“I dare Jacques to show us one single document from the federal government, since the letter from FEMA of December 30, 2009 that tells of sand-boils being the cause of our levee certification.”
– Gregory Aymond, blogger at CentralLaPolitics
“The levee does not meet the geotechnical design criteria because of sand boils and sink holes at or near the toe of the levee.”
– The United States Army Corps of Engineers
“Despite Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy’s Levee Alliance telling the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) that the damages to our levees were caused by sand-boils on our levees, which could be said to have been caused by the hurricanes supposedly, Jacques fails to mention that the federal government has written and said that our levee problems are caused by cuts in the Bayou Rapides levee by private businesses for their own private parking lots, electrical utilities place upon the levee by the City of Alexandria, and the water and sewer lines ran in the Red River levee by the City of Pineville.”
“The levee does not meet the geotechnical design criteria because of sand boils and sink holes at or near the toe of the levee.”
– The United States Army Corps of Engineers
“What then could possibly be the reason that Mr. Budd would lie to us about the sand boils?”
“The levee does not meet the geotechnical design criteria because of sand boils and sink holes at or near the toe of the levee.”
– The United States Army Corps of Engineers
The truth is, of course, that sand boils have been discussed and mentioned at great length for the last six months, while Mr. Aymond has continually and myopically insisted that everyone is lying to the public, implying some sort of grand Machiavellian conspiracy dating back nearly two decades, and that the real issues are with non-federal levee deficiencies inside the City of Alexandria. No one has denied that there are some disputes about deficiencies on non-federal levees in Alexandria, but it should be obvious to a fourth grader: If you don’t address the big, overarching problems on the Red River, everything else is moot. DUH.
I don’t believe Mr. Aymond is or has ever been a fearless crusader for the truth, and I have very little respect for anyone who engages in such blatant and rampant hate-mongering, name-calling, and ad hominem attacks. It takes a special kind of perverted hatred for someone to make this claim in response to one of my posts on the levees:
Fred (that’s me) is perhaps suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome or some other genetic mental defect.
For those of you who don’t know, I have a disability, cerebral palsy. Somehow, Greg Aymond, a man who is licensed to practice law in the State of Louisiana, believed it was appropriate and professional for him to post an incendiary, ignorant, and flat-out hateful lie about me, my disability, and, implicitly, my mother– all within the context of a response on levee certification.
Folks, to me, this sums up the quality and caliber of Greg Aymond’s character and the depth of his intellectual honesty.
Some may continue to be entertained by his half-witted attempts at humor, his love affair with the Confederacy, and his condemnation of gays, lesbians, and African-Americans (anyone remember his recent line about African-Americans lacking “ethics”?); I think it’s just sad.
CenLamar 
Ha….Aymond just got his trashy ass kicked to the curb. I love it!!!!
You know, I completely respect what you are doing – you are the lone voice in Central Louisiana that those of us on the coast can find out what’s really going on. You truly stick your neck out there and post what others are reticent to report.
I’ve been following your commentary for quite some time, as well as your ongoing battle with Aymond. I understand the compulsion to address what is obviously false information that is being passed around and “believed” by naive readers. It is important to address BOTH sides of the story.
However I must say this. I think that when you get into a pissing contest with Aymond, it just gives him more venom and fuel to feed to his blind supporters. All the counterargument you present and factual information probably does nothing to sway his allegiance. I hate to see you bring yourself down to his level and sometimes it seeps out in your post, giving him more ammunition to continue attacking you. It is a typical Republican tactic – intimidate until people are hoodwinked into believing.
You are far too intelligent to have this masked behind that man’s agenda. Too bad you aren’t in New Orleans, we could use another voice here, one that is willing to dig deep and champion the cause for the greater good, especially now that the oil spill is crippling the coast. With much respect to you Lamar…
Thank you for your kind words. It is difficult not to become somewhat bogged down. The guy obviously craves the attention and allows himself to believe it is all based on some sort of professional or experential jealousy (again, sad), but even at the risk of providing more fodder or playing into his sense of authority and self-importance, I don’t mind sticking my neck out there.
Plus, I don’t worry about convincing his “blind supporters.” I target people who can think for themselves and simply want to know the facts.
But I’ll be careful. By the way, I am actually in New Orleans right now. It may sound like a bad excuse but I have been too livid and depressed about the BP disaster to offer anything cogent. If I wrote anything, it’d simply be a long, expletive-riddled rant about the destruction of our gulf and our culture…. But I feel like that’s been done before, by a writer much more talented than I am.
It’s worth noting that lots of local geotechnical engineers consider the Corps’ geotechnical calculations to be not nearly conservative enough. If the levee fails those criteria, well…
The downside for us is that if it was the cuts, or lowspots in the levee at RRMC or POA, those are easily remedied. Well, maye not easily, but fixable. Sandboils mean the water is percolating under the levee from the Red River when it is high, which means it could be problematic everywhere. Since the placement of the lock & dam system, the Red doesn’t really et very high anymore, or at least not as high as it used to. Where exactly were the sand boils? And were they from the Red or Bayou Rapides?
As far as I am aware, all of the sand boil issues are along the Red River and outside of the city limits of Alexandria.