Recent editorials from Louisiana newspapers:
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March 3
The Advocate on Louisiana’s drinking water:
The devil is in the details, and there is scientific disagreement about solutions, but we hope that people can agree as we do with Marylee Orr, executive director of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network: ’’Our drinking water is a precious but finite resource that the people feel must be managed correctly and protected for future generations.”
How to do that? There is the hard part.
As everyone in Louisiana knows, much of the continental United States is drained by the Mississippi River through the center of our region. But drawing drinking water from the river, as New Orleans does, requires a hugely expensive treatment plant.
In Baton Rouge, drinking water comes from the Southern Hills Aquifer, which is suffering from some level of saltwater intrusion that has been recognized as threatening to drinking water wells. Some experts think that the intrusion can be stopped with relatively inexpensive “scavenger” wells.
Others, including the state Office of Conservation in a new report, say that potentially far more costly responses are needed.
Orr’s group wants action. What does that entail? If the Conservation report is accepted, reducing use - that would mean largely by major industries - is “the most effective way to remediate water level declines and saltwater intrusion in local aquifers.”
That’s not exactly encouraging for highly competitive manufacturers of petrochemical products that are sold in both national and international markets. Every additional cost counts.
However, there are differing views from scientists.
Two hydrologists from the Louisiana Geological Survey reported last year that Southern Hills is good for 250 years, so long as the intrusion problem is dealt with in the next dozen years or so.
The Conservation report, notably, stopped short of saying it might intervene through emergency orders on the issue pondered for years by the Capital Area Groundwater Conservation Commission.
We don’t know if the commission is too favorable to industry, as some have argued. But we appreciate that the commission has asked the Water Institute of the Gulf, based on the river south of the Interstate 10 bridge, to develop a long-term plan for groundwater management. That might be a model for the rest of the state.
Our region’s long-term growth, indeed existence, depends on drinking water. And that’s as true for economic competitiveness in terms of water used copiously by industries.
If you have any doubts about the importance of groundwater management, ask folks in water-starved regions like California and Arizona. Louisiana is working on the long-term issues, for we think there is a recognition of the common sense in Marylee Orr’s statement.
Water is a great asset for us. We should be willing to invest in its management and protection.
Online: https://www.theadvocate.com/
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March 2
The Houma Courier on 23rd Judicial District Judge Jessie LeBlanc:
The scandal involving former 23rd Judicial District Judge Jessie LeBlanc has elicited a reaction from her that should never have been tolerated in her courtroom.
LeBlanc resigned Thursday over text messages she sent to her ex-paramour, then-Assumption Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Bruce Prejean, in which she used the N-word to refer to a black court employee and a black deputy.
Both LeBlanc and Prejean were married to other people during their affair. LeBlanc said the texts arose out of anger over the end of the affair.
Rather than simply accept responsibility for her actions, express the appropriate contrition and deal with the consequences to herself and her family, LeBlanc decided to play the victim.
In her resignation letter, she referred to “irresponsible and vicious attacks” and wrote, “We do not need another Judge being endlessly attacked and vilified at the expense of the integrity of our system of justice.”
By itself, this defiant reaction is enough to demonstrate that she was unfit for the job. Her self-styled martyrdom pales in comparison to the effects of her actions on the real victims.
Not only do two families have to deal with infidelity and public disgrace, but her own irresponsibility has caused real harm to the integrity of the justice system itself.
It is not hard to foresee the second-guessing of large numbers of cases that she decided with black defendants or those involving Prejean in some capacity. All of them are now called into question.
A judge who displays genuine and vitriolic racial bias, as well as carries on a long-term affair with someone with regular business in her courtroom, should not be whining about how she is treated when these actions are uncovered.
One can hardly imagine how any reaction to her transgressions, no matter how “irresponsible and vicious,” could be worse than the acts they describe.
At best, her reaction shows a tone-deaf misreading of the nature of her transgressions. At worst, it shows that the judge’s sense of right and wrong is woefully inadequate for the job.
Online: https://www.houmatoday.com/
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Feb. 29
The (Lake Charles) American Press on vaping marijuana:
The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently announced that its 2019 survey, Monitoring the Future, found vaping of marijuana is on the rise among teenagers.
The MTV survey was the 45th annual sample of eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders in hundreds of U.S. schools.
“We are heartened to see the continuing decline in the use of many drugs, particularly non-medical use of prescription opioids; however, teens are clearly attracted to vaping products, which are often concentrated amounts of drugs disguised as electronic gadgets,” said NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow. “Their growing popularity threatens to undo years of progress protecting the health of adolescents in the U.S.”
According to the survey, vaping of marijuana has more than doubled in the past two years. It was reported at 20.8 percent among 12th-graders, with 10th-graders not far behind at 10.4 percent and eighth graders at 7.0 percent.
The survey also notes that for the first time, the survey measured daily marijuana vaping, which was reported at 3.5 percent among 12th-graders, 3.0 percent among 10th-graders, and 8 percent among eighth-graders.
NIDA also notes that marijuana continues to be the most commonly used illicit drug by adolescents. After remaining stable for many years, daily use of marijuana went up significantly since 2018 among eighth- and 10th-graders - now at 1.3 percent and 4.8 percent respectively.
In addtion, overall, NIDA found this past year marijuana use rates remained steady among teens - 35.7 percent among 12th-graders; 28.8 percent among 10th-graders; and 11.8 percent among eighth-graders.
In 2019, questions were added on daily vaping to address public health concerns about e-cigarettes and vaping devices. The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control have warned the public about lung illnesses and deaths related to vaping, with some patients as young as 13.
Parents, educators, health care professionals, lawmakers and the public at large all need to keep informed about the growing problems related to vaping and marijuana. For more details, go to NIDA’s web page: https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/monitoring-future.
Online: https://www.americanpress.com/
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