We belong together!

Our new mortgage link gives you the power to research mortgage products, search for personalized rate quotes, and apply for a mortgage loan 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

By Vincent Sylvain / The New Orleans Agenda

NEW ORLEANS - Last year when I received word that officials at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center were considering changing the name its name I was assured by the communication department that my information was incorrect and was assured that no such discussions were being entertained. To my disbelief it was announced this week that the "Convention Center has been renamed in promotional and advertising material in an attempt to better market it in an increasingly competitive environment center will now be called the New Orleans Morial Convention Center in brochures, pamphlets and on the uniforms and badges of employees, among other places."

The Times-Picayune 3/26/2008 article, Convention Center gets new name for marketing purposes adds "however, the convention center's legal name, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center-New Orleans, which appears on contracts and in audited financial reports, will not change." Are we to now take solace in that assurance? The audacity of 'Corporate New Orleans.'

On the eve of the 30th Anniversary of his inauguration as the city's first African American mayor, removing Morial's full name from the Convention Center is the ultimate insult to Dutch's many contribution to New Orleans. It is a continuation of the 1992 conflict surrounding naming the building in his honor.

Robert D. Bullard is the Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University touch upon the importance of culture in his report; KATRINA AND THE SECOND DISASTER:A Twenty-Point Plan to Destroy Black New Orleans with point #16. He suggested that a part of "corporate New Orleans" plan was to "Downplay the Black Cultural Heritage of New Orleans. Promote rebuilding and the vision of a "new" New Orleans as if the rich Black Culture did not matter or act as if it can be replaced or replicated in a "theme park" type redevelopment scenario. Developers should capture and market the "black essence" of New Orleans without including black people."

The Convention Center Authority is composed of a 12- member board of commissioners, nine appointed by the Governor of Louisiana, and three appointed by the Mayor of New Orleans. The gubernatorial appointees serve at the pleasure of the Governor, while the Mayor's appointees serve four-year terms. According to NOMCC's website, as one of America's leading destinations for conventions and tradeshows, NOMCC event activity has produced $37.86 billion in economic impact since its 1985 opening, including $2.09 billion in new tax revenue.

While recognizing the need to re-establish New Orleans in the market, the success of recent events such as the NBA All-Star Game, the NCAA Football title game, the return of Essence Festival, and a host of other major events at the Center suggest that people are finding their way to New Orleans in spite of the Convention Center's false claims of being at a competitive disadvantage in trying to promote New Orleans because of the name of the facility.

Those very same arguments were advanced by the late Dr. Merv Trail on behalf of the business community during the initial debate about naming the building in honor of Dutch. It was pointed out then that the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, McCormick Place in Chicago, and the Staples Center in Los Angeles among others all seem to overcome the challenge of having its facilities named in honor of humans or corporate sponsors.

In 1992 the Louisiana Legislature past legislation which officially authorized the legal named of the Exhibition Hall Authority to honor the memory and contributions of the late Ernest N. "Dutch" Morial, New Orleans' first African American mayor. That fact was historic enough, but the legislature believed that this was an appropriate designation particularly because of Dutch's role is assuring that the Center would be constructed.

Turning a Vision into Reality

When Dutch campaigned for mayor in 1977, economic development and job creation was the main trust of his platform. Concerned that the Rivergate which until that date had served as the hub for conventions and conferences had become too small for the growing size of major conventions, Morial and other business leaders believed that the construction of a new and larger facility was paramount to the growth of New Orleans economic development.

Several potential sites were debated before settling on a 12 acre track owned by the City, but the big question that remained was how such a project would obtain financing. Many vowed that "the convention center would never be completed." One business leader even put his prediction in writing on a yellow slip of paper and handed it to Dutch. Never to back down from a challenge, Dutch saved that yellow scrap of paper as a reminder of the doubters.

Dutch focused on the newly created Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) developed by President Jimmy Carter's Administration. The City set out to seek $20 million in UDAG funds by using the undeveloped Sheraton Hotel as the local private sector leverage requirements combined with a mix of proposed local taxes. After several attempts, the project seemed doomed following several rejections of the City's application. The States-Item, one of New Orleans local newspapers proclaimed that Dutch had put the all of the city's eggs in the UDAG basket and had failed. Undeterred Dutch remained steadfast.

He continued to press HUD and then Secretary Moon Landrieu, who had preceded Dutch as mayor of New Orleans. After gathering a large delegation of local and state leaders, he was successful in lobbying Congress for an increased funding of the UDAG. Soon all of the stars would line up and New Orleans received a $17.5 million UDAG award, it was at that time the largest UDAG award ever granted. According to Anthony Mumphrey, "In the meantime, the hotel- motel tax was passed and the state funding was arranged using the 1984 World's Fair need for a building to house the Louisiana Pavillion as the vehicle for state participation.

The facility was completed on time to host the Louisiana Pavillion in 1984. and has since been expanded into today's configuration and making it one of the most successful convention center in the world. Mayor Sidney Barthelemy led the efforts for the additional expansion.

A review of recent history reflects that while most community leaders supported the initial efforts to dedicate the facility in honor of Morial, there was some opposition from certain members of corporate New Orleans. A December 8, 1992 letter written by Warren Reuther to Mrs. Sybil Morial and then Senator Marc Morial seems to document that debate.

Reuther wrote, "When the idea of changing the name first came before the New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority, the Board had discussed how many fine people were involved in making the Hall a reality.

After looking into and better understanding exactly what Dutch had to personally do in order for the Convention Center to be built, I now realize that the name that is now on the building is the name that should be on the building. The Convention Center in New Orleans is most deserving of his name."

The Louisiana Legislature appropriately recognized Morial's accomplishments and this week's announcement to alter the name without even going before the legislature is a replay of that initial debate under the disguised of marketing and branding the New Orleans name.

"For us to get New Orleans into the title is a positive thing," said Melvin Rodrigue, newly named president of the Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Exhibition Authority, the board that runs the convention center. "New Orleans is what most people associate with."

This battle may also be an extension of the battle to re- make New Orleans following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Christopher Cooper, staff report of The Wall Street Journal in his September 8, 2005 article quoted James Reiss, chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority and a descendent of an old- line Uptown family as saying, "The new city must be something very different, ... with better services and fewer poor people. "Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to see it done in a completely different way: demographically, geographically and politically," he says. "I'm not just speaking for myself here. The way we've been living is not going to happen again, or we're out.

He says he has been in contact with about 40 other New Orleans business leaders since the storm. Tomorrow, he says, he and some of those leaders plan to be in Dallas, meeting with Mr. Nagin to begin mapping out a future for the city." To date there has been no public disclosure of what was discussed or of who attended that Dallas meeting but the implications seems to indicate a reversal of New Orleans racial mix.

Since the Dallas meeting, New Orleans have witnessed attacks on many fronts to reduce both the influence and numbers of Blacks living in its community; creating barriers for Katrina survivors to cast a ballot during election; the attempt to rename schools honoring African Americans heroes; the demolishing of public and affordable housing; the continuing debate over the future of Charity Hospital which served low income citizens; attempts not to rebuild the city east of the Industrial Canal (Lower 9th Ward and East New Orleans, predominately African American communities) based on the suggestion of plans proposed by the Urban Land Institute and some members of the Bring New Orleans Back Commission; the firing of 7000 teachers and para- professionals and takeover of the public school system; merging and elimination of offices held by Black officials and the list continues; rumblings of moving to a system of merit appointed judges; and the insensitive design of the Louisiana Road Home program which was created to aid homeowners in the recovery of their homes.

In the Wall Street Journal interview Mr. Reiss added that "The power elite of New Orleans -- whether they are still in the city or have moved temporarily to enclaves such as Destin, Fla., and Vail, Colo. -- insist the remade city won't simply restore the old order.

In human rights lawyer and law professor Bill Quigley's Lesson From Katrina: How to Destroy an African American City in 33 Steps, he could have added step 34, attack Black New Orleans's symbol of hope. Who is next, the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, Mahalia Jackson Theatre of Performing Arts?

On March 27, 2008, newly elected Governor Bobby Jindal announced his new appointments to the Center's governing board. They are Melvin Rodrigue, who has served on the Convention Center's board since 2005, was appointed president. The governor's appointees also include: Jay H. Banks, James "Jim" Besselman, Klara B. Cvitanovich, Anthony Dileo, J.D., Edward D. Markle, Frederick W. Sawyers III, Carroll Wilson Suggs, and James Bryan Wagner.

For more information on the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, please contact 504.582.3027 or E- mail: rmortillaro@mccno.com.

Permission to re-print is granted.

Contractor says it rushed to deliver aid; agency to collect overpayments

AP / updated 7:01 p.m. CT, Sat., March. 29, 2008

NEW ORLEANS - Imagine that your home was reduced to mold-covered wood framing by Hurricane Katrina. Desperate for money to rebuild, you engage in a frustrating bureaucratic process, and after months of living in a government provided-trailer that gives off formaldehyde fumes you finally win a federal grant.

Then a collector announces that you have to pay back thousands of dollars.

For thousands of Katrina victims, this may be a reality.

A private contractor under investigation for the compensation it received to run the Road Home grant program for Katrina victims says that in the rush to deliver aid to homeowners in need some people got too much. Now it wants to hire a separate company to collect millions in grant overpayments.

The contractor, ICF International of Fairfax, Va., revealed the extent of the overpayments when it issued a March 11 request for bids from companies willing to handle "approximately 1,000 to 5,000 cases that will necessitate collection effort."

The bid invitation said: "The average amount to be collected is estimated to be approximately $35,000, but in some cases may be as high as $100,000 to $150,000."

The biggest grant amount allowed by the Road Home program is $150,000, so ICF believes it paid some recipients the maximum when they should not have received a penny. If ICF's highest estimate of 5,000 collection cases - overpaid by an average of $35,000 - proves to be true, that means applicants will have to pay back a total of $175 million.

'Finding the underpayments'

One-third of qualified applicants for Road Home help had yet to receive any rebuilding check as of this past week. The program, which has come to symbolize the lurching Katrina recovery effort, has $11 billion in federal funds.

ICF spokeswoman Gentry Brann said in an e-mail Friday that the overpayment recovery effort was made inevitable when insurance and other aid to Katrina victims was eventually measured against what an applicant received from the Road Home program.

Brann said there was a sense of urgency in paying Road Home applicants, and ICF knew applicants might eventually have to return some money.

"The choice was either to process grants immediately or wait until the March 2008 deadline (for submitting Road Home applications) before disbursing any funds," Brann said in her e-mail.

Brann pointed out that 5,000 collections cases would represent a 4-percent error rate for the Road Home that is "quite good for large federal programs..."

PAID ANNOUNCEMENT -- The members of The William Jefferson Committee cordially invite friends and supporters of Congressman William Jefferson to join us in a celebration of his birthday. This activity will take place on Monday, March 31, from 5:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. The location is the Laborers Union Hall, 400 Soniat Street, at the corner of Tchoupitoulas Street, New Orleans, 70115.

The members of the Committee are requesting a contribution in the amount of $ 50.00 to support Congressman Jefferson in his continuing work to represent and serve our fellow citizens. Over the years, inclusive of dedicated and pioneering service as a member of the Louisiana State Senate, Congressman Jefferson has been always available and accessible to us. He has shown tireless commitment to helping the residents of our region to access supportive resources and to rebuild, and he has been a strong advocate in Washington for our citizens and for this region.

Please join us to celebrate Congressman Jefferson's birthday. Without question, thousands of citizens have benefited from his hard work and dedication over the years. Let's come together for both an enjoyable time and to show our friend and elected representative, Congressman William Jefferson, him how much we respect him and appreciate his work.

Please make your check payable to The Jefferson Committee. Personal checks only: no corporate checks. Feel free to pay on-line at www.WilliamJeffersonCommittee.com.

If you cannot attend, but would like to include a contribution to show your support, please mail your check to: The Jefferson Committee, 1723 Valmont Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70115.

Your RSVP is appreciated. 504-906-9829 / e-mail: WJJCommittee@aol.com. The members of The William Jefferson Committee truly and greatly appreciate your support, and we look forward to seeing you on Monday!

The Airport Report / By Sean C. Hunter, Director of Aviation, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

The return of air service to our community continues to be a major indicator of how well the recovery from Hurricane Katrina in our region is going. For example, in 2007 Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport served 7,516,533 passengers or 77% of the all time high of 9,733,179 passengers who used Armstrong International Airport in 2004. Decembers passengers totaled 620,356 or 81% of the 763,162 passengers that used the airport in December 2004 and an increase of 7% from December 2006. The growth over 2006 was 20.9%. Armstrong International Airport continues to show tremendous strides as the growth of passengers and flights rebuild. Air carrier flight operations for the year totaled 85,885 commercial flight operations, compared to 72,338 in 2006 for an increase of 18.8%. The number of flight operations grew throughout 2007 ending with 132 daily passenger departures in December.

And the good news continues. The NBA All-Star Game last month resulted in another post-Katrina record day for our airport. Reports from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on the total number of people who were processed through security after the All-Star Game resulted in the third largest number of post-storm passengers this year. The top five numbers since the storm have occurred in the past two months with the Sugar Bowl, BCS Championship Game, Mardi Gras and the NBA All- Star Game respectively. New Orleans was given a chance to show it is back and it did so in a big way. This was a great beginning to 2008 and we want to keep the momentum going. After experiencing 21% growth in 2007, to see 2008 begin this way is a great indicator that the upward trend will go on.

This return in air service has not happened by chance. As I have stated in previous articles, the return of the airport is an ongoing team effort. That said, none of this would be possible without the willingness of the airlines to resume and grow service. Still advancing toward pre-K numbers, Southwest Airlines remains the volume leader in New Orleans with 25.4% of the market, down from 31% in 2004. > Continental Airlines, the first carrier to resume a full schedule > following Hurricane Katrina, captured 15.1%. American Airlines and > AirTran Airways, who also operate a full schedule, captured 15.2% and > 4.4% of the market respectively. Delta Air Lines has12.39%; United > Airlines 9.0%; US Airways 9.2%; Northwest Airlines 4.6%; and JetBlue > Airways with 2.4% of the market. Newcomer ExpressJet Airlines has > captured 2.1% of the market for 2007, after entering the market in > April.

Airport vendors have also been major contributors to our return. Travelers must have opportunitiesto eat and purchase personal items. To accommodate special event crowds this year, a number of vendors have operated additional hours with extra staff. The commitment of extra time and resources has been rewarding for them. The Hudson Group, the airports master concessionaire for news and gifts reported a day of record sales from the NBA All-Star crowd. Sales in Hudsons newly remodeled store, near Concourses A and B, exceeded pre-Katrina sales as the All-Star fans collected New Orleans souvenirs before boarding flights home.

It is my hope that any question regarding our regions ability to host major special events and conventions has been put to rest. With the success of the last months NBA All-Star Game, the signature event for the NBA, the international community has now seen that our region is ready to welcome visitors from around the world.

For further information on the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, log on to the Airports web site at www.flymsy.com.

The Red Cross is extending the enrollment deadline for its Emotional Support Program until May 31, 2008. The program assists survivors of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma to receive outpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment. More than 21,000 people have signed up for the program.

After a natural disaster, some people find they have difficulty with eating, sleeping, relating to others or concentrating at work or school. It can take a while to recognize your symptoms, and sometimes they might not seem connected to the event of the hurricane itself. If you still don't feel like yourself, it might help you and your family to talk to someone. The American Red Cross Emotional Support Program for Survivors of the 2005 Hurricanes can help.

Many people experience a range of these symptoms. It's normal to feel different after surviving and dealing with the aftermath of a difficult ordeal such as a natural disaster. Sometimes, however, these problems last longer than expected, and you may find that they are interfering with your everyday life.

You and your family may be eligible to receive assistance for mental health or substance abuse treatment if you were directly affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita or Wilma. This program is available regardless of where you live, your insurance coverage or your immigration status. You choose the type of treatment and the licensed provider. Coverage is retroactive to August 30, 2005 and will cover services received on or prior to November 14, 2008. The program is an initiative of the American Red Cross Hurricane Recovery Program and administered by Link2Health, a non-profit subsidiary of the Mental Health Association of NYC.

Enroll in the Emotional Support Program online at http://www.a2care.org or by calling toll-free 1-866-794- HOPE.

NEW ORLEANS -- Kimberly Reese has joined Xavier University of Louisiana's Institutional Advancement Division as the Director of Alumni Relations.

"Xavier University is fortunate to have Kim Reese as its new Director of Alumni Relations," said Dr. Kenneth St. Charles, vice-president for Institutional Advancement. Ms. Reese's student leadership background combined with her passion and devotion to the Xavier family will greatly support the efforts of our dedicated alumni both locally and across the nation. Her appointment is coming at a critical time in the University's history and I am sure our alumni will be pleased with both her leadership and her new ideas."

Before joining IA Reese, a 1995 Xavier graduate, was the Assistant Dean for Student Programs in Xavier's Student Affairs Division. She was responsible for the Center for Student Leadership and Service which coordinates the American Humanics/Nonprofit Management Certification Program, New Student Orientation, Service-Learning, Volunteer Services and Leadership Programs.

In her student affairs position, Reese, co-authored the HBCU Service-Learning Consortium of Louisiana Learn and Serve Proposal that was funded for $1.2 million. She has also served as the point person of Campus Compact's indicators of Engagement Project in which Xavier was named as a national model of Civic and Community Engagement.

Reese is currently a member of Women of the Storm, the Gert Town Revival Board and the Historic 7th Ward Neighborhood Improvement Association, and is a volunteer with a local high school football booster club.

In addition to a bachelor of arts from Xavier, she holds a masters degree from the University of New Orleans and is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program there.

WASHINGTON - Henry L. Coaxum Jr., owner of Coaxum Enterprises, Inc. lost three of his New Orleans area McDonald's restaurants, an office complex, and his own home to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. The care, concern and innovation that Coaxum displayed in getting his employees back to work in the aftermath of the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, and his tireless devotion to the rebuilding of New Orleans' business sector has earned him the 2008 Phoenix Award for Small Business Disaster Recovery.

The award will be presented during the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) National Small Business Week 2008, to be held in Washington, D.C and New York City April 21-25.

"The Phoenix Award is an acknowledgment of an individual's heroic effort and a recognition of contributions to the physical and economic recovery of their communities," said SBA Administrator Steve Preston. "Mr. Coaxum displayed tremendous courage and resourcefulness in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and he exemplifies the spirit one must have to rebuild after a tragedy like this."

Although three of Coaxum's original restaurants were damaged and closed due to Hurricane Katrina, he recently bought and opened a restaurant on St. Charles Avenue in February 2006 - just in time for the 150th Mardi Gras celebration. This was the first McDonald's restaurant to reopen in New Orleans on the east bank of the Mississippi River.

This marks the 10th year the SBA has given Phoenix Awards to business owners, public officials and volunteers who displayed courage, ingenuity and tenacity in the aftermath of a disaster, while contributing to the rebuilding of their communities.

The SBA makes low-interest, taxpayer-backed disaster loans to homeowners, renters, and businesses of all sizes. Following the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, the SBA has approved more than $10.9 billion in disaster loans to more than 160,000 hurricane survivors, the largest response in the agency 55-year history. To find out more about the SBA's disaster assistance program, visit the Web site at http://www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance/.

For more information about National Small Business Week, visit www.sba.gov/sbw.

Dr. Jeremiah Wright sent the following letter to Jodi Kantor of The New York Times.

Dear Jodi:

Thank you for engaging in one of the biggest misrepresentations of the truth I have ever seen in sixty-five years. You sat and shared with me for two hours. You told me you were doing a "Spiritual Biography" of Senator Barack Obama. For two hours, I shared with you how I thought he was the most principled individual in public service that I have ever met.

For two hours, I talked with you about how idealistic he was. For two hours I shared with you what a genuine human being he was. I told you how incredible he was as a man who was an African American in public service, and as a man who refused to announce his candidacy for President until Carol Moseley Braun indicated one way or the other whether or not she was going to run.

I told you what a dreamer he was. I told you how idealistic he was. We talked about how refreshing it would be for someone who knew about Islam to be in the Oval Office. Your own question to me was, Didn't I think it would be incredible to have somebody in the Oval Office who not only knew about Muslims, but had living and breathing Muslims in his own family? I told you how important it would be to have a man who not only knew the difference between Shiites and Sunnis prior to 9/11/01 in the Oval Office, but also how important it would be to have a man who knew what Sufism was; a man who understood that there were different branches of Judaism; a man who knew the difference between Hasidic Jews, Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews and Reformed Jews; and a man who was a devout Christian, but who did not prejudge others because they believed something other than what he believed.

I talked about how rare it was to meet a man whose Christianity was not just "in word only." I talked about Barack being a person who lived his faith and did not argue his faith. I talked about Barack as a person who did not draw doctrinal lines in the sand nor consign other people to hell if they did not believe what he believed. Out of a two-hour conversation with you about Barack's spiritual journey and my protesting to you that I had not shaped him nor formed him, that I had not mentored him or made him the man he was, even though I would love to take that credit, you did not print any of that. When I told you, using one of your own Jewish stories from the Hebrew Bible as to how God asked Moses, "What is that in your hand?," that Barack was like that when I met him. Barack had it "in his hand." Barack had in his grasp a uniqueness in terms of his spiritual development that one is hard put to find in the 21st century, and you did not print that.

As I was just starting to say a moment ago, Jodi, out of two hours of conversation I spent approximately five to seven minutes on Barack's taking advice from one of his trusted campaign people and deeming it unwise to make me the media spotlight on the day of his announcing his candidacy for the Presidency and what do you print? You and your editor proceeded to present to the general public a snippet, a printed "sound byte" and a titillating and tantalizing article about his disinviting me to the Invocation on the day of his announcing his candidacy.

I have never been exposed to that kind of duplicitous behavior before, and I want to write you publicly to let you know that I do not approve of it and will not be party to any further smearing of the name, the reputation, the integrity or the character of perhaps this nation's first (and maybe even only) honest candidate offering himself for public service as the person to occupy the Oval Office.

Your editor is a sensationalist. For you to even mention that makes me doubt your credibility, and I am looking forward to see how you are going to butcher what else I had to say concerning Senator Obama's "Spiritual Biography." Our Conference Minister, the Reverend Jane Fisler Hoffman, a white woman who belongs to a Black church that Hannity of "Hannity and Colmes" is trying to trash, set the record straight for you in terms of who I am and in terms of who we are as the church to which Barack has belonged for over twenty years.

The president of our denomination, the Reverend John Thomas, has offered to try to help you clarify in your confused head what Trinity Church is even though you spent the entire weekend with us setting me up to interview me for what turned out to be a smear of the Senator; and yet The New York Times continues to roll on making the truth what it wants to be the truth. I do not remember reading in your article that Barack had apologized for listening to that bad information and bad advice. Did I miss it? Or did your editor cut it out? Either way, you do not have to worry about hearing anything else from me for you to edit or "spin" because you are more interested in journalism than in truth.

Forgive me for having a momentary lapse. I forgot that The New York Times was leading the bandwagon in trumpeting why it is we should have gone into an illegal war. The New York Times became George Bush and the Republican Party's national "blog." The New York Times played a role in the outing of Valerie Plame. I do not know why I thought The New York Times had actually repented and was going to exhibit a different kind of behavior.

Maybe it was my faith in the Jewish Holy Day of Roshashana. Maybe it was my being caught up in the euphoria of the Season of Lent; but whatever it is or was, I was sadly mistaken. There is no repentance on the part of The New York Times. There is no integrity when it comes to The Times. You should do well with that paper, Jodi. You looked me straight in my face and told me a lie! Sincerely and respectfully yours,

Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. , Senior Pastor Trinity United Church of Christ

Coming to New Orleans...

Force10 USA home is engineered to withstand hurricane forces equivalent to 165 MPH as well as earth tremors to Richter 7.5 and is backed by a 10 year structural warranty.

The engineered building system meets or exceeds every code worldwide for hurricane and earthquake resistance and have received approval in the U.S. Virgin Islands for the newly adopted, and very strict, C.A.B.O. code. We have never lost a roof anywhere in the world. There is no other system-built home that can make these claims.

Stay posted to The New Orleans Agenda for more details...

Join C. J. Morgan & Company on WBOK 1230AM Tuesday's Roundtable Discussion from 7:00 - 9:00am with guest co-host Vincent Sylvain of the New Orleans Agenda.

Listen as they discuss some of the top issues of the week with New Orleans' community leaders & newsmakers.

Justin Benjamin, age 25 / Ersia G. Henderson / Eliza Shorter, age 81 / Dwight A. Shorter, age 54 / Dorothy E. Signal, age 86 / Andrew "Drew" Cowart, age 53 / Raymond "Timmy" Wilson, age 63 / Loudy Blaise / Prentiss Miller / Joseph Ingraham / Be Be Prout / Tease Williamson / Bertrand Ragas / Sheila Harvey / Stokes Encalade / Doretha Riley / J. U. Riley / Clark Riley / Bunny Lee Henry / Louella Mack / Lawrence A. Dickerson, age 22 / Michael Turner / Lisa Henry / Gracie Williams / Ella Battle / Gugu Battle / John Lewis III / Marline A. Blackmore / Thelma Pinkey / Douglas Price, Jr / Lucy Boudreaux , age 85 / Jacqueline Dase, age 42 / Myra Dugue Bazanac, age 67 / Minister Lofton C. Johnson, age 60 / Julius Peter Carriere / Darlene Jenice Mason, age 43 / Myrtle Kroll Spears, age 94 / Ruby Broyard Beslin, age 94 / Michael "Big Mike" Johnson, age 54 / Harold A. Dede, Sr, age 93 / Emory Williams, age 70 / Eddie Anderson, age 70 / David Mutin, age 49 / Clara Barconey Hymes, age 96 / Vernon Anthony Green, age 58 / Evelyn Louise R. Dusuau / Alfred Joseph Butler Jr., age 69 / Rosetta "Rose" Morant Hubbard, age 67 / Frederick "Shep" Sheppard / Earnest Bunn, Sr., age 79 / Lydia Armstrong / Eugene J. "Coach" Shedrick / Kerry K. Hearns, age 54 / Harold Babbitt, age 52 / Marlon Lanaux, age 28 / Peter Lanaux, age 82 / Mervin Joseph Bachemin, Sr., age 71 / Maurine Hebert, 70's/ Mrs Melba Sylvain, 80's / Mr. Donald Adams, 70's /Mrs. Evelyn Comeaux, age 84 / Ethel Mae Robertson, age 84 / Thelma Jeff, age 89 / Rosa B King, age 95 / Evelyn Geissler Doran Burns, age 97 / Mrs. Jean W. Griffin, age 77 / Edward "Sheby" Kimbrough, age 70's / Mother Estelle Berryman James, age 87 / Charles Jones / Mrs. Swanier Jones / Mildred Hambrick Randolph / Laura Stevenson, age 70's / Anthony Atiim Jones, Sr., age 32 / George "Georgie" Poche, age 89 / Ronald G. Baptist, Sr., age 69 / Octavia T. H. Morrison, age 87 / Austin Leslie, age 71 / Irvin Mayfield, Sr. / Sister Francis, age 67 / Cecile Alexis / Joan Blackwell / Carolyn Blunt / Frank Elijah Caliste / Alfred J Gourrier, Sr., age 92 / Gregory Lucas, age 48 / Eustis Guillement, Sr., age 92 / Louise T. Lewis, age 75 / William S. Porter, age 73 /

Gentilly Heights Vascoville Neighborhood Watch Association Meeting -- Gwendolyn Hawkins, Coordinator.

Pontilly Meeting --