Louisiana news briefs

Terrebonne voters to consider fire tax revisions
HOUMA (AP) — Voters in Grand Caillou and Dulac will decide Dec. 6 whether two property taxes should be consolidated and another should be renewed to cover operations of the Grand Caillou Volunteer Fire Department.
Terrebonne Parish Fire Protection District 4A, which oversees the department, is proposing a 17.87-mill property tax to begin next year and last through 2024 to replace three existing taxes.
The district is already authorized to collect 9.63 mills through 2021 and 5.71 mills through 2023. A mill is $1 in tax levied on every $1,000 of taxable property.
Grand Caillou Fire Chief Shawn Bumm said the Dec. 6 proposition would replace those taxes.

Steamboat museum still in the works near Darrow
DARROW (AP) — More than three years after the award of a $5.2 million federal scenic highways grant, a steamboat museum originally envisioned to perch on the Mississippi River batture near Darrow is still in the planning stages.
While expected to move forward, perhaps by this summer, the museum will relocate off the river and to a plantation home’s property along River Road.
Houmas House Plantation and Gardens owner Kevin Kelly, who is contributing $1.8 million to the museum project, blamed the delays and the shift in location on expensive protective requirements imposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The museum will feature exhibits about the paddle-wheel era.

La. submits requests
for oil spill penalty money
BATON ROUGE (AP) — State officials are submitting four projects and one program to the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council.
They hope at least a few will rise to the top to receive funding from a part of the BP oil spill penalty money.
As part of the RESTORE Act, the council has control over a part of the funding that will come from penalties and fines resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.
About $150 million to $240 million will be available in this first round.
Kyle Graham, director of the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, said each of the 10 council members gets to submit five projects for consideration.
Graham says the state is asking for funding to do engineering and design, planning and other preconstruction needs.

3 enter not guilty pleas
in bail bond probe
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Three people indicted on charges of conspiring to write illegal bail bonds in Orleans Parish have pleaded not guilty.
James Johnson and Josephine Spellman, a former employee of unlicensed bondsman Rufus Johnson, entered their pleas on Friday to charges contained in a 10-count federal indictment issued this month.
Perry Becnel, a former bondsman, entered his not guilty plea last week.
Authorities say Rufus Johnson was writing bonds illegally by using licenses of others while paying off court clerks for favors including access to information and illegal inmate releases.
Rufus Johnson appeared in federal court Friday but did not enter a plea as he seeks an attorney to represent him.

Man faces negligent homicide count in fatal wreck
COVINGTON (AP) — The driver of a garbage truck that slammed into the back of a work convoy on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway on Nov. 3 causing the death of one man is accused of negligent homicide.
Darrell Benjamin of Harvey was booked Thursday in St. Tammany Parish on negligent injuring, reckless operation and negligent homicide. He was released on a $75,000 bond.
Authorities say the garbage truck hit a truck driven by Edward Burton of New Orleans with enough force to push it over the railing and off the bridge. Burton was killed.
After hitting the truck, the garbage truck hit a police car and came to rest on its side. Benjamin was pinned inside the truck and had to be extracted. He was unhurt.

Protest after deputy
who shot teen back at work
HOUMA (AP) — Protesters want the Terrebonne Parish deputy who shot and killed 14-year-old Cameron Tillman in September put on unpaid leave.
About two dozen people gathered Sunday on the steps of the sheriff’s office, chanting “No justice, no peace.”
Tillman’s mother, Wyteika Tillman, organized the protest after Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said Deputy Preston Norman was back at work.
Norman had been on paid administrative leave since the shooting Sept. 23 at an abandoned house near Houma. He’s on desk duty while state police investigate the shooting.
Larpenter says the deputy was afraid because the teenager pointed a pistol-like BB gun at him.
Mary Williams, of Houma, said she read about the protest on Facebook about an hour before it began, and rushed downtown to join it.

La. College has $1M
shortfall: fall enrollment fell
PINEVILLE (AP) — Louisiana College’s interim president says a 141-student drop in fall enrollment means a $1 million shortfall for the Baptist college in Pineville.
Argile Smith is asking officials to tighten spending to avoid a deficit.
His request came in an email last month to faculty and staff.
Smith said in a separate email that he doesn’t expect cuts but does plan to spend less overall.
He says that will include suspending expansions of programs planned under previous President Joe Aguillard. Those include a school in Tanzania, Africa, and a law school, medical school and film school planned in central Louisiana.
Smith says the next president can decide whether to resume those programs.