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| July 25, 1985 The Ponchatoula Times |  |
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Thursday, July 25, 1985--4th Year, Number 43 50 ¢
E PONCHA TOULA TIMES
and get free home delivery
See coupon - Page Two
Charles Gideon, athletes Sarah
(center) and Sherry Pilcher,
the olympic torch to
li]NAL
PU
A torch is passed
Ponchatoula in front of Ole Hardhide's
cage Thursday, the largest such cele-
Second of two parts
Should Ponchatoula annex more land?
imes Reporter for the areas, and insure that tuture the subdivisions in the West Hoffman
, , ".', (Part Two of Two Parts) development meets city requirements, Roadarea
said Pope and Perkins. in a recent interview with the Times
One of the important things Poncha- Hammond is already servicing areas each Ponchatoula city official expressed
f/ toula elective officials fail to agree on is with Ponchatoula addresses, in the his or her views on the future growth of
annexation. Ponchatoula school district, and future thecitv.
The Ponchatoula of today has grown annexations are said to target SEE PAGETHREE
very little in the last decade.
The only annexation city officials say
they agree on is the proposed annexation
• of Highway 51 North and the north side
of Barringer Road since the south side " " • C
of Highway 51 and Barringer Road was
bration in the parish.
(Times Photo by Eddie Ponds)
torch carried in fine style
By EDDIE PONDS
Times Reporter
main street parade route as the torch
and parade made their way to the cage
of Ole Hardhide the alligator, where a
simple ceremony took place on the
public stage.
Mayor Chrales Gideon, local
dignitaries and politicians led the
parade.
Mrs Cindy Newton on the mayor's
National Sports Festival torch was
=raded through downtown
last Thursday evening on
i journey to the competitions in Baton
of Ponchatoulans lined the
c:hatoula Minutemen needed
committee and Chamber President Mrs.
Jeanne Zaleski planned a citywide
turnout, but the weather did not
cooperate.
Rain, thunder and lightning caused a
change of plans and the official torch
bearer for Ponchatoula, Oie Hardhide,
was allowed to remain in his cage
instead of being urged to mount a
horse-drawn wagon to lead the parade
But still the crowds turned out.
When the late-arriving torch finally
reached the city limits at Barringer Drive
and La. 51 Mayor Gideon had an
official delegation on hand to greet
them, including: Police Chief Ernest
Pitier, Mrs. Zaleski, Ponchatoula's First
Lady Mrs. Alice Gideon with three
grandsons: Michael, 5, Stephen
Johnson, 3, and Aron Beauchamp, 2;
all waving the American Flag.
Most area citizens got their first glimpse
of the National Sport Festival torch in
front of Gateway Shopping Center
when award-winning gymnast Sarah
SEE PAGE THREE
annexed August 25, 1977, according to
city hall records.
Meanwhile the City of Hammond has
pursued an aggressive annexation poJi-
cythat moves its city limit siqns closer to
Ponchatoula's.
Part one of this two part report was
published in last week's Times. it
featured interviews with Hammond
Mayor Debbie Pope and Council
President George Perkins.
Both Hammond officials said that
Hammond has become the fastest
growing city in this region through
annexation. Both said the city was able to
take in entire residential and commercial
areas by only offering basic city services,
fire and police protection.
But once areas are annexed
Hammond is able to plan for future
Staff Report
Rally around the flag!
Thatls the call of Ronnie Perrin and others who are working to create a new
organization in Ponchatoula - The Ponchatoula Minutemen.
to women as well as men, the Minuteman club would take on the
of caring for the city's large flag, said to be the nation's largest
Pole-displayed American Flag.
Upkeep would include the maintenance of night lighting, the ropes and
and the flag itself. To just raise and lower the huge banner takes a
minimum of 20 Minutemen. Perrin said the optimum membership level in the
Organization would be I00.
Perrin estimates that the cost of keeping a giant flag in repair (including
replacements) would be between $2,500 and $3,000 a year.
He out that I00 members each paying the annual $25 club dues
make the organization financially solvent, without need for conducting
Jndraisers. Perrin said the club's sole purpose would be to care for
ula's American Flag.
"We want to maintain the large flag year round and everybody l've talked
Chamber meet
set for Friday
By JEANNE ZALESKI
Chamber of Commerce Pres.
The Chamber of Commerce will meet
Friday, noon, at the Rotary Hut. The
public is invited. Luncheon is $4.
directors will meet at 11 a.m.
We wish to thark all of the citizens
who helped in the organization and par-
ticipation of the Torch Run. Inclement
weather forced some changes, but
didn't dampen the spirit. Thank you for
aqain making Ponchatoula the most
. mmunity-active city in Tangipaho
Parish,
Ribbons will be awarded to the
winners of the window-decoration
contest: first, Sanders Archery and
Outdoor Outfitters; second, Old Town
Shoppe; third, Country Cobbler. We
appreciate the efforts on behalf of the
merchants.
Keep watching the news for announce-
ments of the Asphalt Celcb.rations. The
Chamber will provide music, hot dogs,
and lemonade. The merchants will have
various 'specials' for you.
August 7-11 will be Tangipahoa
Parish Black Festival Ill at Zemurray
Park, Hammond, La. Everyone is
invited. There will be music, food, and
games.
D.A. gives Sen. Cross apology,
clean bill of political health
MY
PONCHATOULA
By OLE HARDHIDE
The Alligator
Do you know why we are having all this rain lately? (1 do.)
You take this man-giant of an Irishman, dangle him ever so deliciously in
front of an underfed alligator, threaten him with clefingering, and sit back and
watch as he dances the wildest Celtic-lndian Rain Dance ever danced on the
Non American cotmenL
it rained, and it rained, and ttrainedl and at tilis wrtti it is still ratnihg;
ever since the dance. It was easily the wildest thing 1 have ever seen, on
swamp or dried land. ! thought he'ld crack a kneecap on the railroad rocks
when Doug O Bannon first fell to his knees and began to gyrate and chant.
He had just received the message from the dry safety of the mayor's office
that the Ole Hardhide torch carry would have to be scrapped and the
alligator left alone for the clay if the day turned rainy. I heard Doc Get-it-on's
voice over the walkie-talkie and the next thing I heard was some primal pagan
chant coming from the man who nearly carried the nickname "Stubs"
O'Bannon through life. But, eerily, his efforts were succefui. The clouds
complied and saved his digits by inundating the olympic parade route
Thursday with enough water to keep Kentwood Springs in business for
another quarter century (why not Ponchatoula Springs Water Co.?). Which is
good, and 1'11 tell you why it is good. Even with crab dip or tarter sauce there is
nothing [ would rather not eat more than ! would rather not eat Doug
O'Bannon's hard and calloused fingers.
Anyway, I'm glad the gentle Irishman did not have to come fetch me for
the parade, and I hear he was quite relieved himself (Larry Crain, did he
really sign up for typing and piano at SLU Thursday afternoon? You just
don't know what you have until it's gone, eh?)
Lena Murray's quite a gal, she and Lucy Wood are the last remaining
members of the Ponchatoula Swingsters, and several folks kind of assumed
the group would never play again since the death of this gator's good friend
Arabelle Fendlason. But (pay attention now) you cannot stop a Swingster.
Though the ladies say their recording days are over, it was the sweet
to rejects the idea of displaying a smaller flag to cut costs as being second rate.
We want the large flag flying. And if you want to see Ponchatoula's flag flying,
rny message is to join the Ponchatoula Minutemen," said Pen'in.
(yffThe below form can be filled out and returned by prospective members or
those wishing to donate to the cause to: Ponchatoula Minutemen, Post
ice Box 849, Ponchatoula, La. 70454.
By BRYAN T. McMAHON
Editor & Publisher
State Senator Mike Cross, East Baton
Rouge District Attorney Bryan Bush,
and the owner of a Prairleville-based
chemical company have branded as
false, statements made in an interview
Name which appeared in last week's Times.
Address | Clyde Mullens, District Manager for
I National Laboratories of Baton Rouge,
Phone I said in a taped,interview with freelance
| reporter W.F. 'Bill" Chapman that he
I had been called into Bush' ff o
Veteran ? . , s o..ic to
• I aiscuss an investigation he said was
I enclose a check for the following: | being carried out by the D.A. involving
I Senator Mike Cross and Chemtex Inc.
| of Pratrieville.
[] $25 membership dues | Cross worked for the Louisiana
[ ] A donation to help you get started I corporation as a part-time salesman
| since 1981, and Muilens alleged that
II Cross was being investigated by Bush
[ ] A donation in memory of | for using his influence to win chemical
, product sales at Charity Hospital in New
uneans and at the Hammond State
nday is special day for Louisiana
NIw ORLEANS --- The heritage of presided over by Gov. Edwards and the I p.m. to 4 p.m.
will be observed in pagentry,
in food and in dance as Louisi-
observe the Bicentennial of the
of the Acadian Odyssey here on
28.
of the French and Spanish
will join Gov. Edwin
and Mayor Ernest Morial in
Orleans' Vieux Carre for a wide
of activities scheduled through-
day. The general public is
to take part in the observance.
11:45 a.m. a schooner re-named
Papa will clock at the Toulouse
descendants of the 35
families who arrived in New
years ago this month. After
ceremony at the dock, the
dressed in the period
of their forebears, will move
Square for a formal program
consul generals of France and Spain•
There will be a 1 p.m. ecumenical
service in the St. Louis Cathedral led by
Archbishop Philip M. Hannah of New
Orleans. The Dusenbery Family Singers
of Houma will perform at the Cathedral
and at a 2 p.m. buffet luncheon at the
Royal Orleans Hotel.
Throughout the day, there will be
Acadian music and dance, foods and
arts and crafts exhibits in many parts o|
the French Quarter.
The French Market Corporation is
sponsoring an Acadian Crafts Fair from
11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in French Market
Alley featuring quilts, accordians, wood
carvings, weaving and canning from
Lafayette, Chauvin and other parts of
Acadiana. There will be music by Pierre
Descant from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and by
Beau Soletl and Canray Fontenot from
The Jackson Brewery will feature the
musical group Bouree from 3 p.m. to 6
p.m. on its Riverfront Promenade.
There will be music and Cajun dance
lessons while food merchants at the
refurbished brewery will offer Cajun
delicacies. Throughout the day there
will be arts and crafts demonstrations in
the Jubilee Cart Market.
Mayor Morial and representatives of
the French government will preside at a
dedication of a fountain at Latrobe
Park, Decatur and Ursulines, at 11 a.m.
The fountain is a gift to the city from the
Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac.
The history of the Acadlans dates
from 1604 when Pierre duGast de
Monts and a group of 150 French
colonists established a settlement in
French-controlled Canada. In the
ensuing years other colonists came from
School. Mullens said in the interview
that Chemtex was an Iranian-based
firm.
Cross was linked to Chemtex in
reports which appeared in other
Louisiana newspapers when it was
alleged the company paid off a DHHR
state official, Charles Olivia. it was
noted at the time that Cross workedd
for the firm.
D.A. Bryan Bush would not
comment publicly on that particular
case, which he indicated was being
readied for the grand jury, other than to
support Sen. Cross' contention that the
senator was not a subject of Bush's
current investigation.
"1 have talked to Sen. Cross, He is not
a person we are looking at now. We
only wanted information from him
because he worked for the company. 1
can't say much because I'm still going to
the grand jury with this case (which he
said Cross is not a part of)." Bush
SEE PAGE FOURTEEN
Western France and by the beginning of
the 18th century there were several
thousand French settlers in what is
present-day Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick.
The Acadians remained loyal French
citizens through this period of tranquility
but in 1713; with the Treaty of Utrecht,
England gained control of Canada from
France. The next 40 years were trying
times for these Frenchmen who were
caught up in a power struggle between
the two great European powers for
control of the New World colonies.
Convinced that the Acadians' loyalties
would always lie with France, the
English finally expelled all 10,000 of
these settlers in 1755, exiling many to
England and France, while others
scattered to the American colonies and
the West Indies. There followed a full
SEE PAGE FOURTEEN
Swingster sound of Lena's drums and Lucy's piano that sounded Wednesday
when tle ladies played for the veterans of My Ponchatoula (Some say if you
listeneclose you would hear the saxaphone).
You'ld have to be a fresh visitor just off the bus to ask me what's so special
about My Ponchatoula. If you stay around town five minutes or so 1 won't
even have to answer your question; someone will run up the world's larqest
Old Glory, or an olympic torch bearer will trot down nain street in a drzle
followed by a full-blown parade, or you would pass a vacant lot, take a spin
around the block, and before you'ld be back the vacant lot would have been
transformed to a park by a Flower Lady friend of mine who's kind of bent that
way.
Sure the mayor comes across as a bit goofy if you happen to be an ego-
plagued stuff shirt sort of jealous under-politician, but he does get the people
out into the streets, now doesn't he? And the last definition I read in the
waterproof dictionary my editor Ole Pinchpenny gave me last Christmas said
that a leader is a person with followers. Funny how the fellows who object to
the antics of Doc Get-it-on are the same types who if they called a parade
would be joined on main street by a couple of tumbleweeds and silence.
Anyway, the mayor's as much tourist attraction around these parts as the flag,'
the train, the Country Market, the City Hall berry and the Strawberry Festival.
Of course he's not nearly so famous as Ole Hardhide, but then who could
possibly be?
Now don't be embarrassed. How many thought that the city was finally
putting up a first class bicycle trail through the scenic streets of My Ponchatoula
when first they saw the otherwise mysterious blue reflectors which sprouted in
the streets? Oh you optimists!
The blue reflectors are fire hydrant markers put out by my smoke eater
buddy Lee Settoon (you can still follow the reflectors around town and
pretend City Hall laid out a scenic bike trail!) i Warning To Partiers: these mid-
lane blue reflectors should not be treated like the yellow reflectors marking the
centers of the roads - just ask any state trooper!
There's a city in Canada called Edmonton, in the province of Alberta, way
off in the great white North, and do you know what attraction they built to
bring shoppers into their (get this) "Monster Mall" which boasts (ready' 450 !
separate shops, an acre of children's rides, a National Hockey League-size.
skating rink (I'm available for translations from the Canadian afternoons at the
pond), marble fountains modeled on the ones at Versailles, zoos, aquarians
and eight banks to finance the frenzied shoppers, do you know what the big
attraction is? "A replica of New Orleans' Bourbon Street, with 13 nightclubs
and restaurants featuring Creole and Cajun cooking and a sky that changes
color several times a day." (Again, I do not have to make these stories up,
thanks to the quirky human race).
Troyer the Lawyer, architect of the roving troubadours and free concert
Saturdays of My Ponchatoula, promoter of the Lions Club Octoberfest this
fall and all things European and touristy, has just returned from the Old World
itself, having been seranaded by gypsies while he sipped cognac on a parisian
hotel balcony. Prepare thee My Ponchatoulans for roving bands of
seranading gypsies. (Sir Robert, you are forthwith summoned to the Court of
King Paul, there to tell the wide-eyed Care Girls and the hard-eyed coffee
drinkers of this great village what you plan for us - leather shorts and Robin
SEE PAGE FOURTEEN
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