Louisiana Voice

Jackson Parish interim Sheriff (and candidate for the full-time job) Brent Barnett must think he is FAJITA, the latest acronym for el Presidente.

FAJITA, we’ve learned, stands for “Forget About Jurisprudence If Trump’s Around” and that appears to be the position that Barnett has taken with a woman named Jeanne Ray.

Ms. Ray, it seems, is the mother of a former Jackson Parish jail employee who is opposing Barnett’s election bid—and, just as with TAMALE (Trump Always Makes America Look Embarrassing), there’s a price to pay for disloyalty.

According to her son, Corey Ray, Jeanne Ray likes to hit the hootch a little too much, as does (again, according to Corey) her brother, Jason Ponder, and when they do, sparks tend to fly since they live in proximity to each other.

So, in their latest dust-up, Ponder, took out a warrant for her arrest but soon changed his mind and attempted (unsuccessfully, it turns out) to have it recalled. Corey said it was commonplace for them to squabble, call the cops and then opt not to pursue charges.

But this time, the Jackson Parish Sheriff’s Office executed the warrant and last Thursday, she was arrested and taken to what was thought to be an overnight stay in jail.

Not only was it not an overnight visit—she’s still in jail at last check—but she is being held at the Jackson Parish Men’s Jail, a violation of state regulations that require segregation of men and women prisoners not only by sight but by sound, as well.

Moreover, she is being confined to a booking holding cell for more than 23 hours per day with no opportunity for exercise or for showers. Most critically, her son said she is being deprived of her required medications.

“All this is a deviation from standard protocol,” Corey Ray says—and he should know having previously worked at both the Jackson Parish and Lincoln Parish detention centers. “Historically, female detainees in this jurisdiction are transferred to an appropriate women’s facility,” he said. “Keeping her isolated in a male booking facility under these conditions appears to be a deliberate punitive measure.”

That’s because, he said, both he and his brother opposed Barnett prior to last Saturday’s primary election in which Barnett, running more or less as an incumbent since his elevation to interim sheriff after the retirement of former Sheriff Andy Brown, led the five-man field with 47 percent of the vote. Israel Smith was a distant second with 18 percent.

“We have strong reason to believe the timing of the arrest was retaliatory,” said Corey Ray. “My brother and I have been publicly campaigning against the interim sheriff, Brent Barnett. Hours prior to my mother’s arrest on May 14, I posted statements on social media alleging unethical behavior within the department (as well as reposting LouisianaVoice stories). Furthermore, the arresting officer noted she had seen my mother at her workplace multiple times prior to that day but chose not to act on the warrant until immediately after my public posts. Since the arrest, my family has faced targeted harassment, threats of violence from individuals associated with the interim sheriff, and the unauthorized public release of a sealed juvenile record involving my brother.”

“We believe these conditions violate her Fourteenth Amendment rights regarding the treatment of pretrial detainees, specifically the deliberate indifference to serious medical needs and the imposition of conditions that amount to punishment before trial,” he said.

​“My mother is under extreme psychological distress due to this prolonged isolation and lack of medical care. We are seeking immediate intervention from a civil rights attorney or advocacy group to ensure her safety, medical compliance, and transfer to an appropriate facility.”

The contrast between commencement speakers at Louisiana Tech University and Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC) could not be starker.

Both BILLY McCONNELL (class of 1970) and Regina Davis (class of 1998) are graduates of Tech and both obtained their degrees in chemical engineering.

But MConnell, unlike Davis, did not pursue a career path in his major field of study, choosing instead, make his fortune in what he describes as “providing effective re-entry programs that change the lives of inmates,” according to a glowing press release by the university.

In reality, McConnell has presided over a growth industry that thrives on simply placing human beings in cages—kind of a low-tech enterprise when you think about it.

His company, LaSALLE CORRECTONS, has been the beneficiary of a financial windfall, thanks to the Trump administration’s immigration policies. In one year alone (2019), the Department of Homeland Security contracted eight new immigrant detention facilities in Louisiana. Six of those were former prisons or jails owned and operated by LaSalle—because the feds pay more per incarcerated body than the state.

But the company’s detention centers have been plagued with problems that ranged from beatings, deaths, withheld medical care at several of its locations to the performance of UNAUTHORIZED HYSTERECTOMIES on female detainees at its Georgia center. LaSalle also paid out a $7 million settlement at the BI-STATE JAIL in Texarkana, Texas, in 2024, the largest jail death payout in Texas history.

On the other hand, Regina Davis stuck to her major field and advanced up the ladder to her current position of Operations Manager at the Baton Rouge Refinery and Chemical complex. She addressed 600 graduates of BRCC on Tuesday. She delivered a stirring address that recapped her difficulties of being pregnant and alone, 300 miles from her New Orleans home as she doggedly pursued her degree. “In 1998, I walked across that stage as my one-year-old daughter cheered me on. Today, she’s 28 and is a nurse practitioner.

Davis stood as the example of grit and determination in the face of adversity who persevered and overcame tremendous odds. It was just the kind of uplifting address newly-degreed students needed to hear before venturing into the world of professional reality.

Tech graduates on Saturday will hear from an individual who has enriched himself on the misfortunes of others—mainly people who simply wanted a better way of live in America but instead, have been treated like pariahs.

By guest columnist Paul Spillman

A vote on the SCORE Act was postponed, again, this week in the House.  The bill is a sweeping piece of legislation intended to regulate college athletics. SCORE stands for “Students Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements.” The bill has been twice pulled from consideration and now appears dead with opposition from both the Freedom Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus. While not currently scheduled for another vote it does provide insight into how Congress might address college athletics so it’s worth looking into the details.

The SCORE Act would apply to any institution with either $20M annual athletic revenue or a coach in any sport earning more than $250,000 in base salary. What ramifications this would have for the current structure of the NCAA is unknown as there are more than 350 schools in Division 1 but not all of them earn more than $20M annually from athletics, or pay a coach more than a quarter of a million dollars in base salary.

The legislation would supersede all previous state laws concerning issues covered by the SCORE Act such as state regulation of name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation. It would also grant to the NCAA an exemption from antitrust law and specifically states that college athletes are not employees of the institution.

Under the SCORE Act the NCAA would be granted the authority to institute a cap on total NIL expenditures according to a formula established in the legislation. Because of the disparity in athletic revenue among various schools this would likely create as many problems for the NCAA as it solves. While the formula is weighted towards the highest earners it is limited to an average so that the relatively small number of schools earning in excess of $100M annually (roughly 5% of the total membership) would be unable to spend freely. This maintains one of the age-old problems with the NCAA – larger schools, loosely defined as the four major conferences (SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12), are held back by the limited resources of the majority of member institutions. That conflict is what drove schools, then athletes, to begin suing the NCAA for violation of unfair trade practices.

This legislation would also allow the NCAA to establish guidelines for and to register sports agents.  It would allow the NCAA to determine all the dates of a season, post-season, signing day, and transfer portal window. It also would allow the NCAA to determine when college athletic eligibility begins and ends and provides athletes with one transfer while maintaining immediate eligibility but would give the NCAA the authority to determine athletic eligibility beyond one transfer. The bill would mandate athletes must be enrolled in an institution for one year before they can transfer and maintain eligibility.

The bill would require the Federal Trade Commission to study whether there is a need to license and/or regulate sports agents specifically for college athletics and establishes the makeup of boards and committees with decision-making authority. It would also require both the NCAA and the federal government to study the impact of travel in conferences that now stretch coast to coast – which could have implications concerning recent conference realignment.

The SCORE Act would also impose the “Lane Kiffin rule,” attempting to define when a coach can be hired. It has the mocking sobriquet “Lane Kiffin rule” but the issue of coaches leaving successful teams who still have post-season opportunities which prompted this provision extends before and beyond LSU hiring Kiffin from Ole Miss. This provision would prohibit the hiring of coaches while post-season competition is still ongoing.

Then things got interesting. What all this is, really, is regulating the market and the SCORE Act dropped all pretense to pure free-market capitalism. Besides capping NIL the legislation provides that salaries and/or buyouts for coaches must be paid out of athletic revenue only. This provision would eliminate groups such as the Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF). TAF arranged for the bulk of Brian Kelly’s salary at LSU and for most of the buyout when LSU fired him. TAF also provides for most of Lane Kiffin’s salary. In fact Kiffin’s base LSU salary is only $400,000, with some bonus language included. The other approximately $12.6M comes from, through, or related to TAF. But the SCORE Act would define and limit what “outside parties” can contribute to coaches, athletes, even schools.

That raises some interesting questions on the nature of capitalism in America. If we can define what is revenue and regulate salary according to that definition for a football or basketball coach can we also define compensation for capitalists such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, or Larry Ellison? This is a debate the political right will run from but it is more than a little ironic this provision was written into the bill to win over Chip Roy (R-TX) and other Freedom Caucus votes.

There is little enthusiasm for the Score Act in the Senate. The Senate is working on legislation to regulate college athletics coauthored by Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), tentatively titled the SAFE Act, but has yet to release any text of the bill or schedule hearings. However, Cantwell has made numerous statements opposing the SCORE Act as a “gift” to the NCAA and the two major conferences (SEC and Big Ten) and stressing her priorities, which include protecting women’s sports and small colleges.

The SCORE Act would have indeed been a “gift” to the NCAA, giving them everything they desire without requiring any institutional changes. But if Senator Cantwell’s comments are an indicator the Senate bill is not likely to be as giving  – to the NCAA or to Power Four schools. One of the ideas mentioned is to force schools to pool media rights as a means of leveling the revenue imbalance among the 350 diverse colleges and universities in Division 1. Such legislation would surely spark another round of debate on breaking away from the NCAA as no Power Four school wants to give up TV revenue so that schools that don’t even play football can shore up their Olympic and women’s sports teams. But we won’t know how restrictive the legislation will be until the Senate releases it.

All in all, it was not a good weekend for Squeaky Toy Jeff Landry.

On Saturday, voters in Louisiana—those who were allowed to vote—rejected all five of the proposed constitutional amendments.

And while his preferred candidate, Julia Letlow, led the field and she did unseat incumbent Bill Cassidy Landry’s closed primary produced confusion and consternation in at least one precinct in Caddo Parish by ILLEGALLY BARRING Democratic voters from casting ballots in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat or for Democratic candidates for the District 5 Public Service Commission contest.

That was on Saturday. Sunday was just plain embarrassing.

Landry and wife Sharon were dispatched by el Presidente TACO Don to go forth and “make friends” in Greenland, even as the constitutional amendment election results were still smoldering from that epic crash and burn back in Loozianer.

And that’s where Squeaky Toy encountered a sticky wicket of sorts.

Diaper Don had apparently provided Landry some of his cheap non-made-in-America merch to pass out to the grateful children of Greenland.

Instead, the kiddies REJECTED THE MAGA HATS and other Trump-branded crap-ola and in turn awarded Landry literally and en masse with their middle fingers.

And they say we don’t write the good news. I ask you, how much more positive could we be?

So much for making friends—in Louisiana and Greenland.