St. Helena Tea Party to Fight Lawless Fed Judge

St. Helena Parish is about to form a tea party to fight precisely what our forefathers fought over 200 years ago – taxation without representation. Alton Travis, a 12-year St. Helena school board member, has begun preliminary efforts to organize a group. “I’ve made some phone calls and I’m putting together a contact list,” Travis said.

Mr. Travis spoke earlier today with Lincoln Parish News Online (LPNO) from his home near Kentwood.

Last week, LPNO had reported about U. S. District Judge James Brady’s plans to impose a tax upon St. Helena residents without a vote. Brady is the former chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party.

Travis said he has been in contact with the Baton Rouge Tea Party (BRTP) for help in organizing a group in St. Helena Parish. “I really don’t know why we’re talking about this,” said Travis in reference to taxes imposed by a judge contrary to voter’s wishes. “Things like that shouldn’t even be contemplated.”

Parish voters had previously turned down several attempts to pass new school taxes. On May 1, parish voters rejected a 55 mil property tax by a 62% margin. The tax issue has gone back over twenty years, according to Travis, and has been voted upon at least a dozen times.

Some have tried to portray a negative vote on school taxes as a racist vote, but as the parish is 52% black, it is clear that many blacks voted no on the tax. LPNO readers will recall how last fall’s defeat of a Baton Rouge tax was painted as “racist” by The (Baton Rouge) Advocate.

St. Helena is a rural parish with no significant tax base. Years ago, the area had several dairy farms, but that property now grows trees. Travis said if a tax is imposed, several property owners have told him they will file bankruptcy because they wouldn’t be able to afford the taxes. The school system consists of one elementary school, one middle school that has been taken over by the Louisiana Recovery School District (RSD), and one high school.

The taxes would fund pay raises for the district’s teachers and also fund new construction. Asked what condition are the district’s buildings, Travis said they’re in as good a condition as thirty-five years ago when he attended.

The school board is also under investigation for holding meetings without notifying all the board members.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/93831799.html

DA looks into attendance of board members at meeting

* By VIC COUVILLION
* Special to The Advocate
* Published: May 15, 2010 - Page: 5B

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GREENSBURG — District Attorney Scott Perrilloux has opened an investigation into why four members of the St. Helena Parish School Board attended a status conference on the school system’s desegregation plan while two other members apparently were not notified of the meeting.

Assistant District Attorney Cliff Speed, assigned by Perrilloux to serve as legal adviser to the School Board, told the board Thursday that Perrilloux has expressed concerns about possible violations of the state’s open meetings law as a result of the gathering.

Any time four members of the board meet, but fail to notify the other board members of the meeting, a possible violation could exist, Speed said.

Speed said Travis had lodged a complaint with Perrilloux and that it was the district attorney’s responsibility to respond to the complaint.

Attending the April 6 meeting in Baton Rouge called by U.S. District Judge James J. Brady were School Board members Elijah Harvey, Brenda Hurst, Willie Lee and James Baker. Board members Alton Travis and Wilson Hagan allegedly were not notified about the meeting. Travis and Hagan are both white and the other board members are black.

The apparent purpose of the meeting with Brady was to discuss the status of the desegregation lawsuit filed in federal court against the School Board 57 years ago.

In other business, the board voted unanimously to authorize Superintendent Daisy Slan to declare a “reduction in force” that may be necessary due to the announced plans of the state Recovery School District to assume jurisdiction of St. Helena Central Middle School.

She said if the takeover becomes a reality — a final hearing on the matter is set for Wed-nesday — then the likelihood exists that there will be a reduction in personnel at the school. She said she must post what positions are in jeopardy and how they will be filled.

The St. Helena Parish School Board is facing financial problems following the defeat in the May 1 election of a ballot proposition to raise $2.1 million annually for the next 20 years to fund the school system.

The measure failed with 1,015 voting for the tax and 1,613 voting against the tax. The School Board on Thursday voted to officially accept the results of the May 1 balloting.

Failure of the tax initiative marked the fourth time that voters have nixed new taxes to support the parish’s schools.

Among the options open to Judge Brady is the imposition of taxes to support St. Helena’s public schools. The school district is the poorest in the state.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/94372869.html?showAll=y&c=y

Judge wants details on St. Helena school tax proposal

* By BILL LODGE
* Advocate staff writer
* Published: May 20, 2010 - Page: 1A

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A Baton Rouge federal judge said Wednesday he wants details on a plan to tax St. Helena Parish residents for public school improvements without calling an election.

Parish and state officials also announced that low-performing St. Helena Central Middle School will be taken over by Louisiana’s Recovery School District.

U.S. District Judge James J. Brady told School Board officials at a court hearing in the parish’s 57-year-old desegregation suit: “All of you get together, come up with a schedule.”

Within a month, the judge said, he wants details on how the plan would “put some money into the system.”

Earlier this month, St. Helena voters rejected a ballot proposition that would have raised $2.1 million annually for 20 years. It was the fourth proposed property tax to be defeated in three years.

Nelson Dan Taylor Sr., the School Board’s attorney, told Brady it is impossible to obtain voter approval for public schools in St. Helena Parish.

Taylor asked the judge for permission to impose a tax without an election in order to raise money for school facilities and raise teacher salaries to the levels of wealthier parishes in the area.

At $30,254 per year, starting teachers’ salaries are about $12,000 less than those of surrounding parishes, St. Helena Superintendent Daisy Slan said last month. She said that makes it difficult for St. Helena to attract and retain teachers.

“Those children have suffered enough,” Taylor told Brady on Wednesday.

The judge welcomed the taxation proposal and said he plans to visit school facilities in St. Helena Parish and meet there with members of the School Board.

Brady also noted that questions have been raised about the possibility that board members have violated open-meetings laws during recent discussions about the lingering litigation. The aging dispute pre-dates the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 landmark desegregation decision in the Kansas case of Brown vs. Board of Education.

Last week, 21st Judicial District Attorney Scott Perrilloux’s staff announced that an investigation has been opened into an April status conference in the St. Helena case. That conference with Brady in Baton Rouge was attended by four of the School Board’s members — Elijah Harvey, Brenda Hurst, Willie Lee and James Baker.

Another board member, Alton Travis, filed a complaint in which he alleged he was not notified of the court conference, Assistant District Attorney Cliff Speed said last week.

“I may in the future meet with the board in closed session,” Brady announced Wednesday.

The judge added that such meetings would not violate the state’s Open Meetings Laws because board members would be discussing pending litigation and would not be taking any formal action.

Winston G. Decuir Sr., a Baton Rouge attorney for the Louisiana Department of Education, told Brady that department officials are in agreement with one of the School Board’s proposals.

“We have no position in regard to Mr. Taylor’s proposal for local taxation,” Decuir told the judge. “We are prepared to take over the school. And we wish them well.”

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