Louisiana Weekly Editorial Comes Out Against Sheriff Jack Strain

[Keseys Ghost]

http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20060710q

A "strain" on relations

By Edmund W. Lewis, Editor
July 10, 2006


No one who has spent any considerable amount of time on the other side of the pond should have been surprised by the controversial remarks uttered recently by St. Tammany Parish's top crime fighter....

... "For some reason New Orleans chooses to coddle criminals in that area that tend to get away with a great deal. We will not coddle that trash in St. Tammany Parish. If they come to St. Tammany Parish, we're going to pursue them, we're going to arrest them, our prosecutors are going to prosecute them and our judges are going to convict them," Sheriff Strain declared.

"Now, I don't get into calling people names, but if you're gonna walk the streets of St. Tammany Parish with dreadlocks and chee-wee hairstyles, then you can expect to get a visit from a sheriff's deputy. We would rather you come, be a working, tax-paying citizen of this parish and contribute to what makes this parish great. If you believe you're going to come over here and you're going to take advantage of our residents, then you're wrong.

"We're going to deal with you one way or the other.

"It's not our intent to violate anyone's civil rights, we never intend to do that. But you can

guarantee that things you got away with in the city will not be tolerated in this parish."

This is all too familiar. Just as Harry Lee saw nothing wrong with his deputies stopping people of color in lily-white Jefferson Parish neighborhoods, Strain promised that anyone with dreadlocks or "chee-wee hairstyles" (whatever the hell that is) can expect to be questioned and harassed by St. Tammany's finest.

Playing to the fears of white North Shore residents, Sheriff Strain said St. Tammany leaders and residents should pay very close attention to the impending destruction of housing projects in New Orleans.

"These people will not live on the street," he said. "The federal government is going to find somewhere for them to live. I don't want to see temporary housing because of Katrina turn into long-term housing for a bunch of thugs and trash that don't need to be in St. Tammany Parish. That's something that we need to be aware of today and all leaders need to be vigilant and observant to see what's going on. We don't want to wake up one day and find out that New Orleans has been damn successful at running all of the trash out of the city and it end up roosting in St. Tammany...."

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Why do I picture

this sheriff wearing a white hood, standing before a blazing cross?

[Richard Steele]

2. Because he's a so obviously a member of the KKK ?

Just a guess.

[LA lady]

3. Here

Meet Jack Strain:
http://www.stpso.org/meetsheriff.html

Rodney "Jack" Strain, Jr., Democrat, P. O. Box 1120,Covington, LA 70434, 504/892-8181

[Hippo_Tron]

4. Can't these people be tough on crime without being racist?

He could've easily gotten his message through without making racial references. There are plenty of White, Asian, and Hispanic criminals as well.