TRUMP HAS FAT CHANCE IN NEW YORK COURT!

Monday, April 22^nd, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

TRUMP HAS FAT CHANCE IN NEW YORK COURT!

 

Let’s just call it like it is. Former President Donald Trump doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of been found not guilty in his current New York Court case. Now I know the case has just barely started. But you can take that to the bank, and I’ll tell you why.  Whether you like Trump or not, he just has too many cards wrongly stacked against him.

 

First and foremost, Trump has a judge who seems to be dead set against him. Judge Juan Merchan is the prosecutor’s dream. I’m sure they were doing high-fives in the District Attorney’s Office when they heard that Merchan was going to be the judge trying Trump.  Merchan has donated money to both President Biden and other Democratic causes. He  has even made donations to a group dedicated to “resisting … Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy.” And the judge’s daughter actively works as a consultant for a number of Democratic candidates, including Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who was the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment trial. A juror with this background would not be able to serve on Trump’s jury.

 

Judge Merchan should have removed himself from presiding over the Trump trial. Judges have tremendous sway on what the jury gets to hear and what it doesn’t get to hear. When the judge overseeing one’s trial has contributed money to a group that calls Trump a radical right winger, you know you’re in trouble right from the get-go.

 

The judge has ordered an anonymous jury and put a gag order on the former president. Look, we all agree that Trump shoots his mouth all too much. What he is facing are charges that could send him to jail and destroy his political career. Judge Markham has allowed a veil of secrecy based on the fact that everyone knows who Trump is. But all Trump knows is the names of the jurors. When the Unabomber trial took place in New York and the Oklahoma City bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh was held, both defendants were given basic information about the jurors. But not so with Trump.

 

Trump is allowed to step outside the courtroom, and even there he is limited as to what he can say.  Here’s what often happens. The prosecution can file charge after charge, and motion at the motion, making all types of outrageous allegations that are front page news, yet the gagged  defendant can do you little more than rant and rave and say nothing. 

 

And why is the judge fearful of letting the trial be televised? In a democracy, the public has a right to see the court system in operation, close up. We have a strong tradition of public trials in this country. In earlier years, citizens would come to town and watch the defendants being tried, knew when judges issued ridiculous rulings, and saw firsthand when justice was perverted. The televising of Trump’s trial would merely be an extension of how things used to be.

 

Some would argue that televising the trial would create a circus atmosphere. But millions of Americans can remember back to the O.J. Simpson trial. Would anyone who watched this riveting melodrama want to keep those proceedings away from the public at large, and not have it televised? Of course not.

 

As Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz wrote in his book “Reasonable Doubts”:

 

Live television coverage may magnify the faults in the legal system, and show it, warts and all. But in a democracy the public has the right to see its institutions in operation, close up.

 

A judge has no business deciding the outcome of the trial against Trump or anyone else. Any judge in state or federal courts should assume the role of  a referee, a mediator if you will.  Not someone who by his or her rulings directly affect the outcome of any trial.  But that seems to be exactly what Trump’s judge is dead set on doing.

 

Maybe I’m wrong about this pre-determined outcome. But with a judge like Juan Merchan overseeing the case, dark clouds are already surrounding the New York courtroom. And this bodes ill will for the former president.

 

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. You can also listen to his weekly podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SAGA OF O.J. SIMPSON!

April 15^th, 2024. (Tax Day)

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

THE SAGA OF O.J. SIMPSON!

 

O.J. Simpson died last week. Many younger people will just say “So?” To anyone over 50, his life and his actions created riveting news, and poised him, both good and bad, as one of the most recognizable personalities in American history. O. J. was a little of everything. A football star in both college an in the NFL.  He was the highest paid football player in the pros, and broke the all-time rushing record held by Jim Brown. (Unfortunately, no relation.). But he was also many other things. Yes a hero to so many of us, but also a liar, an actor, an abuser and a killer.

 

Back in his football days, everyone called him “Juice”, because of his energetic athletic ability and  because his initials also stood for “orange juice.” He also was  a member of a world-record-setting 440-yard relay team while at the University of Southern California in 1968. I was a member of the U.S. 440-yard relay team in 1963, and avidly followed O.J.’s track career. I had turned down a track scholarship at USC myself, and briefly  attended law school there. While visiting some old friends at the track facility, someone pointed out the superstar to me as he was working out. In hindsight, I probably should have taken the time to say hello.

 

In June of 2024, 95 million viewers watched for hours as a white Ford Bronco, driven by a friend, attempted to make a low speed escape from a number of law enforcement vehicles as O.J. hid in the backseat.  When the bronco headed back to O.J.’s home, he was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife and a friend.

 

What a trial.  The proceedings were televised and rightly so.  Judges too often keep the public from seeing just what happens in an American courtroom. And what a soap opera it was to watch. Viewers by the millions talked their bosses into letting them watch the daily proceedings around the water cooler, and some even smuggled small handheld tv devices into their desk drawers. To say that America was mesmerized by the trial would be an understatement. 

 

Many felt the case was open and shut against Simpson.  Others felt charges brought by the prosecution were built on fraud, and that the police investigators were racist. Defense attorneys argued that incriminating evidence was either mishandled or illegally planted.  A glove, supposedly worn by the killer, was found at the crime scene. Attorneys for O.J. said the glove seemed way too small for his hand. Then the famous quote was put forth by the defense.  “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.” 

 

The trial lasted for more than eight months. Then, on October 2, 1965, the jury reached a verdict. Last week’s Wall Street Journal put the anticipation this way. “No one in America did a bit of work from the moment it was announced that the jury had a verdict. Everyone ran to a TV set. Even President Bill Clinton left the Oval Office to join his secretaries. In court, cries of ‘Yes!’ and ‘Oh, No!’ we’re echoed across the nation as the verdict left many Black people jubilant and many white people aghast.”

 

Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan hit the nail right on the head. “Before O.J., American blacks lacked confidence in the legal system. After OJ., everyone lack confidence in the legal system. It looked cynical, performative, agenda driven, and not on the level.”

 

The racial divide was vividly on display during O.J.s trial. But is it really any different today?  There’s a strong feeling  among many Americans, both black and white, that the American judicial system is still significantly defective. Many feel that a number of charges against former President Donald Trump are unjustly flawed as his trial begins this week.

 

It's obvious that America still has a long way to go, both with race relations as well as with prosecutorial misconduct and judicial fairness. The “Juice” was finally able to get away from the legal and media mess that he created.  The rest of us still have to put up with 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.jimbrownusa.com. You can also listen to his weekly podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

 

 

TREAD CAUTIOUSLY FOR A NEW LOUISIANA CONSTITUTION!

Monday, April 8^th, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

 

TREAD CAUTIOUSLY FOR A NEW  LOUISIANA CONSTITUTION!

 

There has been a lot of chatter in recent months about the need to rewrite Louisiana’s Constitution. And for good reason. This original slim document has now blossomed into the nation’s seventh longest state charter with over 83,000 words. The United States constitution, written in 1787, only has 4543 words.

 

Former state legislator Ron Faucheux said it well in a recent column: “Constitutions are not plumber’s manuals that dictate every detail. Instead, a Louisiana constitution should be limited to general principles that outlines the rights of the state citizens and provide basic framework for the scope and operation of government.”

 

Louisiana’s current constitution was written 50 years ago. I happen to know about it quite well. As a state senator at that time, I was a co- author of the legislation to create a constitutional convention, and I was a delegate at the convention that wrote the state’s current document. I can tell you for personal experience. You do not want to rush into any effort for a rewrite or revision. And a rush seem to be taking place for such an effort at the state capital right now.

 

A call for a new constitution in the Bayou State is nothing new. When some obscure candidate for governor back in 1987 published his plan for Louisiana’s future called the Brown papers, one of his initial proposals was to rewrite the state’s constitution. That was 37 years ago. Unfortunately the current document has been  filled with 214 amendments.

 

Delegates back then concluded that a constitution should be flexible enough to allow for changing times. A responsible legislature should have the tools to deal with current emergencies, catastrophes, new innovative programs that needed state funding, and have the ability to curtail or eliminate programs that had outlived their usefulness. What was important in 1974 may be irrelevant in 2024.

 

But the process was not rushed. Delegates met for one year, often five days a week.  We looked back at past Louisiana constitutions, and reviewed documents from states all over America. What took place was a slow, deliberative process that developed into a workable document that should have worked well for years. And there was lots of input from average citizens who wanted to voice their opinion.

 

Former governor Buddy Roemer and I co- chaired the finance committee of CC 73. (the name  for the 1973 convention.).  After the workday was over, we often gathered up members of our committee, met at a local pizza joint, and talked for hours about forming a short, practical and workable section of a new constitution that Louisiana voters would find acceptable.

 

But year after year since then, one special interest group after  another  lobbied legislators to offer amendments that  opened up our present constitution  with provisions that often tie the hands of future governors and legislatures. So there seems to be general agreement that it is time to make major revisions in the present Louisiana Constitution. The question is how we go about it.

 

              The governor wants to tackle a rewrite by calling the legislature  into another  special session to quickly make numerous changes.  But there has been little consideration for public input.  In addition, many legislators are just plain worn down. Since the governor took office less than four months ago, there has  been three special sessions plus this current regular session. Part-time legislators in many instances run businesses back home that need attention.

 

               Louisiana’s new governor wants to hit the ground running and has a loaded agenda for change. That’s fine for legislators to consider.  But when a knew basic document is proposed that affects the lives of every citizen, it is important that a deliberative process take place.  There certainly should be plenty of time for a cross-section of organizations and average Louisiana citizens to give their input. The governing train is speeding out of the station. It’s time to slow things down.

 

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. You can also listen to his weekly podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN MOTORCYCLE HELMET DEBATE!

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN MOTORCYCLE HELMET DEBATE!

One of the hot issues in the current session of the Louisiana Legislature, meeting at the state capitol in Baton Rouge, is the repeal of a law that currently mandates the wearing of a safety helmet when riding a motorcycle.  Proponents of such a repeal site “freedom of choice” concerns, saying it should be an individual decision as to whether to wear or not wear a helmet.  They say there should be no role for government to play in this decision.  And I sure agree that the issue is one of freedom of choice (but read on).

You really have missed a thrill if you never have ridden a motorcycle on a back country road on a fall day, as the leaves are changing and the breeze is blowing in your face. I’ve tasted the good vibes of such breezes on many occasions, and have ridden a “bike” most of my life.  A Kawasaki off-road 250cc in my early Ferriday days after college, an Italian Vespa at Tulane Law School to get around New Orleans, and a BMW 1150 GS as I grew older.

There just is something special about a challenging ride on a good motorcycle. But you know what?  I always wore a helmet.  And for one simple reason.  You are an absolute idiot if you do not. And if you think otherwise, just take this test.

Find a large immovable object like an enormous oak tree or a brick wall.
Stand about 30 paces away, then run toward this sizeable, fixed obstruction. As you get close, place your hands to your side, put your arms crosswise, and put your face up, continuing to run as fast as you can. Notice how it feels when you hit this large sapling head on. You know what many of us call a cyclist who doesn’t wear a helmet? An organ donor.

So how did you do on the test?  See where I am coming from? But what about the “freedom of choice” argument?  Isn’t that a personal decision where government should have no say so?  Why should any government entity tell an individual what to wear when no one else is involved?  But that’s the catch.  There is someone else involved! And it’s you and me and our right to “freedom of choice.” You see, a large number of motorcyclists have minimum required insurance, or no insurance at all.  Louisiana only requires at $15,000 dollar policy, the lowest amount in the country.  Most states required a minimum of $25,000.

So here is what happens. A motorcyclist gets into a serious wreck, doesn’t have on a helmet, receives major head injuries, and the cost of medical care is astronomical. Head injury is the leading cause of death in motorcycle crashes. Riders who don’t wear helmets and who experience a crash are 40 percent more likely to sustain a fatal head injury.  If there is a minimum insurance policy involved, the $15,000 barely covers the ambulance and initial basic care cost of getting to the hospital. If there is a brain injury, and there often is when no helmet is worn, the costs could run up to a $1 million or more.  Many such injuries require medical care for the rest of the patient’s life.

The injured rider must then turn to Medicaid or the charity hospital system for continuing care that often lasts for years.  And guess who pays?  That’s right.  You and I as taxpayers.  We have to pay the bill for the irresponsible rider who suffers the injuries, then passes the cost on to us.  So isn’t our “freedom of choice,” not to be burdened with someone else’s irresponsible behavior, being infringed upon?

One option might be considered to protect the taxpayer’s “freedom of choice.”  If a motorcyclist wants to ride bareheaded, raise the insurance requirements on this “free spirit” to $500,000.  For those who wear helmets, leave the requirement as is. That way, there would be funds available to pay for the massive medical costs involved when a rider receives a head injury.

So yes, keep your right to choose.  But allow me the same freedom not to be saddled with the cost of your mistake.  Either pay up with high insurance limits, or use some common sense and wear a helmet.  Either way, I want my freedom of choice too.

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. You can also listen to his weekly podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

 

 

MARCH MADNESS MEANS BIG BUCKS FOR COLLEGE ATHLETES!

Tuesday, March 26^th,2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

MARCH MADNESS MEANS BIG BUCKS FOR COLLEGE ATHLETES!

 

Are you all fired up and into March madness? It’s my favorite sports time of year. Now I understand you may disagree, but I’ll take the college basketball tournament over any other sporting event, even the Super Bowl. The college basketball playoffs run through the month of March culminating in the championship game on April 8th in Glendale, Arizona.    There are 67 total games in t

he tournament, and I’ll be watching a good number of them.

 

No, I don’t follow college basketball as a diehard fan from a neutral point of view. The all-time winningest basketball coach, who won two national championships was a guy named Dean Smith. who coached the North Carolina Tar Heels. Would you believe that the first guy Coach Smith ever offered a scholarship to was me? That’s right! I did not amount to that much of a college player, but I did have the irrefutable honor of being Coach Smith’s first recruit.

 

Now I realize that college basketball plays second fiddle to football here in Louisiana and throughout the entire south. But basketball has made giant leaps in popularity and in basketball competitiveness in recent years. LSU’s legendary coach Dale Brown brought basketball into the mainstream here in the Bayou state, where he won numerous Southeast Conference championships, and took the Fighten’ Tigers to the final four on two different occasions.

 

LSU did not make the tournament during the past two years under new coach Matt McMahon. They had unceremoniously fired their previous coach, Will Wade, who presently is one of the hottest college coaches in America. Wade was dismissed by LSU under questionable circumstances many believe. I’m one of them. Wade was caught on tape saying that he had made a “strong ass offer” to a recruit, but still was turned down. The NCAA, the governing body, for college basketball, assumed it was a financial payoff.  So just what does a “strong ass offer” mean?

 

When I was recruited to come to North Carolina, I was offered a scholarship referred to as a full ride. It included my college tuition, along with room and board at the college dormitory.  But I asked for more.  Instead of living in the dormitory, I wanted a monthly check to cover an off-campus apartment as well as meal money. I also asked for a laundry allowance as well as unlimited purchases at the campus bookstore.  I suppose I was asking for a “strong ass offer,” and I got it. And this is legal under the rules both then are now. So what Coach Wade said about “a strong ass offer” is open to interpretation.

 

Even if there were charges of unscrupulous, recruiting by Wade, everything the NCAA and other investigators alleged is perfectly legal today. College athletes are pulling in big bucks, with a number of players pulling in over a million dollars a season. There’s no loyalty to a recruit’s alma mater. It’s all about pulling down the big bucks. 

 

After being the ceremoniously, fired by LSU, without a hearing of the full story, Wade took a job at McNeese University in Lake Charles. The year before he was hired, McNeese had lost 23 games. In his introductory press conference, he said he would reverse this number, and win 23 games in his current year. He did not win 23 games. He won 30.

 

Wade has become a real sports hero in Lake Charles. People high-five him wherever he goes. When he comes on the basketball court before a home game, the loudspeakers blare Johnny Cash’s song “God’s Gonna Cut You Down. LSU did not make the NCAA tournament this year. Will Wade’s team did, making it the first time since 2002.

 

There are lots of stories like this from colleges playing in this NCAA tournament. It’s one of the reasons why post season basketball has become the leading cash cow for the NCAA, earning over one billion dollars a year.

 

Major college sports have become farm teams for the pros.  Number of players end up as many as three different colleges in their athletic careers. I don’t like it, and I yearn for the good old days. But that’s life in the new college sports world we are living in today.

 

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. You can also listen to his weekly podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

 

GOOD AND BAD NEWS FOR LOUISIANA INSURANCE!

Monday, March 19th, 2024
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

GOOD AND BAD NEWS FOR LOUISIANA INSURANCE!

Throughout Louisiana, it’s common knowledge that the Bayou State has the highest insurance rates in the country when it comes to ensuring both homes and automobiles. This is not new news. This current unworkable insurance market has been the same old, same old for a number of years. So can anything be done to curtail the outrageous amount of money that the average insurance policyholder pays? Or will these folks just be stuck in a deepening pothole of unaffordability?

Since I served as the state’s insurance commissioner for 12 years when insurance rates were on average the same as the rest of the south, I know a little bit about what works and what doesn’t. So lend me your ears, dear reader, as I bring you, good news and bad news.

First the good news. Louisiana has an elected insurance commissioner, but his policies need the support of the governor. Fortunately for incumbent insurance commissioner Tim Temple, he looks to have the active support of newly elected governor Jeff Landry. In years past, recent governors punted on any insurance involvement. They just referred any insurance questions to the insurance commissioner. The governor can make a big difference if he has the desire.

I was fortunate when I served in office to have the full support of Governors Edwards, Foster and Roemer. Each of these chief executives supported and signed off on my program whenever I brought specifics to them. The proof was in the pudding, as rates stayed in the middle of the pack of states all over the nation.

Here is the bad news for Louisiana policyholders. The cost of insurance will undoubtedly go up, not just in Louisiana, but for policyholders in states all over the nation. There are three main reasons. First of all, the inflationary spiral has affected products across the spectrum. It just costs more to buy a car today. Salaries and materials have taken a leap just like they have for the cost of food at the supermarket and many other retail products.
Secondly, car repairs cost a lot more after an accident. Twenty per cent more from just a few years back according to a number of analysts. So, as these repair costs go up, insurance companies pass along such increases to policyholders.

Third, drivers are opting to spend more on the cars they buy. Many drivers today want a more expensive car with more electronics, plusher interiors, and more bells and whistles. Bigger SUVs are all the rage, and these larger vehicles just cost a lot more. And bigger more expensive automobiles cost more to insure.

Another factor concerning cars across the country involve how newer automobile models keep track on your driving. These recent cars are called “smart phones with wheels,” as they tell your insurance company when you drive, how far you drive, how fast you drive, and any violations you may have. All this information goes in a “LexisNexis report” that can be obtained by your insurance company. So whether you like it or not, your newer vehicle passes on all your driving habits. And insurance companies use all this information to determine what rate they charge you.

So yes, the governor, the insurance commissioner and the legislature have put finding ways to reduce the cost of insurance on the front burner of issues they are considering. But they are stuck with what’s happening not just in Louisiana, but in other states all across the country.

It’s unfortunate, no it’s a shame, that’s the legislature did not take much more aggressive action in recent years. There are a number of solutions I have outlined in past columns that could have brought about reductions for policyholders. There are new laws needed and changes in policy that I will outline the future columns. But we have to be realistic. What happens across the nation has a direct impact on the cost of insurance right here in Louisiana.

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. You can also listen to his weekly podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

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HOW OLD IS TOO OLD TO BE IN PUBLIC OFFICE!

Monday, February 26th, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

HOW OLD IS TOO OLD TO BE IN PUBLIC OFFICE!

 Age has never seemed to be such a big issue in American politics. Do we let our elected officials stay in office way too long? Should there be restrictions as to when older politicians must step down?  Or should we just let the voters decide as to when someone is too old to serve?

This issue is front and center because of the coming presidential election. It’s obvious now that there will be a Biden – Trump rerun for the presidency, and whoever wins will go out of office as the oldest president to ever serve.  President Biden took a major hit recently when a special counsel report described him as a “well – meaning, elderly man, with a poor memory, who has diminishing faculties in advancing age.”  Wow! I would consider that a pretty big hit.

Former President Trump is slightly younger by four years, but he too has suffered his own bouts of aging lately. He often is confused, saying we are on the verge of World War II, and that he defeated Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton.  He referred to his Republican primary challenger, Nickie Haley, as Nancy Pelosi, the former house Democratic speaker.

So it’s apparent that the current president and former president both have memory problems. Biden seems to mumble when he speaks, and Trump speaks in circles, constantly repeating himself. But that’s how they’ve always been. Voters were aware of this when they elected both of these politicos, so they knew what they were getting.  And yes, they both are much older than former presidents, but people just live longer today.

You think these two politicians are old? Their pikers compared to a Louisiana guy, Red Sims from up in the Monroe area. He was 96 years old and had served on the Ouachita Parish school board for 31 years.  Red was sharp as a tack right up until he died according to those who knew and worked with him. Yes, he was elderly, but he was the voters’ choice.

I was an elected official in Louisiana for 28 years and held four different offices. Today, I’m approaching 84 years, and feel like could perform any statewide office in Louisiana as well as I did some years back. Yes, there is a wear and tear factor on being an older elected official.  So how do you deal these pressures?

Any major elected official on either the state or national level generally has two responsibilities in holding office.  The first and most important is to administer their office and set public policy.  Perform the duties they were elected to carry out. Deal with the day in, day out problems that spring up. For presidents, there are always international conflicts. For governors, there is public policy involving crime, the environment, and putting people to work.

But there is a second responsibility, and that’s getting out and communicating with the public. Presidents travel the world to meet with foreign leaders. Governors crisscross their own states to stay in touch with voters. And this is where the wear and tear factor sets in. It’s one thing to sit in meetings on and off throughout the day. It’s another to travel by car or plane, meet and greet constituents and other elected officials, then get back home late at night. It’s tiring for any elected official to keep a schedule of traveling a good bit. It’s exhaustive for a president.

In England, the Prime Minister deals with the internal affairs of the country, and all the ceremony, the pomp and circumstance, is undertaken by the king or queen. How about that idea? Former Saints quarterback Drew Brees was the king of the Washington Mardi Gras Ball this year, so he’s already tuned up for such a job. And of course, the queen would be an easy pic. Doesn’t Taylor Swift get involved in just about everything?

Of course, such an idea is a pipe dream. We are stuck with the system where our presidents have to perform a wide variety of duties including ceremonial events and much travel. Maybe Biden and Trump are both passed their prime. So for good or bad, the voters have to make the choice. That’s how our system of democracy was drafted. And that’s probably how it should be.

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. You can also listen to his weekly podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

 

LOUISIANA LEGISATURE PUNTS ON CRIME SOLUTIONS!

Monday, March 11^th, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

LOUISIANA LEGISATURE PUNTS ON CRIME SOLUTIONS!

 

     The Louisiana legislature just finished the special session on crime spending several million dollars to come up with more ways to reduce the violence that continues to plague the Bayou state. Their solution seem to be to stick it to the convicts currently serving time, but ignoring the growing wave of juvenile crime that continues to spread throughout both big cities and rural areas alike. 

 

      Since Louisiana has the distinction of having the nation’s highest incarceration rate, the legislature’s new laws send a message that any chance of parole is all but abolished, and having long sentences generally will mean the prisoners will serve out their life in the prison geriatric ward. These older convicts, who hope to spend their final years being looked after by family members, are often filled with prostate problems, dementia, and other diseases that barely let them get along day in and day out. Nonviolent convicts should have the chance with good behavior to one day be paroled.

 

     Lengthening prison sentences and doing away with options for parole often do little to protect the public. It’s the young thugs that seem to be doing all the carjacking, committing armed robberies, and even murder; all while they’re in their teens. Older prisoners in their 70s or 80s are like old over the hill athletes. They are generally worn out and just don’t have the ability to perform or be dangerous anymore.  

 

     Here are just a few of the suggestions that should have been Implemented into law. First of all, implement a statewide curfew. Why on earth would anyone be supportive of a 13 or 14-year-old being on the streets at 4 o’clock in the morning. Unless the young person is traveling for a job, get them off the streets by midnight, particularly during the week.

 

     Instead of sending Louisiana National Guard members to the Texas border, use them to back up law-enforcement here at home. Particularly in the New Orleans French Quarter, or at any special large events that take place throughout the state. I was working in New Orleans doing a syndicated radio program following Hurricane Katrina. I was often in the French quarter at night, and there were National guardsmen patrolling the area. I never felt more safe, and would often high five the soldiers, and buy their meal if they were in the same restaurant as me. New York has just placed national guardsmen in subways. So why can’t guardsmen be used to stop some of the rampant crime in Louisiana?

 

     The legislature should have provided funds to allow municipalities to ask for grants in their fight against crime. A number of cities across the country are allowing police departments to tap in to cameras mounted outside homes in high crime neighborhoods. A police department can monitor suspicious activity by using private cameras.  The state is spending millions of dollars to re-roof private residences. Why not spend a couple of hundred dollars per home in high crime areas so that a camera system can observe neighborhoods in towns and cities across the state.

 

     Let me say this. I’m a big “keep the government from snooping in my business” guy. But cameras are on public utility poles and private businesses all over the state. If you are going to have them, put them to use in profiling these younger criminals and teenage thugs. If real estate agents can use drones to take pictures of my house and Amazon can snap pictures and deliver by drone, put drones to use in heavy crime areas after dark.

 

     Numerous studies have shown that if you light up neighborhoods where there is a concentration of crimes, break-ins and carjackings in those areas take a drop. The legislature could offer grants to municipalities to put stronger lighting systems in such locations. 

And I haven’t even begun to list programs like midnight, basketball, and other weekend activities to keep these kids off the street. There is a whole host of ideas being put in place for crime prevention across the country. Where are the fresh ideas been put forth by our legislature instead of just rehashing older programs? Thirteen and fourteen-year-old kids are carjacking, committing armed robberies and even murder. It’s time we crack down on these young offenders.

     

     The message is simple to our legislators. Time to get creative about finding solutions to the outrageous rate of crime here in Louisiana.

 

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. You can also listen to his weekly podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.