DANIEL TYLER GOODEN / L’Observateur / April 7, 2000

CONVENT – “We want to develop a recording of the cultural heritage of St.

James,” said Stephen Doiron, independent writer and producer, to the St.

James Parish. This will be a public record for generations to come, he added.Doiron requested a resolution encouraging the production of a documentary on the bonfires in St. James Parish for public television broadcast.The proposed program, “Lights along the Levee,” is to be broadcast this Christmas, if all falls into place. Doiron is now working to get support fromthe Public Broadcasting System and different endowments for the arts. Theprogram would cost $100,000 and full support from the local parish is needed before national funding agency will join the project.

PBS has shown a great deal of interest, since the program would have a 20- minute live view of Lutcher during the festival, said Doiron. If PBS picks upthe program, it would be the first live program broadcast by the company.

The hour-long program would incorporate greetings from Gov. Foster to St.James Parish. Also, historians from the surrounding universities would helpillustrate the complex history of the parish, beginning with the Native American residents.

If the project is carried through, filming will run from July 17 through Dec.

15. On Dec. 24, the program will broadcast a live feed at 5:46 p.m. from theSt. James Historical Museum in Lutcher. The council unanimously receivedsupport from the council.

Complaints of inefficient property taxation was brought before the council by Tamara Byrns, a Lutcher resident. The Byrns had been taxed prematurelyafter the June 1 closing date in 1999. By law, property taxes have to be paidonce the house is being lived in, but the Byrns didn’t move into their home until after the closing date.

Byrns had to bypass parish assessor Glenn Waguespack to the State Tax Commission in order to get her refund, she said. “I don’t mind paying thetaxes I owe, but we hadn’t even moved in yet,” she added.

After talking with her neighbors, Byrns found that many of the people living nearby were not paying the full amount of taxes required by their square footage. Some had yet to pay any taxes at all. “I think everyone should paythe same,” Byrns said.

When Burns discussed the issue with Waguespack, she was disappointed that he would not consider back-taxing residents, which the tax commission said could be done five years into the past.

“He can do back taxes, he chooses not to. You got into office, do yourpaperwork. It’s not fair, I’m sorry,” Burns said.The council defended its assessment policy saying that it recognized that there were problems in the system and that they were being worked on.

President Dale Hymel Jr. said that a land zoning project was now in progress.Councilman Elwyn Bocz assured that Waguespack was doing his job well saying “Look at the project scale. It’s hard to get this done. WithWaguespack we have a new regime and we’re getting it done.”Waguespack assured the council that proper taxing of new homes was being done and parish houses had recently been measured to proper assessment.

Byrns insisted that proper assessment could not be done solely from outside a residence and suggested looking into insurance forms. “If their houseburns down, they would get paid in accordance to their square footage,” Burns predicted.

Byrns intends to contact the Louisiana State Tax Commission and follow up on the perceived problem.

In new business, the council endorsed Zen-Noh’s new construction plan. Zen-Noh is working with material suppliers to design dust collection machinery that would produce the dust in a pellet form. The result of the pellets wouldbe less dust pollution and easier marketability for their by-product exports.

Plant manager, Rodney Duhe Jr. also informed that the company was workingwith federal health agencies to build an atomized water system, which would considerably cut down on dust from the grain importing dock, said Duhe.

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