LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / January 14, 2000

HAHNVILLE – One St. Charles Parish President Albert Laque appointee, thisone to the South Louisiana Port Commission, has raised a few eyebrows.

Paul J. “Joey” Murray III was confirmed to the post, despite having apending lawsuit against the St. Charles Parish government.”It’s a question if a procedure was done right or not,” Murray said. He toldthe Parish Council Tuesday, “I will do the best job I can for the parish and do a job you can all be proud of.”This speech, however, didn’t change Councilman Barry Minnich’s mind, as he was the sole vote against confirmation.

Murray and former public works director Ray Davezac formed Murzac Inc.

in November 1993 as a property development company. On Nov. 16 of thatyear Murzac entered into a lease agreement with T.L. James & Co. Inc., fora portion of batture land valued at a half-million dollars.

According to the original suit, Murzac planned to exchange all their stock for 250,000 shares of stock in Crown Casino and $90,000 cash, all intending to locate the Crown Casino riverboat in St. Rose. The deal wascontingent upon the property being zoned G-1 for gaming.

On Sept. 6, 1994, the Parish Council approved the rezoning, but on Sept. 9,then-Parish President Chris Tregre vetoed it, and the deal fell through.

Murzac sued Tregre and the council on Nov. 6, 1995 and added T.L. James tothe suit in October 1999, seeking damages of $900,000.

The case has lingered in the 29th Judicial District Court for more than four years. An ad hoc judge, Lewis S. Doherty III, was appointed in May1996 and removed from the case in July 1997. New attorneys representingMurzac came on board in October 1999, and the case is now in District Judge Kirk Granier’s court. The latest action, on Jan. 6, 2000, was toremove T.L. James from the suit as a defendant.Murray said the Louisiana Supreme Court did rule that Tregre had the valid authority to veto the case when Crown Casino sued, but it added a question remains as to whether that authority was properly used.

However, Murray continued, “I don’t know where this thing’s going to go,” and he added that pursuit of the lawsuit is not a high priority for him.

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