Gonzales Planning Commission recommends denial of Diez property annexation petition

Gonzales’ Planning Commission unanimously recommended denial of Doug Diez’s petition to annex 55 acres into the city limits on Wednesday.  Diez ultimate objective, development of a 150-160 lot residential subdivision north of Hwy 30 in between Gonzales’ easternmost boundary and Smith Tank & Steel, failed to generate much enthusiasm among four commissioners (Reece LeBlanc was […]

Remembering the single WORST Ascension Parish Council member in history

That Corey Orgeron is the worst council member in Ascension’s history of Home Rule is not hyperbole.  Nor is it overstatement to say that he disgraced himself, his colleagues and Ascension Parish, seemingly intentionally and at every opportunity.  Every citizen of the parish is better off with his exit from public life. None of which […]

Robert Tire building is no more

Something was different as I crossed over Burnside, heading west on Hwy 30 yesterday for a lunch meeting, but I could not quite pinpoint it.  A daily commuter on the busy roadway, most of its parcels blending into a quotidian background of white noise, the mundanity present only in the subconscious.  But something was different, […]

Residential development booms in Gonzales as it languishes in Ascension

It has been 29 months since the last residential subdivision plat was considered by Ascension’s Planning Commission.  A ten-month moratorium in effect from mid-July 2021 through May 2022, stringent regulations added to the Unified Land Development Code in the interim, interest rates rising to levels unseen in two decades combined to stifle subdivision development in […]

Resolution to replace Prevost Hospital Board members adopted, court case to follow

On Tuesday the Parish Council, as governing authority, unanimously voted to remove all five members of West Ascension Parish Hospital Service Board by resolution that included the appointment of five replacement members.  The lengthy resolution contained 17 allegations intended to satisfy a requirement that “cause” be present to justify removal, that removal requiring a two-thirds […]

Lawler charged with Identity Theft, Online Impersonation of parish president

According to Sheriff Bobby Webre, on Friday, September 8, the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office began investigating reports of a subject impersonating a high-ranking public official by filing online public records requests with the Ascension Parish Government. During their investigation, deputies identified the subject as Parish Councilman Aaron Lawler, who used his personal electronic device to […]

Ruth Phillips named Ascension’s Interim Chief Administrative Officer

I regret to announce that our Interim Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Patrick Goldsmith is departing Parish government at the end of this week for an opportunity outside of the Parish. Patrick has been an essential part of our success over the past few years and his leadership and experience will be missed. However, we are […]

Council adopts ordinance for property purchase to facilitate Conway subdivision pumps

In September East Ascension Drainage Commission, consisting of ten Parish Council members sitting Ex Officio by virtue of that status, resolved to purchase eight acres necessary to facilitate a pump station on Panama Canal.  The pumps are included in the second of two phases engineered to address drainage issues stalling development of Conway Subdivision in the City […]

Sheriff Bobby Webre reelected with historic percentage of the vote

With the lowest voter turnout since 2011, Ascension Parish resoundingly reelected Sheriff Bobby Webre who racked up the highest percentage of the ballots for any sheriff that we can find (going back to the early 1980s).  87% of those who bothered to cast a ballot did so for Bobby Webre who won every one of […]

Mail piece accurately depicts District 9 candidate, Beiriger protestations aside

Depicting Jared “Burger” Beiriger as a developer with former ties to Quality Engineering, and a supporter of Corey Orgeron and Murphy Painter, a third-party mail piece hit mailboxes in Council District 9 yesterday.  One of the fattest hogs at Ascension’s trough, Beiriger squealed like a pig (think Ned Beatty in Deliverance) on social media, whining […]