Pooyie!

Pooyie! 01.27.2010

C’EST BON
Lafayette has arguably the best utility service in the state thanks to our publicly owned provider, Lafayette Utilities System. Keeping it top-notch will require a commitment of our City-Parish Council, which made a brave first step in doing just that last week when it approved an introductory ordinance granting LUS a 7-percent rate increase over two years. It remains to be seen whether the 7-2 vote will hold firm when the ordinance comes up for final adoption in February, but we’re hopeful the council members who voted in favor of the ordinance understand the wisdom in granting the rate adjustment. A special attaboy is reserved for District 6 Councilman Sam Dore, the newly elected chair of the Lafayette Public Utilities Authority — the governing body of LUS — who, after doing his homework and touring LUS facilities, changed his position on the rate hike and became the swing vote in advancing the ordinance.

PAS BON
Get thee to the hoosegow already, Lil’ Wayne!

New Orleans native and multi-platinum rapper Lil’ Wayne was pulling against his hometown team Sunday during the NFC Championship Game, rooting instead for the Minnesota Vikings. Weezy, it turns out, is a big Brett Favre fan, according to an interview he did with MTV.

“I’m rooting for Brett because I’m a diehard,” he told the music video channel that rarely plays music videos last Thursday. Lil’ Wayne has appeared on the ESPN2 show “First Take” a few times to offer sports analysis. This consternating matter of football fidelity, we’ve concluded, is just another example of Lil’ Wayne’s bad judgement; the rap artist is scheduled to be sentenced next month on a weapons charge and will likely receive a one-year “go to jail” card.

COUILLON
What’s a fire bug to do? Why, join a volunteer fire department of course. It’s like a junkie working at a pharmacy. The state Fire Marshal’s Office last week implicated West Feliciana volunteer firefighter Adam Carriere in two recent arson cases involving vacant buildings in Tunica. Turns out, according to an article in The Advocate, the 24-year-old Carriere was just three days on the job in West Feliciana when the fires broke out — he had been dismissed from the Church Point Volunteer Fire Department last October when he became a person of interest in the arson of a vacant building there. According to the Fire Marshal’s Office, following his arrest in the West Feliciana arsons, Carriere confessed to the Church Point blaze.