Reverend Apologizes for Insulting Governor Blanco

Trying to get Governor Kathleen Blanco's attention during a rally is not that uncommon, but when a New Orleans reverend referred to the governor using the ‘B-word' -- he not only got attention, he says he also got a few threats. Monday, Reverend Raymond Brown formally apologized to the governor, and WAFB's Jim Shannon was there.

Even though Reverend Brown apologized, the governor says his comments were downright painful. They came during a rally where he and others were trying to draw attention to an incident in New Iberia last month where police used tear gas to disperse a crowd.

"The governor is, excuse the expression, a no good B****. Yes, she is, and that's not a curse word! We say B**** in church. She is no damm good and I'm gonna say it like it is."

Calling the governor the equivalent of a female dog does not score you points in Baton Rouge. In fact, it will probably get you some phone calls.

"[I had ] a message from the governor saying she was very upset about my statements and also I spoke with a deputy chief of staff they said they had a meeting regarding me using the ‘B-word' in referring to the governor," said Rev. Brown.

Reverend Brown says he was trying to get people's attention about problems in New Iberia. In New Orleans Monday, he personally apologized to the governor. He has sent written apologies, called and then came to Baton Rouge to again apologize on the steps of the capitol.

"I very seldom use those types of statements when I'm referring to elected officials; particularly the highest office in the state, the governor," Rev. Brown said.

And the governor seems to have buried the hatchet, saying in a statement, "his words are painful, but I forgave him." However others are not as forgiving.

Reverend Brown says he has received threats: "E-mails coming in saying, ‘People like Rev. Brown should not be around any more' and stuff like that. You know, carefully scripted, ‘he needs to be eliminated.'"

Reverend Brown says the ‘B-word' was used out of frustration because he says Blanco has done little to help African Americans in New Iberia following a tear gas incident with police last month when Iberia Sheriff's officials tried to put an end to the Sugar Festival before some revelers were ready to go home. A similar incident had happened last year.

I do not know if it is predominately black, I think Blanco is from New Iberia, and I don't know the racial breakdown of who attends the festival.

Sugar Cane Festival makes strong comeback

By PATRICK COURREGES
Acadiana bureau
Published: Sep 24, 2006

NEW IBERIA — The Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival made a strong comeback this year after rains dampened attendance in 2004 and Hurricane Rita washed out the event in 2005.

The four and a half-day festival, now in its 65th year, long has been the last big blowout in Iberia Parish and surrounding sugar-producing parishes before grinding season starts in earnest.

The festival is in New Iberia, the city being the center of the parish that grows the most sugar cane in the state.

Schools traditionally close in Iberia on festival Friday, as do many businesses and New Iberia’s city government offices.

A children’s parade passing the packed sidewalks of downtown Main Street was the marquee opening act for Saturday’s festivities and the heat and threat of rain — formidable though they were — did not appear great enough to dissuade people from settling down to the show.

The parade just beat out the arrival of the rain, as children marched and rode under a sky that alternated between bright sunshine and heavy clouds, but finished before raindrops fell on the gathering.

The children’s parade was not the traditional float-heavy Louisiana parade — that comes today at the 2 p.m. main parade — but was instead primarily a mix of elementary and middle school students, bands and cheerleaders marching or riding on flatbeds.

The younger folk wore costumes ranging from jungle animals to popular cartoon themes, with school team, band or cheerleading uniforms becoming more prevalent as the age of the parade group members reached double digits.

That followed a Friday night boat parade and ensuing fais do-do that drew an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 people, despite the episodes of heavy rain during the past several days in Acadiana.

The apparent success of the festival this time, married as it was to the apparent hunger of the citizenry to attend, almost did not materialize, said Miriam Krepper, president of the Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival and Fair Association.

She said Rita hit at the worst possible time last year — making landfall on the Saturday of the festival.

Krepper said festival organizers had laid out all the money for the celebration in 2005, but never had a chance to recoup the expenditures.

“We opened for about 12 hours” last year, she said. “This year (2006) was a struggle.”

Krepper said she and the members of the festival board had been counting on 2005 to be a make-up year after rains had kept financial returns low in 2004, but ended up with a far worse problem.

“We didn’t have the dollars,” she said.

Krepper said the festival lacked anything close to the $100,000 or so organizers normally have to work with in planning, and three of the members of the board died in the last year — one because of illness and the other two to a plane crash in Jeanerette.

She said that the American Sugar Cane League, Gordon’s Construction, radio station KXKC and the Louisiana Lottery Corp. came through in a big way with help to keep the festival going this year.

Krepper said the community needed to have its signature celebration back after the year the state has gone through.

“It’s a renewal, a rebirth that’s going on,” she said.

New Iberia Mayor Hilda Daigre Curry said that the festival is not known as a big money maker for the city — many businesses close during the event and most of the festival-goers live close enough not to need a hotel — but it is important to the people.

“It’s something our citizens have looked forward to for many, many years,” Curry said.

Story originally published in The Advocate

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http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/4218886.html?showAll=y&c=y

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