Recent editorials from Louisiana newspapers:
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Oct. 7
The Advocate on an audio clip of a State Police trooper stating he beat and choked Ronald Greene, a black man who authorities initially said died in a car crash during a police chase:
There is no excuse for a Louisiana State Police trooper to use foul language in the course of doing or discussing his or her job. More disturbing is hearing a trooper claim to beat the life out of someone. Yet a short audio clip indicates that happened.
Reporter Jim Mustian, of The Associated Press, obtained a 27-second audio clip of Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth saying “I beat the ever-living f(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) out of him,” referencing the controversial and questionable May 2019 death of Ronald Greene in Union Parish.
“Choked him and everything else trying to get him under control,” Hollingsworth said in audio AP obtained through an intermediary, with confirmation from two law enforcement sources. Apparently, he was talking with a colleague. “We finally got him in handcuffs when a third man got there, and the son of a b(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) was still fighting him, was still wrestling with him trying to hold him down,” he said. “He was spitting blood everywhere and all of a sudden he just went limp.”
This is most disturbing, especially since State Police didn’t open an investigation until August and early reports were clearly inaccurate, leading us to question their veracity and transparency. Unfortunately, Hollingsworth died in a single-car crash off of I-20 hours after finding out that he was going to be fired.
The initial report did not indicate any confrontation with Greene, and officials told his family that his injuries were the result of him hitting a “shrub/tree” after he led them on a lengthy car chase about an unspecified traffic violation. That didn’t satisfy Greene’s family. Just recently, they released photographs of Greene and his car. The idea of a car crash as the cause of Greene’s death took a hit because the photographs show Greene had facial bruises and scalp cuts and his vehicle had minor damage.
Gov. John Bel Edwards refused to comment until a State Police investigation ends. District Attorney John Belton, of the 3rd Judicial District in northern Louisiana, declined to comment. The FBI and other agencies are investigating.
Public confidence is declining, rapidly, as bits and pieces of information continue to poke holes in the State Police story about what happened. Greene’s family filed a lawsuit, saying among other things that State Police did not mention a struggle between Greene and some of the six troopers on the scene, that his vehicle’s airbag did not deploy and that Greene not only walked away from the crash uninjured but apologized for the chase. Whether any of that is true can be confirmed with the release of the body cam video footage.
Greene’s family has been joined by Monroe-area community activists, the Louisiana NAACP and national civil rights advocates calling for the release of the footage. We advocated for that, too.
The trooper audio makes what is already a bad situation even worse. No matter the status of the investigation, the State Police, and officials, owe the public the transparency that can only come with viewing of the footage.
Online: https://www.theadvocate.com/
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Oct. 4
The Houma Courier on reopening bars:
Parish President Gordy Dove gave the go-ahead Wednesday for bars in Terrebonne to open for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March.
Under the state’s Phase 3 reopening guidelines, parishes whose COVID tests come back with 5% or fewer positive results for two consecutive weeks may opt to open bars for on-premises consumption. Significant health rules still apply, including limits on capacity and hours of operation.
Terrebonne’s positivity rate dropped to 2.6% in the week ending Sept. 23, state figures show. That was down from 4.6% the previous week.
Bars in Lafourche will have to wait at least two more weeks to reopen. The parish’s positivity rate rose from 5.4% the previous week to 5.6% for the week ending Sept. 23.
Lafourche Parish President Archie Chiasson sent a letter Wednesday to Gov. John Bel Edwards asking that parishes be allowed to open bars — the only type of business still closed under Phase 3 guidelines — as long as the parish stays under a 10% positivity rate.
Under the guidelines, bars that reopen can be closed again if a parish’s positive-test rate exceeds 10% for two straight weeks. So if that’s the case, the reasoning goes, why not let all bars open until a parish hits that rate?
“Of course, my main concern is keeping our citizens safe,” Chiasson says in the letter, “but I also have a duty to the hard-working residents and business owners in Lafourche Parish, and they are suffering through this time.”
And that is the crux of any efforts to control a highly contagious virus that has so far infected nearly 35 million people and killed more than 1 million worldwide. As of Friday, the state had reported 3,661 cases and 118 deaths in Terrebonne. Lafourche has seen 3,693 cases and 122 deaths.
Loosening restrictions on business and social activity comes with costs and benefits. And politicians are faced with the difficult task of balancing the need for people to earn a living against increasing the risk that more people will get sick and die.
The decision to open local bars offers examples of both.
The leisure and hospitality industry, which includes restaurants, bars and hotels, is down 1,200 jobs, a 14.5% loss, compared to August 2019, the latest state figures show. The industry has been among the hardest hit during the pandemic, and getting people back to work is important.
Balance that, however, against health officials’ consistent warnings that bars pose a high risk of transmitting the virus because, among reasons, drinking requires people to remove their masks and the atmosphere, which often includes loud music, can encourage people to ignore recommendations to stay six feet away from others.
State and White House health officials have both credited the bar closures as among actions that helped reduce Louisiana’s COVID-19 infection rates so it can continue to phase in looser restrictions.
And that is a credit not just to political leaders but to residents who have adhered consistently to the basic health recommendations: wear a mask in public, stay six feet away from others, avoid large crowds, wash your hands regularly. Doing those things will also help determine whether bars remain open and whether the state can continue to loosen the rules and continue the reopening process. And the results will affect not just the bars and the people they employ and entertain but on the community at large.
Online: https://www.houmatoday.com/
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Oct. 2
The Advocate on the return of high school football and other sports:
High school football is back this weekend, another sign that we are reclaiming the joys of life in Louisiana.
In the spring, it seemed like athletes and fans might be sidelined until a vaccine could be deployed, maybe not until 2021.
But athletes and teams got their bearings and found safe ways to resume play. It wasn’t always easy.
Major League Baseball was the first to come back, beginning a shortened season on July 23.
Soon there were positive COVID-19 tests among ballplayers, and naysayers suggested the whole idea had been a mistake. But the teams sorted things out.
One of the early complications was an outbreak among the St. Louis Cardinals, which sidelined the team for days. By mid-August, the Cardinals had played only five games, while many of the other major league teams had played 20. But they wound up completing 58 games and are in the playoffs.
Other sports followed.
The Southeastern Conference started its season last weekend, and other college teams are playing as well. The NFL season is three weeks old, and the league hit its first bump: Postponing a game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tennessee Titans.
As we resume high school football, we should expect complications. The coronavirus isn’t going away just because we love football, but that doesn’t mean we have to give up our Friday night traditions.
Teams may be impacted, games may be canceled, fans may be restricted. But competition enriches the lives of high school athletes and their families and their communities, and it is better for them to try and play than lose out on a valuable life experience.
Online: https://www.theadvocate.com/
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