Cenla News

1.5 Million $ For Just a Piece Of Salley's

After years of being on the market, the old Salley's location on Jackson Street Extension is seeing some action. BancorpSouth Bank of Tupelo is buying Lot 1 for one and a half million dollars. Lot 1 is just over an acre, so there's plenty left to sell of the entire 10 acre plot.

BancorpSouth plans to build a local main office to be finished early next year.

Salley owners say plans for the remaining acreage may include some type of commercial park.

Listing agent for the deal was Dale Daenan and the selling agent was Paul Maxwell, both with Noles-Fry Realty.

Anyone know how much commission was involved in this deal?

Sabine Bank Robber May Be In Mexico

Suspected bank robber Mark McCosker may very well be in Mexico spending the money he robbed from Sabine State Bank on August 24th. He may have an ocean view like this one.

Sources say the girlfriend of the rotund robber is Hispanic so Mexico would be a natural hide out for the duo. The getaway car was found at England Air Park, but no sign of him. He may have left by plane, but there's no evidence that he bought an airline ticket. Someone else may have purchased a ticket using a fake ID.
The newest branch of Sabine Bank on Coliseum Blvd had an official ribbon cutting event Friday. McCosker is 6'2'' and a pudgy 300 pounds or so. His alleged girlfriend is described as "chubby looking" and Hispanic. A warrant is out for his arrest with his last known address 5125 Samantha Drive in Ball. The cost of living is cheap in Mexico and they may have plenty of money to spend.
APD says he should be considered dangerous since he was armed with a pistol when committing the robbery. No one was hurt in the heist.
No word on how much money he took from Sabine coffers.
Alexandria's new police chief Roger Tully could look like a hero if he "cracked" this case. But so far the rotund robber is eluding the long arm of the law. Will McCosker be caught and when?
What's your prediction Cenla?

Can You Guess This Accident Location?

Can you believe this accident is on the infamous Alexandria traffic circle? The circle is "ground zero" for guaranteed pile ups that occur with monotonous regularity.

And the circle will exist for decades because local leaders killed the "paid for" plan to replace the circle several years ago.

This particular rear end collision is rather complicated because the "accident victims" were test driving a vehicle from a local used car lot. There were no life threatening injuries but ironically some of the car passengers were wearing "neck collars" BEFORE the ambulance arrived. Talk about being prepared.

That makes the insurance situation and law suits involving injury rather dicey.

Alexandria police records show 109 accidents on the circle in 2009 and a total of 162 accidents within a 16 month period.

The Quarter Million Dollar Brain Trust

It may be hard to believe that Alexandria's future economic development, or lack thereof, is under the control of this duo.

They ARE good at one thing, drawing outstanding salaries paid by the taxpayers of Alexandria. It also appears they are well fed.

On the right, your one-term mayor draws a compensation package of $146,863 per year.

On the left the economic development director, Bill Hess, draws a total of $104,691 a year.

Their combined compensation is over a quarter million dollars per year. How's that compare with your private sector pay?

Also, revelation of their salaries was not a quick process.

Cenla news had to make an official public records request to attain COA Salary information.

Is that real transparency? No.

That information should be available on the COA website.

Does anyone know about the background of THIS Bill Hess? (There are hundreds of them)

Where did he come from? What's his job history, qualifications?

Where's his resume'?

If you know any thing about this mystery, please let the Cenla News viewers know.

Rapides Parish Economy Shaky

The Rapides Parish economy is getting worse, not better.

Last week we learned Alexandria lost 900 jobs in the past 12 months.

Yesterday we heard that Copeland's Restaurant is closed and filing for bankruptcy.

Adding to the economic problems is that for the month of August, sales tax collections were down AGAIN in Rapides Parish.

Total August sales taxes collected in the parish were down $367,830.73 or 4.26% from last year.

Through the first 8 months of this year, total collections are down $4,031,072.96 or 5.45%. Over 4 million dollars is a substantial amount.

How long this continues is any one's guess.

But you can take comfort in the words of the Obama administration, "We're on the right path."

You all believe that, right?

Mayor T Boy "Triaging" Trash Pick Up

T Boy Roy is using "Hospital Lingo" to describe deficient trash collection in Alexandria. That's because he's that kind of genius, quoted in a front page TT story about trash pick up. This trash pile on Heyman Lane near Coliseum Blvd is waiting to be taken to "ICU".
All the B.S. excuses are wearing thin and insult the taxpayers. But we guarantee the city will pick it up before the October 2nd primary election.

Is it a coincidence there are NO yard signs for Mayor T Boy along this busy roadway? He stresses the importance of quality of life issues when wasting taxpayer money.

But what's more important, a new graffiti ordinance or picking up trash piles on busy streets? Piles of trash are not a priority for City Hall. They've got "bigger fish to fry", like all those dangerous graffiti artists roaming the city.