As reported in The Advertiser, Iberia Bank and the Senior Housing Crimestoppers Program have joined forces to provide additional security for residents at five nursing and retirement homes in Louisiana. The program is designed to deter crime and abuse. It is designed to increase awareness and implement a zero tolerance policy. Since its inception in 1994, The program has cut crime such as abuse, neglect, fraud theft and vandalism by more than 90% at sponsored facilities.

Having nearly 20 years of handling claims for injured people including victims of nursing home abuse and neglect, I applaud Iberia Bank, the Housing Foundation and Crimestoppers for their work and support. Senior citizens are often the most vulnerable members of our society and as such need the support and respect they deserve.

As an attorney who has been in practice for over 20 years, I take great pride in the citizens of Louisiana in re-electing Justice Catherine Kimble to the Louisiana Supreme Court.  Not only is Justice Kimble the first woman in Louisiana’s history to be elected to the Louisiana Supreme Court, but she made history again on January 12, 2009 when she became Louisiana’s first female Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.  As a lawyer, she covered the gambit from special counsel to general counsel to sole practitioner to assistant district attorney to district court judge, and then, in 1993, she became an associate justice with the Louisiana Supreme Court.  As the longest serving justice, she is now the Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.  We in Central Louisiana take a special pride in Justice Kimble as she is one of our own, born and raised in Alexandria.

This story just keeps getting bigger every day.  You have to wonder… what exactly  is going on?  And the phenomenon seems to hit with increasing intensity with each outbreak…from raspberries and apple juice in 1996 to ground beef in 1997 to chicken, spinach, Peter Pan Peanut Butter and many others.. and now the most recent outbreak compliments of the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).  Over 500 people across America have become sick after consuming contaminated peanut butter made in a PCA manufacturing plant in Georgia.  This outbreak may have also contributed to 8 deaths and reports indicate that the recalled products now number more than 1,700.

Criminal investigations have been launched as well as Congressional hearings.  This week PCA suspended operations at its Texas plant which is the second site it closed.  PCA closed the Georgia plant after it was identified as the source of the outbreak.  USA Today reported that just this Monday,  the FBI, executing search warrants, raided the plant in Georgia hauling off a variety of documents and materials.

USA Today also reported that in a publication by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Andrew Voetsch concluded that for each case of salmonellosis that is reported, more than 38 other people get sick but don’t see a doctor or get tested.  So, those cases go unreported. As such, it has been reported that the current outbreak could be responsible for more than 20,000 illnesses.

Why peanut butter and what’s the deal with this product?  Peanut butter is low in water and high in fat …and that’s apparently a perfect medium to preserve the salmonella bacteria… even when exposed to heat.  Salmonella is considerably more heat resistant when it is in peanut butter than, for example, when it’s in chicken and other high moisture environments.  Some experts are suggesting that manufacturers need to study the thermal  processes they are using and make certain it’s effective against salmonella. Hopefully, all the attention this outbreak is receiving will result in swift implementation of improved safety in our nation’s food supply. We certainly need it.

We applaud a recent ruling by a federal district court judge who ruled that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission can’t let toys containing toxic manufacturing chemicals remain on store shelves after a ban takes effect next week.  The toxic chemicals at issue were phthalates.  Those chemicals are often used to soften plastics and are commonly found in products used by small children, such as bath toys, books, teethers, bibs, dolls and plastic figures.  Phthalates are being phased out of many products in the United States and European Union over health concerns. There was a loophole in the Agency’s rules that let the substances remain in toys – and be sold to consumers – if the toys were manufactured before the ban comes in effect Tuesday.  The judge closed that loophole.  The judge stated that the text of the law banning phthalates “provides unequivocally and unambiguously that no covered products may be sold as of Feb. 10, 2009.”

This is an important victory for consumers and children.  We applaud the judge’s ruling and hope that the immediate end of phthalates in toys will help keep our kids safe.  This ruling also underscores the importance of lawsuits to protect American consumers.  At Neblett Beard and Arsenault, we are proud to represent consumers and others who need the protection of our courts to hold corporate wrongdoers responsible.

Ask him or her if they wouldn’t mind taking a small paycut if they got injured at work. Ask them If they can survive on $546.00 per week. Ask them what they would do with their car note, house note, and how they would feed their family.  As of September 1, 2008, any worker who is injured in Louisiana is entitled to 66 and 2/3 percent of their average weekly wage up to a maximum of $546.00 per week.

That’s right, if you are a high wage earner, say $1000.00 per week, your maximum workers comp benefits would be $546.00.  Try living on half of your wages for a couple of months. Try a couple of years. That is what seriously injured workers have to do if they are injured on the job and unable to return to work.

Ask your legislator why we have such a strange law that does not protect the injured worker. Ask your legislator to change this law.

John Grisham’s book, “The Appeal,” is frighteningly similar to the case of Caperton v Massey which is presently pending before the United States Supreme Court.  “The Appeal” centers around a small, down-to-earth Mississippi law firm that spends all of its resources to obtain a huge verdict against Crane, a behemoth chemical manufacturer that spread cancer-causing pollutants throughout a small town’s water supply.  The owner of Crane hired a firm to “do anything” to unseat a sitting Supreme Court justice (who was believed to be plaintiff orientated) and replace him with a more friendly jurist.  The bottom line is that a powerful, well-financed company paid millions of dollars to put a business jurist on the bench in place of a consumer friendly judge in their effort to influence the outcome of a pending case.

The jack up rig count in the Gulf of Mexico has reached a 33 year low creating financial worries for roustabouts, floorhands and drillers.  Less than 60% of jack ups are currently being utilized.  However, deep water floating units such as semisubmersibles and drilling ships are stable w/ 100% under contract. This is deceiving; there are only 33 floaters in the gulf.

The Obama administration can help by decreasing drilling restrictions on shallow water areas in the Gulf.  I was raised and educated in a family of offshore workers.  I know what great pride all of you have.  Tell your congressmen we don’t need a bailout. We need jobs!  Stimulate the economy by expanding offshore drilling.  President Obama, the answer to expanding drilling opportunities is “yes we can.”

Tell me what you think about stimulating the economy of the Gulf States.

Wes Gralapp, Son of a sailor

According to the <a href=”http://www.lhaonline.org/”>Louisiana Hospital Association</a>, Louisiana’s nursing shortage has reach an all time high.  There is an estimated 4,663 positions unfilled. Coupled with the shortage is the lack of faculty and funding to hire educators causing Louisiana nursing schools to turn away approximately 1690 qualified students last year alone.

This shortage of nurses will certainly create more problems with the already stressed nursing staffs at both hospitals and nursing homes. This at a time when Louisiana has the largest amount of single star nursing homes in the country according to a Medicare and Medicaid Service rating system.

<a href=”http://www.nbalawfirm.com/lawyer-attorney-1135553.html”>Willie Neblett</a>

A Urania man was killed in Pineville when his passenger car was struck by an 18 wheeler at the intersection US Highway 165 and 167.  The 18 wheeler driver was cited for careless operation of a vehicle.  The 18 wheeler driver was from Massachusetts.  How long had the truck driver been on the road?  The regulations allow truckers to drive up to 11 hours in a single shift.  Regulations regarding the number of hours that a truck driver can work and drive need to be reduced.  Safety groups have been petitioning the FMCSA to reconsider the hours based on findings demonstrating that much longer working and driving hours will inevitably produce severely fatigued truck drivers. I agree with the position to decrease the truck driving hours in a single shift.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is holding hearings on helicopter safety this week after an alarming number of helicopter crashes in the past six years. At least five have been reported in the United States in the past three months. Due to the extreme vibrations on helicopters they require more frequent maintenance than fixed wing craft. The FAA does not have stricter safety standards in place for helicopters.  It’s about time but a shame that it took the loss of so many lives to get the NTSB to conduct these four days of hearings. The board now needs to take immediate action on the safety measures discussed or we will continue to witness more crashes and loss of life.