Deputy Chief Glenn Ellis III shakes the hand of retiring
Captain Larry Salean at the May 7 council meeting,
with Deputy Fire Chiefs Leon Lea and Edward Appel in the background.

Fire Captain Larry Sallean, a retiring 35-year veteran of the St. Bernard Parish Fire Department was honored at the May 7 council meeting for several decades of service to the parish.

Before his retirement, Sallean was the Senior most member of the department. Fire Chief Thomas Stone praised him for his leadership and outstanding record.

“The people of this parish were his number one priority, and he has been involved in some of the most
notable rescues and fires, including Hurricane Katrina,” said Stone. “I’m sad for the parish and for the Fire Department to be losing such a great leader and role model.”

Sallean thanked residents of the parish and his fellow firefighters for making his career something he will miss greatly.

“Well, most of my speeches start with ‘Don’t play with matches’ and ‘Stop, drop, and roll’, so this is a little different,” said Sallean. He continued emotionally, “I’ve seen a lot of over years. I’m definitely going to miss it. Thank you.”

“The guy who designed this plan, if it doesn’t work, his life will go on… we will suffer
forever,” said Clint Guidry, President of the Louisiana Shrimpers Association. Guidry,
along with Mike Lane of RodnReel.com, Charter Boat Captain George Ricks, and
Dr. Pat Fitzpatrick of Mississippi State University, is leading the charge on the Save
Louisiana Coalition an organization against large-scale diversions. Photo by Helmut Ermlich

Hundreds of concerned fishermen attended the second meeting of the Save Louisiana Coalition Monday night to get informed on what coalition leaders say is the biggest issue facing fisheries today: large-scale freshwater and sediment diversions.

The Louisiana Coastal Master Plan, approved last year, has several large-scale diversions slated for St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes. One planned for the
St. Bernard/Plaquemines border in Braithwaite will flow 250,000 cubic feet of
freshwater and sediment per second into the area’s marshes. That planned project
is the same capacity of the Bonnet Carré spillway.

“We’re not fully against the master plan, we’re totally opposed to any new diversions,” said Mike Lane, one of the organizers of the Save Louisiana Coalition.

“I had a long conversation with Garrett Graves [Chairman of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority] and he told us that the plan might displace
people, displace communities, but they’re going to do it anyway.”

Proponents say the diversions are designed to allow freshwater and sediment to flow into the marshes to re-nourish them. The marshes have been cut off from nourishing river sediment over the last 100 years by levees and other manmade structures. They also say that these diversions are the most cost-effective and sustainable way to combat erosion and subsidence.

However, opponents of diversions—largely commercial and recreational fishermen, marina owners, shrimpers and oystermen, say that these diversions are a risky experiment that could wipe out their livelihood.

“They’re basing this on theoretical science that relies on computer modeling,” said Clint Guidry, President of the Louisiana Shrimpers Association. “The guy who designed this plan, if it doesn’t work, his life will go on… we will suffer forever.”

Their alternative is marsh creation by way of year-round sediment-dredging from the floor of the Mississippi River. They say that dredging creates land in years, where diversions are estimated to take decades– around 20 – 40 years– to see results.

“Base the goals on land built, not hypotheticals,” said Dr. Pat Fitzpatrick, an associate research professor at Mississippi State University. Fitzpatrick says that the State Master Plan’s emphasis on large-scale diversions is flawed, one reason being that river water is not as sediment-rich and healthy as it was 100 years ago.

Currently, the state operates three freshwater diversions– one at Davis Pond near Lafitte, one near Bayou Lamoque in Plaquemines Parish and the other in Caernarvon near the St. Bernard/Plaquemines border. Fitzpatrick said that some of the worst erosion of the last decade has been in the area impacted by the Caernarvon Diversion, which includes the marshes near Delacroix Island. Fitzpatrick says that area’s erosion has a direct correlation to harmful chemicals in the river water.

“The Mississippi River has fertilizers and pollutants in it, and organic-based soil, which is what Delacroix has, is very sensitive to fertilizers,” he explained.

He said that when plants have easy access to fertilizers, they do not grow deep roots. And when strong storm surges move through, they easily rip the plants from the soil base.

Coalition leaders and fishermen who have navigated area waters for generations say that the Bayou Lamoque diversion in Plaquemines–an 8,000 cfs (cubic feet of water per second) diversion– is directly responsible for low oyster counts in the area. The diversion is still open today.

Jody Donewar, an area boat captain and charter guide, says that since the oil spill in 2010, the Bayou Lamoque diversion has been opened at full capacity to combat post-oil spill erosion.

“In three years, it’s killed every oyster,” said Donewar. “During the spill, I took Diane Sawyer’s news crew out there to effected sites, and I can tell you for a fact that no oil was even in this area.”

Donewar continued, “You pull them [oysters] out of the water and there’s no sign of life on the shell; it looks like the whole batch has been rinsed off with a garden hose. It’s like trying to catch speckled trout in a desert out there.”

The St. Bernard Parish Council unanimously passed a resolution at their April 16 meeting opposing the construction of any more freshwater and sediment diversions until scientific evidence proves that they will not adversely affect the commercial and
recreational fishing industries in St. Bernard Parish.

Parish President Dave Peralta and Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser
have spoken out against the large-scale diversions. Peralta was in attendance at Monday’s meeting and said he was encouraged to see so many—commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, charter guides, marina owners, land owners—
all gathered together for one cause.

“We all represent different groups, but this is the first time I’ve seen everyone together,” said Parish President Dave Peralta. “Politicians listen to numbers. This is what will make us win.”

One of the most exciting post-Katrina renovations, the Maumus Center in Old Arabi, is moving along nicely
and should be completed by the end of 2014.

Once completed, the $15 million FEMA funded project will be a state-of-the-art hands-on Science Learning Center for the St. Bernard Parish School system. Schools will utilize the Maumus center in conjunction
with the parish’s science curriculum, focusing on the region’s ecology and the environmental issues. The Center will house a number of exhibits and science labs. But the focal point of the new Maumus Center will be the planetarium, housed in a newly constructed 4,000 square foot building addition.

“We’re very excited about this project,” said Superintendent Doris Voitier. “The interactive science exhibits and planetarium will all feature the latest in technology.”

The original two story wood-framed and brick building was constructed as Arabi Elementary School, and was renamed Maumus High in 1931, the only high school in St. Bernard until 1955. A two story addition
was built north of the original building circa 1947 and joined to it with an arched breezeway bringing the total square footage of the complex to 30,000 square feet on the two acre site.

“They’re also doing a great job preserving the historic features of the building,” said Voitier. “We should be done by the end of 2014.”

Parish President Dave Peralta shares credit
with his staff for the successes of 2012, calling them the best he’s ever worked with. A “Team” plaque given to Peralta by a staff member shows the sentiment is shared.

It has been a year-and-four months since David Peralta took the oath of office and became St. Bernard’s Parish President. And it’s been a rough year.

The budget crisis from a lack of sale tax revenue has hit hard. In turn, to keep a balanced budget, 123 parish employees had to be laid off.

“It was the hardest thing that I ever had to do,” said Peralta. “I went through a time when I was unemployed… and had to worry about the next car payment.”

However in his address to the business community at the Chamber of Commerce Luncheon, Dave Peralta hit some of the positive outcomes of 2012: transparency and the completion of many Katrina recovery
projects.

A Public Information Portal on the parish website lists salaries, positions with take-home vehicles and cell phones, and the qualifications of directors.

Among completed Katrina projects are Val Reiss and the Old Beauregard Courthouse. Just go out to Val Reiss; you’ll see 500 happy kids with their parents out there, he said.

With a large crowd gathered in the courthouse Saturday night, anticipation was in the air. As the votes were delivered from the polls, the count between for and against vacillated. The final measure was the early voting which delivered the majority of “for” votes. The campaign was the success that the Sheriff’s Office said was badly needed. Hopefully, in the next year the tax increase will deliver the extra funds needed to keep up and improve the quality of public safety.
Photo by Jimmy Delery

The 15-mill property tax to fund the Sheriff’s Department for the next 10 years was approved by 61 percent of voters who turned out for the April 6 election.

The measure was approved: 2,390 votes for, 1,531 against.

The additional 15-mills doubles SBSO’s budget to $9 million annually for the next 10 years. Currently, SBSO is funded through a 15.6 mill tax. Faced with anemic sales tax revenue, a drastically smaller post-Katrina tax base, rising drug-related crime, and a $2 million deficit, Sheriff Jimmy Pohlmann said that a millage was the best way to insure future progression of the department.

“I think our residents understand the challenges to law enforcement and have a level of confidence that we can keep this parish safe,’’ said Sheriff Pohlmann.

Now that the additional revenue has been secured by voters, Pohlmann and his department are already looking toward the future. Addressing the $2 million deficit, hiring 12 new deputies for the patrol and drug enforcement division, and replacing several of the aging vehicles in the fleet are among his top priorities.

However, money from the new tax increase will not be available until property taxes billed December 31, 2013 are collected in early 2014. Sheriff Pohlmann said that although he has not decided anything yet, he
may opt to borrow against the 2014 anticipated revenue to address the $2 million deficit and to hire the 12 new deputies as soon as possible.

Chalmette Bicycle celebrates 50 years in business.

It’s often said that doing business with family is a risky move, but the Ybarzabals wouldn’t have it any other way. The store was honored on April 1 by the St. Bernard Chamber of Commerce and Parish Government for half a century of selling bicycles and lawn mowers to locals.

“We grew up here, we raised our kids here,” said Kathy Serpas Ziegler fondly. “All the grandkids come
here, the older boys work here over the summer— it’s really a family thing.”

In 1963, Kathy’s grandparents William and Annie Ybarzabal opened up the original Chalmette Bicycle
store, which neighbored the current building on St. Bernard Hwy. until Hurricane Katrina.

“My dad used to do bike marathons, and he actually qualified for the Olympics in Germany [1936],” explained Willie Ybarzabal Jr. “But my mother got pregnant with me, so he ended up staying behind.”

Over the years, William never lost his love of bicycles and worked in local shops until he finally had
the means to start his own bicycle business. Early on, all of the Ybarzabal children had a hand in working at the family business and learning the tricks of the trade.

“My aunt Pat has been here since out of High School,” said Kathy Ziegler. “I still remember sitting at
the shop and him spinning the wheels showing me how to tell the spokes all were lined up. He really loved showing us how to do that.”

After their parents passed away in the early 1990s, the Ybarzabal children made the decision to take the helm and keep their parent’s legacy going full speed.

“Mom died in 1989, and dad died in 1991 and just we rolled right into it,” said Catherine Ybarzabal Serpas.

When Hurricane Katrina left the parish in shambles and scattered many residents and longtime
customers of Chalmette Bicycle Store around the state, the Ybarzabal’s chose to keep the family
business going.

“We came back after Katrina because we felt like we had a service to offer St. Bernard, and if they weren’t family when they came in, they were when they left,” explained Catherine Ybarzabal Serpas. “I know a lot went to the Northshore, or Baton Rouge or where ever but we felt like our heart was here.”

Chalmette Bicycle specializes in adult and children’s bicycles, bicycle parts as well as lawnmower parts and repair. Until May 31, the store is encouraging patrons to sign up for a free raffle where the
winner can take home a bicycle, a lawnmower or a blower. Three winners will be chosen in early June.

During the March 26 FEMA Open House residents were able to view the new Flood
Insurance Rate Maps and how their neighborhood’s flood zone has changed.
Photo by Jimmy Delery

In light of St. Bernard Parish’s new preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Maps (pre-FIRMs), FEMA held an Open House meeting on March 26 that allowed homeowners to get one-on-
one assistance with identifying their new flood risk from officials.

“I tried getting on there [Region 6 website] to look at the maps myself but I had no idea what I was looking at,” said Arabi resident Allen Schubert.

Schubert and his wife Elma live in the Carolyn Park area, and thanks in large part to the Hurricane Risk Reduction System, their flood zone continues to be AE, and their Base
Flood Elevations are slightly lower. While still in a “High Flood Risk” category, the Schuberts say the slight BFE decrease is good news, but they were hoping it would be lower.

“The estimate we got looks like we could save about $20 a month,” said Elma. “We were hoping that with a 30 foot wall around us we’d see a bigger savings, but at least it didn’t go up…we’ll take what we can get.”

Many other zones in the parish that were once designated AE are now designated X, which
means flood insurance is not required. However, FEMA and parish officials encourage residents, even in X zones, to safeguard themselves from potential loss. Those in B, C, and
X zones qualify for Preferred Risk Policies which range from $129 a year for $20,000 of building coverage and $8,000 of content coverage, to $412 per year for $250,000 of building coverage and $80,000 of contents coverage.

Although BFE increases within the levee protection system are slight, those outside of levee protection are looking at major elevation increases, ranging from 18 to 21 feet in some
areas. For those that must elevate or pay higher flood insurance rates, SBPG last week announced that they were awarded a $10 million hazard mitigation grant to help homeowners elevate to their new BFE. Just last week Parish’s Hazard Mitigation Office
started sending out letters and informational packets to property owners whose structures have been identified by FEMA as “repetitive loss” or “severe repetitive loss” structures, as
well as past property owners who have shown an interest in the program.

According to the NFIP, structures deemed as repetitive loss are those that have received two or more claim payments of more than $1,000 from the National Flood Insurance Program
within any rolling 10-year period. A property is defined as a severe repetitive loss property when it meets one of these conditions: Four or more separate flood claim payments have been made and each claim payment exceeds $5,000, or at least two flood claim payments have been made and the cumulative payments exceed the value of the property.

Documents related to the Parish Home Elevation program and applications have been posted on the Parish Government website under the HMGP Office link.

Reowned pine needle artist and St. Bernard resident Mearline Rutt showing off her crafts on the front porch of the historic Estevez House.

The 37th Annual Los Islenos Fiesta was March 16 and 17 at the Islenos Museum Complex in St. Bernard Village. Hundreds of St. Bernard residents who love all things Islenos came out for food, music, rides and crafts, making the event one of the best yet. Los Islenos Society Board member Kathy Ziegler said this year’s festival was fantasic and is she is incredibly thankful for the great weather and turnout.

Bonnie LeBlance Walsh hard at work, making her own yarn for crafts.

Roy Ragan and Guy Henry shucking oysters at the Sheriff’s Office tent.

2013 Los Islenitos Victoria Crouchet and Anthony Spicuzza; 2013 Junior King Tomas Latapie and Junior Queen Jamie Serpas; Queen Amy Beaslsey Gonzales.

Steve and Maria Estopinal sporting their finest Islenos attire.

Carmel Fertitta and her husband Warren Bracamontes are opening their St. Joseph
alter up to the public on March 18-19 at 8412 Patricia St., in Chalmette.

This St. Joseph’s Day is a special one for Carmel Fertitta— it is the first year that she is doing an altar in her home, after promising her father she’d keep the family traditional alive after his death. Almost 30 years, and many heartaches later, Fertitta is finally fulfilling her promise.

“It feels so good to do this,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I’ve always had it in the back of my mind;
now that I’ve fulfilled my promise, I can rest.”

The Sicilian tradition of the St. Joseph’s altar originated in the early 1800s, after farmers suffering
through drought and famine prayed to St. Joseph for his intercession. In thanksgiving for the rains
that came, they offered the best of their harvest on an altar to St. Joseph. The Fertitta’s family St. Joseph’s altar tradition faded out after 1986— the last year her grandmother did an altar. Fertitta and her husband, who live off of Social Security, have spent months saving up and preparing for an
altar that will resurrect the lost tradition.

“We’ve been doing it a little at a time with what we have, but everything has really fallen into place,” she
explained.

The home altar, decorated painstakingly by Fertitta and her husband Warren Bracamontes for months,
is dedicated to all of the many loved ones they have lost over the years: Warren’s mother, her grandmother, uncle, father, and young daughter.

A few weeks after Fertitta’s father died, her four-year-old daughter was diagnosed with brain cancer.
She died two years later, on her father’s birthday.

“You can’t imagine the pain; it still feels like a knife in my heart,” Fertitta said emotionally, gazing across
at the photo of her young daughter, placed lovingly on the altar. “She was an angel, she really loved church and loved the blessed mother.”

Little Gina Marie loved the Blessed Mother so much, Fertitta says, that she requested her picture on
her birthday cake.

“She wanted all of her clothes to be blue like the Blessed Mother, she loved her so much,” she recalled
fondly. “God gave me an angel for six years and he needed her back; I take solace in that.”

So Fertitta hopes that the family altar this year will make her Gina Marie and father proud. Featuring
homemade cookies, breads and cakes, the altar will be presented March 18-19 at 8412 Patricia St., in Chalmette.

On March 18, viewing will be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. On March 19, viewing begins at 9 a.m. with feeding
of the saints at noon and public feeding of traditional pasta dishes after 1 p.m. until 8 p.m.

LSU’s anthropology team walks up the ridge in eastern St. Bernard Parish to
the site of where they were involved in recovering the body of a man reportedly
killed in the city last summer and buried in St. Bernard.

Authorities are fishing for clues outside of the quiet fishing community of Yscloskey this week, after the New Orleans Police department recovered human remains off Florissant Highway on Wednesday.

NOPD received a tip from an informant on Monday that a body was buried along the desolate Eastern St. Bernard Parish highway, and on Wednesday began excavating the site with the help of St. Bernard Parish
Sheriff’s Department.

Colonel John Doran, Chief of Operations for SBSO, was on the scene and confirmed that human remains were found several feet in the ground after an excavator from parish government was used to clear an area 10’x 20’.

“Whatever remains are recovered will be taken to the Orleans coroners office and NOPD would continue the investigation,” said Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson Steve Cannizaro. St. Bernard Sheriff’s Department will continue to assist NOPD with this case as it continues to develop, Cannizaro says. Authorities say the body may be that of a man who was allegedly beaten to death in New Orleans East, and buried in the brush off Florissant Hwy. in Yscloskey in August of 2012, just before Hurricane Isaac.