THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
W e d n e s d ay, M ay 21, 2025
$2.00X
Carencro chief praises new police station
Anderson says facility will allow quicker responses, investigations
Library Board refuses to settle suit
Matter has already cost more than $100,000 in legal fees BY CLAIRE TAYLOR
Staff writer
will be able to meet the department’s needs for the coming years. “It did not leave for a lot of room,” Anderson said. “We’re still housing evidence from 30 to 40 years ago because we can never get rid of it because of the type of case it’s involved in.”
The Lafayette Public Library Board may have missed an opportunity to settle a federal First Amendment lawsuit that has already cost more than $100,000 in legal fees. The board on Monday sided with former board President Robert Judge over its attorney’s advice, refusing to enter an executive session to discuss a settlement offer that would have waived the legal fees, dropped ev- Judge eryone from the lawsuit except Judge and prevented Judge from voting on matters involving the lawsuit. Lynette Mejia and Melanie Brevis, founders of Lafayette Citizens Against Censorship, in March 2023 sued in federal court Lafayette Consolidated Government, Judge, current board President Daniel Kelly, Sheriff Mark Garber and two of his deputies hired as guards for a board meeting where Brevis was escorted from the speaker’s podium on Judge’s order. After the meeting Monday, Mejia said the board “is in breach of their fiscal duty to the citizens of Lafayette Parish” because taxpayers will be burdened with hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. “Once again this board has put personal political interests above what’s best for our library,” she said. She and Brevis, Mejia said, did not sue for financial gain, but to stop the board from limiting residents’ free speech. The security guards at a January 2023 meeting on Judge’s order escorted Brevis from the speaker’s podium. Judge previously had a resident arrested during a board meeting for uttering a single word out of order. Three years later, a Lafayette district judge dismissed the charge and apologized to the resident, an LGBTQ+ activist. In federal court, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Summerhays, Western District of Louisiana in
ä See CARENCRO, page 5A
ä See LIBRARY, page 4A
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Police Chief David Anderson walks through the weapons area of the evidence room at the new Carencro Police Station on Monday. BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer
The Carencro Police Department last week held a dedication and grand opening ceremony for its new police station. New technologies now available to the department have allowed it to respond quicker, investigate faster and ultimately solve crimes more efficiently, said Police Chief David Anderson, creating a safer environment for the growing city. “What used to take a week to investigate is now taking an hour,” Anderson said. The 18,000-square-foot facility, located on North University Avenue, which technically opened late last year, is expected to serve the department for the next 30 to 40 years with space to expand if needed, said Anderson, who has led the department since 2016. Construction of the facility was completed in June 2024 and cost around $10.5 million, or $1.3 million over what was initially budgeted. A 2016 penny sales tax primarily funded the project. The space is a considerable upgrade from the previous station on Centennial Drive, which stood at 3,000 square feet. The old station is now being used as an annex for city government. A new station wasn’t on Anderson’s mind when he was elected to run the department but said in 2018 it became clear
The new 18,000-square-foot Carencro Police Station cost around $10.5 million. that the old facility’s 6-by-8-foot evidence room was no longer working. He and his team began sketching out ideas for a new station in 2020. “We went through probably 500 sheets of paper, literally trying to think what’s right and what’s going to work for everybody,” Anderson said. The new 40-by-25-foot evidence room
Bill seeks to ban DEI in state government
N.O. jail worker accused of helping prisoners escape
Controversial measure faces opposition
BY LARA NICHOLSON, JUSTIN MITCHELL and MISSY WILKINSON
BY TYLER BRIDGES
Staff writers
Someone needed to turn off the water. To execute Friday morning’s massive jailbreak from the New Orleans jail without flooding the cell and setting off alarms, a valve in the “pump chase,” a supposedly secured area located behind rows of cells, would need cranking off. According to authorities, Sterling Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance man who has worked for five years at the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office,
ä See WORKER, page 5A
WEATHER HIGH 85 LOW 73 PAGE 6B
Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Members of the Legislative Black Caucus stand in opposition Monday to a bill that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state government.
Members of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus remained upset Tuesday after a Republican lawmaker pushed a bill through the House the night before that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state government. On Monday, in an unusual form of protest, two dozen Black Demo-
Business ...................10C Commentary ................5B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................2B Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Living............................5C Sports ..........................1C
2025 LEGISLATURE
crats and two White Democrats stood in solidarity in the front of the House to express their quiet fury with the bill, repeatedly calling it “divisive.” Debate over the bill lasted into the night. “This is the most racially offensive piece of legislation that I think I’ve had to debate since I came into office,” said Rep. Candace Newell,
ä See DEI, page 4A
100TH yEAR, NO. 325