70454
Thursday, April 19, 1984- 3rd Year, Number 30
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festival a huge success
Staff Report
, Festival Director Steve
Strawberry Festival was
COme true, total success, a
lime.
the year has taken its toll
kon the high still " Pugh said the
r the weekend festivities.
range from 126,000
the two day event, the
in Louisiana.
and festival veterans
Saturday was a slower
with Sunday breaking
An unestimable amount of
made to benefit a wide
causes and clubs.
Uere only two arrests on the
fairgrounds Saturday and none Sun-
day, Pugh is quick to point out, There
were other arrests in the crowded city.
however, including the apprehension
of a hit and run driver and his friends
who ran into a young man on Fifth
Street, pitching him into the air and
causing severe injuries before racing off
and leaving a path of destruction before
being caught by police on the south
side of town, Still, with the city's
normal population multiplied by 31
there were relatively few arrests
citywid.
Pugh said that the new company
providing festival rides drew praise
from many visitors.
And Pugh said the Sunday open-air
church service featuring a Baptist
missionary who dresses as a clown was
well-received, h was one of several
additions to the Strawberry Festival"
schedule which seem likely to continue
from this festival forward.
Nurseryman Joe Pemn, a Jaycee. is
expected to be formally named chair-
man of the 1985 festival when the
board meets May I.
Asked what advice or good wishes he
could offer his successor, Pugh replied.
"'My wish for Joe is that he have a
board and elected officers as good as I
did." Pugh said he would stay on as an
advisor for next year's festival.
Perrin could pick up on at least one
trick employed by this year's chairman.
At one point Sunday it started to
sprinkle raindrops, but Pugh had a
plan. "'We just started throwing dou-
bloons into the crowd until the rain
stopped." he said.
Asked if he wanted to speak directly
to the reaJers during this. the final
interview of his yearlong tour of service
as festival director. Pugh replied with
the following characteristic response:
"'! just wanted to thank everybody
who worked with the festival Board.
those who manned the booths and did
the million tasks necessary to put on
such a large festival., I even want to
thank everyone who came to this year's
festival. Some say Steve Pugh did a
reat job. That's ridiculoust It is the
trawberry Festival Board who should
attract all the thanks and praise. They
did a fantastic job!'"
Bids threaten
local beer distributor
Jamaica to Ponchatoula
By EDDIE PONDS
Times Reporter
was a busy day for
newest business. JSM
Inc.
shipment of Jamaica beer
Louisiana, and unloaded in
Red Stripe lager.
Inc., located at 145
Street. is owned and oper-
S. McGary of Pon-
Inc. will be import-
distributing Jamaican beer
Louisiana.
will give their taste
to taste the taste of
Red Stripe beer" from Ja-
Stripe beer has been
1918.'" said McGary, a
attorney and an
Attorney.
end of summer. 1 should be
Stout. a much stronger
and some of California's
McGary said.
'of 1983. the 21st Judicial Bar
was held in Jamaica.
District Attorney Johnny S.
along with judges and other
attorneys from the surrounding areas,
attended the convention.
While in Jamaica, McGary said he
noticed a]] the American tourists enjoy-
ing Red Stripe beer and reggae music.
In November of 1983 McGary began
the long, tedious process of obtaining
the necessary documents to import
Jamaica beer and found out that the
road from Kingston to Ponchatoula
was a winding one indeed.
JSM Enterprises is expected to hire
about 10 to 15 local residents when the
company begins a full scale operation.
Johnny is the father of three children.
Tamika 13, Shondra, 5, and Johnny
Jr. 2. His wife Barbara is a teacher at
Martha Vinyard Elementary School.
The Ponchatoula attorney was chosen
• one of the outstanding Young Men of
America in 1983.
McGary graduated from Greenville
Park High School. He received his BA
degree from Grambling State Univer-
sity in 1970, a masters degree from
Kansas State University in 1971, and
Dr. of Juror degree from Tulane
University School of Law in 1974.
In 1979 Attorney McGary became
assistant district attorney to District
Attorney Duncan Kemp,
Ponchatoula School budget
Staff Report
High construction bids have threat-
.. tned to burst the budget for Poncha-
oula area schools now being built with
money from the new sales tax.
First to feel any cuts would likely be
the athletic facilities, according to earlier
statements made by engineer Ed Mire-
mont who is handling the architectural
end of the project. These include a
sports stadium, track, lighting and an
athletic building.
School officials are going to be busy
1' the balance of this mo-im3 ....
figure out how to trim the second phase
of the building project so it comes in at
the cost budgeted. The local building
committee is expected to bring the
matter before the school board in early
May.
Concern for the budget was triggered
by the recent high bids received for the
second phase of construction, bids
which exceeded the monies set aside to
pay for them. The budget for the entire
project is $11 million.
Gator closer to new home
By BRYAN T. McMAHON
The town alligator may have come
out of the 1984 Strawberry Festival
better than either the king or the
queen.
The king was in the hospital when his
beautiful queen was gliding across the
dance floor at the royal ball.
And the lovely queen followed suit
just days before the festival itself, falling
from a horse and fracturing her pelvis,
an injury which kept her on crutches
whenever the news cameras weren't
clicking.
But the alligator made out pretty
good. The Chamber of Commerce
effort to build Ole Hardhide a bigger
cage was boosted by the sale of 200
specially designed gator T shirts.
With help from Chamber President
Joe Singerman and his wife, who did
yeoman service at the Country Market
booth both days, and members such as
Lyle Glldermaster and Country Market
President Ruth Berner, and others, the
entire supply of shirts sold out.
The Chamber will sponsor future
fundraisers for the alligator project, in
an effort to build the kind of gator pen
that will be attractive to visitors,
humane for the alligator and a visual
plus for Ponchatoula.
Committee members plan in the near
future to journey to the audubon Zoo in
New Orleans to ask the experts for
pointers on designing a newer and
larger gator pond,
The Ponchatoula Times is one of the
Chamber member businesses who has
come forward with its own gator cage
promotion - offering to donate half of
all new subscription funds to the project
(see Page Two).
rnor uses carrot, stick on legislators
!-F."BIL L" CHAPMAN
"pecial Correspondent
i ROUGE .. The carrot and the
Governor Edward's tooLs
addressing the opening
the regular legislature Mon-
in Baton Rouge.
and enticed legisla-
voted for his special
proposals and urged them
on the other hand, he
about it when he cited
basic state services that
along with the resulting
he predicted would
if certain anti-tax iegis-
their way, along with the
he would personally let
know who was
if they did not come "on
announced that he was
of executive orders and
for which any
citizens could volunteer to
internal efficiency of
a cost-benefit committee
pomiity of doing rome
functions outside the civil service, one
on school discipline, one on testing in
schools that would compare our school
childrens' accomplishments "to .the
realities of Louisiana life," and anreher
that would form a group of" the
"captains of industry" to assist with the
economic recovery. He also an-
nounced he would be issuing executive
orders forming groups to study better-
ing vo-tech schools, the feasibility of
putting the state's charity hospitals
under private management while re-
taining help for the poor, a special
release program for certain prisoners,
possible private management of
prisons, the cost of all state health
programs, and a "fresh and learned
look" at the state's universities.
He then went on to announce that he
was going to be offering specific pro-
grams on education, hazardous waste,
minority affairs ("not a hand-out pro-
gram but a participation program"),
and a port system to include an
off-shore bulk terminal, as one-third of
U.. corporate profits and jobs depend
on international trade,
On fiscal mat,ers, thre'J constitutional
amendments were proposed for capital
development, permanent funding, and
stabilization. He said he would not
oppose reducing gasoline taxes if a
aduated motor vehicle license plate
were substituted. Legislation con-
cerning civil service and politics that
would let the two inter-mingle except
for running for public office and making
campaign contributions was encour-
aged. Edwards also suggested wiser
investment of retirement funds to better
enrich them and the possible use of
some funds to provide loans for low
cost housing.
It was at this time that the Governor
began his strong use of the carrot and
the whip.
He referred to the last budget letter
former Governor Treen submitted
quoting Treen as saying, "this results in
outlays below which the state needs to
properly function" and explaining that
it meant the state could not properly
function as it was currently being
funded: this was the reason for the new
tax package Governor Edwards
wanted.
He then went on to cite a long list of
various services that might have to be
cut entirely if his tax package weren't
approved, such as p'ublic works, the
needed matching funds for highways,
overlays, and bridge replacement. He
also listed as endangered: the state
share of insurance of state employees
and teachers, programs for the elderly,
nursing homes and mentally retarded
facilities, adult education, and a host of
others including any state action on
flood control.
The Governor told the leslators,
"Not a person in this room honestly
thinks this state can do what it needs to
do if we adopt this (Treen's) budget.
One of two senators serving Poncha-
touls, Gerry Hinton, was one of those
named by Edwards to be on a special
committee to both look at possible
budget cuts and new sources of reve-
nue. Edwards went on to remind all the
legislators that he felt future elections
would not have people looking at them
as to their tax vote as such but as to
their willingness to bite the proverbial
bullet and do what was needed at what
he considered a time of grave crisis for
the state.
MY PONCHATOULA
By OLE HARDHIDE
The Alligator
Whew! Is it over yet? Can I come back up to the surface?
There lwas in my bedroom waking up, head throbbing, tail dragging, throat
about as scratchy as my claws, and my first thought Saturday morning was
that I was going to concentrate real hard all day trying not to set off so much
as an unnecessary ripple in the pond, when all of a sudden I realized that roar
I was hearing was not coming from between my own ears, or compliments of
a passing locomotive, and it was about that time I realized there was no way
around it. I would have to open at least one of my eyes.
And there they were. Hundreds of faces pressed up against the fence so
hard it looked like hamburger coming out of L.J.'s big meat grinder. And their
ceaseless chatter in Whereyaat? accents and sing-song French and that awful
metal-on-metal clanging of talking tourists from the Midwest, all talking about
yours truly in their own adoring ways, was enough to make me pray that it
was all a transient nightmare. It wasn't. The annual Alligator Festival was on
full tilt, and a few church and civic groups were holding the 13th Annual
Strawberry Festival at the same time to capitalize on the crowds.
They could have picked a better day.
Oh the weather was fine (makes you wonder if those stories about Steve
Pugh promising his first born in payment didn't have some truth to them), but
the timing was definitely off. Somewhere it is written that you should hold no
festivals or fairs the day after an invasion.
And l'm not talking about the gray-haired air streamers in their bermudas
either. I'm talking about the Jamaicans.
The Jamaican invasion of Ponchatoula started quietly enough. Ole Johnny
McGary kind of sidled up to the cage like he does when he's facing a tough
legal problem and he needs some scholarly advice, but this time it was
different. "I've got something better than your pond water, reptile breath,"
Well to make a long story short, McGary had three gasoline thiefs on loan
from Eddie's jail and each had an old siphoning hose which they stuck
through the cage and into the pond, Within minutes the cage was as dry as
their former victims' gas tanks, and Ole Johnny set to popping open this Red
Stripe lager from Jamaica and filling up the pond with it. l asked him if he
wanted me to impersonate a pretzel, but he insisted he was serious and
coaxed me back into my bubbling pond. I was in Billy Young Heaven. And
getting thirstier by the second. The last thing I remember seeing was a fleet of
wierd Red Stripe trucks driven by obvious Jamaicans, taking over the town. (I
guess it beats getting invaded by Russia, or worse, California).
Anyway, Ole Hardhide's already got the secret weapon, and I don't mean
her winning...smile. I bring it to you in case you have run out of hope and
your head still throbs this long after the Alligator Festival and the Jamaican
Invasion.
BONNIE SIDE'S HANGOVER CURE
Take one ripe, peeled lemon, saturate with whiskey bittern. Suck lemon.
Follow with of club soda. Gross but effective and surefire.
Ole Hardhide's personal suggestion is to stick to good old-fashioned pond
water taken from Ponchatoula's fresh, sweet water pipes, the drinking of
which has yet to result in a single hangover.
But we seem to be going in the opposite direction. Let's talk about the
festival and the changes it has wrought on My Ponchatoula.
Like for,instance all the new car dealerships expected to open up: Betty
Cutter's Buick, Doug and Sandy's Subaru, Paul's Care and Plymouth
Dealership, Aw Shucks Oldsmobile, and Jaycee Jeep.
The idea had to have hit all of the local tavern and beer store places in town,
as well as the service club with the festival beer stand. If a car dealership can
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