INSIDE TODAY’S ADVOCATE
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W e d n e s d A y, m
Ay 21, 2025
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THE
ADVOCATE T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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W e d n e s d ay, M ay 21, 2025
Contamination issue at Capitol Lakes grows
Homeowners group pushes for EPA involvement
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2025 LEGISLATURE
Bill seeks to ban DEI in state government Controversial measure faces opposition BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS
The state for decades has warned against eating fish from the Capitol Lakes in Baton Rouge, citing contamination by PCBs and other toxic pollution. BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer
In 1983, state officials posted advisories against eating fish from the Capitol Lakes in Baton Rouge, citing chronic toxic pollution. After decades of inaction, federal regulators in 2023 declared the lakes a “Superfund” contamination site requiring cleanup. But negotiations over who is responsible and what should be done have yet to result in any work — two companies involved deny responsibility, with one claiming the fish are safe enough to consume despite ongoing state warnings to the contrary. Now a Baton Rouge homeowners group says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should step in and force the issue. Members of the Historic Spanish Town Civic Association say it’s time for the EPA to issue a “unilateral adminis-
Litter piles up along the shore of Capitol Lake. trative order” to force work to begin on an area known since the early 1970s to be heavily polluted. “Eight governors have resided along these shores while eight administrations have overseen this environmental disaster. The lakes sit beside our State Capitol, State Veterans Park, and the historic Spanish Town neighborhood,” Gregg Bailey, the civic association’s point person on the Superfund site, said
in a statement. “This is not just historic — it’s a historic failure of environmental stewardship.” In 2022, an EPA assessment found PCB concentrations in fish were high and widespread enough to declare the fishery contaminated, with some samples just under the maximum safe level. The EPA also found pesticides and concerning levels of heavy metals — arsenic, chromium and mercury — in the fish. Bailey claims no substantial remediation of the lakes has occurred despite decades of legislative resolutions and a 1980s commission led by then-Gov. Buddy Roemer that recommended cleanup. “Our state may champion industry, but allowing pollution to endanger the seat of our government is more than ironic — it’s unacceptable,” added Bailey, who worked on the cleanup of
ä See LAKES, page 6A
BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer
BY LARA NICHOLSON, JUSTIN MITCHELL and MISSY WILKINSON 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
PAGE 8B
ä See DEI, page 4A
Accused serial killer declared fit for trial
N.O. jail worker accused of helping prisoners escape
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 68
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 Democrats 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 “This is the over the bill lasted into the night. most racially “This is the most offensive piece racially offensive of legislation piece of legislation that I think I’ve that I think I’ve had to debate since I came had to debate into office,” said Rep. since I came Candace Newell, Dinto office.” New Orleans, the first REP. CANDACE of 10 members of the Black Caucus who deNEWELL, nounced the measure, D-New Orleans House Bill 685 by Rep. Emily Chenevert, RBaton Rouge. “This bill is about race, that’s all,” Rep. Ed Larvadain, D-Alexandria, said several minutes later. Chenevert teared up briefly as she defended it, saying, “My desire is that we come together, and we not divide.” Voting closely along party lines, the House passed Chenevert’s bill by four votes, 57-32. No Democrats voted for the bill, while three Republicans voted against it. They were Rep. Vincent Cox, of Gretna; Rep. Beth Billings, of Destrehan; and Rep. Jeff Wiley, of Gonzales. Likely indicating the political sensitivities, 13 members who voted on the preceding bill were absent on HB685. The bruised feelings remained on Tuesday. “We received no answers to our questions of what the bill would do to specific programs that deal with racial relations and training,” Rep. Tammy Phelps, D-
STAFF FILE PHOTO By BILL FEIG
Law enforcement officials escort Ryan Sharpe from the East Feliciana Parish courthouse in 2019.
One month after outbursts in court by the suspect in a series of killings prompted the postponement of his murder trial, a judge declared the Clinton man mentally fit Tuesday and reset his trial to begin in November. Authorities say Ryan Joseph Sharpe, 43, shot and killed Carroll Breeden Sr. as the 66-year-old BREC commissioner was doing yard work outside his rural Port Hudson-Pride Road home in September 2017.
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The killing came during a series of random shootings in East Feliciana and East Baton Rouge parishes that investigators connected to Sharpe. He was convicted of murder last year in one of the East Feliciana killings, but he has yet to stand trial in Breeden’s death. After more than seven years of anticipation, Sharpe’s trial was set to begin April 7 inside the 19th Judicial District Courthouse. But on the opening day, before prospective jurors were brought into the courtroom, Sharpe told
ä See TRIAL, page 4A
100TH yEAR, NO. 325