CenLamar | Est. 2006

  • AP: Was the Death of Westlake Mayor a Racist Murder or Suicide?

    The national news media has picked up the story about the death of Gerald Washington, the mayor of Westlake, Louisiana, a small community located near Lake Charles. It was recently reported that Mr. Washington committed suicide, but this claim has been met with rampant suspicion. From the AP report: “This is the South, so of course everybody’s going to say it was some white guy shooting a black guy,” said Dr. Terry Welke, the Calcasieu Parish coroner who ruled that Washington killed himself. Welke said soot from the pistol was deep in the wound, indicating the gun was touching Washington’s…

  • Deborah Randolph Joins CenLamar

    I am pleased to announce that Deborah Randolph has joined CenLamar as a contributing writer. Randolph is currently a political consultant and lobbyist and has extensive experience as an award-winning journalist and reporter. Among other things, Mrs. Randolph will be writing about the upcoming legislative session in Baton Rouge. Randolph is the wife of former Alexandria Mayor Ned Randolph and is a prominent civic leader, serving on the boards of the Friends of Louisiana Public Broadcasting, the Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce, and the Shepherd Center. Look for her first column in the very near future.

  • City Considers Making Downtown Streets Two-Way

    Yesterday, Mayor Jacques Roy and the Alexandria City Council discussed making downtown streets two-way, which, according to Councilman-at-Large Myron Lawson is a component of the master plan drafted by McElroy, Ward, and Associates. The discussion was spurred by an article that recently appeared in USA Today, concerning the city of Danville, Illinois. According to the article, hundreds of American cities have converted their downtown streets into two-way thoroughfares in order to spur economic development. Danville is one of hundreds of cities — from Berkeley, Calif., to Charleston, S.C. — switching one-way streets to two-way to improve commerce downtown, according to…