Someone's Watching

As Louisiana officials plead for federal hurricane relief aid, a state money panel agreed Thursday to spend nearly $45 million on construction projects ranging from health labs and water wells to a sports complex and livestock facilities.

A group of state senators not on the panel said the spending would damage Louisiana's attempts to secure federal cash for recovery efforts and would give the appearance that the state was focusing on nonemergency items while talking about employee layoffs and devastating health and education cuts.

"What you do in the next few minutes is going to reverberate throughout this country as to what Louisiana's priorities are," state Sen. Jay Dardenne, R-Baton Rouge, told the Bond Commission, a panel made of Gov. Kathleen Blanco's representatives, many of her legislative allies and others.

The state's tax base is decimated, Blanco has ordered a spending and hiring freeze on many parts of the budget, and officials are grappling with a deficit expected to reach $1.5 billion in tax income alone.

Despite the concerns, the Bond Commission shuffled state construction spending, taking money from items that wouldn't be able to start on time and — rather than holding the cash — unanimously agreed to move it to new projects. Blanco's office chooses which items in the state construction budget get funded, and the list of projects was drawn up by her staff.

What does government do when it thinks that it needs to spur the economy? It spends more. Is it spending the money wisely? With an infrastructure that is deficient, the Louisiana officials are spending it on what exactly? Stuff that's fluff?

How is that going to fly with the rest of the country? Is the rest of the country really paying attention (was it ever)?

The New Orleans harbor police chief has been suspended pending an investigation into his actions before and during Katrina.

Robert Hecker was suspended with pay by port officials until the investigation is complete, said spokesman Chris Bonura said Thursday. He would only say that "some of it is related to actions taken after the hurricane. Some of it's related to actions before the hurricane."

Meanwhile, along the US 90 corridor, officials are worried about reopening the road too soon because of traffic and law enforcement concerns.

Warr said he's already concerned the Guard could be pulled out soon, which would require an already overworked police force to abandon cruisers, sit at checkpoints and check IDs.

In Long Beach, for example, where the city is using checkpoints at the city limits on U.S. 90 in addition to the ones along the railroad to restrict access, officials don't have a timeframe in mind.

They figure they'll know it when they see it.

"It's kinda where we see it getting under control," Mayor Billy Skellie said. "It'll probably be 2-3 weeks before we can even entertain the notion of opening it while they're hauling debris and working down there."

Biloxi has actually opened a highway section to the public, allowing cars to travel between Porter Avenue and Interstate 110 to get north off the peninsula. Mayor A.J. Holloway has said he'll keep access restricted for the time being.

"I don't want to have a lot of sightseers and rubbernecking slowing up progress," he said, although he said there might be times during peak traffic hours where use of the highway could be considered.

Pass Christian officials said Tuesday they didn't yet have a plan for the beach highway.

Mississippi Department of Transportation engineer David Seyfarth said that after three spots that need to be paved are finished and the troublesome draining issues are corrected, two lanes could be turned over for two-way traffic by Wednesday, and possibly as early as Monday.

And believe it or not, the area could use rain because the dry conditions are making the hazard of brush fires a real possibility. The area has a ban on open fires because of the hazards.

Zeigler said South Mississippi is in the normal ranges for rain this year and isn't in a drought; however, the amount of debris from Hurricane Katrina coupled with the dry weather make fires more likely.

According to the National Weather Service, outdoor burning is being discouraged in all of southeastern Louisiana and South Mississippi, and a burn ban is in effect for Harrison County.

Officials also are encouraging residents not to throw cigarette butts from their vehicles.

October is the driest month of the year in Mississippi, with an average of 2.85 inches of rain.

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