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| Photo by Eddie Cazayoux |
Tom Pierce opened for business six years ago, restoring and repairing violins and other stringed instruments in a small shop on the bank of the Bayou Teche in Arnaudville. Now, Pierce's business is being threatened by a beaver, which, left unchecked, could result in the instrument repair shop collapsing into the bayou.
“When I first came there was a pair of beavers here, but they eventually just went away,” says Pierce. “I know I got beavers. I think it’s just one, but he’s kind of transient. He’ll come and go. There’s a cypress tree out back that he’s eaten on three different times, and another tree that I know this beaver helped fell.”
Yet, their absence didn’t last, and since fall of 2010, Pierce says at least one beaver has been making its presence known by downing trees and burrowing large holes into the bayou’s bank. If unchecked, Pierce says his situation will end tragically.
“This beaver is causing us to lose land into the bayou, and now it’s interfering with the foundation at the back of my porch where we have our music jams,” he says.
Pierce isn’t the only one who believes a beaver is at the root of his land troubles. In an e-mail recounting a recent visit to Pierce’s shop, Breaux Bridge architect Eddie Cazayoux writes:
This is not an architectural situation. You have a beaver problem. One way beavers have adapted to this environment is by making their lodges in the bank of the bayou vs. a lodge in the middle of a lake create(ed) by damming up a stream.
I have had a similar problem on my property. I looked into getting a trapper, but they moved on and my problem was solved. You need to get rid of the beavers. If you continue to lose land, this foundation problem will again be compromised. You need to get rid of the beavers.Pierce, following Cazayouz’s advice, contacted Wildlife and Fisheries, which sent Curtis Cruse — a veteran trapper who specializes in capturing alligators, beavers and coyotes.
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| Photo by Eddie Cazayoux |
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
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MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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