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See All Ar )und the Town on page 3 for uo coming events
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THE NEWSPAPER OF AMERICA'S ANTIQUE CITY
www. ponchatoula.com/ptimes
THURSDAY, JANUARY 31,2013
33rd YEAR
NUMBER 17
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Times Report
It has been confirmed.
Up North in frozen Michigan, an alligator believed to be held captive by Motor
City drug lords who out of fear dumped him in a hard ice-encrusted parking lot in
the toughest section of a notoriously fierce city, the Jefferson-Chalmers district, has
been positively identified as a member of the Ponchatoula Hardhide family.
The identiYmation was made
by Dave Bjarnesen of the Mich-
igan Humane Society, who at
the request of this newspaper
checked the left front armpit
of the alligator abandoned to
his certain death in Michigan
weather where no alligator or
Louisiana citizen could survive.
There, where legendary Pon-
chatoula Mayor Dr. Charles
"Doc" Gideon repeatedly told
all who would listen, you would
find a strawberry birthmark
signifying a true descendent of
the original Hardhide, and pre-
cisely in that location Bjarnes-
en in Detroit says he discovered
a strawberry birthmark in the
center of the reptile's left front
armpit.
And in an eerie family tra-
dition, Hardhide in Detroit is
blind in one eye, just like the
original.
' W0rk lg through Times re-
porter Brooks O'Connor (who
broke the story of the rescued
Detroit alligator in these pages;
The Ponchatoula Times, Janu-
ary 3, 2013), Bjarnesen asked
if the alligator he had tenta-
tively named A1 E. Gator before
his discovery of the strawberry
armpit birthmark could be re-
patriated with Ponchatoula.
Bjarnesen explained the
Michigan Humane Society is
unprepared to house such a
Louisiana native species.
At the urging of the Times'
Brooks O'Connor, Bjarnesen
called the offices of Ponchatoula
Mayor Bob Zabbia where he re-
ceived the fast action decision-
making legendary in that office
since the time of Mayor Doc
Gideon.
Zabbia mayoral assistant
Rhonda Sheridan suggest-
ed transportation details be
worked out between the Michi-
gan Humane Society and Klie-
bert's Alligator Farm of Pon-
chatoula.
So a certain frigid death sen-
PLEASE SEE PAGE 4
s Report
The first Ole Hardhide was brought here by Ponchatoula Town
Marshal Murphy Hebert from where it was on display at a Ham-
mond restaurant that was soon to be shut down due to construc-
tion of East Morris Avenue.
The alligator had only one
working eye, and Doc Gideon
confirmed personally to Times
Publisher Bryan T. McMahon
that Ole Hardhide had a straw-
berry birthmark in his left front
armpit.
Hebert brought the reptile
in his trailer to the enormously
innovative Ponchatoula mayor,
who ordered the alligator kept
in the municipal swimming
pool until he could decide what
to do with it.
From that day onward,
adults and children crowded
the benches around the pool,
clung to fencing and gazed into
the depths at the swimming al-
ligator, and Doc Gideon had a
notion.
His fellow Masonic Lodge
brother Hiram Caves was a
broken, out-of-work worthy
with nothing to do, so as with
all true working men confront-
ed by overwhelming adversity,
Hiram Caves went into a de-
pression that had him sitting in
a chair and staring at a wall in
his home: a skilled steel worker
unafraid of high construction,
out of work.
In this state, Doc Gideon
approached him and told Hi-
ram Cave of his plan. Could
Caves bend tubular metal and
construct in the very middle of
downtown Ponchatoula, an al-
ligator cage that would serve as
the city's main tourist attrac-
tion?
Caves told Gideon he would
give it a try, and he enlisted his
young son Robert to aid him.
The two of them worked hard
and slowly constructed the
foundation of the cage.
A big pay day came and Hi-
ram took the money and left
PLEASE SEE PAGE
Prominent citizens support Avenue of Flags
Dr. Michael Haight DDS (left) and former fighter pilot
and PHS educator King Butler have made substantial con-
tributions to the local American Legion's effort to create
an Avenue of Flags at Ponchatoula Cemetery to honor Pon-
chatoula's war dead and all local veterans. A benefit golf
game has been set for Feb. 9. (Photo by John Johnson)
Toomer moves to tou,
alcohol permit law
Times Report
A recent Times report on the January City Council meeting
stated that District D City Councilman Melvin Toomer introduced
an ordinance making it more difficult to obtain a special events
permit, or special alcohol sales permit.
PLEASE SEE PAGE 4
legated gingers, oak leaf hollies,
spiral junipers, loropetalums,
Old Timey Snowball vibur-
nums, and various under-story
ground cover plants In a sweep-
PLEASE SEE PAGE 3
First Baptist wins Genesis Award
Gardenettes of Ponchatoula Member Maria Griener
hands the Genesis Award to Dr. David Cranford, senior
pastor at the First Baptist Church of Ponchatoula. (Gar-
denette Photo)
esls
Special to The Times
The Gardenettes of Pon- church, installed by Prestige
chatoula recently chose the One I andscaping, include var-
First Baptist Church of Pon-
chatoula, located at 325 E. Pine
Street, to receive the Genesis
Award for the months of Janu-
ary and February, according to
member Maria Griener.
This award is presented to
businesses in the Ponchatoula
area with exemplary land-
scapes.
The new gardens at the
This doggie's no Lon Chaney
Ponchatoula Rotarian "Crazy" Dave Berwick poses
with his pet pooch Quasimoto, "Mo for short," following
a speech he made Thursday regarding his armed struggle
with a much larger dog during his carpet selling days in
1970. (Times Photo)
tale
Times Report
Forget for a moment 9-11 when hundreds of Americans died in a
terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Dave Berwick told fel-
low Ponchatoula Rotarians that it was 4-11, that day in 1970 when
he was married, that he marks as "The Day of Infamy."
Berwick (whose moniker He then launched into a re-
"Crazy Dave" pretty much set telling of his bloody but as he
the tone for Thursday's address) tells it, funny story regarding
claimed his wedding day led to his being attacked by a German
"13 years of misery." PLEASE SEE PAGE 4
Terry Ann's tree in
bloom
Hardy Richardson plant-
ed a Taiwan Cherry Tre~
three years ago in honor
the late Tarry Ann McMahon
who passed away that year,
and this year it bloomed for
the first time. Richardson
threw his annual Taiwan On
party to coincide with the
flowering. (Times Photo)
By OLE HARDHIDE
The Alligator
Ponchatoula is recommended online on Facebook by Blue
Frog Approved Travel, and Chamber President Paul Pevey's
picture and Paul's Caf are featured on the influential web
site, as one of the key destination points in Ponchatoula.
Thank native daughter Kimberly Clark Williamson
whose daddy is Times organic gardener columnist Dudley
Clark.
His California-based travel expert daughter who owns
an agency there is chatting up not only Paul's Caf~, but also
ROX, Bootsy's, and Middendorf's. Be sure to welcome our
new California and Facebook friends when they fly in to
shop and enjoy the Ponchatoula lifestyle.
I can remember when Ole Hardhide The Alligator was all
the columnist we could ever need. Now you would be miss-
ing much if you did not check out John Johnson's All Around
The Town entertainment column, Thomas Kuhn's laid-back
From The Porch musings, not to forget local daddy John
Dudek's weekly sports column, Dr. Randolph Howes M.D
PhD's weekly health column that continues to attract rave
reviews from the readers. And as mentioned above, Pon-
chatoula organic farmer Dudley Clark's weekly column on
gardening was a hit the moment it rolled off the presses.
Throw in the parish's only weekly automotive coverage with
local new car test drive columns by Chris O'Connor and
Bryan T. McMahon and what we have here is the best of
American journalism - this in addition to all the local news
reports and photographs in The Ponchatoula Times. Lucky,
lucky readers!
Do you see where reporter Brooks O'Connor is now in
the alligator rescue business? I think it wonderful that she
managed to locate one of my gator kin in far-off Detroit,
Michigan, where he was being mistreated, and is moving
heaven and earth to free him from that fate and welcome
him here.
Where else, but Our Ponchatoula?
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The Ponchatoula Times -ca - P.O. Box 743 - Ponchatoula, LA 70454-0743 - editor@ )onchatoula.com