Letters To The Editor

June 24, 2007

Readers against jail in Branch
Dear Editor,
I moved to Branch four years ago from Opelousas. Branch is a quiet safe and friendly community. I support Sheriff Melancon in stopping the jail in Branch. Branch has no police station to protect us from the criminals and family’s that would come to the Branch area. The mail will have no fence, no bars, no security with weapons.
In Opelousas I used to have to have a gun with me outside while I was in my yard even planting plants. I do not want to live like that again. I want to know that it will be safe for me and my 3 year old son to go outside without me looking over my shoulder all the time.
Thank you,
Mrs. Monica Hidalgo

Dear Editor:
I want to say thank you to Sheriff Wayne Melancon and the Acadia Parish Police Jury who unanimously oppose an unguarded jail facility in the Branch community.
I believe a 24 hour incarceration facility without a fence or guards is a bad idea.
There are four elementary schools, one high school and two day care facilities located in the vicinity of the proposed jail. Unsuspecting hunters on adjacent properties give inmates easy access to guns, ammunition and transportation. That is bad news for a facility with a potential 30% failure rate run by an out of state operating company and overseen locally by someone that has never run a 24 hour incarceration facility. it is wrong to build an at risk facility without at least conducting a safety study.
The out of state company man, Mr. Gregory Kleinpeter, seems like someone who sincerely wants to do the right thing but the placement of a large number of out of parish inmates in Branch doesn’t just affect Branch. It puts an extra burden on the inmates’ families who have to travel longer distances to visit. Everyone remembers the hardship Governor Edwards’ family faced visiting him in a distant prison.
I sincerely believe that locating this facility in the Branch area is wrong. Jails need to be built where the criminals are. Locating this facility in a parish that will contribute the fewest inmates is the wrong thing. It will introduce criminals to Acadia Parish that are not here now.
In the wake of Virginia Tech, Columbine and the recent abduction and murder of an 18-year-old girl by a man whose juvenile record was hidden from the public, Acadia Parish people do not want a facility they think is dangerous.
I am glad the Police Jury unanimously opposed the Branch jail. I am proud that Sheriff Melancon protected his citizens first.
Yours very truly,
Wayland Vincent

Dear Editor,
I live in Branch Louisiana and I oppose building a so called "Youth" facility for criminals in my community. It is a sad day when an UNGUARDED criminal facility can be built with taxpayer money anywhere it likes without permission of the community or parish. We have NO local police force and average response time from the sheriff is nearly 30 minutes. Both the Sheriff and our Police Jury is "on record" in unanimous opposition to this facility, yet we have been told that it would and could be built in spite of those declarations. Associated Marine Institute is not exactly a reputable company and I have ELECTED a sheriff to manage criminal activity. I did NOT elect Associated Marine Institute.
Steven Taylor

Thankful for Orlando Thomas story
Dear Editor,
My name is Felecia Williams, and I’m Orlando Thomas’ cousin. The article that was in The Crowley Post-Signal on June 13, 2007 was so inspiring. Everyday is a holiday!
Felecia Williams

Believes Edwards has served his time
Dear Editor,
I agree whole-heartedly that Edwin Edwards has served way more than ample time for the insignificant crimes he committed, and should be released as soon as possible.
Jim Hebert

Concerns about fuel efficiency standards
Dear Editor,
As a small business owner I struggle every day to make ends meet. Government mandates are constantly changing and the latest attack from Washington is concerning fuel efficiency standards.
Congress, which seems to have a scheme for everything, thinks new fuel economy standards are the answer. They thought the same thing 30 years ago when they designed corporate average fuel economy standards, which govern fuel economy for all new cars.
Time has demonstrated that the first CAFÉ solution proved to be a bad Band-Aid approach that obviously didn’t solve the problem. If it did anything, it just delayed an inevitable day of reckoning that now seems to have come to pass.
Congress needs to come together, wake up and start to think about solutions to America’s fuel problems that don’t just shift the burden to my kids and to the next generation.
CAFE legislation does not take into consideration the transport needs of the small business and farming sector. Light trucks are relied upon to maintain healthy and prosperous businesses that support thousands of workers and their families. As it is written, this bill seeks to mandate dramatically higher CAFE standards for a combined fleet to include passenger autos and light trucks leading out to the year 2020 and beyond.
This one-size-fits-all treatment will undermine many of the benefits that the previously reformed light truck CAFE system is expected to have beginning in 2008, and is inherently anti-competitive in nature.
The proposed CAFÉ legislation would also force manufactures to increase the costs of light trucks upwards of $10,000 per vehicle.
This is a cost that small businesses can not afford to absorb.
Boyd Parker

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