Louisiana news briefs

Malaria caused
ship illnesses
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Health officials have identified malaria as the cause of an illness that hospitalized at least one crew member aboard a ship docked south of New Orleans.
The Centers for Disease Control says at least one crew member of the Liberian-flagged ship, Marine Phoenix, tested positive Wednesday for the potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease.
The CDC issued a statement saying that two other sailors had “mild symptoms.”
The CDC says one of the ship’s crew members disembarked in the Bahamas several days ago, where he was diagnosed with malaria and later died.
The ship’s itinerary included a stop in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The CDC says a test on the dead crew member showed negative for the type of Ebola that is causing the current outbreak in West Africa.

Bids accepted to demolish old Port Allen school
PORT ALLEN (AP) — The fate of West Baton Rouge Parish’s first predominantly black school during the days of segregation took another bittersweet step when the school board accepted a $72,000 bid to have the campus bulldozed within the next 45 days.
The board’s action comes two months after the West Baton Rouge Museum announced plans to salvage several items from the historic buildings to be used in an exhibit on the school’s significant role in education in the parish. The school district also intends to erect a marker at the site after the buildings are torn down.
Cohn High offered a secondary education to black children between 1949 and 1969.
On Wednesday, the school board unanimously accepted a bid from ARC Abatement for $72,219 to tear down the campus.

Deputies arrest
3 in bank robbery
BATON ROUGE (AP) — East Baton Rouge sheriff’s deputies have arrested three people following the robbery of a Chase Bank branch.
Casey Rayborn Hicks, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman, says 19-year-old Leroy George III is accused of walking into the bank with his face covered and demanded money.
Hicks says robber took an undisclosed amount of money and fled the scene in a silver Toyota Camry.
She says authorities pulled over the car, and George’s aunt, 50-year-old Terri Lynn Larrieu, was behind the wheel. That stop led deputies to Larrieu’s home, where deputies found “a large amount” of money as well as George and 39-year-old Regina Ann Alfred.
George and Larrieu were booked with first-degree robbery, while Alfred faces one count of accessory after-the-fact to first-degree robbery.

Parish hiring policies challenged
OPELOUSAS (AP) — The St. Landry Parish Council has agreed to delay voting on any proposed revisions to a policy manual that covers employee hiring practices by parish government.
Council member Pam Gautreau said it is not clear whether the parish is following a policy manual adopted by a 2004 resolution or another policy she said parish government is using without council authority.
Parish President Bill Fontenot said on Wednesday the parish is following the one adopted by the council.
Gautreau says the 2004 manual establishes in detail that family members are prohibited from working in the same parish government departments, and indicates that members of the same family cannot supervise one another. However, Gautreau says, parish government has workers employed in the same departments and supervising other family members.

Man accused
of dumping fuel into bayou
THIBODAUX (AP) — State environmental authorities say a 41-year-old Cut Off man has been booked with illegal discharge of diesel fuel into state waterways.
Investigators with the criminal investigation division of Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality say Garret Gilliam was arrested by deputies of the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 26 for allegedly stealing diesel from a pump station on La. 652 in Raceland between Aug. 23 and 24.
Deputies said Gilliam confessed he had stolen diesel and intentionally discharged some of it near the pump station to make his load light enough to transport.
If convicted of discharging the fuel into state waters Gilliam will face up to three years in jail and fines of up to $50,000.

Man who killed student to die
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) — An escaped Louisiana inmate convicted of killing a Florida State graduate student in northeast Florida has been sentenced to death.
Following a jury’s recommendation, a St. Johns County judge sentenced 43-year-old Kentrell Feronti Johnson on Tuesday. He was previously convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping.
Authorities say 29-year-old Vincent Binder was found dead in an open field near Interstate 95 in April 2010 several weeks after he went missing. Deputy marshals caught up with Johnson and two other Louisiana prison escapees in Miami and linked them to Binder.
One of Johnson’s co-defendants, Quentin Truehill, was previously convicted and sentenced to death earlier. Co-defendant Peter Hughes pleaded as charged to first-degree murder and kidnapping and received a life sentence.

7 charged with sexual abuse
JONESVILLE (AP) — Seven adults have been arrested in Catahoula Parish for the alleged sexual abuse of a teenage victim.
Catahoula Parish Sheriff James Kelly said his office received information last week about the possible sexual abuse of a juvenile younger than 16.
After investigating, Kelly says detectives determined that “a series of incidents” involving the teenage victim had happened at a number of home in the Jonesville and Larto Lake areas.
Kelly says seven suspects have been arrested in the last week in connection with the alleged crimes.
He says some of the suspects have confessed, and he expects more arrests to follow.
The charges range from contributing to the delinquency of a minor to resisting an officer by flight, he says.

State Fair leader suspended
after drug arrest
SHREVEPORT (AP) — State Fair of Louisiana President and General Manager Chris Giordano has been placed on a two-week suspension following his arrest last week on a drug charge.
Giordano, 43, was pulled over Saturday for a failing to stop at a stop sign. When officers subsequently searched his vehicle, they allegedly found a small quantity of suspected marijuana.
Giordano was booked into the Caddo Correctional Center on a charge of possession of marijuana and failure to stop and yield at signs. Bond was set at $1,050. It was not immediately known if he has an attorney.
According to the statement from the Executive Board of the State Fair of Louisiana, the board placed Giordano on suspension and issued a letter of reprimand. In addition, it says should he be “the subject of any future law enforcement action — other than a routine traffic citation — his employment with the State Fair of Louisiana will be terminated immediately.”
“We take the charge very seriously,” Wayne Waddell, State Fair board chairman, said Tuesday.
“We also took Chris’ work history and his dedication to the State Fair of Louisiana into consideration in making this decision.”
Giordano has led the State Fair for eight years. The board also noted that Giordano has never received a reprimand or any other disciplinary action during his 18-year tenure with the State Fair.