched a Tom Cruise movie “Jack Reacher: Never go Back.” It was made in the Crescent City. A local drug dealer tells Cruz: “More  s--t in the streets of New Orleans then they make in Afghanistan.”

 

In the movie “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” Nicolas Cage plays a corrupt New Orleans police officer, and tells a fellow cop to “Shoot him again.” “What for?” says his companion. Cage casually observes: “His soul is still dancing.” You can’t kill enough in New Orleans. It is the murder capital of America with one of the worst murder rates in the world. And the killings continue at an ever-growing frequency.

The system that is supposed to protect the citizens of New Orleans is rife with corruption and incompetence. In too many instances, those who are charged with safeguarding and serving have betrayed their mission to see that the public is protected, and that justice is done. The current Mayor is currently under a federal criminal indictment.

Is there any hope for New Orleans? Actually, yes. A brand new mayor has just been elected and she starts out with a huge mandate. Helena Mareno is a lady of  Spanish decent and a  former state legislator and former head of the New Orleans City Council. She won the race for mayor easily in the first primary. The voters’ message was they had enough of the old and were looking for some new, progressive and highly competent leadership.  Do I think she is able to bring about major reform? Yes, I am cautiously optimistic.

I would offer the new Mayor two pieces of advice. First of all, clean up all the trash. The city has become a waste dump. The last mayor ran off a very competent cleanup guy Sydney Torres IV.  Give him free reign and direction to clean up the city, make it smell better as he did in the French Quarter some years back and get the trash off private property that’s been allowed to pile up for years.  If landowners don’t comply, put a lien on their property.

Secondly, meet with the President. Tell him you will willingly meet him more than halfway and you want to cooperate. Tell him yes, you would like Louisiana soldiers under the direction of the Governor to bring New Orleans National Guard members into the city to work with the New Orleans Police Department. Have it done in a cooperative manner and not have confrontation. The new Mayor is both persuasive and attractive, and has the ability to bring the President around even though she is a Democrat.  

It would be wrong to give up on New Orleans, particularly with the new leadership that will take over soon. The city has always been a special place for me. My first apartment there was in the French Quarter back in 1961 when I was a student at Tulane Law School. I’ve had an apartment off and on there for the past 64 years.  So the Queen City now has the second chance under a dynamic new Mayor. Let’s all wish her well.

Peace and Justice.

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. 

 

 

 

 

 

WE CAN LEARN ABOUT A FULL LIFE FROM OUR FAILURES!

October 13th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

WE CAN LEARN ABOUT A FULL LIFE FROM OUR FAILURES!

Every now and then we reassess our lives. Especially when you get up an age like me. Hey, I’ve had a good life. But there have been my share of bumps in the road.  The key is do we learn from these trials and tribulations and possibly see some light, or do we wallow in self-pity? Do we all have a little Charlie Brown in us?  Who can forget the Peanuts comic strip where character Lucy sums up her friend.

“You, Charlie Brown, are a foul ball in the line drive of life! You are a miscue!  You are three puts on 18^thgreen!  You are a dropped rod and reel in the lake of life! You are a missed free throw, a shanked nine iron, and a called third strike.”

I sometimes wonder how Lucy would have assessed me. We all have miscues, mistakes we’ve made in the past, and our share of tumblings. But I’ve learned that even though one may suffer brokenness, if you set your mind to it a brighter life can spring from what seemed like despair.

My friend, pastor Max Lucado suggested to me a number of ways that if you break something, some goodness can bring a new beginning. Broken soil gives crops. Broken eggs give life. Broken skies give rain. Broken crayons still color. Broken cocoons give flight. Broken alabaster jars give fragrance. He also suggests that the broken bread of the Eucharist gives Hope.

So how am I doing in my effort to look forward? What can I accomplish at 85 in the coming years when you readers know I am winding down? I do not resume to cram a lot of living in the short period of time I have left. Yes, there’s much I want to do, but at my own pace.  It’s not like I have deadlines to meet outside of this weekly column. But there is a sweetness of life that causes me to return to proficiencies of the past.

I have written extensively, both in short bursts through these weekly columns, as well as longer ramblings in book form. I’ve tried overtime to express my views in a wide range of subjects from marriage to spirituality, to children, issues of value and politics. Yes, there are a number of instabilities that I have ignored. Bob Seger said it best of youth.

Workin’ on mysteries without any clues.

I will continue to write. And expand on my imagination. Hemmingway has a book called “Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy.” Perhaps his title fits me. My boat and I have sailed many seas together. I’ve written about being a soldier of which I’m quite proud. A spy? Maybe not. At least I’m not sayin’. But I will continue to write whatever my talents may be.

At my age, I just need to let go of discovery and relish in pleasures and gratifications of the past. I’m not suggesting that I should slow down, but I hope to relive experiences that I so often have enjoyed.  So that’s my plan. To stay healthy and live a much longer and productive life. I don’t worry about eventually passing away. In fact, I’m not sure we do. Whitman said of old men passing:

          “They are alive and well somewhere, the smallest sprout shows there is

                            really no death, and if ever there was it was, it led to a forward life and

                          does not wait at the end to arrest it.”

 

With my controversial past, a life of highs and lows, and in my twilight years, I’m willing to let the afterlife take care of itself. Sure, I would like to go back, take back and relive so many past decisions and actions. But I’m willing to be judged on the totality of my life. A legacy to leave behind. I’ve told you I’m a sailor. And if the wind does not blow my way, I’ve learned to adjust my sails.

I will visit with you next week in a new column. God bless to all my readers.

Pace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. 

 

 

 

COMEY ALLOWED INJUSTICE IN LOUISIANA!

Monday, October 3rd, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

COMEY ALLOWED INJUSTICE IN LOUISIANA!

Former FBI, Director James Comey was indicted last week for lying to Congress. Some say Comey’s indictment was payback for his continuing criticism of President Trump. I’m not sure in reading the facts, but I could tell you from my research that Comey did a huge disservice to a professor at LSU.

Anyone following high profile public issues in Louisiana is certainly aware of how Comey bungled the biggest case he ever handled embroiling a former LSU professor. The incident involved anthrax attacks in the nation’s capital that killed 5 people and infected 17 others, causing the entire U.S. Capitol’s mail system to shut down. Comey headed up the FBI investigation, and his incompetence and recklessness all but destroyed the reputation and health of LSU researcher Steven Hatfill.

It’s a long and convoluted story, but it was obvious to any neutral observer that Hatfill was innocent and the FBI had the wrong man. He was a virologist (one who only studies viruses), and he never even handled anthrax. But congress was screaming about an attack on America and the FBI needed a scapegoat. A few unreliable rumormongers mentioned Hatfill’s name that led Comey and Company to pounce all over the blameless researcher.

So just what evidence of Hatfill’s guilt did Comey have on the quiet LSU academic? Ah, don’t sell Comey short. After all he had heard of a couple of guys out in California that had trained bloodhounds to supposedly “sniff out” anthrax. Now remember, if you sniff the stuff, it kills you, but that minor fact did not deter Comey. He sicked the bloodhounds on Hatfill and announced to congress that one of LSU’s best and brightest was the guilty party. The dog handlers were later found by a California court to be quite unreliable, with the judged stating that the prosecution’s dog handler was “as biased as any witnesses that this court has ever seen.”

But Comey persisted. When he was asked by a skeptical Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz if he was sure that Hatfill was the perpetrator, Comey replied that he was “absolutely certain” they weren’t making a mistake.

Seven years later, Hatfill was exonerated and the FBI paid him $5.85 million because of Comey’s unjust prosecution. But he did not have the decency to apologize and acknowledge his serous blunder. Comey’s sidekick, current special prosecutor Robert Mueller was just as graceless and unprofessional as Comey. When asked about the false charges against Hatfill, Mueller would only say: “I do not apologize for any aspect of the investigation.” He added that it would be erroneous “to say there were mistakes.”

LSU also has a black eye from the Comey investigation. LSU hired him as the associate director of its new program designed to train firefighters and other emergency personnel to respond to terrorist acts and natural disasters. But when FBI began its investigation, Hatfill was fired without even given a hearing. This too brought shame on the state’s flagship.

Comey did his best to destroy a decent and innocent LSU professor. He has proven to be manipulative, incompetent and calculating. So whether he’s convicted as charged, the former FBI has proven to be both incompetence and vindictive. The best we can say about him is, “good riddance,” whether he is convicted or not. His false charges against a decent LSU professor will go down in history, that’s not only wrong, but patently un-American.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. 

 

NEED TO BUY GUN INSURANCE?

 

Monday, September 29th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 NEED TO BUY GUN INSURANCE?

There is a big push now by insurance companies sell you insurance in case you shoot somebody. Not that far affect it if you look at all the shootings taking place in the news.  So have you purchased your gun insurance yet?

 In case you shoot someone, there are insurance policies available to cover any liabilities you might face, pay for your bail if you are accused of a crime, cover your attorney fees, and even pay for any psychological therapy you might need. 

So if you are going to fire away, nice to know that you are financially covered, right?

Legislation has been introduced in a number of states that would make gun insurance mandatory for all gun owners. New York, Hawaii, Washington, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts would require government-mandated firearms insurance.

In fact, the National Rifle Association offers scaled down coverage called Carry Guard right now in all 50 states. The organization’s website states rather dramatically that: “There is a whole team of lawyers attached to every bullet that leaves the barrel of your weapon. If the suspect goes down, even if you’re justified in shooting, we guarantee you the world is going to come crashing down on you.”

Should every gun owner be required to buy liability insurance? After all, if you drive a car, you are required by every state in the U.S. to have liability insurance. So, if drivers have to have auto insurance, why shouldn’t gun owners have to have gun owner’s insurance?

First of all, courts nationwide have determined that driving is a privilege. And not a (Second Amendment) right as defended by gun owners. A driver is generally on a public highway, built with taxpayer funds, and the “rules of the road” require liability insurance.

It should be pointed out that a driver is not required to have either a driver’s license or insurance if the vehicle is driven on private property. I taught my kids and assorted nieces and nephews to drive at our family camp in rural Louisiana, where they could practice on dirt roads. No license or insurance necessary.

The cost of such proposed gun liability insurance would not come cheap. New York is presently considering in their legislature a proposal to require every gun owner to have a minimum of $1 million in liability coverage. I would estimate that a gun owner is looking at a minimum of $2,000 a year to pay for such insurance. The insurance premium could be significantly more for someone living in the inner city. Such a cost would price the ownership of a gun outside the reach of the average citizen.

Unless the activity to be insured is considered a privilege, there is no requirement or a “right” to insure any object or undertaking. I do not have to insure my house, but it just makes good financial sense to do so. There is no requirement that an individual have life insurance. One makes such a choice to protect their loved ones when they die.

 Many people have general liability insurance coverage on any activity that might subject them to a lawsuit. That would include protection against a lawsuit involving a gun accident. But purchasing such insurance is not mandatory. It’s a choice.

With so much interest in gun safety, numerous ideas will be floated in an effort to regulate gun ownership. Certainly there are some people who should not be in the possession of a gun. But to others living in crime-infested areas, and in the face of violent criminal threats, your weapon and your wits may be all you have to protect yourself.

There are no easy answers here. But it’s unrealistic to think that gun fatalities will decline simply by making gun insurance mandatory.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and at www.jimbrownla.com.

 

 

 

 

WALKER PERCY’S IMPACT ON LOUISIANA!

September 22ed, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

WALKER PERCY’S IMPACT ON LOUISIANA!

Many readers who love Louisiana literature will gather this weekend in St. Francisville to celebrate the live and works of novelist Walker Percy. He was, to me, a literary icon who spent most of his life in Louisiana. Many consider him to be America’s most significant Catholic writer. And he was passionate about Louisiana. So passionate that he took the time to give me some good advice about what he considered to be the insidious politics in the Bayou State.

I first heard about Dr. Percy (he was a psychiatrist by training) back in 1961 when I was an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina. I was writing a weekly column for the student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel. Percy was a Carolina graduate, and had also written regular columns for the Tar Heel back in the late 1930s. His first novel, The Moviegoer, had just won the National Book award, and there was a lot of buzz about him in Chapel Hill.

One of the amusing stories that circulated around the English Department at Carolina was about Percy taking his freshman English placement test. He had just read Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury,” and wrote his entire essay in one long paragraph without punctuation. He was promptly placed into a class for slow learners and was told that he needed a lot of help to pass English composition.

The Moviegoer was set in New Orleans, a place I had never visited. Percy’s descriptions of the French Quarter, Mardi Gras, and the streets of the Crescent City were enchanting to me, and one of the reasons I decided to attend Tulane Law School. One of my courses in constitutional law was taught by Professor Billups Percy, Dr. Percy’s brother. His uncle, Will Percy, had written an important history titled “Lanterns on the Levee,” a memorial to the South of his youth and young manhood, where he describes life in the Mississippi Delta. The introduction was written by Walker Percy.

I went on to read all of Percy’ novels. His main characters are “seekers” who struggle with an existential crisis in their lives. They habitually search for God with varying success, and often look for some form of redemption. He writes how he personally found redemption in the Catholic Church.

I had never met Dr. Percy until receiving a phone call in 1987. At the time, I was serving as Secretary of State, and was running for governor. I had written a 180-page plan I called The Brown Papers; my vision of how Louisiana could prosper in future years. Few people read it. One spring day, my secretary buzzed that I had a phone call from someone named Walker Percy. I assumed it was someone with the same name.

When I returned the call, Dr. Percy told me he was some obscure writer from Covington, and he was impressed with my plan. Would I have time, if I were in the area, to come by for coffee and a chat? Would I have time? I drive over to his home the next afternoon. We talked late into the evening sharing ideas about what Louisiana could be with all its natural resources and creative talent.

He told me what he had repeatedly written in a number of publications. “What happened? Louisiana is a state richer in mineral resources, the top gas producer in the country, possessed of the largest port, endowed with a natural wealth, which in its use might have been expected to yield manifold benefits for its people. But its marshes have been plundered and polluted, one of the highest cancer rates in the county and the loss of fifty square miles of wetlands yearly.” He went on to lament that Louisiana should be much more than what he decried as “a slightly sleazy playground for tourists and conventioneers.”

He said he was still optimistic about the state’s future, that he was in my corner politically, and to call on him at any time. We visited on one other occasion in Covington, and exchanged a number of phone calls up until his death in 1990.

In one conversation before his death, he told me he didn’t consider himself to be a southern novelist, and did not want to be compared to William Faulkner. He felt that Faulkner had this tragic sense of history, and that Percy wrote about the new South. And he was deeply concerned about the state’s future. He was right on the money in so many things he wrote and said. Walker Percy would have been a pretty darn good Louisiana governor.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. 

 

 

THAT FRANTIC 9/11 DAY!

Monday, September 15th, 2025
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

THAT FRANTIC 9/11 DAY!

I have watched through a window a world that has fallen.
– W. H. Auden

It has been twenty four years since terrorists attacked the Twinn Towers in New York City. I was there last week to commemorate this terrible event in America’s history.

The date, 9/11, turned into the frantic dialing of 911. A surreal feeling of shock and helplessness enveloped me back then as I watched the day’s events unfold. A friend called at home a little after 8:00 A.M. central time to tell me about the first plane’s crashing into the World Trade Center. Like millions of Americans, I turned on my television set just in time to see the second plane hit the second tower

I was home alone, so I immediately felt the need to call the people closest to me. I was able to reach my mother, my brother Jack, and my daughters Gentry and Meredith; I told them all to turn on their TV sets. I reached son James on his portable phone as he was entering the LSU Lab School.

But, what about my daughter Campbell? I knew she had flown back to Washington late the previous night from California, where she was reporting on the retirement of the president’s plane, a former Air Force One. Perhaps she was still home. I called her apartment but got no answer. Then the third plane hit the Pentagon in Washington. Thoughts raced through my head. Was there a fourth plane—or more? Wasn’t the White House a likely target? Was my oldest daughter sitting in her NBC office in the White House?

Her portable phone didn’t answer. I called the White House switchboard, which is noted for being efficient. There was a brief recording saying to hold on for an operator; then the line went dead. For a moment I feared the worst: a plane crashing into the White House, my daughter inside. Then I heard Matt Lauer on the “Today Show” say, “Now let’s go to Campbell Brown for an update across the street from the White House.” Campbell told a national audience that the White House had been evacuated and she was broadcasting from a nearby hotel. She gave hourly reports throughout the day and late into the evening.

After staying glued to the TV all day, Gladys and I kept a long-standing dinner date with friends at Chris’s steakhouse in Baton Rouge. Halfway through dinner, around 9:00 o’clock, my portable phone rang. It was son James. “Dad, I’m still watching everything on television,” he said. “I just need to do something. Do we have an American flag here at home?” I told him we had one stored in our “flag box,” where we keep banners for the various seasons, as well as holiday flags for Christmas, Halloween, and Easter. When Gladys and I drove into our driveway that night, a large American flag was hanging from the front porch, waving in the wind.

I felt it important that you hear of my observations on this anniversary. Prior to 9/11, life was so normal and ordinary. Since then, for many of us, life would never be the same.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com. You can also look over a list of books he has published at www.thelisburnpress.com.

CURTAILING ELECTION FRAUD IN LOUISIANA!

Monday, September 8th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

CURTAILING ELECTION FRAUD IN LOUISIANA!

 Paper ballots and limited absentee balloting in our election?  That’s what the president is calling for. Does he have a point? The overwhelming majority of democratic countries require paper ballots in their elections. According to the Pew Research Center, paper ballot are used in 209 of the 227 countries that re democratic.. For example, the Associated Press reports that voters in France “use the same system that’s been used for generations: paper ballots that are cast in person and counted by hand.” And if there is no paper trail, you can see why voters can be suspicious. If we want to have the gold standard for voter security, then paper ballots are the key.

I served for eight years as Secretary Of State and the state chief elections officer back in the 1980s. Under my watch, Louisiana used large and bulky voting machines that had no electronic connections and gave a full paper display of the vote. The machines were opened after being removed back to a warehouse where any citizen could watch a review and final account. No one questioned the process.

And what happened to election day? It’s gone by the wayside. It used to be everyone voted on one day with military exceptions, and those who signed a notarized affidavit that they would not be present on election day. Now we have voting spread out over a month and absentee voting mailed to anyone who asks.  It’s become “too inconvenient” to drive a few blocks to a polling location.  The US is almost alone in not combining the voting process to one day.  So we now have election month.

Elections back in my day generally took place without a hitch.  Mail ballots were allowed only for servicemen serving outside the country, and for a limited number of essential public workers. When I first took office in 1980, there was so much public confidence in the elections process that the clerks of court shut down their offices when the polls closed. The only way the news media could report the election results was by having a stringer reporter hang out at the clerk’s office and write down the results as the court workers hand-delivered the ballot totals.  I changed this procedure by meeting with the clerks, and getting their commitment that they would call me in Baton Rouge at the Secretary Of State’s office to report the voting totals by telephone.

Absentee voting? You couldn’t do it unless you signed an affidavit swearing that you would be out of the state on election day.  I was voting at my home in Ferriday back then.  But I had to be in my Baton Rouge office to oversee the election process. How was I to legally vote? I got up at 3 o’clock in the morning, drove two hours to Ferriday, stopped at Hubert Lee’s donut shop to pick up a box of hot donuts for the commissioners, and arrived at ward one, precinct 1, held in the Flemings flying service hanger at 6:00 AM when the polls opened. After a brief visit with the commissioners, all who I knew well on a first name basis, I voted, then quickly headed back to Baton Rouge so as to be back in my office shortly after 8:00 AM. A real labor of love to cast my ballot which I did for a number of years.

Life seemed so much simpler then. My how our country is changed.  Unfortunately, manipulation of voting machines, widespread voter fraud, crooked elections officials, and foreign hacking have all become a rallying point for those who see conspiracies as our current election cycles roll around.

Personally, it’s hard for me to buy in to such schemes of election manipulation.  But we’re living in a different world today where claims of crooked elections have become a way for candidates to raise campaign money. And like it or not, allegations of voting fraud will be a part of numerous elections across the country in coming elections. So we better get used to it.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com. You can also look over a list of books he has published at www.thelisburnpress.com.

 

 

JIM BROWN-TIME TO RETIRE!

Monday, May 5^th, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

JIM BROWN-TIME TO RETIRE!

What’s the saying? All good things must come to an end?  We experience a number of “lasts.” In the secular world, I recall The Last Picture Show, the Last of the Mohicans, The Last Samurai.  In the religious world, Christianity says there are four last things: death, judgment, heaven and hell.  We give the dying faithful last rites, and we recall the Last Supper. Taverns have a last call  – which Leonard Cohen used metaphorically in his wonderful song “Closing Time.” I  hope my  weekly columns qualify as a special stop each week for those who read this weekly publication. But this will be my last time I’ll write.

I have been writing a weekly column for newspapers across Louisiana since 2004. That’s almost 1100 columns of my personal opinions, commenting on state and national issues. Besides these weekly ramblings, I’ve been able to tuck seven books into my portfolio. I haven’t gained a lot in personal renumeration, but I hope I have been able to continue receiving my readers’ respect.

I always wanted to be a writer, but the world of politics got in the way.  Eight years in the Louisiana state senate, a delegate to the 1973 constitutional convention, eight years as secretary of state, a failed bid for governor, and a final twelve years as commissioner of insurance.  When I ran for governor in 1987 challenging incumbent  Edwin Edwards, I decided to put my writing skills to a test. My vision of Louisiana’s future was set out in a 188 Page document called the Brown Papers.  I was convinced the public would be blown away by a number of changes that I felt needed to be made in running the state. Besides me, I imagine the only other person that read this document was my mother.

Following politics, I poured forward on writing about the highs and lows of Louisiana life. I found that voters have small expectations of what to presume from their elected officials. They just don’t feel whoever gets elected is going to make any real difference.  Oh, there are certainly Louisianians to admire out there. But they primarily come from the private sector; the musicians, the writers, a wealth of marvelous chefs, artists, and athletes. You can urge your children to be accomplished in so many fields that emanate from the Bayou state. But as Willie Nelson would have phrased it: “Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be politicians.”

Walker Percy, who before his death was from Covington, has always been one of my favorite writers. We had a number of conversations, and he lamented to me that Louisiana should be much more than what he decried as “a slightly sleazy playground for tourists and conventioneers.”  And even though the state ranks at the bottom of the better quality of life lists, I personally still have hope.  My birthday is this week. I’m turning 85. And I’m starting to wear down. It’s time for me to stop and smell the roses.

I hope I’ll be remembered as someone who made common sense when he spoke and never shied away from telling it like it is. Thanks for being a regular reader of my column. Perhaps I’ll see you in the future along the way.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com.