House panel pauses on fix for town’s water woes

A band of emotional and frustrated residents from the beleaguered town of St. Joseph in Tensas Parish pleaded with lawmakers Wednesday for help obtaining cleaner, safer water for their children.
They placed three muddy-brown “drinking water” bottles filled with liquid from the town’s faucets before the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee.
“Our water nowhere near looks like that,” reacted Rep. Patrick Connick, R-Marrero. “I wouldn’t drink that.”
But that’s all that’s coming through the pipes of this Mississippi River community. Representatives of the town were in Baton Rouge to speak on behalf of House Bill 823 by Rep. Marcus Hunter, D-Monroe, which aims to provide state government intervention in raising water standards for St. Joseph.
Residents say their pleas have gone largely unheeded by the St. Joseph’s mayor, who is holding up at least $250,000 of immediate funds for repairing the water system. To get the state money to fix the water problem, the town must pass an audit. Lacking that, a state could name an administrator to oversee the funds, but that would require the mayor’s permission.
Mayor Edward Brown, a 15-year incumbent, won’t do that, says Together Louisiana organizer Lady Carlson of Shreveport. A legislative auditor has determined Brown received some $19,000 he should not have received and awarded construction contracts to his cousin, Bobby Conner, amounting to about $127,000 over five years.
Brown has denied any wrongdoing and has refused to allow the state monies to come to the community. Carlson quoted him as saying townspeople “can drink bottled water.” Brown did not return calls from the Manship School News Service.
The state has allocated a total of $7 million to address the problem, and Carlson said Gov. John Bel Edwards has St. Joseph’s back. Hunter’s bill would circumvent local roadblocks.
But members of the Natural Resources and Environmental Quality Committee, while uniformly sympathetic, temporarily deferred Hunter’s bill on concerns its language is too broad. It is expected to be brought back before the committee next week after amending.
Personal accounts from affected residents, who traveled more than 250 miles round trip to testify, led lawmakers to discuss recall petitions and charges of negligence against Mayor Brown.
“Let’s get this mayor over here and let’s get to the bottom of things,” said Rep. Jerry Gisclair, D-Larose.
Bishop said he will personally call Brown to appear before lawmakers. If he does not respond, he will be issued a subpoena, Bishop said.
Samuel Johnson, pastor of Guilefield Baptist Church in St. Joseph, told lawmakers that residents are losing their hair and his wife’s skin remains irritated, while Roy Bowman, a minister in the same church, acknowledged the town is forced to use its tainted water for baptisms.
“You have to have some serious faith to be dipped in that,” Bowman said.
Bowman’s spouse, Wanda, delivered tearful testimony, holding up a piece of formerly white clothing stained brown after being washed with local water. She told lawmakers how her son bathes at least an hour every day and runs through a pack of eight bars of soap in less than 72 hours.
Retired Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré, one of the heroes in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, joined the cause, telling lawmakers that if a municipality’s water doesn’t meet proper standards, the governor needs to declare a state of emergency.
“[Our children] are not going to stay here drinking that kind of water,” Honoré said.
Though most lawmakers agreed with its intentions, some critics were skeptical of HB 823’s legality, as well as its potentially negative effects on other towns that already have safe, properly functioning water systems.
“When we use a shotgun effect, man ... that gives me a lot of heartburn,” said Rep. Jack Montoucet, D-Crowley.
In his opening statements, Hunter described his measure as a “purely local bill” to the committee, but chairman Stuart Bishop, R-Lafayette, insisted it applied to all of Tensas and Ouachita parishes.
Additionally, in order for a bill to be declared local, state law and legislative protocol mandate that the proposal must be advertised in the town it directly affects. Hunter acknowledged his bill has not been.
Montoucet urged Hunter to voluntarily defer his bill so its language could be corrected to apply only to St. Joseph. Hunter complied.
“As you can see, sometimes my passion gets the best of me,” Hunter said.